American Beauty is a story about “a typical suburban, American family; or, at least, they desperately want to appear to be,” comments Drake Streetman (Streetman, par. 1). The Burnham’s are a dysfunctional family living in a nice house, in a nice neighborhood, and in a nice suburb. Lester and his wife Carolyn are both middle-aged, out of love, and sexually unfulfilled. Lester is about to lose his job, while Carolyn's l

It turns out Lester is shot and killed by Ricky’s father. Lester may have been overlooking Jane but death is a harsh concept. Carolyn drove him further and further away until he really wanted nothing to do with her. As Lester said, “their marriage was for show” (Mendes). Jane, on the other hand, did nothing to deserve some of the treatment she got. She was a teenage girl who just wanted to be accepted. Rather, she was denied her father figured and left on her own to grow up figure out herself. Both Lester and Carolyn should have done as much as possible to help Jane through a hard time in her life.

As the movie goes on, Mr. Fitts soon catches onto Ricky and Lester’s odd behavior. His father watches the two together through a window. With the view he had, it looked like Ricky was being paid for sexual favors but Ricky was actually selling Lester marijuana. The military veteran, the raging homophobe, ends up being an utter hypocrite by making a pass at Lester and,

Some topics in this essay:
Streetman Streetman, Ricky Lester’s, Buddy Kane, Chevy Camaro, Jim Jim, Lester Burnham, Peeping Tom, Mendes Jane, Real Estate, , real estate, dysfunctional family, peeping tom, military veteran,