Symbolic Self-Awareness of the Characters of The Sandbox Through his one-act play The Sandbox, Edward Albee extended the allegory; his characters not only exist as symbols, but are more than vaguely aware of themselves as such. As caricatures rather than characters, they maintain awareness of their presence on stage as well as the rules and stereotypical emotions they intend to display. In particular through the vacuous and immediate transition of mom and dad to "appropriate" attitudes, Edward Albee makes his statement of value. Indeed, Shakespeare's statement that "All the world's a stage,/And all the men and women merely players" was reanalyzed and extended by Albee, culminating in a work that declares the conventional conception of death as affected and artificial. bluntness is the opening note on Mom and Dad and the "pre-senility and vacuity of their characters." Dad's resulting questions about what needs to be done and Mom's resulting composed responses set in motion the implication of an end-of-life ritual whose spiritual meaning has long since disappeared. At one point, Dad asks Mom if they should have a conversation. Mom replies, “Well, you can talk if you want…if you can think of something to say…if you can think of something new.” Dad's negative response immediately establishes that his and Mom's existence, and therefore actions, are banal, artificial, trivial, and devoid of any true personal meaning. From the air of preparation that pervades the play and the death of the grandmother in the Ultimately, a connection is made and The Sand Box is duly noted as Albee's discourse on the customs surrounding the advent of the death of life. Creating a WWWWWW in which actors are aware of their presence on stage paves the way for Albee's vision of society's commitment to role-playing. By requiring appropriate background music and commenting on the lighting, Albee's characters cannot escape discredit regarding authenticity. Likewise, Albee greets the approach of death with the apt stereotypes of sudden darkness, the sound of the violin, "a violent boom offstage," and Mama's brief tears. Inevitably, Mom and Dad's sincerity was questioned and everything that followed. words and actions resemble conventions.