Among many American playwrights who have illustrated the circumstances of capitalism in America, David Mamet is known as the most capable one in presenting a real picture of capitalist society of America in his plays. He depicts the social problems of America in 20th century elaborately due to his own life experiences in such capitalist society and the conditions of people in it. In his plays, Mamet displays that how middle class people are abused and that how they try to achieve their ambitious dreams anyway. He illustrates that the humanitarian feelings between people are gone and they are fragmented and alienated from each other. Mamet also shows that, in such a capitalist society, the class conflicts take place between opposed social classes in order to obtain power and authority. This article focuses on Mamet’s Oleanna in which some of these capitalist problems can be seen. This play is about student-teacher relationship in the context of educational system which can be interpreted as a superstructure or one of Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA) of the capitalist society of America. This paper analyzes the play mainly based on Marxist theories of Louis Althusser and Karl Marx to display its socioeconomic problem through these approaches. The findings of the study show the influence of capitalism on the behavior and relationship of the characters and their dreams.

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