Death of a Salesman Discussion

This morning we are discussing Death of a Salesman.

Here's your essay question. The essay is due on January 3rd.

While Sophocles and Arthur Miller were writing plays thousands of years apart, their tragic figures have similar characteristics. Write an essay comparing/contrasting Willy Loman and Oedipus as tragic figures.

Guidelines:

• use quotations to support your argument
• the essay must be in the 500-750 word range
• Two great documents to use to prepare for your discussion are "Aristotle's Concept of Tragedy" (pg 1362) and Arthur Miller's essay "Tragedy and the Common Man" (pg 1969)
  

Film Workshop

¡Death of a Salesman Discussion Area #4!

You are to finish Death of a Salesman by Monday. By Tuesday, I'd like you to explore the following prompt and expand on at least one other reader's thoughts.

• React, respond and explicate a “five star quote” of your choice. A “five star quote” is a quote that “jumps off the page” at you for any number of reasons. It may be aphoristic*, profound, humorous, universal, or any reason you choose. Explain how the quote relates to any of the larger elements of the play (character, theme, irony). For clarity, you must include the entire quote somewhere in the entry.

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* a pithy quote that contains a general truth (if it ain't broke, don't fix it)

Oedipus Loses His Potential to Be an Air Traffic Controller

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¡Death of a Salesman Discussion Area #3!

More questions fo' you!

What values does Willy represent?

What about Biff? Happy? Uncle Ben? Bernard?

What role do we see the setting playing thus far?

What type of themes does the author seem to be hinting at?

What comparisons can we make between Oedipus and Willy?

¡Death of a Salesman Discussion Area #2!

Lost? Confused? Subject to random nosebleeds while reading Death of a Salesman? IF SO, then use the comments section of this post to pose, and share your thoughts on, a question, issue, thought, literary element, theme, sales technique, quotation, tragic arc, or some other idea that you think merits discussion. Go ahead, get on with it (click on comments to share).

¡Death of a Salesman Discussion Area #1!

What are Willy Loman's obsessions? What effects-positive and negative-do they have on his life? What else do you know about Willy's personality? How does Miller characterize him? How do you know?

Or

Pick one character from the first act of the play other than Willy. What role does this character seem to play? Is he/she a foil? If so, what is that character meant to emphasize about Willy? If not a foil, what purpose might that character be serving?

Oedipus Alive! Groups

Here are your groups and passages:

• Passage One: Katrina, Bianca
• Passage Two: Erik
• Passage Four: Augustine, Franketta, Kevin
• Passage Five: Sara, Annette, Amanda, Franceska
• Passage Six: Savaun, Christina

Passage Seven: Naiem, Monique, Jazmine
Passage Eight: Katie, Kari, Anne Marie
Passage Nine: Kevin, Ron, Jason
Passage Ten: Liz, Kayla, Samantha

Oedipus Project Materials

Lots of information flying every which way today. I'd rather let you know about your work ahead of time so that you can best plan your time. With that being said, I'm adding your December projects to the "current assignments" place in our sidebar.

Here are the project materials thus far.

Opening Writing Activity

In your notebook, address the following question (do not copy the question).

You've just finished Oedipus Rex. Think back to the play. What speech or passage do you find stand out above the rest? In your opinion, why is this particular speech memorable?

5 minutes