Read through page 33 in Death of a Salesman. Choose the lines (1-3 sentences) that you think is the most important in the first 33 pages. Then in 250 words, explain why you feel those lines are most important? What do they reveal?
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" I have vital in New Jersey"
ReplyDeleteI think that this is one of the most important line in the first 33 pages, because it is underscoring Willy's conviction that he is a successful man.
I believe that this quote may represent the Willy's failure of the American Dream. Willy imagines that he has the perfect skills for being a famous and wealth man, but he is wrong and this quote may portray his idea of success that he will not achieve in these first 33 pages.
Therefore this quote puts in confront two different themes of the play, Willy's imaginary success against he's personal failure
Guido Cafaggi
In Death of a Salesman the main theme is the achieving of the American Dream, in fact Arthur Miller, the author, didn’t believe in this so talked and never established “dream”. The author saw his own father trying achieving his “American Dream” and failing miserably therefore this episode destroyed the last hope Arthur Miller couls’ve possibly had of this American Dream. In Death of a Salesman the American Dream is shown as from a wealthy family which believes that the America Dream can only be something materialistic in fact at pg.33 Willy, the protagonist, the father/the leader of the house says: "Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead." This statement underlines the instability in which Arthur Miller lives, especially the instability of the society he was in. In that period the only important things were “materials”/ goods. During our long classes of working on the American Dream definition we can see how this type of mentality is specific of the wealthy part of the society; in fact in that period poor people felt more pressure on achieving the Dream because of their inability to get a great house, a beautiful car and so on… instead of thinking that the all point in the famous Dream is to try achieving what each one wants through hard work and great will. In my opinion in the first 33 pages of the book the most important sentence is the one above, because it illustrate an issue that regards all of us and because from this only sentence we can retrieve something that, if read a little about Arthur Miller’s life, is very relevant to his life and it regards someone, his dad, and something, his dad’s business troubles, that happened to him directly and that marked for ever the author.
ReplyDelete''I am vital in New England. But you're sixty years old. ‘’
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion these three sentences have a big impact on these 33 pages. Since we all know that Willy is very old and his capabilities are not on very high level, we can also see a great will to help his own family. His wife keeps on encouraging him, but sometimes his thoughts go out of the orbit. He doesn’t want to accept the fact that he is old and that he is not able to work like before. Through these 33 pages it is very well described that he is not anymore like he was before. He keeps on ‘day dreaming’ while he is driving, talk to himself (in the kitchen) and he forgets is he said something or not (the case with windshield). That night he got home very late and he was very tired. After some discussion with his wife he stayed in kitchen because he wanted to eat. In those moments he started daydreaming. He was talking to himself and he was dreaming about his family. He was thinking about his two sons talking and discussing about their lives. He was very happy in that dream, meanwhile, that dream is a contrast towards the reality. In the dream everything was perfect, while in reality he had a lot of problems with his sons. His son Biff left the house and went living on his own, even though he is not able to do so because he still didn’t earn anything. It seems that Willy is not satisfied with the life he has and he would to have better life. That’s why he keeps on daydreaming and looking for perfect life.
However there is a relationship between these themes and American dream. We can say that Willy has not achieved his dream because he is not happy with his family, he doesn’t have good life and he is not happy at all. In order to survive, he finds his salvation is daydreaming.
Dimitrije Miskovic
IB English B2-HL
Ms.Gelso
10.October.2010
Dimitrije--very thoughtful post! I am glad to see that you focused some on his imaginings and the American dream. For me it really calls into question what the American dream should be. Willy has a house and a family and a car and a job... many times people consider these qualities to fulfill the dream of a happy and successful life. Why does Willy not feel happy and successful?
ReplyDelete“There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country! Population is getting out of control. The competition is maddening! Smell the stink from that apartment house!”
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion this speech by Willy is one of the most important of the first 33 pages for various reasons. From this words the reader can understand that Willy is in a very difficult situation. He is frustrated and he doesn’t believe in the possibility for him to achieve the American Dream. He complains, he talks about competition and the growth of population, two things that characterized America in the period where the play is set. In addition he talks about the stink of the apartment house, I think this means that the apartment house is too little for the number of people who live there, this shows that he and all those who live close to him don’t have a lot of money. Finally this speech is also very important because it wakes up Biff and Happy who were sleeping, this means that Willy was screaming when he said this thing therefore it suggests that he really meant what he was saying. As a conclusion the fact that Biff and Happy woke up is important because they will start to participate to the discussion immediately after this speech.
I think the most important line of the first 33 pages of the play write ''Death of a salesman'' has been said by Willy in page 29: ''I got the feeling that i'll never sell anything again, that i won't make a living for you, or a business, a business for the boys''. I think this quote may have many significant meanings within the play. Firstly when i read it i immediately thought about Willy's failure in achieving the American Dream. In order to achieve the American Dream you must stand for your dream in a positive way and you must particularly believe in what you are doing, knowing that one day you will achieve what you worked for years. In this phrase Willy seems to contradict the attitude an individual should have in order to obtain the American Dream. In fact he has a negative prospective, he thinks he will never reach what he wants, therefore he approaches the dream in a very pessimistic way. Maybe this phrase at page 29 can help us to look forward and arrive at the conclusion of the story. Perhaps by knowing Arthur Miller's biography Willy will end up doing what Arthur Miller's father did.
ReplyDeleteAngelica--I am really glad to see you connecting what is happening in the play to Arthur Miller's own life. While we can't always draw connections between what an author has experienced and what an author has written, here is it both appropriate and telling.
ReplyDeleteRiccardo--You picked several interesting lines. Challenge yourself to think more deeply about what these lines might mean in terms of larger themes in the book.
Giulio--Just as a note, make sure you always capitalize your pronoun "I." Also: "perspective" not "prospective." Otherwise, excellent job connecting Willy's lines to his difficulty in achieving the American dream.