DOAS play context Flashcards
Historical Context of Death of a Salesman A03
During the postwar boom of 1948, most Americans were optimistic about a renewed version of the American Dream: striking it rich in some commercial venture, then moving to a house with a yard in a peaceful suburban neighborhood where they could raise children and commute to work in their new automobile. The difference between this and the nineteenth-century version of the same dream, in which a family or a single adventurer went into America’s wilderness frontier and tried to make their fortune from the land itself, reflected the country’s economic shift from agriculture to urban industry, and then from manufacturing into service and sales. Charley sums up this process at the end of the play when he says about Willy Loman, “He don’t put a bolt to a nut… he’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine.”
what year was the post-war boom?
how did this boom shape American perception of the American dream?
During the post-war boom of 1948,
most Americans were optimistic about a renewed version of the American Dream:
- striking it rich in some commercial venture,
then moving to a house with a yard in a peaceful suburban neighborhood where they could raise children and commute to work in their new automobile.
what does the change in perception of the American dream reflect?
A03
1948:
striking it rich in some commercial venture,
then moving to a house with a yard in a peaceful suburban neighborhood where they could raise children and commute to work in their new automobile.
19th century:
a family or a single adventurer went into America’s wilderness frontier and tried to make their fortune from the land itself,
The difference between this and the nineteenth-century version of the same dream, reflected the country’s economic shift from agriculture to urban industry, and then from manufacturing into service and sales
what quote from charley reflects the shift from agriculture to urban industry A02
Charley sums up this process at the end of the play when he says about Willy Loman, “He don’t put a bolt to a nut… he’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine.”
what literary period was death of a salesman made in?
social realism - the realistic depiction in art of contemporary life, as a means of social or political comment.
genre
dramatic stage play
written
1948
climax
Biff’s speech to willy at the end of act 2
antagonist
- Howard Wagner
- the American Dream that allows Willy and his sons to delude themselves.
summary of opening scene and analysis
The curtain rises on Willy Loman’s house in Brooklyn. The house, with its small backyard, looks fragile next to the tall apartment buildings that surround it. A soft flute melody is playing in the background. It is a Monday evening.
Home ownership is a central pillar of the American Dream. But Willy’s house has been overwhelmed by the city, just as Willy is himself overwhelmed by the pressures on him.
what are the symbols found in DOAS?
A04
- rubber hose
- stockings
- seeds
- flute
Expressionism A04
exaggeration or distortion used to reflect an inner truth. ‘willy’s imaginings provide an inner truth’
Features:
FOCUS = plays of protest + rebellion
SETTING = abstract or dream like + unlocalised, props are sparse and/or symbolic
ACTION = episodic often representing stages of life as a series of visions
CHARACTERS = nameless/ represent role in society
A05 - Christopher Bigsby
‘if personal meaning lies in success, then failure must threaten identity itself’
AO5 - Sheila Huftel
‘Willy fell only from an imagined height’
A05 - Arthur Miller
‘I’I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy as kings are’
