Death of a Salesman Essay -- essays research papers fc

Death of a salesman The Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller is a controversial play of a typical American family and their desire to live the American dream â€Å"Rather than a tragedy or failure as the play is often described. Death of a Salesman dramatizes a failure of [that] dream† (Cohn 51). The story is told through the delusional eyes and mind of Willy Loman, a traveling salesman of 34 years, whose fantasy world of lies eventually causes him to suffer an emotional breakdown. Willy’s wife, Linda, loves and supports Willy despite all his problems, and continually believes in his success and that of their no good lazy sons, Biff and Happy. The play takes place in 1942, in Willy and Linda’s home, a dilapidated shack on the outskirts of a slum. Willy has spent his whole life teaching and believing that you can achieve success by your appearance and by making yourself as amiable as possible. Eventually Willy begins to fabricate stories at himself to be able to live with himself be cause he can’t meet his own expectations. He falls deeper into his lies, making himself and his family suffer for it. (Thesis). In the play Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller proves he is America’s social critic when he criticizes Willy’s relationship concerning his family, his lack of success in achieving his goals and his dreams along with his inner turmoil and personal collapse which result in suicide. In the onset of the play, Willy told Linda that you â€Å"work a lifetime to pay of a house. You finally own it, and there is nobody to live in it† (Cohn 56). This quote shows how Willy strives his whole life to make a home for his family and by the time he sees the realization of that one dream, his family has drifted apart and he is alone with his haunting thoughts and his ghosts. Willy has such high expectations for himself and his sons, and when they all failed to accomplish their dreams, they were unable to accept each other for what they truly were. Willy raised Biff with the idea that success depends on whether or not a person can sell himself and not how smart a person is. Biff’s tragic flaw is his acceptance of Willy’s values and not creating any of his own. When Biff realizes his father is a fake, he becomes a lost individual and he does not speak to his father for 14 years. In Willy’s family it is always Biff who receives recognition, however, H appy strives for attention too... ...sm CLC.2 . Detroit: Indiana University press. 1971. 68-96. Bibliography Bloom, Harold. Major Literary Characters: Willy Loman. New York: Chelsea House, 1991. Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations: Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman. New York: Chelsea House, 1988. Cohn, Ruby. â€Å"The Articulate Victims of Arthur Miller†. Contemporary Literary Criticism CLC.2 . Detroit: Indiana University press. 1971. 68-96. Driver, Tom F. Saturday Review. Contemporary Literary Criticism. CLC.2.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Detroit: James Brown Associates. 1970. Magill, N Frank. â€Å"Arthur Miller.† Vol.4 of Magills Survey of American Literature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  New York: Salem Press. Inc, 1991. Murray, Edward. â€Å"Arthur Miller.† Contemporary Literary Criticism.† Vol.6.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Detroit: Gak Research, 1987. Perkins, George, Barbara Perkins and Phillip Leiniger. â€Å"Arthur Miller.† Readers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Encyclopedia of American Literature. 1991. Simon, John. â€Å"Arthur Miller.† Contemporary Literacy Criticism. Vol.2. Detroit   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  NYM Corp. 1972.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Dreaming Better Dreams Essay

There is no doubt everyone has dream. It is an experience that occurs during sleep. However, dreams are not only all about sleeping experience. We have dreams in life and these dreams are the things that we aspire to have, the status that we want to establish, or the kind of life that we long to have in the future. Thus, at times we are daydreaming that we are there, about to fulfill our dreams. In Mark twain’s The Mysterious Stranger Satan was mentioned as ghost standing at the behind the food processor and admiring a person’s lawn-mowing skills. It was not clear whether it was a dream but dream sometimes appears as one’s night mare. In the ensuing conversation between Satan and the person, Satan says â€Å"dream other dreams, and better† (120). Here, it was not clear whether Satan was advising the person to have a better ambition in life or he was just inciting a person to think of something beyond what he can do in order to make sin. But what ever is Satan’s intension, there is a truth in his statement. One should really have dreams life, a better dream. Dreams as some psychologist say are simply product of our imagination. They say, when we are asleep, our sub-conscious mind becomes active which us to dream dreams. No one likes bad dreams, but everyone enjoys good dreams. In dream, we can do anything that is impossible in real life and when we are awakened we regret that it was only a dream. The truth is we can dream a better dream that is not merely product of our subconscious mind when we are asleep. Our dreams can turn to reality if we could overcome anything that limits us. Our dreams can be fulfilled if we let all our strength, courage, strength, wisdom, and all our best efforts to pull together for a single purpose, achieving our better dreams in life. An ill Time to Laugh In the Bible, particularly in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, the writer states that â€Å"there is a time for everything in this life. There is â€Å"a time to be born and a time to die†, â€Å"a time to weep and a time to laugh. † This is true even today for most us. There is a proper time for everything. In the second prompt, the context tells us that â€Å"Satan laughs at Theodor and at Theodor’s sheepish neighbor who all throw stones at the hanged woman†(109). The scenario led us to think of something dreadful. We do not exactly why the woman was hanged perhaps she was caught in adultery, or that she was a witch but it looks like neighbors were against her who all throw stones at her while she was hanging dead. The only person conscientious of what is going on perhaps is Theodor. Theodor said to Satan, â€Å"It was ill time to laugh, for free and scoffing ways†¦brought him under suspicion. † Satan protested in this statement saying, â€Å"There spoke the race† â€Å"always ready it hasn’t got †¦ you have perception of humor, nothing more; a multitude of you possess that. This multitude sees the comic side of a thousand low-grade and trivial things-broad in-congruities, mainly: grotesqueries, absurdities, evokers of the horse-laugh† (109). There is something we can learn from this statement. Many people see only the comic side of the things around them or of the people they met and laugh at them. We tend to be evokers of the horse-laugh rather than objective in our judgment of anything that we see on others. Most of the time, we laugh at people even when it is an ill time to laugh. Perhaps, our problem is that we could hardly see when the right time to laugh on other people is. The best thing perhaps for us to avoid becoming evokers of horse-laugh is to always bear in mind the biblical statement, â€Å"there is a time weep and a time to die. † Reference Twain, Mark â€Å"The Mysterious Strangers†

Adlai Stevenson, Statesman and Presidential Candidate

Adlai Stevenson II (February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician known for his sharp wit, eloquence, and popularity among intellectuals and the so-called egghead vote in the United States. A Democrat born into a long family bloodline of politicians and civil servants, Stevenson worked as a journalist and served as governor of Illinois before running for president twice and losing both times. He rose in stature as a diplomat and statesman after his failed bids for the White House in the 1950s. Fast Facts: Adlai Stevenson Full Name: Adlai Ewing Stevenson IIKnown For: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and two-time Democratic presidential candidateBorn: Feb. 5, 1900 in Los Angeles, CaliforniaParents: Lewis Green and Helen Davis StevensonDied: July 14, 1965 in London, EnglandEducation: B.A., Princeton University and J.D., Northwestern UniversityKey Accomplishments: Participated in negotiations during the Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam War. Signed a 1963 treaty in Moscow banning nuclear weapons testing.Spouse: Ellen Borden (m. 1928-1949)Children: Adlai Ewing III, Borden, and John Fell Early Years Adlai Ewing Stevenson II was born on February 5, 1900 in Los Angeles, California, to Lewis Green and Helen Davis Stevenson. His family was well connected. His father, a friend of publisher William Randolph Hearst, was an executive who managed Hearsts California newspapers and oversaw the companys copper mines in Arizona. Stevenson later told a journalist who wanted to write about book about him, My life has been hopelessly undramatic. I wasnt born in a log cabin. I didnt work my way through school nor did I rise from rags to riches, and theres no use trying to pretend I did. Im not a Wilkie and I dont claim to be a simple, barefoot La Salle Street lawyer. Stevenson got his first real taste of politics at age 12, when he met New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson. Wilson asked about the young mans interest in public affairs, and Stevenson left the meeting determined to attend Wilsons alma mater, Princeton University. Stevensons family moved from California to Bloomington, Illinois, where young Adlai spent most of his childhood years. He attended University High School in Normal for three years before his parents withdrew him and placed him in Choate Preparatory School in Connecticut. After two years at Choate, Stevenson headed to Princeton, where he studied history and literature and served as managing editor of the The Daily Princetonian newspaper. He graduated in 1922 and then began working toward his law degree—first at another Ivy League school, Harvard University, where he spent two years, then Northwestern University, from which he obtained his law degree, in 1926. In between Harvard and Northwestern, Stevenson worked as a reporter and editor at the family newspaper, The Pentagraph, in Bloomington. Stevenson went to work practicing law but would eventually ignore the advice of his father—Never go into politics, Lewis Stevenson told his son—and ran for governor of the state. Political Career Stevenson served as governor of Illinois from 1948 to 1952. However, the roots of his political career can be traced to more than a decade earlier, when he worked with President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the details of the New Deal. Eventually, he was recruited to take on the corrupt administration of Republican Illinois Gov. Dwight H. Green, which was known as the Green Machine. Stevensons resounding victory on a campaign platform of good government propelled him into the national spotlight and eventually paved the way for his nomination at the 1952 Democratic National Convention. The 1952 presidential campaign was largely about the threat of communism and government waste in the U.S. It placed Stevenson against a popular Republican, General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower won handily, taking nearly 34 million popular votes to Stevensons 27 million. The Electoral College results were crushing; Eisenhower won 442 to Stevensons 89. The result four years later was the same, even though the incumbent Eisenhower had just survived a heart attack. Stevenson Turns Down Russian Help in 1960 Election In early 1960, Stevenson stated that while he would run if drafted, he would not seek a third Democratic presidential nomination. However, then-Senator John F. Kennedy was very actively seeking the nomination. While Stevenson’s 1956 campaign promise to oppose U.S. nuclear weapons development and military growth had not resonated with American voters, it did convince the Soviet government that he was â€Å"someone they could work with.† According to Stevenson’s personal biographer and historian John Bartlow Martin, Soviet ambassador to the U.S. Mikhail A. Menshikov met with Stevenson at the Russian embassy on January 16, 1960 on the premise of thanking him for helping arrange Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to the U.S. But at some point during caviar and vodka, Menshikov read Stevenson a note from Khrushchev himself encouraging him to oppose Kennedy and make another presidential run. â€Å"We are concerned with the future, and that America has the right President,† Khrushchev’s note read, in part: â€Å"All countries are concerned with the American election. It is impossible for us not to be concerned about our future and the American Presidency which is so important to everybody everywhere.† In the note, Khrushchev went on to ask Stevenson for suggestions on how the Soviet press could â€Å"assist Mr. Stevenson’s personal success.† Specifically, Khrushchev suggested that the Soviet press might help endear American voters to Stevenson by criticizing his â€Å"many harsh and critical† statements about the Soviet Union and Communism. â€Å"Mr. Stevenson will know best what would help him,† Khrushchev’s note concluded. In later recounting the meeting for his biography, Stevenson told author John Bartlow Martin, that after thanking the Soviet ambassador for delivering the offer and Premier Khrushchev for his â€Å"expression of confidence,† Stevenson then told Menshikov of his â€Å"grave misgivings about the propriety or wisdom of any interference, direct or indirect, in the American election, and I mentioned to him the precedent of the British Ambassador and Grover Cleveland.† Which caused Menshikov to accuse President Eisenhower of interfering in recent British and German elections. Always the diplomat, Stevenson politely declined the Soviet leader’s offer of assistance and repeated his refusal to seek the nomination. Kennedy would go on the win both the Democratic nomination and the 1960 presidential election over Republican Richard Nixon. Ambassador to the United Nations President John F. Kennedy appointed Stevenson, who had a deep knowledge of foreign affairs and popularity among Democrats, as the ambassador to the United Nations in 1961. President Lyndon B. Johnson reconfirmed him for the position later. Stevenson served as ambassador to the U.N. during a tumultuous time, through debates over the Bay of Pigs and Cuban missile crises and the Vietnam War. It was a role for which Stevenson ultimately became famous, known for his moderation, compassion, civility, and grace. He served in the post until his death four and a half years later. Marriage and Personal Life Stevenson married Ellen Borden in 1928. The couple had three sons: Adlai Ewing III, Borden, and John Fell. They divorced in 1949 because, among other reasons, Stevensons wife was said to have loathed politics. Famous Quotes Perhaps no other quote sums up Stevensons worldview better than his call for peace and unity before the United Nations in Geneva in 1965: We travel together, passengers on a little space ship, dependent on its vulnerable reserves of air and soil; all committed for our safety to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, and I will say, the love we give our fragile craft. We cannot maintain it half fortunate, half miserable, half confident, half despairing, half slave to the ancient enemies of man half free in a liberation of resources undreamed of until this day. No craft, no crew can travel with such vast contradictions. On their resolution depends the survival of us all. Death and Legacy Just five days after making that speech in Geneva, on July 14, 1965, Stevenson died of a heart attack while visiting London, England. The New York Times announced his death this way: To the public dialogue of his time he brought intelligence, civility and grace. We who have been his contemporaries have been companions of greatness. Stevenson is, of course, frequently remembered for his two failed bids for president. But he also left a legacy as an effective and polished statesman who won respect from his international peers and made a point of meeting personally with representatives of each of the 116 governors in the organization. Sources Adlai Ewing Stevenson: An Urbane, Witty, Articulate Politician and Diplomat. The New York Times, July 15, 1965.Adlai Stevenson II Biography, The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project at The George Washington University.Adlai Today, McLean County Museum of History, Bloomington, Illinois.Adlai Stevenson II, Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development at the Illinois State University.Martin, John Bartlow (1977). .An Immodest Proposal: Nikita To Adlai American Heritage Vol. 28, Issue 5.