Surpised to see my back in the blog o sphere? Well, I'm still kickin and so on and so forth. I'm going to be updating alot in the next couple of days starting with my presentation.
I wrote my paper on Death of A Salesman by Arthur Miller, and changed the title to Death of a Housewife.
Thesis:Within Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller our main character, Willy Loman, gives fatherhood a turn in another direction; he may not be a stay at home mother but Loman portrays very feminine qualities as well as a past desire to pinoneer stay at home dads.
The beginning of my paragraph talks about the normal 1950s family leading up to the fact that the Lomans may have been a bit off key.
I conclude with expressing the counter argument of how at first glance the Lomans look like the picture perfect family of the 1950s then develop into the fact that Willy has a much more matural drive than his wife Linda.
Most of my sources refer to the families of the 1950s I do have a few interesting ones on reading and gender as well as Criticisms of Death of a Salesman. My favorite article contains a refers to Willy planting in the garden and relates him to another female character from London.
I don't like my thesis or my paper, Kellyn has offered some suggestion of where to cut down so I can incorporate more about the gardening, other than that I'm open for many many suggestions.
Dr. Jerz was nice enough to give us a selection from his book Technology in American Drama, this small selection focused on Death of a Salesman. When I first looked at this selection terror ripped across my mind. Oh no, it's about techonology so there for I will understand every third word, which will more than likely be a the or at. In my panic state I began to read and much to my surprise I understood it and I think I may have actually learned from it...
When reading the selection from Technology in American Drama most of it focuses on Willy's strive to reclaim the "lavish" lifestyle he once had, consisting of a top of the line refridgerator and a shiny red Chevy. So could we just say that our tragic hero is just a materialistic junkie? I would say so, Willy is concerned more about this junk then what his actual family has to offer him. It is like the people who feel that unless someone's name is across their chest or butt they cannot wear those kind of clothes.
What does the technology have to do with all of this? Well most of the items that Willy dreams about, like the recorder (I can't remember what it's called) mentioned in the story, these products are all some sort of technological advancement. Any new product draws media attraction as well as personal attraction. Willy Loman saw these items as something that would bring him closer to the top. Nothing wrong with that, especially in today's society. We all strive for the top, how do we achieve this? Making money and buying the newest coolest things that come out, like a shiny red Chevy.
I'm a Chevy girl myself and I think that they are the best thing in exisistance, even if I drive a pontiac. Don't get me wrong though because if Dodge would come out with something better than the Chevy SSR I would be all over that. As long as it came with a nicer, smoother ride, more power, and looked cuter (Which isn't possible!).
It's just as simple as that, we all want the best and newest, the shinest and most productive so we can go show it off and prove that we are better than someone we have that status because of the things we buy. Just like Willy Loman, in all honesty I don't believe it matters to Willy if it's a new PDA or a top of the line leather sofa, just as long as the price is right and he's one of the first.
On Friday Dr. Jerz told us to take a look at Happy in the end of Death Of A Salesman. Now I don't really consider Happy to be one of the key players in this entire story so why look at his reactions? It is strange though because Willy's death seems to cause the most dramatic change in Happy and no one else, besides Linda who seems terribly depressed, but I'm sure I would be if my husband just killed himself.
So what transition do we see Happy undergo? Well, I reread the part from the restaurant scene all the way to the end, now I suppose I didn't pay much attention to Happy before hand, not seeing him as a key piece to this story so this reading was a bit different.
Happy really does seem to reflect his name in the restaurant scene I mean he is aware of what is going on in his father's life and when Biff relys his not so impressive story, Happy doesn't seem to care. He seems Happy because he's found some nice girls on 'call' for himself and Biff, not to mention Biff's mess up is just a minor detail because Happy thinks he can fix it. Later when Happy and Biff fight and Biff shows Happy he knows their father is trying to kill himself Happy acts like he never sees it. He keeps going on with the lies, in a way I'm sure Happy is justifing this as helping his father get through the problem, by lying. On the other hand it is like Happy himself wants it to be true, not just for his father but for himself and his own reputation. He forces Biff to try to talk to Oliver again. Happy seems happy and completly spaced out, following in Dad's footsteps perhaps?
Then we come to the requim and Happy does have a changed attitude, he might still be lying but he actually shows care and compassion for his father. Not just well if we lie to dad it will make everyone's life better. It seems like he is yearning to have his father back, telling Biff he is wrong and Willy was perfect, there is no need to say Dad had the wrong idea, because he didn't. Where even though Biff confesses the truth and his love for his father he still seems to think that whatever Willy's dream it's not good enough for Biff and never will be, where as Happy has realized if he lives a life with some potential, like telling his father he's going to get married before, Willy kills himself that is showing that no matter what Willy does it is alright to follow.
So why the big character change, does it really have a significance to the play because it shows up so late? Possibly is it teaching us that the American dream is what we make it? Is this a message meant for the reader or just simply letting us into a deeper emotion of the lives of the Loman's? Showing at least one of the boys did learn something and can have pride in their father, that family is the most important and valuable thing ever created and letting Biff know he's taking a path to descrution, or is Happy's pursuit of fixing their father's reputation the damaging path?
Sorry for all the questions must just be in the mood for a little trivia or something.
Or it could be the fact that the snow has kept me in all day so I've had plenty of time to think.