Group 9A began this assignment for 25 minutes in class on Thursday, so need to spend 15 further minutes at home finishing the essay and submitting it as a comment here before the end of the weekend. Group 9B has not yet begun this essay and has not yet viewed the last several minutes of the play, so will write this essay next week. (It wouldn't be a bad idea for them to start working on it now, though!)
You knew it was coming! Please spend forty focused minutes writing an essay in the "SCASI" form on Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Please focus especially on style and ideas and have fun with this. It is understood that this essay only represents forty minutes of writing and that, so far, you have only viewed a filmed production of the play and read one scene closely.
"SCASI" form - Reminder
Paragraph 1 - Introduction
Paragraph 2 - Discussion of Setting
Paragraph 3 - Discussion of Characters
Paragraph 4 - Discussion of Action (Plot)
Paragraph 5 - Discussion of Style
Paragraph 6 - Discussion of Ideas
Paragraph 7 - Conclusion
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The Death and the Salesmen
ReplyDeleteThe death and the salesmen is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1949
It is set in New York, America in around 1950’s. It is mainly in the city of Ney York and in the house of Willy and Linda.
There are 6 characters. There is Willy the main character who is played by Dustin Hoffman, Willy is a bit crazy and is a business man. Linda is his wife you takes care of the house. Bill is his eldest son who hasn’t really settled in yet. Happy is the other son, the younger brother of Bill he has an education and is not married. Then there is Bernard and Charlie, Charlie is Bernard’s father.
The story is mainly about Willy who is in my opinion loosing it. He has flashbacks where he actually thinks he is in them. Basically the story starts off with Willy crashing. Willy is on his way home form one of his like road man business trips when he looses control of the car and crashes. Willy’s youngest son Bill finds Willy cheating on his mum which makes him sour and angry at Willy but Bill does not tell anyone but instead just keeps a rude attitude towards his dad. Bill tries to find a job with Happy as a business man but when he gets there the guy doesn’t know him and he steals his pen instead. When they try to tell him this he flips out and they argue and just leave him. Linda their mum gets very angry with them and whilst they are arguing Willy gets hit by a car and dies.
The style of this story is a bit confusing there is a lot of speech and its a weird story. There is a lot going on and a lot of flashbacks.
The ideas of the story i think is that a job can make you go crazy and that people don’t adapt well to a change and it can be very difficult for people to try and realize that their life is going to change completely and that he is going to have to cope with a little less money and a different job.
My basic conclusion of this story is that it was interesting to watch but also at some points it was a bit dragging also watching it over a span of 3 weeks was a bit difficult to keep up with but apart from that i really enjoyed watching it.
Kimberly Merten
Death of a Salesman- Scasi
ReplyDeleteThe movie Death of a Salesman is originally a play written by Arthur Miller in 1949.
It is set mainly in New York in the 1950’s in both the play and the movie, and it was mainly set in Willy’s and Linda’s house.
There are 6 main characters in this story. There is Willy who is a crazy old salesman, he has always worked hard and he expected his sons to either follow his path or to become even more successful, but after that his dream was shattered he became crazy about the dream and created another world for himself. There is Linda who is Willy’s wife, she is always worried about Willy after the massive destruction of his dream. She tried to continue her life normally but she was too stressed and worried. Biff who is Willy’s eldest son, he is the son that Willy had the most hopes for, but when he grew up and because unemployed and with no money. Happy who is Willy’s other son, was unsuccessful when growing up, but as he grew into a man he started working and became successful. Then there is Charlie who is Willy’s brother who is really successful, and his son Bernard who was the most successful out of all of them.
The story is mainly based around Willy and his life. As he grew older and created a larger dream for his sons his mind became more and more imaginative and lost in another world. He was basically going crazy and turning everyone else around him crazy with anger. The movie started with Willy having a crash or a disaster, then as it continues Willy begins to see things, and he begins to see the good old times and the memories. He ends up getting lost in his own world and not listening or understanding his sons and their situations. Biff tries to find a job but is unsuccessful and his drives his father crazy. Happy tries helping out but does not manage. Also all the time Willy has the constant pressure from his brother and his son, who are really successful.
The story has a strange style. It is a mix of a lot of drama and problems, and also a mix of flashbacks. Willy spends most of his time in flashbacks, with his sons and family.
This story also has many different ideas. It also can show how a job can drive you crazy, and how money will delude your mind and make you think in a different way. Also I think that it shows how money is everything now, and how no one can live without money.
To conclude, this story was very interesting and quite confusing to follow, but it was good when I looked over the whole story and I really enjoyed watching it.
SCASI: DEATH OF A SALESMAN
ReplyDeleteThe play, "Death of a salesman" is written by Arthur Miller in 1949. It is a deep, fascinating play filled with flashbacks and the life of a troubled salesman.
The setting is in the New York state, in the suburbs of Brooklyn, right outside of Manhattan. It is mainly set in his house with his family, also at offices and restaurants. The time it was set in was in the late 1940's.
The characters in "Death of a salesman" include, Willie, the protagonist of the play, the troubled salesman. Then it is also his family including his wife, Linda, and his two sons, Happy and Biff. Biff is the son that Willie is very proud of, but that doesn't want to follow his fathers dream for him. There are also some other minor characters like Bernard and his father Charlie. Bernard is a very clever boy who was a good friend of Biffs’ and wanted Biff to succeed in school and not follow the American football dream. His father is also Willie's good friend and neighbor, who tries to help him but Willie always refuses. Towards the end of the play, it ends up with Bernard becoming very successful and Biff troubled and confused.
The plot of the story starts with Willie arriving back from his salesman trip and his wife telling him to rest and take it easy. His son Biff had also come back from working on a farm, and Willie is very angry with him because the last time they saw each other they had a huge fight. There then follows many flashbacks of the days when his kids were in high school and they all loved each other. Biff was going to get a football scholarship. He also takes you back to flashbacks when he was on the road and was with his 'lady friend' also to the times when his wealthy, adventurous big brother, Ben, was alive. But coming back from the flashbacks to reality he discusses with his sons how Biff should get a job as a salesman and they come up with a deal and go to the salesman offices. While this goes on, Willie gets to know that his boss, Howard, has fired him. This makes things worse, adding to it that Biff 'messed up' the deal by stealing the guy's pen. After Willie gets to know about this he gets furious at Biff and Biff becomes furious about Willie and there is another huge fight. But at last they all apologize, but Willie then got a terrible idea that he should kill himself so that he can give all his life insurance to Biff. So he hangs himself and afterwards the whole family mourns at his funeral where no one but them came.
(to be continued on next post)
(...continued)
ReplyDeleteThe style of the play is very interesting, but at a lot of times confusing with the many flashbacks. At times there are even flashbacks inside another flashback. This can really confuse the viewers, but the flashbacks do help explain the whole background of the family's life. However, the play also has a very fast, smooth style with the actors/actresses needing a New York accent with quick things to say. It is as well very emotional, and a deep tragedy as there are moments in the play like in the scene of Howard firing Willie, or of the huge fight at the end, where Willie gets very dramatic, really telling the viewers how angry/sad/bewildered he is. This affects the audience hugely with his heartfelt performance.
Among the main themes/ideas of "Death of a salesman" there is abandonment representing how Willie gets abandoned by all his friends, peers, family and business partners. He almost gets abandoned from the world so that he creates an own world where talks to himself, thinking he sees his brother Ben who is very much like his conscience. The play is besides a very dismal tragedy as well having the theme of betrayal. Since by betrayed Willie his son of not following his football career/dream he had for him, or that Biff didn't take up the deal. The theme is as much as betrayal but also of disappointment of the poor old man.
Since this play is extremely well known and praised for, I now understand why. It's deep messages in the script and Willie's story tells so much of the 'American dream' everyone wants. People with wealth, good jobs, a big house and a loving family. For Willie this means so much, but his dream pretty much failed and died and instead went to total disaster.
Though, this play does have its bright sides, like in the flashbacks, and Willie's excitement of his sons 'deal'. These all show how hopeful the old man is, but also how he expects too much and then gets disappointed at many times in the play. You can really see why all these people love and discuss this fascinating play. I liked it and thought it was very meaningful but depressing too. It really was a magnificent play with extensive significations.
The Death of a Salesman
ReplyDeleteThe play ‘The Death of a Salesman’ was written by Arthur Miller. Arthur Miller wrote this in the late 1940s. The Death of a Salesman is about a family who lives in New York and are very poor and they earn a very little living but they go through their life barely.
The story is set in the late 40s, 1949 to be exact. It is set in New York. Also Willy was meant to travel to Boston where Happy and Biff meet again.
The Characters of the story are Willy who is the main character in the story. He is a very uncertain man who is going crazy, in a way. He has a wife, Linda who is always standing up for Willy and Willy does not like it. Willy is played by Dustin Hoffman who is a great actor for that part and I think he plays it well. Willy is a business man. Biff is the eldest son who has most of the attention instead of Happy. He used to play American football and in the future he steals from people without noticing it on the spot. Also he worked as a … I don’t know the name but he carried around many objects. Another 2 characters are Bernard and Charlie. Bernard is a bit nerdy in the beginning but later because of his education he becomes a working man in an office, a lawyer. Charlie is Bernard’s father who acts very posh. The Lowman family call them cousins and uncles but they aren’t even related, just neighbours.
The story is about Willy a man in his 60s-70s or even more by the looks of it and he is losing everything, his head, his job, his son, and eventually, his life. He has many re-occurring which happen randomly without even noticing. He not only thinks then, he acts them out in real life like it were a play, which it is but still. Willy returns home at the beginning of the story from a road business where he lost control and crashes the car. Biff his son finds Willy getting angry and doing nasty things to Linda which makes him angry. Biff at the beginning did not study for his math’s exams so he didn’t pass and flunked math. He then tried to find a job with his younger brother Happy as a business man. This is when Willy tells Biff he had been fired. Howard had fired Willy and now Willy was miserable. This he doesn’t manage and instead of accepting that he had been rejected from the job he steals the man’s pen(nice huh). When he finally tells Willy what he really thought of who he was and what he was Willy gets into a fight with him and Willy flips. At the end they kind of make peace and later on Willy is happy(not the guy happy but HAPPY, full of joy!!)and he then wants Biff to earn some money. He remembers that he has his 20 thousand insurance money on his life and says goodbye to the family in secret, goes and takes his car out and kills himself by crashing.
There are many styles of this story. I may be that it is very descriptive and strange in some points as there are many flashbacks. These make great points as you can see what has happened and at the beginning there is a flash forward of Willy’s death, if im not mistaken. This gives some dramatic effect to the story.
The ideas of the story may be work in those times, the war as well and the fact that he was living in the time of the war where all of the world was poor. Arthur Miller also shows some ideas about family and how families lived in those times and how they had to cope with life.
I conclude by saying that this story was different, it was interesting, a little long but interesting as the flashbacks gave it effects. Also the fact that we didn’t watch it all in 1 didn’t help but still it does help us do this SCASI essay. I liked watching it. Hope we have another…
Death of a Salesman was written by Arthur Miller in 1949. It was originally meant to be a play but our class watched the film version.
ReplyDeleteThe story is set in the late 1940s/ early 1950s in a New York Suburb. It seems to be autumn or spring.
The main characters of the play are Willy, a 63 year old man who has been a salesman for 34 years, he has many flashbacks and seems to be loosing it. He has a wife named Linda, she isn’t involved as much but is very protective of Willy and often helps him. The couple have 2 sons called Happy and Biff. They are both in their 30s with Biff being the eldest son. He is also more involved during the play than Happy. There are also some minor characters such as neighbours Charlie and Bernard. Willy’s boss Howard is in a scene with him.
The story starts with Willy returning from a salesman trip to Boston. Linda recommends that he should stop travelling as he is growing increasingly tired. Biff then returns from the south, there is tension between the 2 because of the fights they had previously. Willy then begins to have flashbacks when his boys were teenagers and Biff was finishing High School. Biff is warned by Bernard that if he flunks maths, he won’t graduate. Willy doesn’t seem to care about this as he wants Biff to focus on his football. There are also flashbacks of Willy in Boston having an affair and of his brother Ben visiting. We can tell that at the time, Willy and Biff had a much stronger relationship. Willy then decides that his son should become a salesman. He makes a deal with him to take him to some offices. At this time, Willy finds out that he has been fired by his boss Howard as he believes that Willy needs a rest. Tension between Willy and Biff increases when Willy finds out that Biff has been stealing again. At home the two have a huge argument which turns physical. The two forgive each other in the end. Willy then decides to pursue his extreme idea by killing himself to give $20,000 of life insurance to Biff and to prove to him that many people knew and loved Willie. At the funeral, we only see Bernard, Charlie, Linda, Biff and Happy.
Much of the play is of the flashbacks. This would probably be difficult to perform on stage. Some flashbacks are even inside another flashback. The performance is very dramatic and emotional. But it is on a realistic level and not melodramatic. The ending is very tragic and depressing but in a way, it is expected. The fight at the end really conveys the emotions of the two. The suspense builds to this moment.
There are a variety of themes in this story. A main one is betrayal. There are many themes centred around work. One being dishonesty. Another would be abandoning which especially focuses on Willy. There is a theme of admiration as Willie looks up to his brother Ben and when he meets Bernard when he is an adult, he realises that Biff should look up to Bernard and what he has done.
I really enjoyed watching the film version as it definitely captured the essence of what it would have been like if it was a play. The story was very well thought out. I did find some bits confusing because of the fast pace and flashbacks. But I managed.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteArthur Miller wrote the story ‘Death of A Salesmen’ in 1949 which is about a struggling salesmen Willy Loman who is growing old, and with age is going through a lot of difficult times. The following SCASI essay will be written based on the movie version of the story.
ReplyDeleteThe setting of the movie is set in the early 1950’s in the New York state. The town is called Brooklyn and is mainly set inside the Loman’s home. The setting in most of the movie seems to be dark and depressing.
The main charecter in this movie is Willy, a troubled/struggling salesmen who always refuses help from his family and friends and seems to aruge with them quite often. The rest of the family are his wife, Linda who really does care for him and his 2 sons Biff and Happy. The smaller charecter are Bernard, who is a family friend and his father who is Willy’s good friend and neighbour and Howard, who is Willy’s boss.
The story starts with Willy coming back from a failed sales trip. His sons are visiting back home, and Willy is very annoyed at Biff because they had a huge argument the last time they saw one another, so they dont seem to get along on well. After that Willy starts to have many flashbacks of when the family were young and all loved one another, when Ben was going to get his football scholarship, when Willy was found in a hotel room with another woman and when his Willy’s brother Ben who was a very succesfull business man was alive. When the flashbacks are over Willy and his son make an agreement that Biff will work as a salesmen and so Willy goes to Howard and finds out he has been fired and cannot afford to support his family anymore, so Biff decides to steal his pen which ruins the agreement and Willy gets very mad at Biff and another argument is set off. In the end Willy decides to go kill himself so all his insurance will be given to the family. Only Linda, Biff, Happy, Bernard and Bernard’s father show up at the funeral.
The style of this story seems to be very dramatic and detailed. Also their are many flashbacks throughout the movie and there are even flashbacks happened during flashbacks. It is a very realistic play of what life could end up, and tradegy happens at the end when Willy decides to kill himself.
The main theme in this story seems to be betrayal/trust. A lot of betrayal happens in this story like Howard firing Willy, Willy cheating on his wife, Biff not following his father’s dreams and so on. Work is also a main theme, since all the movie is set around work, jobs and expected career paths.
The story was quite interesting to watch, even though i got confused on most of it because of all the flashbacks and yelling that went on. But i managed to grab the main points and thought over all it was a decent film.
The Death of a Salesman
ReplyDelete“The Death of a Salesman” was written by Arthur Miller in 1949. The play is award winning and has ran for around 750 performances. The story is about the abate of a salesman who has drummed merchandise all his life and is now forgotten. The story is a tragedy.
The play is set in Brooklyn, New York in the 1940s. The main part of the story is set at Willie and Linda's house. There are some scenes in restaurants, offices, and hotels.
The main characters are mainly the Loman's, including Willie, Linda, Happy and Biff. Willie is the main character, he is a troubled, fading salesman who is borrowing money from his friend because he stopped earning money. Linda is Willie's wife who tries to keep track of Willie at times as Linda is fearful that he might commit suicide. Linda tries to protect her family while trying to hold it together. Happy and Biff are the sons of Linda and Willie. Biff is the favourite of the two sons. Happy is constantly trying to get Willie's attention. Charley is the family's neighbour, Charley is a successful business man. Willie goes to Charley for money. Bernard is Charley's son and the person Willie compars Biff to. Bernard is a very good lawyer, he was very good in school. Howard Wagner is Willie's boss until he fired Willie. Willie had known Howard since Howard was born. Ben is Willie's older brother, who Willie doesn't know very well, he was wealthy.
The plot starts off when Willie returns home after a sales trip. When he returns he is exhausted and his wife Linda suggests that he should go talk to his boss and see if he could work in the city. Biff and Happy are visiting their parents and they start to bring back memories of Biff and Happy's teen years. The sons being home trigger flashbacks for Willie, these flashbacks are when the sons were in high school and when Biff was working towards earning a football scholarship. One flashback takes us back to when Willie was visiting his lover. A lot of the flashbacks include Willie's older brother, Ben. Whilst Willie was having flashbacks he pays a visit to his boss, Howard and asking him if he could work in the city, however that doesn't go very well and Willie ends up fired. The sons decide to take their father out to dinner, however they get into an argument when Biff revealed that he stole a fountain pen from a prospective boss of his. Willie locks himself in the bathroom and Biff and Happy leaves with some women they found in the restaurant. The boys return home to find an upset mother and Willie is in the garden disoriented and confused. Biff and Willie get into a huge argument, but they apologize and the boys and Linda go to sleep. However Willie decides that by killing himself he would solve all Biff's problems because of the Life insurance policy which gives the family twenty thousand dollars when he dies. So Willie gets into the car and ends his life. The family mourns him at his funeral which only his family and Charley and Bernard attend, so it eveidently wasn't the grande funeral which he always imagined.
Part1
Valentina Spiteri
“The Death of a Salesman” is a play. It has many flashbacks which help explain what is happening to the characters in the present. The story makes transitions very smoothly.
ReplyDeleteThe themes in The Death of the Salesman, is lying, the family is constantly lying to each other. Also poverty, the family is poor and they are lending money from friends. Disappointment is also a big theme in the story as Willie is constantly being disappointed by people around him.
This story dealt with a lot of emotions. Willie's dreams are broken, he is constantly trying to reach for something he can not achieve or his sons can not achieve. I think it teaches a great lesson of not letting your dreams get the best of you and to try and remain somewhat realistic. It also teaches that school is important as without it you will not get anywhere. This story has made me appreciate the opportunities and abilities that I have. Over all I enjoyed watching the story but I wish that I could have read it or viewed it in a theatre so I could have gotten a better sense of the how the writer intended it to be perceived.
Part 2
Valentina Spiteri
SCASI – Death of a Salesman
ReplyDelete‘Death of a Salesman’ is a story written by Arthur Miller about Willy Loman, a struggling salesman that wants to be great but is feeling the effects of age. We watched the film adaptation of the play and the SCASI will be based on it.
‘Death of a Salesman’ is set in contemporary (early 50s) Brooklyn, in the working class house where Willy Loman lives with his wife Linda. However, Willy frequently flashes back to times when his brother, Ben, appears to talk to him and to the time before Biff’s football game and a night in a hotel with another woman. Sometimes these flashbacks occur simultaneously while he is talking to other people.
There are a few main characters that appear throughout the story, first and foremost there is Willy Loman the struggling salesman with high hopes, a vivid imagination and a tendency to change his mind very quickly. Secondly there is his wife Linda, who isn't seen other than in scenes inside the house, she worries about her husband but loves him nonetheless. Then there are Willy's two sons, Biff and Happy. Biff is the son that Willy was proud of when Biff was a young man, while Happy was always trying to get his father's attention. However as the story progresses, Biff is the one that starts to throw his life away when he steals. Ben, Willy's older brother, appears several times in the story both in flashbacks and in mental discussions that Willy has with him, Ben walked into the jungle when he was 22, and when he walked out by god was he rich!. Another important character is Howard, Willy's boss, who fires Willy during the play telling him that he doesn't want him to represent the company anymore, this of course has a profound effect on Willy who needs to earn money, wants to be a great salesman and has been working for the firm for thirty four years. There is also Charlie, who is a long time friend of Willy and his family, he has a sort of volatile relationship with Willy (mainly due to Willy) but is a friend nevertheless.
'Death of a Salesman' starts off with Willy in his car coming back from a mediocre sales trip where he almost has an accident because of his lack of attention. When Willy gets home he meets his two boys who are waiting, his relationship with Biff is still edgy due to arguments they had last time they met. The story goes on and Willy flashes back to times when his brother Ben comes to visit and when he was still proud of Biff before he went to his big football game. Later on Willy goes to talk with his boss Howard at the firm who fires him despite his many years of service for the firm. When Willy then goes out to have a good dinner with his sons, he gets angry at Biff when he finds out that he didn't land a deal with a man named Oliver and instead steals his fountain pen. Happy and Biff leave Willy in the toilet of the restaurant where he has a flashback to a time when Biff catches him in a hotel room with another woman. Following this there is a very large argument at home, at the end of which Biff and Willy come to some sort of peace. Willy decides to kill himself to leave the money from his $20,000 life insurance policy to Biff and his family and also to show how great a salesman he was when all the salesman and buyers showed at his funeral. In the end Biff, Happy, Linda, and Charley turn up.
Part I
The story is told In the Third person, but there is no narration, and from the point of view of Willy Loman however it can be difficult to grasp the changes of time in the story as they happen very smoothly like they do in in Willy's head. For example, Often after finishing talking to someone and when he is alone scenes from the past become visible like the time when Ben came to visit Willy when the boys were young men and straight away without any visible shift on Willy he is talking to Ben. Events like these occur several times throughout the story. As the story goes on you can also see Willy's mental health deteriorate as he has more frequent conversations with Ben, who isn't actually there.
ReplyDelete'Death of a Salesman' deals with the ideas of age and pride, how Willy age and his health starts to slip but how he keeps his pride and tries to be an impressionable person. The age factor and how Willy is getting worse also plays a part in 'Betrayal' when Howard fires him from his dream job, and the one he had been doing for thirty four years for one firm. Finally and probably the most serious message that the story gives off is that of suicide, as at the end of the story Willy decides to 'cash in' on his $20,000 life insurance by killing himself, leaving the money to his family.
Overall 'Death of a Salesman' is quite sad considering Willy's relationship with Biff, his worsening mental state and what it led to, his suicide.
Part II
"The Death of a Salesman" is originally a play written by Arthur Miller in 1949. What I am writng about is the movie casting Dustin Hoffman and other actors. The play was played on 15th September 1985, and they recorded the play so it is like a movie actually.
ReplyDeleteThe setting of this story is first in Brooklyn, where Willy lives. Howard’s office is in NYC. Another setting is Charley’s office, and Frank’s Chop House. Willy’s house is a simple basic American house with a small garden, the house is not luxury, it is simple.
The main character of the story is Willy, he is a salesman, he is a man in his 60’s. I would say that he is a bit mentally ill, because he keeps on talking to his brother who is not there, and he has a lot of flashbacks which I think he does not define from reality. Linda is Willy’s wife, she is a good housewife and a good wife. Biff and Happy are Willy’s and Linda’s sons, I would say that Happy is a player, creative in life and can take care of himself, Biff lost his chance into the great future, therefore he is not confident enough. Howard is Willy’s boss, and he is not a nice person, he used Willy which is unforgivable. Charley is Willy’s neighbour who is a businessman, he has a very good, studious son, Bernard. The are also small roles such as waitresses, the woman Willy has an affair with, and some ladies Happy tries to make out with.
So, what mainly happens in the story is that Willy drives a car and gets into a car accident. Then he comes home from Boston to Brooklyn where he lives. Linda is concerned about the suicide, and Willy is loosing his mind slowly. He says he is tired and wants to find a job without travelling. He has flashbacks in which his sons who are now in their 30s become about 18. Biff is playing football, and Bernard comes in to make sure that Biff is studying his math, otherwise he is not graduating. Biff does not, and then he has a game which is good, and then he is failing math which makes him a looser. Happy is not so touched in the story, he is average child, though he steals a bit. In this flashback Willy gets another flashback about his lover in Boston. What happened is that Biff found out about his dad’s affair and thought too much about it therefore was not interested in his future. Bernard has everything well, and Willy tells Biff to look up to him. Willy eventually decides to ask Howard to stay in NY, not travel anymore. Howard fires Willy, Willy goes to Charlie to ask for money to pay off the insurance, after he says he is fired Charley gives him the money. He meets Bernard who is very successful. Then he goes to Frank’s Chop house where he tells his sons he is fired, then he has a flashback about him and his lover and Biff finding out about them. Thyen he goes home, plants the seeds and they argue with Biff, because Biff blames Willy for ruining his life, and not being the way he wants him to be. Everyone calms down, Willy goes outside of his house and then there is his funeral:(
The style of this movie is mainly in flashbacks. Like, when the action was happening in the reality, everyhting was grey and not happy, depressed, pessimistic I would say, but the flashback added a lot of sunshine and laughter. This suggests that perhapd willy wants everything the way it was twenty years ago. The story is mainly said from Willy’s point of view, and his view is well understandalble, when you watch this play/movie you really get back to the reality. You don’t fly up in the air anymore, ther e is no happyending or whatsoever, so this is the really reality like movie.
ReplyDeleteThe main idea of the movie was life. Life of peopledifferent age, first when Biff was 18 and let his future down , then when he is 30 and he is really not happy about his life. Then about 60 year old Willy who is regreting that he had an affair, and that he put 34 years into the firm and now gets nothing from it. He exxpected people to be on his funeral, but there were only four people coming. Sad. Linda did not need the money, she just wanted her husband no matter what, but he thought that she loved him because of somehting, not because he is just himself. Biff might need the insurance money, but a father is more important I think, but if he wouldn’t die perhaps eerything could be worse. But the idea of the movie is really lost opportunities.
I enjoyed watching the movie, it was amazing and great. Right from the beginning I realized where the flashbacks and actual life was, the story and the text is just amazing and professionally written. Even though Willy seemed crazy, I think that knowing the story now, I could understand him. I really liked the movie.
The Death of a Salesman
ReplyDeleteThe play “Death of a Salesman” was written by Arthur Miller in the late 1940’s, and is about a family living in New York, and their hardships and bad life from day to day.
The story is set in New York in the late 40’s mostly, but it flashes back to other times in other places, like Willy on a business trip in Boston, and when Biff visits him.
The main characters in this story are the Loman family. Willie is an old man, in his sixties, and he is barely making a living as a travelling salesman. He is very contradicting, and will often dismiss something that he has said previously. He is a proud man, and he seems to love his sons. Linda, his wife, is very defensive of him, and protects him when his sons talk badly of him. Biff and Happy, their two sons, are both in their 30’s, and Biff, after having his life being pretty miserable, falls out a lot with his father. Charley and Bernard are their next door neighbours and good friends.
The story starts with Willy returning from a business trip, that was unsuccessful, and his two sons are visiting, Biff and Happy. Biff, who he hasn’t seen for years, has been pretty miserable since a huge argument between him and his father. Willy then proceeds to have a few flashbacks about his past, with his sons when they are about to graduate, and Biff is a football player. Ben is also in a flashback, and the two talk about what happened to Ben when he went into the jungle. After the flashbacks, Willy and Biff have another argument, and they argue over Biff becoming a Salesman. The next day, Willy goes to confront his boss, Howard on how he’d rather not be a travelling businessman anymore. He ends up being fired, and when he and Biff get into a monumental argument, Biff tells how he stole a pen from his boss to help Willy with his money problems. Willy then remembers that his life insurance policy is worth $20,000, so he kills himself to help Biff with his money problems. At his funeral, Charley, Biff, Bernard, Happy and Linda attend.
The main style of this story is that it is based a lot on flashbacks, and they are performed with Willy looking identical to when he isn’t in a flashback. It is also very sincere, and dramatic. It is also realistic, and seems like a true story, and not unrealistic. The story can be considered a tragedy, with nothing that is happy or bright.
One of the themes of the story is dishonesty. This is shown when Biff steals, and in the flashbacks when Biff and Happy both steal. Also, Howard tells Willy that he would fit him into the city to work without travelling, but he fired Willy instead. Another theme would be depression, as the family is low on money, and the family is having many arguments frequently.
I liked watching the film on this story, as it was interesting with the flashbacks, and the characters were great. It was more like a play being filmed, with some film aspects. Some parts of the film were a bit hard to follow, and the speech was difficult to understand, but it was overall a great story.
The Death Of The Salesman Is A Play Written By Arthur Miller in 1949.
ReplyDeleteThe Death of the Salesman Is Set in New York City, But most of the scenes where in the family home.
In The Death of the Salesman, There are 4 main characters...
1) The First Main Character Would Be Willy, He Is the dad of the family and he is the salesman, who eventually dies.
2) The Second Main Character Would Be Linda, She is the mum of the family and she is almost always at home, trying her hardest to look after Willy and trying to stop the constant bickering between the boys and Willy.
3/4) The Two Boys Biff and Happy, who are the two children of Willy and Happy, they both don’t love Willy too much, as he isn’t one of the greatest men alive… he can get quite aggressive, but he was usually meaning well.
The Main Base of the story is about Willy, who tries to make his job easier and be a better man, but when he goes to his boss to make his job easier (by staying inside New York) but then, his boss tells him that he’s going a little crazy and he needs to take a rest. He doesn’t agree and thinks he’s perfectly fine, but he then ends up getting aggressive and shouting at his boss, ending up as him getting fired. He then realizes he has no money, and was forced to depend on his sons, but because his sons don’t love him very much, I don’t think they were prepared to help him out, meaning he would have to try get a new job. But then at the end of the story, Willy decides that he could make money for his family by killing himself and life insurance would pay them £20,000.
The Style Of The movie was in a play-like way, with lots of sets that where made like a live play being filmed. It seems to be very dramatic, and in parts of the story, it’s very detailed. The story also uses lots of flashbacks inside it.
The main theme in The Death of the Salesman is betrayal and trust. Willy betrayed his wife when he treated on her and also there is lots of betrayal/lack of trust between Willy and the two boys.
I enjoyed watching the film, but it’s a bit confusing and not very interesting at parts where they keep talking and talking for a long time about... really nothing. I think I understood the main parts of the film though and how to film works.
Toby.
The Death Of The Salesman Is A Play Written By Arthur Miller in 1949.
ReplyDeleteThe Death of the Salesman Is Set in New York City, But most of the scenes where in the family home.
In The Death of the Salesman, There are 4 main characters...
1) The First Main Character Would Be Willy, He Is the dad of the family and he is the salesman, who eventually dies.
2) The Second Main Character Would Be Linda, She is the mum of the family and she is almost always at home, trying her hardest to look after Willy and trying to stop the constant bickering between the boys and Willy.
3/4) The Two Boys Biff and Happy, who are the two children of Willy and Happy, they both don’t love Willy too much, as he isn’t one of the greatest men alive… he can get quite aggressive, but he was usually meaning well.
The Main Base of the story is about Willy, who tries to make his job easier and be a better man, but when he goes to his boss to make his job easier (by staying inside New York) but then, his boss tells him that he’s going a little crazy and he needs to take a rest. He doesn’t agree and thinks he’s perfectly fine, but he then ends up getting aggressive and shouting at his boss, ending up as him getting fired. He then realizes he has no money, and was forced to depend on his sons, but because his sons don’t love him very much, I don’t think they were prepared to help him out, meaning he would have to try get a new job. But then at the end of the story, Willy decides that he could make money for his family by killing himself and life insurance would pay them £20,000.
The Style Of The movie was in a play-like way, with lots of sets that where made like a live play being filmed. It seems to be very dramatic, and in parts of the story, it’s very detailed. The story also uses lots of flashbacks inside it.
The main theme in The Death of the Salesman is betrayal and trust. Willy betrayed his wife when he treated on her and also there is lots of betrayal/lack of trust between Willy and the two boys.
I enjoyed watching the film, but it’s a bit confusing and not very interesting at parts where they keep talking and talking for a long time about... really nothing. I think I understood the main parts of the film though and how to film works.
Toby Cook
‘Death of a Salesman’ SCASI
ReplyDeleteThe story ‘Death of a Salesman’ was written by Arthur Miller and the film was written in 1985 and it is basically about problems in the family, and a problem that the main character has with his job, and many other problems.
This story is set in the past, as there is not much technology that would show it is set in more recent times. It was probably meant to be set a bit before the time it was written, because there was more technology in 1985 then there was shown in the film, and probably because it was actually written in 1945. The place it was set was in New York.
There are four main characters in the play. Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy Loman. Willy is the main character and he it seems in the movie that he is a bit crazy. He can never make up his mind on anything because he always changes his decisions suddenly, even his opinions. He can also have sudden mood swings while he is talking with someone. Linda is Willy’s husband and she loves him very much and does what he says and is always on his side, even if he hits her, which was seen in the movie. Biff is one of Willy’s sons, and Happy is too.
The story starts with Willy trying to crash his car after failing trying to sell (it is his career), and his sons come over to say at his house. He has a lot of flashbacks and he sees the times when his family was very happy, and his sons looked up to them, and he also mainly sees his dead brother who was extremely successful and really rich. He then get tired of trying to sell and always being on the road, so he goes to his boss, Howard, and asks him for a job in the town so he wouldn’t have to travel, and Howard tells him that he doesn’t want Willy to work there anymore (in other words, he fires him). Willy is shocked by this, and he starts arguing with his sons, and then we see another flashback that proves that he used to cheat on his wife when he went on road trips, because he was lonely. He then commits suicide by crashing his car, and he wants to have many people at his funeral, and all his life insurance goes towards his family so they can use it to help them get out of the issues they have with the lack of money. Not many people attend his funeral, only 5.
The style of this story is it is written using a lot of flashbacks, which help you understand the plot of the story better. It is also made very dramatic by exaggerating some of the shouting and actions that are made.
The themes of this story are death, because Willy constantly tries to commit suicide while driving. Another theme would be love, because Willy has to make many decisions for the sake of his family, and this may be the reason that he lost it a bit in the first place.
I really like this story, even thought the first few times we watched it, the projector wasn’t that good and the sound quality was never really good. But I really like the general plot of the story, how it changes suddenly. The actors were all very good and dramatic.
Death of a Salesman
ReplyDeleteIn class we have been watching the film version of ‘Death of a Salesman’ by Arthur Miller. The movie is directed by Volker Schlondorff in 1985. In the movie Willy Lowman is played by Dustin Hoffman, and Biff by John Malkovich.
The story is set in New York city in the 1950’s. The Lowman’s have a house that is in the suburbs of Brooklyn. The characters are Willy Lowman , a sixty year old salesman who has lost his father and brother in Alaska. Biff Lowman is Wily’s son. Biff is the older of the two sons, Happy being the younger of the two. They are both in their thirties , Happy is a player who likes to hit on married women and Biff is a high school drop out who likes to steal things . Willy’s wife Linda is worried about Willy’s health and the relationship between Biff and Willy. Willy’s neighbor Charlie becomes a successful business man who lends Willy money when he needs it, and Charlie’s son is Bernard.
The story opens with Willy driving down the road. He almost crashes and then he returns home. He’s a salesman who was on the road in Boston when he returns home early. He comes home and talks to his wife, who reminds him that they only owe one more payment on their mortgage before the house is theirs. Willy goes to talk to his boss Howard , however things get out of hand and Willy ends up without a job. Willy’s sons Biff and Happy are in town and they have decided to start a business together selling sports goods. Biff goes to talk to an accountant who is an old acquaintance of his fathers. When the accountant refuses to see him Biff steals his fountain pen. Willy seems to have a couple issues with flashbacks and acknowledging the truth. Willy’s brother Ben went to Alaska to do business and sealed a timber deal , and died. Willy felt like he should have gone to Alaska when he had the chance. Willy then realizes that in his life insurance policy he has a $25’000 pay out. At the end he crashes his car in order to give Biff the $25’000, a sad ending.
Death of a Salesman is written in a very different style. It contains flashbacks, direct speech and the basic hero character. In this story Biff is the hero and Willy is the character in need of saving. Unlike other stories however this story doesn’t have a happy ending and it ends with Willy sacrificing himself to give his family his life insurance money to live on with out him.
The main themes of Death of a Salesman would be family values and values of life. It also has a tint of comedy and tragedy and some drama too. It also has a feeling of abandonment, as Willy’s father abandons him when he is young and then his brother Ben. It also gives a sense of the impression of the American dream that many Americans had back then that was false. There is also betrayal because Biff didn’t fulfill the dreams and ambitions Willy set up for him, he took the rejection to heart and felt betrayed.
I really liked this story , however it was rather depressing at the end and the fact that Willy was a bit bonkers kind of upsetting for some people and it kind of made the movie a bit confusing. I think that the story was actually quite interesting and original and I liked it . ☺
Caroline Schiller
ReplyDeleteDeath of a Salesman was written by Arthur Miller in 1949. We have only read a scene in class yet, but we watched a filmed production of the play.
The setting was in New York. Most of the scenes are in the salesman’s house or garden. Then there is one scene in an office and in a restaurant. It must be sometime in the 1940’s or 1950’s.
The main character is Willy Loman. He is a salesman and seems to be relatively old. He thinks about the past a lot and he is a bit ‘crazy’ because he talks with people that aren’t actually there and drifts into the past all the time. Then there is his wife, Linda. She loves Willy a lot and cares about him. She is also very worried about Willy. Then there are their two sons, Biff and Happy. Biff is the older brother and his father expected a lot from Biff. But Biff doesn’t want to live the way Willy expects him to. His father still thinks Biff is something special and definitely prefers Biff from his two sons. Happy made his own plans. He seems to have found his way of living and even though his parents never paid so much attention to him, he seems to be happy with life. He is going to get married. Then there is Bernard, an old school friend from the brothers, and I think he lives in the neighborhood. He was very good at school and now has a good job. Then there is his father, Charlie, who is a friend of Willy. They play cards together. Then there is Howard, a quite young man, who is Willy’s boss and fires him.
The story starts with Willy returning home from a salesman trip. He doesn’t work near his home, that’s why he has to drive so far. His two sons are at his house, too, at the moment. The relationship between the father and the older son isn’t that good. Biff failed to live like his father expected him to and Biff is also very mad at Willy because he had a huge fight with him because Willy had an affair and Biff realized. Willy then has a flashback about the time the family was happier and the relationship between him and his older son was good. It was the time when Biff graduated. Willy wanted his son to be good at football but didn’t want him to study so much like the neighbour Bernard. And then he also imagines that Ben, his brother, is back. Later, Willy and Biff have a conversation. And Willy wants Biff to become a salesman. When Willy goes to work and asks his boss to get a job in town, because he was tired of traveling, Howard fires Willy because he believes Willy needs a good long rest. Then Willy gets very mad at Biff because he had stolen something. But at the end of the argument, they were crying arm in arm and we could see that they love each other. But after the fight, when everybody went to bed, Willy plans to die. He plans it with Ben, who actually isn’t there. He believes his family needs money and after he dies, the family would get $20,000. And he believes, that at his funeral, there would be hundreds of salesmen and buyers, but then after he dies, there are only Biff, Happy, Linda, Charlie and Bernard.
PART 1
The play is shown from Willy’s point of view. It shows the present and some parts of Willy’s past. Sometimes the past is shown with flashbacks that take Willy into a totally new scene where everyone around him is younger. But then there are the ‘flashbacks’ about his brother. In those, Ben just appears but everyone else stays the way it is. So Willy sees Ben in the present but Ben isn’t actually there. All the flashbacks could be very confusing sometimes. The play was very dramatic with a lot of arguments and screaming and crying, but it also had a lot of happy scenes like the flashbacks were usually happy. The play is really realistic with a lot of emotion and action and dialogues.
ReplyDeleteOne main idea is money. A lot in the story is about jobs, career and poverty. The family constantly talks about how they can’t pay something or that the last payment of the house will be made. And Willy talks about his boss to get another job and gets fired. And later he wants to pay his life insurance and gets the money from a friend. And in the end, Willy dies just so that his family would have enough money. So all in all, the story is a lot about money. Then, one idea is love. The love between father and son, and how they were both disappointed in each other. But then they were crying together and it showed that they really cared about each other. And Happy who was getting married, but nobody in his family seemed to care. He wasn’t as loved by his parents, as his brother. And Willy had an affair, he cheated on his wife, who really loves and cares about Willy. And Willy who wants to be beloved by a lot of people just like ‘Old Dave’ to whose funeral hundreds of salesmen came.
The story was very lifelike but also very confusing with all the flashbacks. But all in all I liked the story. It showed the past which was interesting. And in the end, you suddenly understand what exactly is going on and what Willy was doing and why.
CAROLiNE
In class we were watching a movie called “Death of a salesman”. This play was written by Arthur Miller in 1949. Its whole play is about Willy Loman salesman’s life.
ReplyDeleteSetting of the play is in the late 1940s mainly in the Willy Loman’s house and yard in Brooklyn. They weren’t rich so house was old and needed restoration. Sometimes it goes into some different places like when he visits New York (Once it was a hotel room) and his work in Boston.
Main characters in this story are^
Willy Loman an insecure, hot-tempered salesman. He is the main character in this film. I think he has really big problems with his health he is always talking to himself and having flashbacks all the time from that I can say that he has mentally problems. He has a loyal, loving wife it’s Linda Loman who is taking care of him and trying to protect. They together have two sons Biff and Happy. Biff Loman is thirty four years old in school he was the star of the foot ball however he failed math and didn’t have enough credits for graduation. He was fired from all his works because he was steeling stuff I think it called kleptomania. Another son Happy Loman is thirty two or three years old he is the youngest son in the family. He always wanted his dad to notice him but Willys attention was on Biff all the time so he lived in the shadow of his brother. He says that he is good businessman however his business is not going well. Charley is the next door neighbor and also best Willy’s friend. He always gives him money to pay off bills. Charley has a son his name is Bernard he is a successful layer he always admired of Biff and tried to help him with studying. Also there was Ben he is Willy’s older brother who died but Willy thinks that he is a symbol of his luck and all the time he sees Ben in his flashback.
This whole play, movie is about Willy’s life. Willy tries to get better at his job but he never does. All the time Willy gets some flashbacks in which he talks to himself remembering the past. Movie starts how Willy came home from a business trip and got into the car crash. At the same day two son’s Biff and Happy are coming to visit their parents. Biff and Willy are not in good relationships because when Biff was a student he found his father cheating on his mum and he never forgives it to Willy. However he wants to help his father in Willy’s situation with work by offering a good plan. Also he wanted to stop his attempts in suicide. Willy wants his death because his life is worth 20.000 and his family in need of them. Willy wanted to proof his son that everyone love and respect him by number of people coming on his funeral. At last Biff told to Willy everything what he thought of him but their conversation got into the fight. After that Linda with Biff and Happy went upstairs to sleep when Willy went outside and got in to the car crush in which he died. At the end no one came on his funeral even his boss.
This play has a very interesting style. It has a lot of flash backs and sometimes its one flashback in another. It’s a life like play you can feel atmosphere changing all the time but mostly it’s sad and depressing. Acting is very dramatic and emotional. You can see that it was filmed for the TV because of the background it is not real but pictures maybe for feeling that you are on the stage.
I think that themes of this movie “Death of a salesman” are a tragedy and family drama. It’s very depressive because everyone lying to each other and disappointing because Willy couldn’t achieve his goal of having a good career. Also because of the ending his funeral wasn’t exactly the way he planned.
The movie"The Death of a Salesman" was great but at some parts confusing like the first flashback I couldn’t understand what was happening. Also actors were talking so fast that sometimes I couldn’t understand them. However I got the main idea and I really enjoyed watching this movie.
Polina
Death Of A Salesman – SCASI
ReplyDeleteDeath of A Salesman was written by an American Playwright Arthur Miller. He wrote it in 1949.
Death of a Salesman is a play about the final days leading up till a salesman death. The play is set in America in New York. It is old. It is set in the 1940s.
The characters are Willy, Howard, Charlie, Happy, Bernard, Biff, Linda and Ben. Willy is a salesman and he has been in the sales for many years. Howard is Willy’s boss. Charlie is Willy’s neighbor that is related to Linda. Happy and Biff are Willy’s sons and Linda is his wife. Ben is Willy’s dead brother and Biff is Bernard son.
Willy starts trying to kill himself and Linda is worried. Meanwhile he keeps on having flash backs of the past and starts talking to his deceased brother Ben who went to Alaska and made a fortune. He goes to Howard to ask for a job situated in town but it goes wrong and he ends up being fired.
Biff and Happy come back home. Somehow Willy thinks Biff is going to land a big deal and he and Happy will model sportswear. But it goes wrong and he refuses to believe it. He then goes to Charlie for insurance money and he meets Bernard there. He finds out Bernard is a lawyer. In the end Willy dies in a car accident and before he was saying how everyone would come to his funeral but when he dies only his family and Charlie and Bernard go to it .By the looks at it they didn’t even get his insurance money.
The style of the play is old. It is also about families and how Willy messed up Biff’s life because he mistreated Linda. Biff doesn’t tell his mum this so she just thinks he is a failure. Happy is the son that is never credited. No matter how hard he tries and what he does he is never acknowledged. It is a really realistic story. It gives us a slice of life a look into the life of a salesman.
ReplyDeleteThe main Idea is how some ones actions can affect your life. Willy was led to death by age and his mental state. If Biff had a job and had succeeded more in life then Willy might not have died the way he did, but Biff is not to blame the person to blame is Willy because not only did he used to cheat on Linda he used to smack her and be very unfair to her and that is why Biff didn’t go to summer camp to get his math credits instead he stayed home to protect his mother.
Bernard used to look up to Biff but in the end Biff had fallen low and it hurt Bernard. Happy sleeping around with women was probably caused by his lack of attention growing up. It is quite obvious that Biff always got the attention and throughout the play you see that Happy tries hard to get attention but fails when in reality it is he that keeps everyone calm and tries to solve the problem and is never thanked only rejected and criticized. Linda is a weak woman and doesn’t speak up that is why Willy probably cheated on her because he knew she would do nothing and that she couldn’t do anything about it.
Willy goes crazy also because he looked up to Ben and brother that he had only met once a brother that made a fortune out of nothing and Willy looked up to Signalman the sales man because he didn’t even need to go outside to make money and he was known all over and Willy failed in achieving his goals leading him to develop a poor mental state because he was living in a fantasy world he made for himself. Example: he would say everyone loves me. But then he would snap out of the state and say the reality that no one actually loved him. Which made him always contradict himself.
The play was quite interesting, even though I wouldn’t watch it if I had the choice. It was a bit too harsh and realistic (it scared me a little) and I didn’t like that about it how Willy went crazy was kind of disturbing, but it was good nonetheless.
By Evita
Death of Salesman
ReplyDeleteDeath of a Salesman is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1949.
It is set in New York around 1950, when it was written. It mostly takes place in the Loman’s house but also goes to Charlie’s office, Howard’s office, and other locations. Some of the story is also shown as a flashback.
There are quite a few main characters in this story. The main character is Willy Loman. He is a 60 year old man (about) and is the father of Biff and Happy and he is Linda’s husband. He is a salesman who is going “crazy”. He is a very hard worker, but he is starting to lose it. Another character is Biff who used to be Willy’s favorite son, but after some events in the story, they seem to have drifted apart. There is Happy, who is like Biff, unemployed and his relationship with Willy has also deteriorated. The next is Linda, Willy’s wife. She cares for Willy so much, but finds it hard to deal with his condition. She was also proud of her sons, but now they’ve disappointed her and done nothing almost all of their lives. Another is Charlie, Willy’s brother-in-law. He cares for Willy as well but doesn’t understand his condition and gets angry at him when he gets confused.
It starts when Willy arrives home from work, he was away selling things. Biff and Happy also just came home after some time. Biff and Willy don’t get along well at all since the last time they saw each other they had a massive argument. Willy has flashbacks in the house and we learn more about their past. Eventually, Biff and Happy decide that they want to start a sporting goods company together and they need to get a loan to start off. Willy starts to get along with them and is very proud. Willy and his sons decide to have dinner together the night after. Willy then goes to see Howard, his boss, to see if he can stop travelling and he ends up getting fired. Biff goes to see the man who he is going to ask for a loan from, but he ends up waiting a long time and stealing his pen. When they get to the restaurant Biff and Happy pick up some girls and Willy stays there, in his flashback/hallucination. We learn that the reason Biff and Willy’s relationship fell apart was because he found out that he was cheating. Willy’s family then learns that Willy is thinking about killing himself to get insurance money to support his family. In the end, he kills himself, wanting his family to get his money and to prove that lots of people would come to his funeral. At the funeral there is just Biff, Happy, Linda, Charlie and Bernard.
The play is written in a very strange way. It implements flashbacks, and we learn that they are taking place while something else is happening where Willy is. We see some of this hazy confusion where people don’t know what he’s saying when he’s talking to them (He’s actually talking in the flash back).
This is a very sad story, it all ends with Willy killing himself and almost no one coming to his funeral. The family is constantly disappointed with what they do, mostly because they have high expectations and lots of misconceptions.
Death of a Salesman is a very well written play, but I find it a very depressing story with Willy’s situation and eventual suicide.
Death of a Salesman
ReplyDeleteDeath of a Salesman was written in 1949 and was written by Arthur Miller, and the story is about an old man who is slightly mad in the head and sees hallucinations frequently during the day, we also know that he is trying to kill himself.
The story is set in the late 1940’s and is in New York City, Willy Loman’s house and various other places that are in New York City .
There are a few main characters in this story the first being the old man himself, Willy Loman is a 60 year old who is a travelling salesman, he is a very kindhearted man but can get angry very easily. Willy also has numerous Flashbacks remembered his sons highschool days where he was about to graduate but didn’t due to not having enough credits. Willy is also trying to kill himself so that his life insurance would go to his family. The next is Biff Loman, Biff is Willy’s eldest son and he does not have a job, Biff used to look up to Willy before but now he doesn’t and almost feels disgusted by him, the next is Happy who is the youngest son, Happy does have a job but sometimes gets sidetracked by beautiful woman and lies. Linda Loman is Willy’s Wife and she constantly worries about him as she knows that he is trying to kill himself and that he is having a hard time as a travelling salesman yet she does everything she can at the moment to help.
The story starts off with Willy driving home when he arrives, he feels exhausted and Linda seeing this tries to tell Willy to ask for a place in New York with Howard, Willy says he will do this and starts to talk about Biff and Happy, Criticizing them Linda Scolds him and he goes down for a snack, Willy then starts to talk to himself. Biff and Happy tell Willy that they will start a sporting goods shop together and this makes Willy Happy and they agree to take Willy out for dinner, Willy then goes to Howard who then ends up getting fired. Willy goes to Charlie’s office to ask for some money to pay off some of the things in the house and once Willy see’s Bernard has become a Lawyer he feels greatly saddened. When Willy meets Biff and Happy for dinner he has another flashback this time about his time in Boston. Willy later then has a fight with Biff and then has another flashback when he talks to his Brother Ben and then leaves, with Linda calling after him Willy finally crashes and dies. Only Biff, Happy, Linda, Bernard and Charlie attend the funeral, not the expectations of what Willy had in mind.
This is mostly told from Willy’s point of view and from most of Willy’s flashbacks that tell us a story to help put together the pieces of a puzzle that is left within the story, and with this Willy talks to himself whether there are no people or if there are people present and this often happens when Willy is at home or going to Howards Office. The play can also seem like a tragedy since Willy has these flashbacks, he tries to kill himself and then in the end he does die.
The ideas in this story can be lies as Howard lies to Willy when he said he had a place for him in New York but infact he couldn’t think of anything for him and instead fired him. Another idea is theft as in flashbacks we see that Biff and Happy steal something and then Biff stole sporting goods and a fountain pen. Another idea could be that Willy had high expectations of being a travelling salesman that when he died millions of people would attend his funeral which ofcourse became clear when almost no one turned up, only his family did.
I must say that this was an interesting story/play with all the flashbacks and using the flashbacks to piece the puzzle together. It got hard to understand when Willy starting to talk in his flashbacks but I got used to it and found it clever.
Death of a Salesman Essay
ReplyDeleteThe death and the salesmen is a play written by Arthur Miller in the year of 1949
This play was set in the United States, New York around the 1950’s in the house of Willy(main character) and his wife Linda.
In this play there are six characters. The main character is called Willy who is a crazy old business man. There is Linda, Willy’s wife, who takes care of their house and their grown up children. Bill is the oldest son in their family but does not have a job. Then there is another son named Happy, who is the younger brother of Bill. And there is Charlie and Bernard, Bernard is the son of Charlie.
The plot of this play is about this man named Willy who is a crazy business man with a great healthy family. Willy sometimes gets these flashbacks of him in actions that he once did and sometimes feels he is in them. The story begins with Willy on his way home from traveling as he is a road man and travels a lot, Willy later gets one of his flashbacks, loses control and suddenly bumps with his car. He somehow returns home and decides that he does not want to travel anymore as he is tired and goes to see his boss the next day and explains everything to him and in the end gets fired by him as he loses control of himself and begins to shout which made his boss feel really uncomfortable with. Later on in this story, Bill finds Willy cheating on his wife with some other woman and this makes Bill believe that Willy should not be their father anymore which upsets Linda and Linda does not want to believe any of this and so she speaks to the boys and tries to sort things out with them and believes Willy! The story gets confusing at times but then at the same time is very interesting.
The style of this story informative when it gets to flashbacks but overall there are many speeches going on however it is an interesting story to read or watch.
The ideas for this story could be that the text should be a little bit more understand and easier to read. As it gets confusing at some times it is still well written and interesting.
I enjoyed watching both part of the movie and acting in this play. It is an interesting story as many people go through these situations in life and are very affective and strong. I enjoyed it a lot.
By Christina Lomakina
Death of a Salesman
ReplyDeleteDeath of a Salesman is a movie and book which was written on the date of 1949 by a writer known as Arthur Miller. The genre of this movie/book is ‘tragedy’.
The setting of the ‘Death of a Salesman’ is in the 1940s and is set in a variety of different places. It is set sometimes in Willy Loman’s house (the main character), sometimes in New York City and sometimes it is also set in Barnaby River.
In the film there are several amounts of characters. The main one is Willy Loman, who is a troubled old man with a past that he hates remembering. He is a salesman and he travels a lot. Willy was inspired by another salesman who was known as Dave Singleman. The second character is his wife, Linda Loman who is around the same age as Willy and is a housewife. Then there are his two sons, Biff Loman and Happy Loman. Biff Loman is the oldest son, who loved to play football and was successful in the beginning, but he eventually resulted in becoming a ‘bum’. The younger son is Happy Loman, who enjoys impressing women he doesn’t know and often lies about what he really does as a living. The last character is Howard, who was Willy’s boss when Willy had been working as a travelling salesman.
The plot is basically about an ageing man named Willy who just returned from Boston from work. His wife Linda tries her best in convincing Willy that he shouldn’t work as a travelling salesman anymore as he is very tired. Biff and Happy had just returned home as well, and they all started remembering the memories they had when Biff and Happy were still teenagers. Back when they were teenagers, Biff was aiming for a football scholarship. Later, Willy goes to see his boss, Howard and asks him if there was any possible way of him working with him in the city, as he was very tired. Willy starts a huge argument so Howard fired him. After that, to cheer him up his sons took him out to dinner. During dinner, in the bathroom, Willy starts having flashbacks of what happened a long time ago which ruined the relationship between him and Biff. After Biff and Happy return home, they come to see that their mother Linda is very upset and their father seemed to be very confused, in the garden as If nothing happened. After a huge argument between the families, they apologized to each other and went to bed. Willy had thought that by killing himself, it would solve all of Biffs’ problems in his path. Apparently, if he did die his family would get 20,000 dollars which would help them a great deal. He killed himself after he got into the car. Only Biff, Happy, Linda, Charley and Bernard attended his funeral. It was a tragic moment for all of them.
The movie is mostly being told from Willy’s point of view. It is often showing previous parts of his life, and what happened between his two sons a while back. I would say that this movie was more of a tragic film than a joyful one, as Willy seemed very depressed throughout the film. It is also very upsetting to watch as of the way he tried reaching goals that he couldn’t achieve in his life.
Overall, I thought this was a great movie. At times, it was very hard to follow of what was happening in the past or whether it was in the present, but as I got to see it more, I understood what was really going on with the scenery. It was a rather tragic film, but had a good story line to it and I enjoyed it very much.
By Kalean 9A