Lester was depicted as an average guy because he represented what usually happens to people. They become trapped either at home or at work. These same people eventually become prisoners in their own life. Lester knows that he is trapped because he was able to remember the time when he was free. He seeks to break away from the prison by becoming infatuated with a young girl. Lester lost himself, lost connection with family, his family and job became what would be considered a prison to him. In fact, to illustrate this the windows in his work and home would be filmed from the outside looking in on him to give the viewer the idea that he was imprisoned in life. All of the sudden he was a walking mid-life crisis.

Angela is another character in this movie who is great for analyzing at a sociological level. She is so obsessed with the way people perceive her that she has become her mask to everyone, even those who she is "close" to. She continuously talks about all of her sexual encounters and how every man wants her, when in actuality she is innocent and lacks self confidence. She makes everything in her life up, but this make believe life becomes reality for her. So real that the image she portrays is believed by those around her. She makes this life up for herself because she wants people to see her as different because she believes that "there is nothing worse than being normal". But this whole image of herself backfires because the impression she manages to depict makes people not like her as much. Angela was so fixated on appearing not ordinary that she didn't give a thought to who she really was.

Buddy is pretty much the same as Carolyn. He represents the perfect image. He seemed perfect on the outside, but he wasn't perfect. His wife was leaving him, but he told people she was going on a trip. He has on a mask and thinks he's the perfect American.

Carolyn represented the desire to project the perfect image and the image created her reality. Carolyn's entire existence was defined as consumerism and materialism because she understood the world to be based on things. The things she was able to buy became more important than her own family. Her heart-to-heart with Jane turned into Carolyn telling Jane that she has it better than Carolyn did growing up because Carolyn is ablt to buy more things for Jane than her parents could for her. Carolyn is not happy in her life and seeks liberation through an affair with Buddy, but when Lester found out about the affair Buddy called things off because things got a little too complicated. Carolyn tried to justify the was she is now by bringing up the fact that she has a poor childhood.

Jane was the typical angry teenager and was especially mad at her father. Jane became very angry with Lester when she realized that Lester liked her friend Angela. Jane was a friend of Angela's even though they were totally different. Jane felt that she had to act a certain way with Angela so she would fit in. If Jane said what she felt she didn't think Angela would be her friend. Jane represents the perfect example of peer pressure. She didn't want to disagree with Angela about Ricky, until she became friends with Ricky and realized what Angela was really all about.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Lester Carolyn, American Beauty, Lester Lester, Lester Carolyn's, Lester Carolyns', Management Impression, Angela Lester, Barbara Fitts, Chance Lester, Angela Ricky, front stage, stage people, american beauty, true self, real estate, power people, lester lost, doesn't care, impression management, front stage people, lives life,
Approximate Word count = 3635
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)