Characters:
Biff: stops blindly following his father and provides some hope for the future.
Happy:follows in his fathers footsteps, a player
Linda: Madonna, loves Willy and views him as a child
Mistress: whore, gets kicked around
Willy: has big dreams and high expectations, daddy problems
Bernard: actually successful because his father doesn't push him to be something he isn't
Plot:
Willy is a salesman living with his wife Linda and his two adult sons. He is growing older and is not capable of driving back and forth to New England to sell things like he used to. Biff and Happy are disappointments to him, but he also contradicts himself often and says how wonderful and hardworking they are. Right from the beginning of the play Willy has many flashbacks involving his brother Ben, who became very wealthy, and the boys younger days when they adored him. Throughout the play Willy becomes more and more confused and has these flashbacks often. Linda tells her sons this and Biff promises to meet with Bill Oliver and ask for a loan so he can provide for his family. She continues to try and find out why Biff and Willy do not get along, while the audience learns that Biff walked in on his father having an affair. Willy goes to his boss to ask for a job that does not require so much driving, gets fired, and then refuses a job from his friend Charlie who has been lending him money. Willy goes from here to a restaurant where he is meeting Biff and Happy to talk about Biff's meeting with Bill Oliver. This turns into a very emotional scene when Biff tries to stop lying and tell his father that his perception of life is not reality. The play ends with Willy killing himself just as the mortgage on their house is payed off, and no one attends the funeral except the family.
Theme: The sense of entitlement for the idealized American Dream of financial and social prosperity can lead to tragedy.
Quotes:
"We're free" This is what Linda says at the end of the play after Willy kills himself. She is referring to the fact that the mortgage on their house is finally payed off.
"He's liked, but not well liked" Willy repeats this throughout the play showing that he believes a personal touch is necessary is business. He thinks being known and liked is important, but this is proved wrong when he is fired by his boss after thirty years.
Setting: This is set in urban America in the 1940's, when business began to grow rapidly. The setting is important because the whole play is about the apartments, and business, encroaching and ruining the Loemans lives.
Title: Death of a Salesman. Willy says he wanted to be a salesman because he heard of an 80 year old man who would call up anyone he wanted and sell to them from his home, and could earn a living this way. Willy said this man had the "death of a salesman" and this is what he desired.
I think this will be very helpful to you when we have to go back and review our plays and books. I liked how you explained the characters and what each of the represented. I don't know how good of a memory you have but you might want to put more things like their relation to each other and how old they are because their age leads to things like being a failed Christ figure. Your plot has the entire story in it but for me it's easier to read things that are in bullet points. It's easier to look at and to memorize. I like your quotes and explanations but do you really think that these are the best to represent the entire play. Is the fact that they paid off their mortgage one of the most important parts of the play? The rest of it looks very good. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteIf there's one suggestion I would make, it would be to add a bit more analysis to your quotes. In a few months when you look back at this, you're probably going to want a more complete analysis of the book, because you're not going to want to repeat the work you've done.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emily that a bullet-point summary is easier to read, but ultimately it's up to personal preference. Also, I would include Charley and Howard as characters. Even though he may not be extremely important, they're still helpful to understanding the plot. Overall a solid post that will serve as a good study guide for you in May!
Two small things I forgot to add to my post. At the end of your summary, you write that nobody attended the funeral but the Loman family, but Charley and Bernard also attended Willy's funeral. This may seem like a minor point, but this is where Charley delivers his speech about how Willy was a salesman. Also please disable captcha verification.
DeleteHi Alice,
ReplyDeleteYour post covered all the areas but if I could make a suggestion it's to expand upon your descriptions of your quotes. It seems like they could gain a lot more depth that could help a lot when trying to do things such as write essays. Like everybody else I prefer the bullet-point system simply because it makes it easier to read and I'd suggest you try it out. Other than that your analysis seemed well developed and you covered all the main points of the story.
Well done post