Fishing For Answers
That was the first time I have ever participated in a Fish Bowl discussion before and it was a refreshing take on our usual format. Beside from biting my tongue when I was outside of the "bowl", my biggest challenge was discussion the tape recorder. I will go ahead and pat myself on the back for being the first person (out of my little bowl of fellow fishes) to point out how Willy's inferiority to the recorder represented the idea of men being replaced by machines in the workplace. It took my group and I a long time to reach this conclusion, but it was sort of fun bouncing ideas of each other desperately trying to find out the device's significance.
The Century Quilt
I have been loving all of the poems we have analyzed in this class so far, and "The Century Quilt" was no exception. The first time I read this poem I understood that the women of this poem were connected (aside from lineage) because they had prophetic capabilities when under their favorite quilts. However, in the essay rewrite I focused mostly on the usage of color to represent the speaker's family members. I loved how the colors of the speaker's blanket reminded the speaker of her family and how she discussed ethnicity. That is not to say that I accurately depicted the author's intentions in my essay. Unfortunately, I misidentified which races the colors were supposed to represent and which relatives the colors belonged to. Whoops! I don't think my second in-class essay was much of an improvement, structurally, but I left that day understanding the poem better. I think often I get a pretty firm grasp of what the author is trying to say, but in my writing I fail to get them across.
Syntax Exploration
On November 11th, the class looked at a series of photographs and had to agree on one photo that we would analyze. After a democratic vote, the class decided on a black and white photo of eleven men staring into the camera. Some of the men looked startled and others were raising a skeptical brow. A few students recognized the still shot from the film 12 Angry Men (1957). Next, the class had to select one word from a list that accurately described the photo to help us focus on a theme when we wrote a sentence that described the picture. The word we picked was tense. As a class we bounced rough sentences off each other and picked out specific elements of the photo that we thought where significant. This is the second time our class has done this exercise. Second hour is made up of many students who share the same traits to perfectionists and, like the last time we did this syntax assignment, we spent at least 30 minutes constructing our sentence. The point of this exercise is to help us understand syntax, however, I feel that it focuses more on diction. I understand how syntax can be used to adhere to the human sense to evoke feelings. In one of the earlier syntax assignments our class did, we learned that by using short sentences to create drama. The reader.Feels.More.Intensity. This would have been a good tool to use for our sentence, but I recall us focusing more on specific word choice.
Hamlet
That same day we began reading Hamlet. I read the part of Gertrude, the Queen, and I was experiencing anxiety about how I should read her part. In past years when my class read plays, I was always bothered by the student who read in a monotone voice or read their lines with some bizarre accent. I think this is one of my snobbish pet peeves, but I do not think I am alone. Ms. Holmes mentioned this to us our first day of reading, that these plays deal with character archetypes and situations that can easily be paralleled to modern times. Therefore, I feel that no accent and "haughty" intonation was necessary to evoke the Renaissance. In the end, I mixed my "haughty matriarch" voice with my normal one ( not that anyone noticed).
As I listened to the tortured main character's soul, I felt that Hamlet represents many young men who are at odds with pleasing their father(literally or God) and following their own personal interest. Reading Hamlet, I tried to think of other fictional characters that had a desire to make their father proud, and in the process led to their self-destruction. Peter Parker's drive to avenge his uncle's death did not lead to total destruction, but his life did become much more complicated. After he got his "spidey powers," Parker could not shake Uncle Ben's motto from his head, "With great power comes great responsibility." If you think of Uncle Ben as Lord Hamlet, and Hamlet as Peter Parker you can see some similar parallels. Although Hamlet never experiences the ecstasy of saving lives, both characters make the decision to sacrifice their lives to avenge their fathers' muders. Spider-man might not be the best of comparisons, but I am encourage to look for more Hamlet-inspired characters.
I felt I did not participate that much in our brief Hamlet discussions, but one observation I did make about the play was that Hamlet was a Christ figure. His father, who later became a ghost, represents the other two parts of the Holy Trinity. Hamlet (Jesus) was given a mission by his "invisible" father to avenge his wrongful death. If Hamlet were to successfully kill Claudius, he would probably sacrifice his own popularity and his relationship with his mother. If he chose not to kill Claudius, he would have sacrificed his integrity and self-respect. How Hamlet actually kills his evil uncle is very dramatic and involves a lot more casualties than original expected, including his own death. However, we discussed in the class that all the characters in the play had to die if order were to ever be restored in Denmark. Hamlet has transcended Antony and Cleopatra as my favorite Shakespeare play. I am always attracted to stories dealing with "troubled youth" and dysfunctional families. Reading Hamlet has made me aware or new motifs to look for when I read other literary works and films.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
2004 Student OPEN Prompt Responses (Question #3)
2004. Critic Roland Barthes has said, “Literature is the
question minus the answer.” Choose a novel, or play, and, considering Barthes’
observation, write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work
raises and the extent to which it offers answers. Explain how the author’s
treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole.
STUDENT #1 Essay-Score: 8
Student #1 explains the main character’s journey to
figure out if he lived in the best possible world in Voltaire’s Candide to answer this prompt. In introductory
paragraph, Student #1 states the central question in the novel, “‘Is this the
best of all possible worlds?’” The following paragraph explains the story
briefly by describing how the main character, Candide, was banished from his
castle and set out to travel the world. This summary is effective because it
explains how Candide finds the “model society” he was looking for in El Dorado.
This is a place where “greed and lust do not exist”, but the Student expresses
how Candide was still unsatisfied due to “the greed he had brought with him
from the outside” and he left the mythical utopia. His superficiality hinders
him again from achieving happiness when he finds his long time love, Lady Cunégonde
and is repulsed by her aged appearance. The student concludes this paragraph
stating that in the end, none of the characters are successful in their search
for happiness. In the third and final paragraph, the student explains how the
novel’s answer is “neither answering nor dismissing.” Candide responds to the
question with “we must tend our garden.” Student #1 explains his answering as
meaning “that this is the best of all possible worlds, but those who inhabit
this world must work to maintain it.” This student directly answered the prompt
and offered clear analysis of the novel. The commentator critiqued the student’s
use of colloquial language (i.e. “kicked out of his castle”) as a reason worthy
of point deductions. However, I think this essay was one of the most fluid and
clear I have read.
STUDENT #2 Essay-Score: 6
Student #2 states that in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the question “What does it mean
to be free?” is posed through “the limits that slavery and civilization place
upon the novel’s characters.” The first body paragraph simply states that both
Huck and Jim suffer from different types of slavery and run away together. In
the second and third body paragraphs, Student #2 explains how the two boys are
deprived of freedom because society forbids their interracial-friendship. Even after
the two boys’ masters are killed, and they are technically free “Jim is still
restricted by society’s discriminations against blacks and Huck is restricted
by the conventions of modern society.” The concluding paragraph is pretty much
ineffective. The Student has yet to directly explain the extent of which the
novel answers the question, “What does it mean to be free?” Instead, they marvel
at what a pressing question this is in “a country where we place so much
emphasis on freedom.” Although failing to answer the entire question, what
saved this student’s score was their ability to locate the central question
prompted by the novel and hint toward its complexity.
STUDENT #3 Essay-Score: 3
According to the
commentator, Student #3 used an “excellent example” to discuss Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
However, this does not come across through their essay. First of all it takes
too long for the student to state the central question the novel poses “does
anything ever stay the same?” Student #3 explains that in the main character,
Okonkwo’s village, “another society began to have influence on theirs.” Okonkwo
“fought” for his village and its people to resist the change, but it is unclear
how this was done and what changes occurred. Unfortunately, the student does
not dig any deeper in the novel to uncover greater analysis of the central
question beside Okonkwo’s desire to save his village. This, along with many grammatical
errors and the use of “+” instead of “and” contributed to this student’s low
score.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Death of a Salesman Summary/Analysis
Author
Arthur Miller was born on Oct. 17, 1915, in Harlem, New York City and the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants. Miller's family was reasonably wealthy, until the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and was forced to take up laborious jobs to pay for his tuition at the University of Michigan where he majored in Journalism. Miller's most famous written works are All My Sons (1947), The Crucible (1953), and the 1961 film, The Misfits.
Setting
That time is probably in the 1940's, considering the play was published in 1949. The intro states that the play follows Willy Loman as "he visits in the New York and Boston of today." The Loman family live in a suburb, presumably just outside of the city, that is slowing transforming into a product of urban sprawl and industrialization. There are "apartment houses" surrounding the Loman home, instead of greenery.In the stage directions, Miller puts emphasis on the transparency of their house (set) and the fact that the characters can pass between walls in Willy's flashbacks.
Significant Characters
Willy Loman- Over sixty years old, Willy has the semblance of being worn and ran rugged. He is insecure about this status as both a salesman, and a good father. Willy desperately wants to be viewed by his peers as an illustrious salesman, and the play follows his struggle trying to strike upon success. He also fails at bringing up his sons to be successful in the business world. Willy has a hard time facing the disappointment of reality and often has vivid flashbacks of better times for him and his family. These flash-backs, in themselves, reveal hints to what cause the issues and tension inside the family.
Linda Loman- Wife to Willy, Linda is the rock of the family. She has given up any ambitions of her own to serve and support her husband. She is a master of turning a blind eye to Willy's raging antics and peculiar ways.Instead, she sees an honest, hard-working man that wants the best for his family. Linda is often guilty of pacifying Willy and compromising her sons' best interest to accommodate Willy's wishes.
Biff Loman- Former high school football star and most popular-guy-in-school. Now, he is thirty-four years old and has moved back with his parents after having little success working on a cattle ranch out West. Biff is stuck between providing for his family doing work he despises, or pursuing his own ambitions.He is not the brightest and has no experience in selling, however Willy, his father, is always pushing him to join the business. Biff is embarrassed by his father's mood swings and delusions and only really considers working as a salesman for his mother's sake.
Happy Loman- Happy is an able-bodied, thirty-two year old womanizer who has no ambition to do anything but please his parents. The problem is, Happy spends more time flirting with women than working.It seems wrong to say Happy aspires to be please his parents because he puts such little effort into work--and as a result is an embodiment of his father . As a child, Happy was shadowed by his big athletic brother and competed for his father's attention by trying to be just like him. He is similar to his father because he pretends to be more important than he really is and desires material success.
Charley- The Loman's next-door neighbor and object of Willy's envy. Charley is a successful businessman and his son, Bernard, is becoming a noteworthy lawyer. Charley loans Willy money so the family can get by each month and is characterized as a laid back parent--unlike Willy.
Bernard- Charley's son. In Willy's flashbacks, Bernard is characterized as nerdy and endlessly pestering Biff to study for his math class--which he is failing. As an adult, Willy visits Bernard and realizes who successful Bernard has become and deeply regrets not pushing Biff to study more. He is another reminder for Willy of how he has failed at properly raising his sons.
Howard Wagner-Willy's current boss who assumed the position after his father passed away;whom Willy had great admiration for. Howard is probably closer to Biff's age and is condescending to Willy. He sees little value in Willy and has no inclination to helping him out during his financial woes, even though Willy played a hand in naming him as a child, has worked for the company for over 20 years, and had great respect for his father.
The Woman- Willy had a mistress around the time Biff was graduating high school. The woman is much younger than Linda and is an element from Willy's flashbacks that the reader can be certain is real because Biff makes hints that his father is unfaithful. The woman is a secretary at an important office and Willy's relationship with her is a display of his desperation to attain a higher level of success. The woman's purpose in Willy's life was to boost his confidence and frail self-esteem.
Ben-Willy's older deceased brother who happened upon glorious wealth after he ventured into an African jungle. Ben only appears during Willy's flashbacks where he is constantly asking his older brother for "the secret" to being successful. Willy admires his brother's lifestyle as much as he envies it. To Willy, Ben is the quintessential idea of a successful man and he often states how he regrets not having gone to the jungle with him.
Plot Summary
The play begins with Willy arriving home late one night, after a long commute from work, to a very concerned Linda. Linda keeps asking if Willy is "Alright" and if he "smash[ed] the car" and Willy reassures her he is alright although, he appears a little shook up after repeatedly zoning out during the drive home. Linda brings up the topic of their sons and Willy explodes with rage at his "lazy bum" of a son, Biff. Willy continues to the kitchen where he drifts into a daydream; reminiscing with himself about Biff polishing their old 1928 Chevy.
Introduction of Biff and Happy
Biff and Happy, in their bedroom, hear all the commotion and discuss how they hate their jobs, past girlfriends, and plans to raise their own farm. Meanwhile, Willy is still downstairs thinking back to a day when Biff was prepping for a big game. Willy gives Biff a high dollar punching bag and tells Linda he raked in "five hundred gross in Providence" by selling. After Bernard reminds Biff he should be studying for math, Willy tells Biff that he will go further in life if he is well-like by his peers. Willy hears a women's laughing. He "leaves" the kitchen and finds himself in a hotel room with The Woman and they exchange in playful flirting while she puts on her stockings. Charley, the neighbor enters the kitchen, checking to see what all the commotion is about. Charley and Willy play a card game when Willy sees his dead brother, Ben.
Ben
Apparently, Ben left for Alaska with his father to discover wealth while Willy was only three years old. Ben reveals that when he went after his father in Alaska, he accidentally took a different path and wound up in Africa, and became very rich. Willy comes back to reality and retires for the night. Linda, Biff, and Happy are in the kitchen now having a heated argument about them not caring enough about their father to find decent jobs. Biff as yet to understand why his mother still defends Willy, and she reveals that Willy has been trying to kill himself. The boys are taken aback and Biff agrees to take his job search more seriously(even though working-for-the-man kills him insides).
ACT TWO
Willy soon breaks this uplifting moment and begins to complain about the broken kitchen appliances he is always having to spend money on. Linda tells him that his sons are will be meeting him for dinner. Willy leaves for a meeting with Howard to ask for money. In Howard's office, Willy competes with a wireless recording machine for Howard's attention. Willy eventually is able to ask for money, but Howard rejects him. Willy leaves the office a wreck and heads to Charley's office where he runs into a successful Bernard. Willy asks Bernard what happened to Biff that made him so unmotivated in school and Bernard reveals that after he came back from Boston one summer, everything had changed.Willy asks for some money from Charley, but refuses to accept a job from him after he offers. Charley agrees to loan money, and Willy leaves the office in tears and tells Charley that he was his only friend.
The Restaurant
Biff arrives to the restaurant a little frantic after a disastrous attempt to find a job. When Willy arrives, Biff tries to explain how he waited for hours to see Bill Oliver. The intensity builds in the conversation as Biff struggles get the whole story in as Willy begins hearing the voices of young Bernard, Linda, and an operator calling his name. Willy rushes off stage, however, as a response to The Woman calling after him. Happy is the least bit concerned and Biff is so overcome with emotion he flees the restaurant. Having a flashback to a time when he was in a hotel room with The Woman. Stanley, the waiter, finds Willy and informs him his sons had left. Willy gives Stanley the money Charley lent him and goes to buy some seeds.
Back Home
Happy and Biff arrive home to an enraged Linda. Biff finds Willy planting a garden outside the house. Biff tells the family that he is going to leave with no plans of seeing or contacting them again. Linda agrees this is the best solution and tells Willy and Biff to shake hands. Willy refuses of course and Biff says he is through with all the dishonesty and tells Willy the reason he never could stick with a job was because Willy had "blew [him] so full of hot air" that he refused to take orders from anyone. Biff tells Willy to burn his "phony dream" and says he is leaving in the morning. When Biff goes up stairs, Willy is left in amazement, and says that Biff " is going to be magnificent!" The family retires for the night, except Willy who is talking to Ben about his life insurance. Ben is hurrying Willy to follow him and says they are running out of time. Willy gets in his car and crashes it.
Requiem
Linda, Happy, Biff, Bernard, and Charley are standing at Willy's grave. Linda is surprised that no one showed up to the funeral and can't understand why Willy wanted to kill himself. Happy is still cursing Willy for his selfishness and says the family could have easily helped him overcome his depression. Biff reflects on the good days when Willy would come home from his job and work around the house. Charley comments that Willy was happiest when he was working with his hands. There is a much bigger picture here that Hess is hinting at. Happy is determined to prove that Willy had a good dream by becoming a successful salesman by himself. In her moments alone, Linda says she has paid off their debts and repeats three times "We're free."
Analysis-Point of View
Arthur Miller offers a negative perspective on the "American Dream" and how it determines success. Willy Loman knows all about this "Dream" and Miller shows the audience the downside of trying to attain what society projects as the ideal lifestyle. The one character that seems to share Miller's pessimism is Biff. Biff Loman points out the flaws and side-effects that come with "white-collar" America. He does this either through dialogue or in his own inability to find happiness while working in the corporate world.
Tone
The feeling of hopelessness and dissatisfaction never really cease in Death of a Salesmen. Willy rarely, if ever, speaks positively of the present. The only moments of content are in his flash-backs. A bitterness still remains, however, because the audience knows Willy memories are not always replicas of the truth and that he is so unhappy with reality. Biff and Happy are also to characters that can not seem to ever get off on the right foot. It is inferred that Happy's life is headed toward a downward spiral just like Willy's. Biff decides to go off on his own to attempt at making a living doing something he loves, but it is at the expense of never seeing his family again.
Imagery
To match the rather melancholy tone of the play, the Loman home seems similarly drab. Miller never mentions any shiny fixtures or comfortable furniture. Instead, everything is very standard and the main room in the home where there is action is in the kitchen and yard. Apartment buildings surround and tower over the family's home and there is a scarcity of typical suburban greenery. It makes the audience realize how industry can ruin a home/neighborhood by stripping it of it's natural beauty. The location of the home makes it seem locked in which sort of illustrates the play's theme of immobility.
Theme
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman supports the idea that society's view of success simply places limitations on people through the reoccurring emphasis of paralysis and the character's inability to make progress in their lives.
Arthur Miller was born on Oct. 17, 1915, in Harlem, New York City and the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants. Miller's family was reasonably wealthy, until the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and was forced to take up laborious jobs to pay for his tuition at the University of Michigan where he majored in Journalism. Miller's most famous written works are All My Sons (1947), The Crucible (1953), and the 1961 film, The Misfits.
Setting
That time is probably in the 1940's, considering the play was published in 1949. The intro states that the play follows Willy Loman as "he visits in the New York and Boston of today." The Loman family live in a suburb, presumably just outside of the city, that is slowing transforming into a product of urban sprawl and industrialization. There are "apartment houses" surrounding the Loman home, instead of greenery.In the stage directions, Miller puts emphasis on the transparency of their house (set) and the fact that the characters can pass between walls in Willy's flashbacks.
Significant Characters
Willy Loman- Over sixty years old, Willy has the semblance of being worn and ran rugged. He is insecure about this status as both a salesman, and a good father. Willy desperately wants to be viewed by his peers as an illustrious salesman, and the play follows his struggle trying to strike upon success. He also fails at bringing up his sons to be successful in the business world. Willy has a hard time facing the disappointment of reality and often has vivid flashbacks of better times for him and his family. These flash-backs, in themselves, reveal hints to what cause the issues and tension inside the family.
Linda Loman- Wife to Willy, Linda is the rock of the family. She has given up any ambitions of her own to serve and support her husband. She is a master of turning a blind eye to Willy's raging antics and peculiar ways.Instead, she sees an honest, hard-working man that wants the best for his family. Linda is often guilty of pacifying Willy and compromising her sons' best interest to accommodate Willy's wishes.
Biff Loman- Former high school football star and most popular-guy-in-school. Now, he is thirty-four years old and has moved back with his parents after having little success working on a cattle ranch out West. Biff is stuck between providing for his family doing work he despises, or pursuing his own ambitions.He is not the brightest and has no experience in selling, however Willy, his father, is always pushing him to join the business. Biff is embarrassed by his father's mood swings and delusions and only really considers working as a salesman for his mother's sake.
Happy Loman- Happy is an able-bodied, thirty-two year old womanizer who has no ambition to do anything but please his parents. The problem is, Happy spends more time flirting with women than working.It seems wrong to say Happy aspires to be please his parents because he puts such little effort into work--and as a result is an embodiment of his father . As a child, Happy was shadowed by his big athletic brother and competed for his father's attention by trying to be just like him. He is similar to his father because he pretends to be more important than he really is and desires material success.
Charley- The Loman's next-door neighbor and object of Willy's envy. Charley is a successful businessman and his son, Bernard, is becoming a noteworthy lawyer. Charley loans Willy money so the family can get by each month and is characterized as a laid back parent--unlike Willy.
Bernard- Charley's son. In Willy's flashbacks, Bernard is characterized as nerdy and endlessly pestering Biff to study for his math class--which he is failing. As an adult, Willy visits Bernard and realizes who successful Bernard has become and deeply regrets not pushing Biff to study more. He is another reminder for Willy of how he has failed at properly raising his sons.
Howard Wagner-Willy's current boss who assumed the position after his father passed away;whom Willy had great admiration for. Howard is probably closer to Biff's age and is condescending to Willy. He sees little value in Willy and has no inclination to helping him out during his financial woes, even though Willy played a hand in naming him as a child, has worked for the company for over 20 years, and had great respect for his father.
The Woman- Willy had a mistress around the time Biff was graduating high school. The woman is much younger than Linda and is an element from Willy's flashbacks that the reader can be certain is real because Biff makes hints that his father is unfaithful. The woman is a secretary at an important office and Willy's relationship with her is a display of his desperation to attain a higher level of success. The woman's purpose in Willy's life was to boost his confidence and frail self-esteem.
Ben-Willy's older deceased brother who happened upon glorious wealth after he ventured into an African jungle. Ben only appears during Willy's flashbacks where he is constantly asking his older brother for "the secret" to being successful. Willy admires his brother's lifestyle as much as he envies it. To Willy, Ben is the quintessential idea of a successful man and he often states how he regrets not having gone to the jungle with him.
Plot Summary
The play begins with Willy arriving home late one night, after a long commute from work, to a very concerned Linda. Linda keeps asking if Willy is "Alright" and if he "smash[ed] the car" and Willy reassures her he is alright although, he appears a little shook up after repeatedly zoning out during the drive home. Linda brings up the topic of their sons and Willy explodes with rage at his "lazy bum" of a son, Biff. Willy continues to the kitchen where he drifts into a daydream; reminiscing with himself about Biff polishing their old 1928 Chevy.
Introduction of Biff and Happy
Biff and Happy, in their bedroom, hear all the commotion and discuss how they hate their jobs, past girlfriends, and plans to raise their own farm. Meanwhile, Willy is still downstairs thinking back to a day when Biff was prepping for a big game. Willy gives Biff a high dollar punching bag and tells Linda he raked in "five hundred gross in Providence" by selling. After Bernard reminds Biff he should be studying for math, Willy tells Biff that he will go further in life if he is well-like by his peers. Willy hears a women's laughing. He "leaves" the kitchen and finds himself in a hotel room with The Woman and they exchange in playful flirting while she puts on her stockings. Charley, the neighbor enters the kitchen, checking to see what all the commotion is about. Charley and Willy play a card game when Willy sees his dead brother, Ben.
Ben
Apparently, Ben left for Alaska with his father to discover wealth while Willy was only three years old. Ben reveals that when he went after his father in Alaska, he accidentally took a different path and wound up in Africa, and became very rich. Willy comes back to reality and retires for the night. Linda, Biff, and Happy are in the kitchen now having a heated argument about them not caring enough about their father to find decent jobs. Biff as yet to understand why his mother still defends Willy, and she reveals that Willy has been trying to kill himself. The boys are taken aback and Biff agrees to take his job search more seriously(even though working-for-the-man kills him insides).
ACT TWO
Willy soon breaks this uplifting moment and begins to complain about the broken kitchen appliances he is always having to spend money on. Linda tells him that his sons are will be meeting him for dinner. Willy leaves for a meeting with Howard to ask for money. In Howard's office, Willy competes with a wireless recording machine for Howard's attention. Willy eventually is able to ask for money, but Howard rejects him. Willy leaves the office a wreck and heads to Charley's office where he runs into a successful Bernard. Willy asks Bernard what happened to Biff that made him so unmotivated in school and Bernard reveals that after he came back from Boston one summer, everything had changed.Willy asks for some money from Charley, but refuses to accept a job from him after he offers. Charley agrees to loan money, and Willy leaves the office in tears and tells Charley that he was his only friend.
The Restaurant
Biff arrives to the restaurant a little frantic after a disastrous attempt to find a job. When Willy arrives, Biff tries to explain how he waited for hours to see Bill Oliver. The intensity builds in the conversation as Biff struggles get the whole story in as Willy begins hearing the voices of young Bernard, Linda, and an operator calling his name. Willy rushes off stage, however, as a response to The Woman calling after him. Happy is the least bit concerned and Biff is so overcome with emotion he flees the restaurant. Having a flashback to a time when he was in a hotel room with The Woman. Stanley, the waiter, finds Willy and informs him his sons had left. Willy gives Stanley the money Charley lent him and goes to buy some seeds.
Back Home
Happy and Biff arrive home to an enraged Linda. Biff finds Willy planting a garden outside the house. Biff tells the family that he is going to leave with no plans of seeing or contacting them again. Linda agrees this is the best solution and tells Willy and Biff to shake hands. Willy refuses of course and Biff says he is through with all the dishonesty and tells Willy the reason he never could stick with a job was because Willy had "blew [him] so full of hot air" that he refused to take orders from anyone. Biff tells Willy to burn his "phony dream" and says he is leaving in the morning. When Biff goes up stairs, Willy is left in amazement, and says that Biff " is going to be magnificent!" The family retires for the night, except Willy who is talking to Ben about his life insurance. Ben is hurrying Willy to follow him and says they are running out of time. Willy gets in his car and crashes it.
Requiem
Linda, Happy, Biff, Bernard, and Charley are standing at Willy's grave. Linda is surprised that no one showed up to the funeral and can't understand why Willy wanted to kill himself. Happy is still cursing Willy for his selfishness and says the family could have easily helped him overcome his depression. Biff reflects on the good days when Willy would come home from his job and work around the house. Charley comments that Willy was happiest when he was working with his hands. There is a much bigger picture here that Hess is hinting at. Happy is determined to prove that Willy had a good dream by becoming a successful salesman by himself. In her moments alone, Linda says she has paid off their debts and repeats three times "We're free."
Analysis-Point of View
Arthur Miller offers a negative perspective on the "American Dream" and how it determines success. Willy Loman knows all about this "Dream" and Miller shows the audience the downside of trying to attain what society projects as the ideal lifestyle. The one character that seems to share Miller's pessimism is Biff. Biff Loman points out the flaws and side-effects that come with "white-collar" America. He does this either through dialogue or in his own inability to find happiness while working in the corporate world.
Tone
The feeling of hopelessness and dissatisfaction never really cease in Death of a Salesmen. Willy rarely, if ever, speaks positively of the present. The only moments of content are in his flash-backs. A bitterness still remains, however, because the audience knows Willy memories are not always replicas of the truth and that he is so unhappy with reality. Biff and Happy are also to characters that can not seem to ever get off on the right foot. It is inferred that Happy's life is headed toward a downward spiral just like Willy's. Biff decides to go off on his own to attempt at making a living doing something he loves, but it is at the expense of never seeing his family again.
Imagery
To match the rather melancholy tone of the play, the Loman home seems similarly drab. Miller never mentions any shiny fixtures or comfortable furniture. Instead, everything is very standard and the main room in the home where there is action is in the kitchen and yard. Apartment buildings surround and tower over the family's home and there is a scarcity of typical suburban greenery. It makes the audience realize how industry can ruin a home/neighborhood by stripping it of it's natural beauty. The location of the home makes it seem locked in which sort of illustrates the play's theme of immobility.
Theme
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman supports the idea that society's view of success simply places limitations on people through the reoccurring emphasis of paralysis and the character's inability to make progress in their lives.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Close Reading: "No One Brings Dinner When You Daughter Is An Addict"
Larry M. Lake, a writing professor at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., submitted a heart-felt commentary to Slate.com about the stigma of mental disorders. Lake contrasts the support his family received from their neighbors when his wife, Mary-Beth, was going through chemo therapy with the time his daughter, Maggie, was checked into a psychiatric hospital. As a pleading father for a societal change and as a writer, Lake uses imagery, language, and syntax to prove that dealing with mental illness affects families the same as any sickness.
The author makes sure the reader understands the magnitude of support his family received during his wife's battle with breast cancer by vividly describing the dishes they were given. For months, neighbors brought them "chicken breasts encrusted in parmesan, covered safely in tin-foil;pots of soup with hearty bread;bubbling pans of lasagna and macaroni and cheese,...and warm pies overflowing with syrups of cherries or apples." The author is flooding the reader with images of warm, well-prepared dishes that prove the family's neighbors were genuinely showing concern for them. A few paragraphs later, the author is describing Maggie while working in the garden at her drugs and alcohol addiction treatment center. In the garden, Maggie "arranged rocks around an angel statue "and planted flowers. The author wants to capture the essence of rebirth and freshness when he describes his daughter, a struggling addict, "carrying buckets of water to nurture impatiens, petunia, delphinium, and geranium." The euphoria of this scene would be lost if the author simply said, "she watered flowers in the garden." With the additional details, the reader imagines a heavenly place where Maggie is planting seeds and growing internally. Another example of the author using powerful imagery to convey Maggie's journey to recovery was the description of the chaos that ensued her horrific car crash. He says, "the accident site was a garish roadside attraction of backboards" with "IV tubes", "strobing lights", "the deep thumping of helicopter blades", and Maggie's front tooth "lay[ing] in a puddle of blood on the ground." Here the author is attending to the reader's senses to illustrate the shift in environment/setting. By the author paying attention to imagery, the reader attributes warm and loving images to the family's experience with Mary-Beth's breast cancer. In contrast, empty refrigerators, bruises, and gritty images are associated with Maggie's story to convey the different treatment the family received from their peers.
Language is used creatively by Lake and is often used to make powerful comparisons that stick in the reader's mind. For example, after Maggie survives the violent car crash, Lake describes her lying in a hospital bed with a "swollen mass of stitches" and dried blood still "caked in her ears." The author compares Mary-Beth trying to clean up the blood "with a licked paper towel, as if she were gently wiping Maggie's face of grape jelly smudges or white donut powder just after Sunday school." This simile does more than describe Mary Beth's actions, but hints to her desperation to help her daughter like she used to back when times were much simpler. The effect of this simile plucks at the reader's emotions and allows them to see deeper into this family's suffering. Another example of the author using language effectively was when he retells the day he returned Maggie back to the addiction center after the crash. He said Maggie was "a heroine in a wheelchair among heroin addicts and alcoholics." Although the author never states that Maggie used heroin, it is implied through the details of her "drug abuse" and "arrest for drug possession". By placing "heroine" and "heroin" together, the author is using the connotation of heroine to describe Maggie. Though the words sound the same, the reader is made to understand the difference. Maggie is a heroine and has transcended her heroin dependency.
Throughout Lake's essay, syntax is regularly used as a tool to create drama.The first line opens "When my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, we ate well." The reader soon discovers this is the author's way of explaining the great support his neighbors showed by giving them delicious meals. Then, Lake introduces Maggie's story.To remind the reader of the lack of support his family received, after he would explain a painful moment in Maggie's illness, we would follow it with a short sentence like "No warm casseroles." This pattern is seen in the rest of the essay to show the continued lack of support the neighbors showed during this difficult time. The brevity of these sentences stand out from the longer, more descriptive lines that surround it. This grabs the reader's attention and ensures they take the correct message away; mental disorder equals no food which means, no support. Of course, the author is not saying that giving food is the only way someone can sincerely show their concern for others. However, by saying "No scalloped potatoes in tinfoil pans," the author is pointing out how Mary Beth's cancer seems to resonate differently among people from Maggie's bipolar disorder. In this case, it was represented through their sympathy dishes.
THE ARTICLE:http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2013/11/families_dealing_with_mental_illness_need_support_too.html
The author makes sure the reader understands the magnitude of support his family received during his wife's battle with breast cancer by vividly describing the dishes they were given. For months, neighbors brought them "chicken breasts encrusted in parmesan, covered safely in tin-foil;pots of soup with hearty bread;bubbling pans of lasagna and macaroni and cheese,...and warm pies overflowing with syrups of cherries or apples." The author is flooding the reader with images of warm, well-prepared dishes that prove the family's neighbors were genuinely showing concern for them. A few paragraphs later, the author is describing Maggie while working in the garden at her drugs and alcohol addiction treatment center. In the garden, Maggie "arranged rocks around an angel statue "and planted flowers. The author wants to capture the essence of rebirth and freshness when he describes his daughter, a struggling addict, "carrying buckets of water to nurture impatiens, petunia, delphinium, and geranium." The euphoria of this scene would be lost if the author simply said, "she watered flowers in the garden." With the additional details, the reader imagines a heavenly place where Maggie is planting seeds and growing internally. Another example of the author using powerful imagery to convey Maggie's journey to recovery was the description of the chaos that ensued her horrific car crash. He says, "the accident site was a garish roadside attraction of backboards" with "IV tubes", "strobing lights", "the deep thumping of helicopter blades", and Maggie's front tooth "lay[ing] in a puddle of blood on the ground." Here the author is attending to the reader's senses to illustrate the shift in environment/setting. By the author paying attention to imagery, the reader attributes warm and loving images to the family's experience with Mary-Beth's breast cancer. In contrast, empty refrigerators, bruises, and gritty images are associated with Maggie's story to convey the different treatment the family received from their peers.
Language is used creatively by Lake and is often used to make powerful comparisons that stick in the reader's mind. For example, after Maggie survives the violent car crash, Lake describes her lying in a hospital bed with a "swollen mass of stitches" and dried blood still "caked in her ears." The author compares Mary-Beth trying to clean up the blood "with a licked paper towel, as if she were gently wiping Maggie's face of grape jelly smudges or white donut powder just after Sunday school." This simile does more than describe Mary Beth's actions, but hints to her desperation to help her daughter like she used to back when times were much simpler. The effect of this simile plucks at the reader's emotions and allows them to see deeper into this family's suffering. Another example of the author using language effectively was when he retells the day he returned Maggie back to the addiction center after the crash. He said Maggie was "a heroine in a wheelchair among heroin addicts and alcoholics." Although the author never states that Maggie used heroin, it is implied through the details of her "drug abuse" and "arrest for drug possession". By placing "heroine" and "heroin" together, the author is using the connotation of heroine to describe Maggie. Though the words sound the same, the reader is made to understand the difference. Maggie is a heroine and has transcended her heroin dependency.
Throughout Lake's essay, syntax is regularly used as a tool to create drama.The first line opens "When my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, we ate well." The reader soon discovers this is the author's way of explaining the great support his neighbors showed by giving them delicious meals. Then, Lake introduces Maggie's story.To remind the reader of the lack of support his family received, after he would explain a painful moment in Maggie's illness, we would follow it with a short sentence like "No warm casseroles." This pattern is seen in the rest of the essay to show the continued lack of support the neighbors showed during this difficult time. The brevity of these sentences stand out from the longer, more descriptive lines that surround it. This grabs the reader's attention and ensures they take the correct message away; mental disorder equals no food which means, no support. Of course, the author is not saying that giving food is the only way someone can sincerely show their concern for others. However, by saying "No scalloped potatoes in tinfoil pans," the author is pointing out how Mary Beth's cancer seems to resonate differently among people from Maggie's bipolar disorder. In this case, it was represented through their sympathy dishes.
THE ARTICLE:http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2013/11/families_dealing_with_mental_illness_need_support_too.html
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