Brandon BedoreTheatre 110/28/13In August Osage County by Tracy Letts, Violet reacts to the changing of her home in an extremely confrontational manner which results in the total alienation of her from her family. Her house shifts from a cave-like cluttered catastrophe of confused paperwork and unorganized books to a pristine, orderly, and bright home unrecognizable to Violet. This extreme shift causes the massively mediated matriarch to spit venomous insults at her family who only came to the home to help her through her troubled time. The home environment in the beginning of the play reflects Violets internal confusion. In the opening scene we see the dimly lit clutter that is Violets home which is echoed in her unintelligible blathering when she is woken from her drugged slumber. The house is vividly described as A rambling country home outside Pawhuska, Oklahomamore than a century oldand repairs have essentially modernized until 1972 or so, when all structural care ceased. A medium-sized desk is piled with books, legal pads, manila folders, notepaper. the front porch, strewn with dead grass and a few rolled-up small-town newspapers. The house is filled with books. All the windows in the house have been covered with cheap plastic shades.This disorganization is embodied in Violet by her inability to speak coherent sentences when we first meet her. She is uncertain and frightened about handling the immense responsibility that the home requires. The clutter that decorates the house mainly belongs to Beverly and his presence in these objects also affects the way Violet behaves. The stacks of papers and the endless shelves and stacks of books around the house all remind Violet of her husband and as long as they are there she feels true to her husband. It is not until later in the play as these mementoes of her late husband are packed away that we see her attitude towards him change. Unable to handle her emotions and the burden of the home, Violet calls for her family to come to her aid to help with the dysfunction. They arrive to discover she has reverted back to her old habits and is abusing her pain medication in order to cope. Finally when Violet hears the news about what has become of Beverly, Eric Clapton is playing. This music affects Violet because it reminds her of the golden generation she used to live in that has passed.In Act 2 The house is manifestly refreshedThe dull, dusty finish has been replaces by the transparent gleam of function. Of Note: The study has been reorganized. Stacks of paper are neater, books are shelved. The dining room table is set with the fine china, candles, a floral centerpieceThe warm, clean kitchen now bubbles and steams, redolent of collard and kale.Despite the home being refreshed and pleasant, Violet couldnt be less pleasant if she tried. She attacks every member of her family, the same that not only buried the beloved patriarch but also helped her get her jumbled mess of a home into some form of order. She verbally abuses her three daughters calling the oldest, Barbara, a nothing by asking her Whore you? Jesus if you worked as hard as us, youd all be president. She says the middle child, Ivy, looks like a magicians assistant despite her outfit being the most expensive thing she owns. To her youngest, Karen, Violet says that she has only just started to prove that women get less attractive with age. On top of her nasty attitude, Violet also significantly ups her dosage of pain meds in Act 2. This makes her disoriented and nutty which is only exacerbated by her new home dcor. This new environment may seem pleasant and inviting to the average homeowner but to Violet it is now a foreign land. She now feels like a stranger in her own home and because of this she is like a cornered animal, wild and vicious. So vicious in fact that she gets into a physical altercation with Barbara who, after a short brawl, declares she is taking over control of the house. Now Violet has not only lost her familiar home environment, but has been dethroned by her eldest and stripped of all matriarchal power. They hold an intervention for her and take all of her pills away as if she were a bad child who had stolen candy.Finally, after years of literal and metaphorical darkness the shades are finally removed from the windows. Violet has now successfully alienated herself from the majority of her family with her rotten mouth (quite ironic that she has mouth cancer as well). They come to the realization that she is a bitter old women who is not appreciative of the sacrifices they all made to help her. The shedding of morning light on the house in Scene 4 of Act 3 also foreshadows the coming truth Barbara is going to learn about Beverly and the incest Ivy will learn. Now that Violet has boxed up and given away most of the things that remind her of Beverly she is very detached from him and explains to Ivy the affair Beverly had with Maddie Fae resulting in the birth of Little Charles, her brother lover. Even more disturbing is the explanation of Beverlys last wish. When he is to die or is suspected dead Violet is to go and retrieve the valuables from the safety deposit box to avoid legal strife. Violet had prior knowledge that Beverly was at a hotel but was too stubborn to go see him and went to the bank instead. Upon hearing her mothers incessant need to be strongest, Barbara too finally realizes her mother is beyond saving. Violet could have saved her husband from taking his own life but instead she went for the safety deposit box to prove to him she was stronger than he was. She soon comes to realize its lonely being top dog and she tailspins into another hysterical fit and Eric Clapton is played again to haunt Violet with her memory of the forgotten past.