Mommy and Daddy decide to bring Granny to a beach for vacation. Mommy is a very disrespectful character and she does not care about Granny. As the story unfolds, it was shown that Daddy has no control over the relationship. This is proven by several phrases of "whatever you say, mommy" and even several others that more or less provide the same message. Then, there was an Angel of Death, disguised as a young man in bathing suit. He interacted with the family, repeatedly saying "Hi!" It was not until near the end of the play that this young man revealed that he was in fact the Angel of Death and he wanted to kill Granny. Surprisingly, Granny did not provide any resistance and gave her life just like that.
Themes.
The first theme in "The Sandbox" is society starts losing its values. This point is proven by the statement that granny was born in the farm and was brought to the city by her daughter. Then, the Angel of Death represents youngsters today, as he isn't bright. The killing of granny by the Angel of Death shows how the value that was once owned by granny during her young days has started disappearing. The second theme is the inability to communicate with people. Granny tried to communicate and socialize with Mommy and Daddy but to no avail. Both Mommy and Daddy failed to understand the message granny is trying to get across. The third theme shows the emptiness of a middle-class family during the time period. Seeing how Mommy, Daddy and Granny interact with each other proves this. There was no feeling of love shown.
There are also literary elements in "The Sandbox." The first is metaphor used in the sentence "Her voice a cross between a baby's laugh and cry." Edward Albee also used similes like "warm as toast." The next element used is hyperbole. He used this when describing "ancient face." The last element is symbolism, proven by the usage of the words "sandbox" and "music".
