[lit-ideas] Re: Death of a Thinker
- From: "Andreas Ramos" <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 23:55:23 -0800
From: "Robert Paul" <Robert.Paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> I don't know, Andreas. Death of a Salesman may or may not be an accurate
> depiction of 'business,' but what's inherently improbable about it? A
> 'travelling salesman' of that time, or of the time just before the play was
> written could surely lose customers, lose his way, get burned out, but have no
> other way to think of himself, no way other than as a salesman: his death
> comes
> before the actual death. Do/did companies treat their salesmen that way? Does
> the Ayatollah have a beard?
It's a good play: Arthur Miller creates a plausible character and his world.
It's also very probable: many companies certainly treat their workers like
this; the workers
give everything to the company and when the company doesn't need them anymore,
it throws
them out (I've seen it happen). Many workers ended up feeling useless and
betrayed and angry
at themselves for having sacrificed to the company.
But that's only a minority of companies. In most companies, workers are happy
to be there.
The job is their community and social life. A number of sociological studies
show that
people get their sense of indentity through their occupation. Yes, there are
businesspeople
who think they should act like pirates. But most businesspeople are sociable
and
cooperative.
Paul asked why Miller's play is significant. We shouldn't give away the
surprise ending, nor
too many details about all the sex scenes, esp. the scene with the two
secretaries and the
rope, which caused an uproar when it was published. Paul can read it for
himself.
yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
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