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In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character's relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then write an essay in which you show how the character's relationship to the past contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Some people enjoy looking back at the past and smiling at joyous moments that have come and gone, but others think of the past as distressing and would prefer to forget about it completely. In the case of Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, the past is an incredibly painful subject that seems unavoidable. The past plays such a major role in the lives of the main characters that without understanding the past, the play loses much of its meaning.
Right away the conflict between Biff and his father, the salesman, Willy, is brought to light. The mother constantly brings up the fact that they are always fighting. This conflict immediately throws several questions into the reader’s head, the most obvious one being, what happened between Biff and his father? To answer this question we must look back into the past, which the author conveys through the use of flashbacks. One of the first flashbacks shows Willy and Biff talking and its shows them as very close and friendly with each other. It is clearly present that Willy is proud of his son and that Biff in return looks up to his father. Willy could not be prouder of his son because of his superior athletic ability, and his charming charisma and because the two are almost identical in personality they get along amazingly. This brings up the questions once again of what happened? In the present, Willy is seen as mentally deteriorating and he cannot stop fighting with his son, while in the past Willy is seen as smart, hardworking, and a great father. This tremendous difference causes Willy to want to live in the past, which he does in his head through hallucinations and flashbacks. Willy is so caught up in the past that he is unable to think of the present and fix the many problems that are going on the most evident being his ruined relationship with Biff.
The most important quote in the play that wraps up all the questions is “What happened in Boston Willy?” (Miller 94). The key to the play is what exactly happened in the Boston. In Boston, Biff ends up walking in on his dad cheating on his mom with another woman. This causes Biff to skip summer school and throw away his future. Biff and his father never make up; Biff never forgives his father and throws away his life and all his potential as a result of the grudge that he holds against his father. This, although a painful memory, is one that stays with both characters and one that remains unavoidable making the characters who they are in the play today. His mother is constantly telling him to be easy on his sick father and Biff tries but he cannot get over the fact that his father was unfaithful. He also blames his father for his failure because his father’s mistake did lead him to spiral downward, although later he does learn to realize that it was in fact his own fault that his life was ruined, not his fathers. So you see from this a clear influence of the past. Willy cannot get over the past and cannot get over the fact that he ruined his son’s life and its drives him to depression. He lives in the past and therefore cannot move on leading us to the theme of the play, don’t dwell on the past and instead work for a better future. Both Willy and Biff has a negative relationship with the past, more specifically of the incident in Boston and cannot move on because of this.
Therefore, the past is evident in much of today’s literature and in Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, the past leads the main characters down a downward spiral that they are not able to recover from until the final death of Willy Loman, the salesman who dwelt on the past and couldn’t deal with the future.
1. You need to state what is exactly the role that the past plays in conveying the meaning of the work in your thesis.
ReplyDelete2. Even though your essay consists of considerable analysis, it explores the relationship of Willy and Biff with the past through only one perspective. Your writing is devoid of the use of techniques that lead you to evidence to support your claims and validate them through warrants. Judging from the reference to events in the novel, you may be able to use imagery and details to support your central argument.
3. The often informal and sometimes grammatically incorrect writing interferes with smoothly reading your writing.
4. You initiated a great discussion on an argumentative point, but you were unable to fully justify it through your writing.
5. Overall, it was a good start that had the potential to be an excellent essay.
Great job on your essay! You have a really good voice that comes through in your writing and makes it enjoyable to read. Your introduction is really good also; you use the three-sentence structure we learned in class and it gives a great overview of your essay. I also like the details you used throughout the essay and the commentary on what happened in Boston. Because the essay isn’t supposed to have plot summary, you do a great job assuming the reader has already read Death of a Salesman by providing only key details needed to make your points.
ReplyDeleteI think that your introduction would be strengthened if you revised your thesis a little bit. You could include the main ideas of your body paragraphs so that the reader would understand more in depth what you are going to be talking about. I would also add more on how the aspects of the past influence the work as a whole (because this is a main point of the prompt, you could even devote an entire paragraph to it). Also, be sure you specify if the aspect of the past is societal or personal. As a whole though, your essay was good and you made really good arguments!
Your thesis dosen't address what meaning the past contributes, it merely mentions that it has an effect on the meaning, specifying is important. The direct quote in here is killer though, and your voice is evident in the essay and provides a nice, even, flow. You conclusion was nice and too the point as well. You have a nice balance of summary and analysis too, only summarizing when necessary and providing insight into the meaning of what you summarize.
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