American Drama Solved Assignment
The IGNOU MEG-17: American Drama course is one of the important papers for students of the MA English programme at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). It familiarizes learners with major American dramatists, themes, and movements that characterized modern drama. The solved assignments are a very important part of this course because they hold a weightage of 30% in your total assessment.
In this article, we will give you a full solved assignment for MEG-17 (July 2025 – January 2026) and step-by-step instructions for writing, structuring, and presenting answers to get high marks.
This guide includes:
- Brief overview of the MEG-17 course.
- Solved answers step by step.
- Key tips for scoring high.
- FAQs on submission, marking, and exam preparation.
Course Overview: MEG-17 – American Drama
The course MEG-17: American Drama strives to examine the development and evolution of American drama from its initial period to contemporary experimental theatre. It involves the consideration of prominent playwrights such as Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, and more.
Major Themes Discussed in MEG-17:
- American identity and cultural transformations.
- The impact of realism and expressionism.
- Family relationships and personal dilemmas.
- Social, political, and racial issues.
- Dramatic innovations and style innovations.
Assignments examine your analytical skill, interpretive ability, and critical insight of these themes.
IGNOU MEG-17 Solved Assignment (July 2025 – January 2026)
The following is the full solved assignment with explanations.
Section A
Q.1. Discuss the growth of American Drama from Eugene O’Neill to Edward Albee.
Answer:
American drama as a serious literary tradition really came into being with Eugene O’Neill, who enriched the stage with experimentation with realism, naturalism, and expressionism. His plays such as Long Day’s Journey into Night and The Hairy Ape showed the psychological complexity of characters and introspected about existential crises.
In the middle of the 20th century, playwrights such as Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller extended theater’s richness. Williams’ plays (A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie) combined poetic language with psychological realism, highlighting vulnerable individuals trapped in societal demands. Miller, in contrast, highlighted moral decisions and responsibility of the common man in such plays as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible.
By the 1960s, Edward Albee ushered in a new generation of absurdist and experimental theater. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? probed disillusionment in marriage, and The Zoo Story challenged alienation and communication. His plays underscored fragmentation, irony, and absurdity, foreshadowing a move toward postmodern drama.
American drama thus moved from O’Neill’s psychological realism to Albee’s absurdist experiments, tapping into America’s cultural anxieties and changing social dynamics.
Q.2. Discuss the themes of family and identity in Tennessee Williams’ plays.
Answer:
Tennessee Williams puts identity and family at the center of his dramatic world. His characters experience fragmented identities in the process of negotiating suffocating family relations.
- In The Glass Menagerie, Tom Wingfield is torn between obligation towards his family and the need for liberty, while Laura escapes into a fragile world of make-believe.
- In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois holds on to her waning aristocratic persona as she faces brutally realistic circumstances. Her tragic decline reveals the tension between illusion and reality in family relationships.
Williams insists on memory, nostalgia, and escape as central features. His families are dysfunctional, repressed, and full of frustrated desires, rendering identity crises unavoidable.
With poetic symbolism and subtle characterizations, Williams captures the vulnerability of human identity in fractured families—a theme that is all too resonant in post-war American society.
Q.3. Comment on the importance of realism in Arthur Miller’s plays.
Answer:
Arthur Miller is renowned for his realistic portrayal of life in America. His plays reveal the ordinary struggles of people trapped between private wishes and public duties.
- Death of a Salesman introduces Willy Loman as a tragic hero whose ambitions come crashing down because of capitalist values. Miller’s realism is in presenting mundane life with epic gravity.
- The Crucible employs historical realism to critique the paranoia of McCarthyism, with an emphasis on how truth and morality yield to social pressure.
Miller’s realism blends domestic environments, ethical challenges, and socio-political commentary, rendering his plays ageless examinations of human resilience and collapse.
Section B
Q.4. Write a critical note on Eugene O’Neill’s use of expressionism.
Answer:
Eugene O’Neill used expressionism to convey inner psychological truths instead of outward action.
- In The Emperor Jones, drum rhythms and symbolic imagery mirror the fears and guilt of the main character.
- The Hairy Ape employs expressionistic methods to depict class struggle and alienation, with locations symbolically changing to symbolize Yank’s disillusionment.
O’Neill’s approach made the stage a reflection of inner consciousness, setting the stage for experimental theatre in America.
Q.5. Discuss Edward Albee as an absurdist dramatist.
Answer:
Edward Albee brought the American stage absurdist elements, influenced by European masters such as Beckett and Ionesco.
In The Zoo Story, senseless dialogue is an expression of contemporary alienation. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? shatters marriage illusions, exposing ridiculous conflicts and dismembered identities.
Albee’s absurdist works combine humor and tragedy, challenging audiences to face existential emptiness in contemporary life.
Section C
Q.6. Short Notes (Answer any two):
- Women in American Drama – O’Neill’s tragic heroines, Williams’ delicate female characters, and Albee’s disillusioned wives all serve to reflect changing roles, identities, and issues in American society.
- Symbolism in Tennessee Williams’ plays – Glass animals, light, music, and Southern settings all function as symbols of delicacy, illusion, and desire.
- Tragedy in Contemporary American Drama – In contrast to classical tragedy, contemporary plays deal with common man (Willy Loman, Blanche DuBois) whose plight represents common human pain.
How to Score High in MEG-17 Assignment
- Use your own words – Don’t copy verbatim; paraphrase ideas.
- Make critical references – Refer to critics such as Eric Bentley, Harold Bloom, or Raymond Williams where appropriate.
- Structure maintained – Introduction, analysis, and conclusion must be evident.
- Word count – Adhere to the guidelines of IGNOU. Very lengthy or brief answers will lose marks.
- Neat presentation – Proper handwriting (if handwritten) or formatting (if typed) should be used.
Guidelines for Submission
- Last Date for July 2025 Session: 31st March 2026
- Last Date for January 2026 Session: 30th September 2026
- Submit to your study centre prior to the deadline. Have a receipt as evidence.
IGNOU MEG-17 Assignment FAQs
Q1. Is solved assignment compulsory?
Yes, without submission you won’t be allowed to sit for the term-end exam.
Q2. How much of the final grade is the assignment?
30% of the total grade.
Q3. Do I submit handwritten or typed assignments?
IGNOU allows handwritten assignments only (typed ones are mostly rejected).
Q4. Where do I download the official questions?
From the IGNOU official website.
Final Words
The IGNOU MEG-17: American Drama Solved Assignment (July 2025 – January 2026) is meant to refine your knowledge of American theatrical conventions and their cultural implications. Through the study of such dramatists as O’Neill, Williams, Miller, and Albee, you will develop an understanding of how theatre reflects American society’s conflicts with identity, morality, and change.
This solution assignment guide makes sure that you compose answers not only exam-ready but also enable you to study deeply into the topic.