March 8, 2011 Journal #4

1. March 8, 2011Journal #4 • What is your definition of a salesman? How is a salesman different from someone in another occupation? What attitudes do you think a salesman should have in order to be successful? What attitudes would hinder him?

2. Background on Arthur Miller (copy in your notes) • 1915 (in New York City) -2005 • Wrote 17 plays • Family was intensely impacted by the Depression • Graduated from University of Michigan in 1938 with English degree • Appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956. • Married Marilyn Monroe in 1956, divorced in 1960. • 1949- Produced Death of a Salesman – won Pulitzer Prize • The Crucible – 1953 • His later works never surpassed his earlier success.

4. Death of a SalesmanTidbits of background information • Considered one of the best dramas EVER written!!! Won Pulitzer Prize, Critics Circle and many other prestigious awards. • 63 year old Willy Loman is based on Arthur Miller’s Uncle Manny (pun intended) • Willy Loman is a traveling salesman who has worked for the Wagner Company for thirty-four years, and believes himself to be vital to his company. • Willy has 2 sons (Biff & Happy), who come home for a visit. • The play takes the audience into the mind of Willy Loman and his illusory world of (unfulfilled) dreams. • Unconventional time sequence – voice of past becomes as loud as the present  theme of illusion vs. reality