[lit-ideas] Re: FW: Death of a Thinker
- From: John Wager <johnwager@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 11:14:47 -0600
What I like about the play is the levels underneath the plot. Examples:
1. Willy's "dream" perhaps should have been to make flutes, but if you
listen carefully, his father left the family somewhere en route, out
west, disappearing to go "north" when Willy was four (If I recall
without digging the text out). With a father like this, "making flutes"
has its own danger; I think something in Willy does not fully accept the
myth he tells himself about his father.
2. Linda seems to bear as much blame as Willy for all the "false
dreams." At first, Willy's constant complaints about her "interrupting"
him seem demeaning, but she DOES always try to put the best face on
things, no matter how false that face may be. We know it's out of love
for Willy, but it feeds his self-deceptive fantasies. At the same time,
the relationship between Linda and Willy is one of genuine love; if
Willy HAD gone to Alaska, his life without Linda might have been even
worse.
3. Linda says "There's more of him in that stoop than in all the sales
he ever made." Willy puts up ceilings, fixes the front steps, tinkers
in the basement. But the stage set for the original production shows
the results: A decaying older house that he can't keep up with, no
matter how hard he tries, surrounded by cookie-cutter apartments. At
first, the tragedy seems to have been somewhat avoidable; he had the
"wrong dreams." But on another level, no matter what he had done, he
would probably have felt just as used up, just as much a failure, as he
did being a salesman. In some ways, it's irrelevant that Howard throws
him away like an orange peel. Willy gets used up by life as much as by
work.
As far as the play "having little to do with ...capitalism," it might be
interesting to take a look at a book that came out about a decade after
DofS, Erich Fromm's THE SANE SOCIETY. His descriptions of alienation
under capitalism fit almost every single scene and character in the
play, right up to "man's relationship to himself" being one of valuing
only what one can get on the open market for one's self, or in Willy's
case, being "worth" more dead than alive.
William Ball wrote:
>Willy took the road well worn, not "The Road Not Taken". He chose the
>worn road that leads to nowhere, the road of any salesman, or safe job
>in the civil service. He should have gone to Alaska to mine for gold. He
>should have made flutes, like the one we hear in the play, he should
>have had the courage to follow his dreams.
>
>Lines: Willy, "The woods are burning I tell you." Willy's wife at
>graveside, "Attention must be paid to this man."=20
>
>See the production with Lee J. Cobb as Willy. It's on tape, I think.
>Cobb played it on Broadway in 1949,
>
>We all have some or all of Willy in us. That's what scares hell out of
>us.
>
>And I tell you right now, the woods are burning.
>
>
>Bill Ball
>
>P. S. The play has very little to do with communism/capitalism. It's
>about all us low men, the tragedy of the common man because he's so
>common.
>
>
>l=20
>
>
>
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-
>>bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Paul Stone
>>Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 1:33 PM
>>To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>Subject: [lit-ideas] Death of a Thinker
>>=20
>>I have to admit that I've never read, seen, watched "Death of a
>>Salesman".
>>Can someone tell me, without "ruining" it for me, WHY it's such a
>>revered
>>classic? Are there memorable lines that are in today's vernacular?
>>
>>
>Just
>
>
>>the
>>plot would be okay -- without any spoilers concerning Willy's, Hap's
>>
>>
>or
>
>
>>Biff's fate.
>>=20
>>Other than Miller's death this week, it's very interesting because I
>>watched a movie called "Eulogy" last night which was about "the death"
>>of a
>>salesman, and has some overt references to DOAS, but alas, I didn't
>>
>>
>get
>
>
>>them.
>>=20
>>=20
>>Paul
>>=20
>>##########
>>Paul Stone
>>pas@xxxxxxxx
>>Kingsville, ON, Canada
>>=20
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