...Ali Justice Ms. Thompson EN ACCEL 3-11 8 February 2015 Living Out the Dream Some people risk everything and leave everything behind to come live the “American dream”. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller he describes a character that has a distinctive vision of the American dream. Willy Loman struggles through life thinking that he just needs people to like him and make a lot of money to be successful. In “Death of a Traveling Salesman” by Eudora Welty R.J. Bowman is an average salesman. He is not happy with the life he lives, and dies lonely. Both these men eventually come to the conclusion that money cannot by happiness or love. It is great to be very passionate about your job, but if you do not have a family to share that with then what is the point? Willy...
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...Death of A Salesman/Tragedy Heros A common man is just as capable as being a tragedy hero as a person of royalty would be. Many people have their own flaws and can be considered a tragedy hero in their own way. In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller there are many characters that are described as tragedy heros. The main characters that are considered tragedy heros would be Willy, Linda and Biff. Willy is definitely a common man who is a tragedy hero because he dose not come from royalty or wealth. One way Willy exhibits a tragedy hero in Death of a Salesman is he is losing his mind from working and traveling so much. Working is causing Willy to lose his mind because he works so hard and travels so far to barely earn any money to put food on the table and it is mentally wearing him out. An example of this is when Willy says “I’m tired to death. I couldn’t make it. I just couldn’t make it”. This quote is showing how Willy is mentally and physically exhausted and could not make it to work. In addition, Linda can also be considered a tragedy hero in Death of a Salesman. Linda can be considered a tragedy hero because Linda is letting Willy kill himself even tho she cares and loves him so much. This can be shown in the quote by Linda “ I found a rubber hose next to the water heater with an attachment at the end of it...Every day I go down and take away the rubber pipe. But, When he comes home I put it back where it was”. This is showing that she is doing nothing...
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...Dream: Analysis of Death of a Salesman A tragedy play is a source of drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to extreme suffer or sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with lack of approval or support. Arthur Miller’s tragedy play, Death of a Salesman can be viewed as a urology of a man who was a constant dreamer, which represents his life and tragic death as he tries to fulfill his visions of having the American Dream. American tragedy explores the great myths that govern a society by examining the lives of its most ordinary citizens. Miller vividly expresses ideas throughout his play by demonstrating a changing society. Also, reading Death of a Salesman allows the play to be psychologically viewed as one man’s journey from shame and his own lack of self-confidence. Arthur Miller portrays Willy, his family, and other characters situation by the use of symbolism and themes, he accurately puts into words what every human being thinks, feels, and worries about, but often has trouble expressing. The lead character is Willy Loman, a failing door-to-door salesman coming to the end of his life but doggedly holding on to lost dreams. In the beginning of the play, we see Willy returning home to his wife Linda after almost crashing his car. Linda begins to worry about her husband and fears what may happen in the future. We soon learn why Willy is unable to continue his career as a salesman, which he has followed for...
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...for his own misfortune. He has never taken responsibility for any of the disgraces in his life and has constantly blamed everyone, for not being able to live the life he feels he deserves. Some people are able to curb unrealistic expectations into something that is more tangible for them, while others such as Willy are not. Normally a salesman is someone who is able to accept their flaws and learn ways to improve, because this is how they make their living. Because Willy Loman never fully accepts his flaws, he has no way of progressing in life. He has reached the age where he can’t compete with the younger salesmen or keep up with the traveling that is required in order to be successful in his field. This is causing great strife in his life. The pride of a man can contribute to his life by being either a great asset or a ridiculous flaw. This trait is definitely a flaw for Willy Loman. Pride can assist you with taking control of your life and allow you to get what you think you deserve, however, it can also be crippling. This was the case for Willy. Pride kept him from talking to his boss earlier in his life as to why he needs to stop traveling and work from New York. Driving over 700 miles out of town just to come home empty handed would be too much for anyone, but it definitely weighs a toll on a 60 year old man. Once Biff decided he would stay in town and start working on building a company with his brother, it was then that he decided to have the talk with Howard Wagner...
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...Fiction analysis 702 Words March 2, 2013 Death of A Salesman By Arthur Miller Death of a salesman is a play that displays an imagine of the “American Dream” . Critics describe Death of a Salesman as the first great American tragedy and gave Miller credit for being the first in understanding the deep fundamentals that make up the United States. The play by Arthur Miller is based on the difficulty of achieving economic and individual success in a World War II society. In the play Miller presents differences between successful visions of the "American Dream" and "unsuccessful" ones. As the play goes on it continues to describe how the failure of William Loman’s and son’s Biff and Happy’s dream dies out. William Loman is portrayed as an insecure self-deluded traveling salesman. In a flashback, Willy tells his sons what it takes to be successful in America. He states, "Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. You take me, for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. Willy Loman is here!" That’s all they have to know, and I go right through" (Miller). In reality this is only Willy’s fantasy. It appears that Willy is actually taken as a joke to other salesmen. Willy’s instability doesn’t allow him to fit into the society he pictures. As Willy is taking a shot at success his personal relationships begins to fail him. Willy is than found...
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...The only thing a salesman needs is a smile and shoeshine. For year Willy Loman lives a life of traveling and selling, but as his age increases his mental state declines. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, we follow a delusional, suicidal man who is forced to face the harsh truth of his life. Throughout this play, Willy reimagines his life as he saw, but is really running from the truth with his delusions of grandeur. He believes he plays an important role in his job, his oldest son Biff is a prodigy, and that his is going to make it out alive. As readers watch Willy’s mental state unravel, his death is inevitable and unavoidable. The death of Willy Loman rests in the hands of his son Biff; once his true identity is revealed it’s too much for his father to bare. Biff is the apple of his father’s eyes, he was a football star, an aspiring salesman, and idolized his father. In many of Willy’s delusions we see him...
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...Reaction Paper – Fiction: Drama ENG/125 June 22, 2015 Reaction Paper – Fiction: Drama In the weeks reading, “Death of a salesman”, writing by Arthur Miller, created a scene in which plots a salesman with many problems. The technology that was presented was around 1949 in which no modern computers or emails existed. A salesman had to travel by car on his own to create income for his family and although many salesmen had family to support in cities where they would have to leave for weeks at a time, the salesman would always find time for his or her family. The salesman name is Willy in which his family is mentioned throughout the play. At the beginning his wife Linda, is always very supportive of his views towards his sales career as Willy has to make sales all over the United States and travels a lot in order to make his career strong. Willy Loman, an old salesman, returns early from a business trip. After nearly crashing multiple times, Willy has a moment of enlightenment and realizes he shouldn't be driving. Seeing that her husband is no longer able to do his job as a traveling salesman, Willy's wife, Linda, suggests that he ask his boss, Howard, to give him a local office job at the New York headquarters. Willy thinks that getting the new job is a sure thing since he (wrongly) sees himself as a valuable salesman. We begin to learn some family background and hear about Willy and Linda's grown sons, Biff and Happy. Biff has just returned home from working as a farmhand...
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...“ The greatest sacrifice is when you sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of someone else”( unknown). In the play the Death of a Salesman, the main character Willy Loman makes a plethora of sacrifices for his own family. Willy is the proud father of two boys, Happy and Biff. He is married to a extremely devoted woman named Linda. Willy spends almost all of his time away from home and the people he loves in attempt to make enough money to pay the bills. Throughout the play Willy sacrifices his job, family, and in the end his life. Willy Loman worked for thirty-five years as a traveling salesman throughout New England. Continuously driving from New York to Boston, he sacrificed time away from his family. Spending days away...
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...DEATH OF A SALESMAN Study Guide for Teachers World-Class Theatre in the Heart of Vermont 703 Main Stre e t , W eston, V T 05161 www.westonplayhouse.o rg The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company The 2010 WPTC Teacher’s Workshop and the School Matinee and Touring Production is made possible in part by grants from: The Bay and Paul Foundations Mountain Room Foundation National Endowment for the Arts The Shubert Foundation The Vermont Country Store and The Orton Family Vermont Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities With additional contributions from: Black River Produce Berkshire Bank Clark’s Quality Foods Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation Ezra Jack Keats Foundation Okemo Mountain Resort Thrifty Attic …and an ever growing family of individuals who believe in the impact that the performing arts can have on its community. This Teachers Study Guide was compiled and edited by Rena Murman. Credit and thanks to the following theatres for materials used or referenced from study guides created for Death of a Salesman: Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis, MN; Kennedy Center, Washington, DC; Lyric Theatre, London; Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh; Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT. © 2010 Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational and cultural institution. WPTC Performance Guides may be duplicated at no charge for educational purposes only. They may not be sold or used in other publications without the express written consent...
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...Drama is defined as “A prose or verse composition, especially one telling a serious story, that is intended for representation by actors impersonating the characters and performing the dialogue and action”. Through out the works of drama, Death of a Salesman, Trifles, and A Dolls House, the plays center around 3 very different families and their everyday struggle of living with a lack of a support system. Through out the stories the audience is taken on a Journey of the struggles and emotions of feeling and being lonely. A series of conflicts cause these three characters to realize there is no support system available to them. In Trifles by Susan Gladspell, Mrs. John Wright most definitely regrets her isolation at the farm house outside of town. We begin to understand this atmosphere when Mrs. Hales reveals, “It never seemed a very cheerful place” (634) This shows the audience that she truly feels alone and that there really is no one on her farm for her to turn to for real companionship and support. Due to Mrs. Wright’s lack of support she was driven to confide and seek friendship in a small bird. She began singing to the bird and cause tension between John Wright and herself. Mr. Wright was known to neglect his wife and stop her from singing. She was driven to the point of murdering her husband because of his neglect and the ever absent support system. To show her lack of support Gladspell implements that other characters within the play even realize she needs a...
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...Death of a Salesman Act one Part 1 A flute plays softly as the light rises on a house surrounded by tall, angular buildings. The sparsely decorated kitchen is visible with a dark drape at the back leading into the living room. To the left and up a little is a second story bedroom with only a brass bed and a straight chair. Above the unseen living room is another bedroom with two beds; a stairway at the left curves up to the room from the kitchen. The empty stage between the house and the audience is the back yard, the scene of Willy's imaginings, as well as the city scenes. Whenever the action of the play is in the present, the characters act as if the imaginary walls are real and they enter and exit rooms only through doors. But when the action is in a memory, the characters step through the walls and onto the forestage. Willy Loman, a sixty-year-old traveling salesman, enters his home late at night with two large sample cases. His wife, Linda, hears him coming up the stairs to their bedroom. She seems worried that something has happened, that he has wrecked the car again, or that he's ill, but Willy assures her that he is fine, just tired. Sitting on the bed with her, he explains that he came home because he was having trouble staying on the road while he drove, and he is unsure of what caused his distraction. It could've been the coffee he had at a roadside diner or the way he opened the windshield of the car and the scenery and sunshine just washed over him. Whatever...
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...Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009) Company: Starz/Anchor Bay Director: Peter Hyams Actors: Michael Douglas Jesse Metcalf Amber Tamblyn Beyond a Reasonable Doubt is a remake of a 1956 noir movie with the same title. It was submitted to theaters in 2009 by the Starz/Anchor Bay production company. Directed by Peter Hyams and starring Jesse Metcalf, Michael Douglas, and Amber Tamblyn, this movie is a riveting thriller that focuses on a successful DA that will do whatever it takes to win a case. I chose this film because it was fairly recent and the plot focused on the office of a District Attorney. In the movie, a district attorney, Martin Hunter (Michael Douglas) has a nearly flawless record of convicting criminals and surely has aspirations for the governor’s office. When ambitious rookie journalist, C.J. Nicholas (Jesse Metcalf) begins investigating Hunter for tampering with evidence to secure his convictions, the story takes an interesting turn. C.J., with the help of his videographer, frames himself as a murder suspect to make a grand attempt to catch the D.A. in an act of corruption. Assistant D.A. Ella Crystal (Amber Tamblyn) becomes romantically involved with C.J. and must choose between her recently convicted boyfriend and her potentially corrupt boss. Ella chooses to believe and help her boyfriend, thereby putting her own career and eventually life in jeopardy in order to obtain incriminating proof that puts the fate of both C.J's innocence and Hunter's reputation...
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...Angela Jamison Mr. Grubbs Y.A. Literature 12 October 2012 Ann Brashares was born in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She became an editor when she decided to take a year off of school, but stayed there because she loved her job so much. She then wrote her first book, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants ("Ann Brashares author bio"). She said she got the idea from talking with a friend who shared a story about a summer where her and her friends shared a pair of jeans ("Ann Brashares author bio"). The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is about how four very different best friends find a pair of jeans that fit all of them. They decide the jeans are magic because they are all different sizes. Carmen is bigger, Lena is tiny, Tibby is normal sized, and Bridgett is athletic, tall, and lean. So, if the jeans fit all of them, then they must be magic. They decide to share the jeans over the summer and send them to each other throughout the summer because they will all be in different places. Lena went to Greece to see meet her grandparents, Bridgett went to Mexico for soccer camp, Carmen went to visit her father, and poor Tibby was left working at the local grocery store. However, this summer would change all of their lives. For the most part, each one of them experiences a search for love even if they did not mean to. Lena fell in love with someone while in Greece, Bridgett with a soccer camp counselor, Carmen re-established her relationship with her father, and Tibby gained a new friend...
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...“Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller Jeff Silmser English 200 Z1 Anne Devlin December 14, 2012 Willy Loman In the play “Death of a Salesman” written by Arthur Miller, the character Willy Loman has a very complicated relationship with his family; this makes me feel a sense of admiration for the character, as well as a sense of sorrow, and loss. Willy seems to live part of his life in reality, and the other in fantasy of what could have been. Willy often fantasizes about his dreams. Willy particularly has dreams about his son Biff, Willy feels like Biff has never lived up to his potential. Biff has trouble holding down a decent job. Biff returns home often between jobs, and this reminds Willy of his sons lost potential, which seems to infuriate Willy which may bring on more hallucinations, quite the vicious circle. The relationship that Willy has with Linda his wife is one of patience and understanding, and a whole lot of co-dependence going on. Willy would be lost without Linda. The part of the dysfunction in the relationship is Linda enables Willy to live part of his life in a world of fantasy, constantly defending Willy’s actions, trying to explain away, or blame away the fact that during many of Willy’s hallucinations he is an active participant, often speaking out loud to somebody we can’t see. Willy also has an unusual relationship with his neighbor Charley. Willy envies Charley because he has been successful in business, and has become a constant reminder...
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...Through the ages, there have been many different views on what makes a tragic hero. The archetype for a tragic hero has been set by Aristotle, from his rendition we learn that a tragic hero must “be better than we are”, born of nobility. Someone who is superior to the average person in some way, but at the same time, must evoke pity in the eyes of the audience. Arthur Miller, however, opposes Aristotle’s views saying that the common man can indeed be a tragic hero. The character must be willing to lay down his life to secure his sense of personal dignity. Furthermore, in act 2 of the play, the author reveals to the audience the reason behind Willy’s failure and guilt. It is also this section of the play that Willy is fired from his job, after this incident it is shown that Willy’s flaw as a tragic hero is his excessive pride because after being fired his longtime friend, Charley, who runs his own sales company, extended to him a job offer. But Willy refuses to take it saying that his sons are working on a big business deal and that he didn’t need the job offer. “I offered you a job. You can make fifty dollars a week…” but Willy replies “what’s the matter with you? I’ve got a job.” This shows that even under the direst of circumstances that Willy is too stubborn to take a job offer from one of the only friends he has got in life. At the end of the play, as a way to reassure himself that he wants to commit suicide he manifests his older brother Ben to act as conscience for what...
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