Devil in the White City Essay Example for Free

Devil in the White City Essay The Devil in the White City takes two aspects that rose in Chicago during the late 1880s and the early 1890s and interlocks them. The World Fair did not just bring millions of people to the city, it brought optimism. Even though Chicago became magnificent through the Fair, it still remained in a mind frame of racism, inequality of gender, separation of social class, and countless murders. The story of the White City of Chicago enhances the story of the Devil, H. H. Holmes, who found contentment within its walls and created a downfall of humanism all on his own. Daniel Burnham and John Root created the White City with the help of many architects from New York, Boston, St. Louis and Chicago. Burnham focused on the public relations so he mainly found the work and also took care of the money coming in. On the other side, Root was an innovator. He drew the blueprints and built what Root had agreed to do. Throughout many challenges, and tragedy, both men planned the building of the White City and enhanced its landscape. The White City was given to the 1893 Worlds Exposition celebrating Columbus discovery of America. The city of Chicago was given the honor of hosting the extravagant affair. Many people remained anxious, thinking that the Exposition would not excel a county fair, because they only envisioned Chicago as just an uncultured, meatpacking city and nothing more. But then the news came and Chicago was to be the host; the people of Chicago were ecstatic. They could finally show everyone they were as cultured and civilized as New York and maybe even better. Upon this great news, the firm of Burnham and Root was given the task of creating the Exposition grounds. The task had to be completed in approximately three years to be ready for the Dedication Ceremony and Opening Day. Three of their major obstacles were the location of the Exposition, its planning and design of the Exposition. It took them almost six months to decide on a location, so they only had two years and a half to design the building and landscape and then build the final product. It appeared to be an impossible task at the time. As soon as one challenge was met, three more would arise. One of the most prominent challenges was to create something that was comparable or preferably better than the Eiffel Tower, which was built for the Paris Exposition. America wanted the world to know that it could have a better World Fair Exposition than anything that had been done before. Other issues included the continued possibility of strikes from the workers, fighting committees for the approval of everything, deciding who would design the buildings and landscape, the economy, which was on the verge of collapsing during this period, and the power struggle between the National Committee for the Exposition and the Exposition Company. Everything was always behind schedule or at least appeared to but all of the architects from New York, Boston, Chicago and St stepped up to the plate. The workers, even with impending strikes, felt the patriotic spirit and worked harder and faster to finish their job. Burnham and his crew got the exposition grounds ready for the Dedication Ceremony, which was about one month before opening day. Things still needed to be completed, but it was closer to being done than anyone had expected. On Opening Day, things still needed to be accomplished but in general the fair had been completed. The Ferris wheel, Americas response to the Eiffel Tower, opened 51 days late, but from the day of its first rotation, people were enamored with the wheel. The landscape was not entirely done but it went on to be completed within the next couple of weeks. The maintenance of the wheel continued for the full six months that the fair was open. With many people out of work, this provided jobs for lots of poor families for a while. The World Fair Exposition was great because not only did it beautify Chicago but it also told the world that there is nothing American people could not do when they put their minds to it. As one critic said, â€Å"It was a common remark among visitors who saw the Fair for the first time that nothing they had read or seen pictured had given them an idea of it, or prepared them for what they saw† (Larson 255). The Fair ended up by being far impressive and more influential than anyone had ever imagined. The downside of this success is that this was a celebration of â€Å"white† America, the majority of the population, not all of America. Frederick Douglass fought for the chance to present the progress African-Americans had made since the end of slavery but they, the owners, wanted only to exhibit the Negro as a repulsive savage and nothing else. As Douglass once said, â€Å"America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. † There were no blacks in the Exposition at all. The World Fair had a Colored People’s Day during which Native Americans would be half-naked and equipped with arrows to portray them as a lesser class as the whites. With its glory, the World Fair Exposition brought with it racism. It was ruled by the politics of rage. If the blacks had been represented, one could say that the Civil Rights movement would have happened a lot earlier than the 1960s because many people would have seen their progress since slavery and the blacks would have demanded to be treated as equals. There was also an issue of gender even before the Fair had started. During the building of the World Fair, women were not included as workers at all. They were expected to stay at home to take care of the kids and have dinner on the table when their husbands returned from work. They were treated as if all they could do was to stay at home and were incapable of bringing money in the family or take care of it financially. Another major setback was the separation of the social class. Only the upper class white men were allowed to show off what they had and everyone else was limited. Whites were portrayed as rich, powerful, and fearless during the parade while the lower and inferior class, such as African-Americans and Native Americans, were being restricted to take part of the white city. At the end of the Exposition Grounds, on the corner of Wallace and 63rd Streets, H. H. Holmes started making his plans. He had started his criminal life with insurance fraud, but found the killing part to be the most fun and exciting. He built his castle to feed his obsession, and once he discovered that the Exposition was coming to Chicago, it made his castle much more important. People, mainly women, would come to him for employment and after he gave them a job, he made sure it was their last job by killing them and selling their corpses to colleges to make money. His â€Å"castle† allowed him to commit murder at his leisure without anyone knowing about it. Before the Exposition opened, Holmes had already begun his killings. He used his charms and his intelligence to lure women into thinking that he was an ordinary man. He seduced women his looks and then killed them and their children. He continued this hobby until just before the close of the Exposition. It was said that he killed approximately 200 men, women and children; however, the courts could only prove nine actual killings due to the fact that only small bone fragments remained in the three-story house castle and the bones that were recovered from his torturous rampage could not be used to identify who the dead people due to the lack of technology. H. H. Holmes had been incarcerated on insurance fraud charges when the Pinkerton Detective Agency started probing into the disappearance of his best friend, whom he had killed so he could collect the life insurance. Battle tested, the Agency ended up by catching up with Holmes. By then a lot of people were missing or dead but it should not have been this way because he could have caught earlier but H. H. Holmes moved faster than society and society was not ready for him. The time he lived in aided him tremendously. A train trip took a couple of weeks to reach their destinations so it was not natural not to here from a relative for a long time and this made it impossible for one to know if the person was actually missing. Most of his victims were women because once they arrived in Chicago for the World Fair; they had no idea where to stay so they stayed at the Castle. As H. H. Holmes said, â€Å"I was born with the Devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing† (Larson 109) Based on this quote, one would say that Holmes did not require a motive to do what he took part in because he was already a sociopath who waited for the perfect time to strike and based his entirely life around murders and making money by selling corpses. H. H. Holmes affected more people’s lives during the Fair than the actual World Fair itself because he was not like Jack the Ripper; He was a cold-blooded murderer and sociopath that lived just a few blocks down the road. He inserting fear in the heart of every woman in Chicago and forced Detective Agencies to catch up with him by inventing the â€Å"mug shot. † One would agree with his statement because during this gruesome period, Holmes did not show any emotions for anyone that he took a life from. It seems as if he never had a goal in life so once he had this mind-blowing idea, he stuck to it and exiled himself from humanity. The fact that he also went to college and finished medical school proves that this man is more than capable of being smart but all he knew how to do was to be a Devil. Throughout The Devil in the White City, Larson does a great job by telling us that one cannot choose what he wants and avoid or disregard the rest because it will catch up sooner or later. To a certain point, Larson is emphasizing that H. H. Holmes would have never been so successful with all his killings if the World Fair Exposition had not taken place. He certainly would have had fewer victims and could have definitely been caught earlier. America, presumably Chicago, wanted to outdo Paris and thought that things such as the gruesome murders that were happening in London would never reach their home towns. At the end, America did better at both ends because they did a lot better than the Paris Exposition and they also inherited H. H. Holmes, America’s first serial killer. This book was very gripping and many of the things were quite surprising and unbelievable to say the least. It maintained a perfect balance of the World Fair Exposition and the introduction of America’s first serial killer. I would definitely urge others to pick this up and ready themselves for a train ride because it keeps you on the edge and envelops you with the endless details. REFERENCES Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. New York: Crown, 2003. Borowski, John. H. H. Holmes America’s First Serial Killer: The Castle, the Murders, the Monster. Film Festival 2004.

Fitzgerald at Princeton Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

Fitzgerald at Princeton While he was a student at the Newman School, called St. Regis in This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald became enamored with Princeton. He attended the first Harvard-Princeton game since 1896 on November 4, 1911 and Princeton won 8-6 on a blocked kick that was returned for a touchdown (Tate, 199). His aunt offered to pay for his education at Georgetown, but Fitzgerald wanted to go to Princeton. When his grandmother died in 1913, she left money that made Princeton available. Fitzgerald did not do well on the entrance exams though, so he had to travel to Princeton to re-take the tests and have a personal interview. Supposedly, Fitzgerald convinced the admissions office that it would be cruel to deny him on his birthday and he began at Princeton in the fall of 1913. Fitzgerald desired to play freshman football but his career was cut short. Depending on who you ask, he either wrenched his knee and was unable to play or was cut from the squad on the first day of practice (Tate, 200). With football out of the picture, he chose to participate in the Triangle Club, an original musical comedy group, and the Princeton Tiger, a humor magazine. Fitzgerald roomed off campus his freshman year because of insufficient dorm space. He took Latin, English, Physics, French, Personal Hygiene, and two math courses. He was critical of the English Department, saying that it made students lose interest in literature, but he educated himself by reading extensively outside of the class. In the spring of his freshman year, he wrote the book and lyrics to the Triangle Club’s Fie! Fie! Fi-Fi! which was to be performed that winter. Fitzgerald began his sophomore year by failing a make-... ...ald signed up for intensive military training, effectively ending his college career. He did not graduate with the class of 1917 but was included in the yearbook and received two votes for Most Brilliant, two for Handsomest, five for Prettiest, two for Thinks He Is The Best Dressed, eight for Thinks He Is The Biggest Politician, and six for Biggest Dramatist. Fitzgerald’s return for his senior year in the fall of 1917 was really only a waiting period and in November he was called to duty in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, leaving Princeton as a student forever. (Eble, .43). Bibliography Eble, Kenneth E. F. Scott Fitzgerald. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc, 1963. Tate, Mary Jo. F. Scott Fitzgerald A to Z. New York: Facts on File, Inc, 1998. http://www.capitalcentury.com/1920.html http://etc.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/fitzergald_francis_scott.html Fitzgerald at Princeton Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays Fitzgerald at Princeton While he was a student at the Newman School, called St. Regis in This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald became enamored with Princeton. He attended the first Harvard-Princeton game since 1896 on November 4, 1911 and Princeton won 8-6 on a blocked kick that was returned for a touchdown (Tate, 199). His aunt offered to pay for his education at Georgetown, but Fitzgerald wanted to go to Princeton. When his grandmother died in 1913, she left money that made Princeton available. Fitzgerald did not do well on the entrance exams though, so he had to travel to Princeton to re-take the tests and have a personal interview. Supposedly, Fitzgerald convinced the admissions office that it would be cruel to deny him on his birthday and he began at Princeton in the fall of 1913. Fitzgerald desired to play freshman football but his career was cut short. Depending on who you ask, he either wrenched his knee and was unable to play or was cut from the squad on the first day of practice (Tate, 200). With football out of the picture, he chose to participate in the Triangle Club, an original musical comedy group, and the Princeton Tiger, a humor magazine. Fitzgerald roomed off campus his freshman year because of insufficient dorm space. He took Latin, English, Physics, French, Personal Hygiene, and two math courses. He was critical of the English Department, saying that it made students lose interest in literature, but he educated himself by reading extensively outside of the class. In the spring of his freshman year, he wrote the book and lyrics to the Triangle Club’s Fie! Fie! Fi-Fi! which was to be performed that winter. Fitzgerald began his sophomore year by failing a make-... ...ald signed up for intensive military training, effectively ending his college career. He did not graduate with the class of 1917 but was included in the yearbook and received two votes for Most Brilliant, two for Handsomest, five for Prettiest, two for Thinks He Is The Best Dressed, eight for Thinks He Is The Biggest Politician, and six for Biggest Dramatist. Fitzgerald’s return for his senior year in the fall of 1917 was really only a waiting period and in November he was called to duty in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, leaving Princeton as a student forever. (Eble, .43). Bibliography Eble, Kenneth E. F. Scott Fitzgerald. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc, 1963. Tate, Mary Jo. F. Scott Fitzgerald A to Z. New York: Facts on File, Inc, 1998. http://www.capitalcentury.com/1920.html http://etc.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/fitzergald_francis_scott.html

Critique

Arundhati Roy has dedicated her writing career to politics and social causes and is a vehement critic of neo-imperialism and globalization. Her essay, â€Å"How Deep Shall We Dig? † was published in a national Indian newspaper ‘The Hindu’ on 25 April, 2004 against the backdrop of the 14th General Lok Sabha Elections in India. In her essay she attempts to portray the harsh conditions prevalent in the entire India due to unjust laws and an increasingly fascist approach towards governance by the ruling parties and stresses upon the need to bring about a revolutionary change in the country.Roy presents her argument effectively with the use of sarcasm, irony and rhetorical questions complimented by a well supported and organized progression of ideas. However, her occasional arrogant tone and fallacious reasoning make the reader question the credibility of her case. Roy links the violent situation of Kashmir to the entire Indian state by highlighting unjust laws, advers e impacts of privatization, violence in various states and insensitivity of the ruling parties.She presents strategies of resistance and civil disobedience as the only way forward to a radical change in the country. Roy’s mastery over sarcasm and irony helps to depict the true picture of India’s stability and politics in the current era. Her use of sarcasm at various instances in the essay plays a pivotal role in helping the reader to identify the reality juxtaposed against the false picture of India presented by the government.For example, â€Å"Of course there is a difference between an overtly communal party with fascist leanings and an opportunistically communal party† (5) captivates the reader’s interest and helps to emphasize her point that there is no difference between the mandates of the two current ruling parties of India and neither will be successful in bringing a change to the country. Similarly in the line, â€Å"There'll be no more crimina ls then. Only terrorists. It's kind of neat. (2), the writer effectively conveys her disapproval of the POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) through sarcasm and enlightens the reader with the devastating consequences that could take place by the integration of this Act into criminal law. Along with sarcasm, the author makes effective use of irony and refers to the oppressed as â€Å"gangsters† (1) and their killing by the police as â€Å"eliminated on orders† (1) in order to illuminate the reader about the reality of violence and ruthless killings taking place across the country.The use of words in quotation marks such as â€Å"free press† (3) and â€Å"Creating a Good Investment Climate† (3) highlight the various instances of irony used by Roy to criticize the misleading image presented by the ruling parties of democracy and privatization in the country. Efficient use of sarcasm and irony throughout the essay allow the reader to critically analyze the imag e of the ‘Shinning India’ presented in the international community and agree to the author’s point of view in this context.Along with irony, the strategic placement of rhetorical questions through the course of the essay plays an essential role in the effective communication of the writer’s ideas and arguments. The topic ‘How deep shall we dig? ’ itself is a manifestation of a rhetorical question put forward by the writer to make the reader reflect upon the stance taken by many Hindus over the Muslim invasion of the subcontinent, more than a millennium ago. With this single question the writer conveys the importance of the Muslim community to India and makes the reader analyze the oppressions faced by them in states like Kashmir and Gujarat.The clever placement of questions such as â€Å"So how can ordinary people counter the assault of an increasingly violent state? † (5) make the reader stop and reflect upon the arguments presented by the writer and unconsciously agree to them. Similarly the use of repetitive questions and epiphora during the discussion of fascism in the essay lay emphasis on an important point of the argument and convince the reader to agree to the author’s claim. On a similar note, Roy has strengthened her argument with ingenious organization of ideas and effective support of facts and statistics from credible sources.She first establishes the problems faced by the country and then cleverly connects them to the policies of the current ruling parties and fascism. With this link and the repetition of the problems in the middle of the essay she creates an image of a violent state requiring urgent action. After setting up the stage, she proposes her solutions and effectively convinces the reader that civil disobedience in the current election scenario is the only possible way out of the volatile situation of the country. Her logical flow of ideas is complimented by statistics and allusion t o credible sources.Reference to facts such as â€Å"According to the records of the Association of Parents of Disappeared People (APDP) in Kashmir more than 3,000 people have been killed in 2003† (1) and â€Å"Utsa Patnaik, the well known agricultural economist. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. calculates that in the period between the early 1990s and 2001, food grain absorption has dropped to levels lower than during the World War-II years† (2) validate the claims made by the author and play a pivotal role in bringing the reader in agreement to the writer’s point of view.Hence, the smooth flow of ideas and strong support make the paragraphs coherent and the essay powerful. Despite presenting a well structured case, the arrogant tone used by the writer while referring to the middle class in the essay depicts bias in her argument. In paragraph 11, she mentions the middle class as the only sect of the country that accept India as a legitimate democracy despite the widespread viole nce in the country while at the end of the essay she arrogantly refers to them by saying â€Å"Not because of that middle-class squeamishness — `politics is dirty'† (6).With a sweeping generalization and a supercilious remark about a group that forms more than fifty percent of the essay’s audience, Roy has considerably damaged the credibility of her argument. Moreover, at the end of the essay she addresses to the Indian people and calls for a change in the system by massive non co-operation but by offending a class that represents thirty percent of the Indian population (Lanzeni, â€Å"The Middle Class in India†), Mrs. Roy might not be very successful in achieving her aim.Along with an arrogant tone, the presence of fallacious reasoning at certain instances in the essay deteriorates the strength of the argument. While discussing the privatization of state institutions and referring to the power these private companies hold, the author goes too far by sayi ng â€Å"in India a few of these CEOs are more powerful than the Prime Minister† (3) and thereby commits a logical fallacy called the ‘slippery slope’. It is true that the heads of private companies running state assets hold a lot of power but it is illogical to conclude that they possess more authority than the head of the state- the Prime Minister.Similarly, the writer while emphasizing on the need of enhancement of human rights in the country, illogically concludes that India’s recent abstinence from voting for a human rights resolution in the U. N. will lead to an assault of human rights in the country. The author fails to explore other possibilities that could have led to India’s abstinence and makes a hasty conclusion which compels the reader to question the reasoning of the author and weakens the overall strength and impact of the argument.Concrete examples of violation of human rights by the government at this point in the essay would have c onsolidated the argument and made the claim of the writer more viable. Despite its shortcomings, Roy’s article highlights important issues like privatization and lack of intelligence sharing with the public which are pertinent to developing countries. Privatization of national institutions is a problem prevalent even in Pakistan and has been openly criticized.The recent privatization of KESC (Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation), Pakistan Telecommunications (PTCL) and Railways in the country has sparked extensive debate since the efficiency of these institutions has depreciated tremendously and the government has lost control over crucial state machineries. This can be exemplified by the long power breakdowns faced by Karachi at the hands of the privatized KESC which is not accountable for its inefficiency to anyone in the country.The fact that the economic capital of Pakistan can be held hostage by a private electricity company supports the argument laid down by Roy that privatization leads to the deterioration of a state. Along with privatization, lack of intelligence sharing over matters affecting the public is another common aspect between Pakistan and India mentioned in Roy’s article. The details of the attack on Mehran Base in May, 2011 and the abduction of Osama bin Laden from Abbottabad are sensitive issues about which the common man knows nothing beyond the immediate videos shown on television.These incidents had a huge impact on the image of Pakistan across the globe and affected the lives of its citizens but Pakistani’s were not given any explanation regarding the events by the government or the army. As Roy states, the common man was forced to believe that lack of information sharing is â€Å"a poisonous brew which is stirred and simmered and put to the most ugly, destructive, political purpose. †(1) Therefore, the two major issues of privatization and hiding information from the public highlighted in Roy’s ess ay not only exist in India but also have strong roots in other developing countries like Pakistan.The author mentions the adverse effects of growing influence of nationalist groups like â€Å"Sangh Parivar† (6) and the extremist teachings given in their schools called â€Å"shakhas† (6) in Northern India. The situation in Pakistan is surprisingly similar where the Taliban extremist group represents the ‘Sangh Parivar’ of India and their ‘madrassas’ provide a reflection of the ‘shakhas’ mentioned by Roy. The lack of proper governance in the northern areas of Pakistan has led to a growing influence of the Taliban in the region and an unmonitored expansion of their schools called ‘madrassas. These schools instill extremism into our young generation and serve to fulfill the â€Å"deadly purpose† (6) of spreading terrorism in our country. As Roy pointed out in her argument, the government’s failure in fulfilling its responsibilities has led Pakistan into a volatile situation where like India it is battling out extremist groups and nationalist movements generated from within the country. Roy talks about the oppression of the current government in India (which is similar to the policies of the Pakistani government) throughout the essay and cleverly compares it with the British rule to arouse emotion and patriotism in the reader.The writer’s analogy of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act with Lord Linthigow’s 1942 Ordinance has a strong impact on the argument while her reference to â€Å"Dandi March† (7) and â€Å"civil disobedience† (7) (a common term for protests during the British rule) generates nationalism in the emotional readers of the subcontinent. Like the Special Powers Act, Section 144, a law in the Pakistani constitution from the colonial era (Warraich, â€Å"In Pakistan, Zardari's Crackdown Betrays Weakness†) has been repeatedly used by the current government to repress protests such as the lawyers ‘long march’, a strategy used by the British during their rule.Similarly, recent attempts of the Pakistani government to disseminate peacefully protesting crowds by teargas and stone attack provide reflections of the tyranny faced by the people of the colonial era. The ingenious link established by Roy between the current oppression faced by the people of subcontinent and the British autocracy makes us realize that there is a dire need to bring about a change in the current system, launch another ‘Dandi March’ and indulge into yet another ‘civil disobedience’.Roy successfully evokes emotion with this analogy and makes the reader agree to her argument that the limit to repression has arrived, â€Å"Enough is Enough. Ya Basta! † (5) On the whole, Roy’s effective use of literary devices, rhetorical questions and an ingeniously structured argument captivates the reader’s intere st and despite its shortcomings in terms of reasoning, it eventually persuades the audience to give in to the view presented by the writer.Articles of this genre in the past have influenced Indian history and it is their growing popularity and recent impact on politics that has led to an immense support by the common people to revolutionary movements like the anti-corruption campaign by Anna Hazare. Therefore, Arundhati Roy’s â€Å"How Deep Shall We Dig? † not only serves as a critique on the current political system of India but has far reaching consequences in terms of awakening a nation from ignorance and directing it to a path of revolution.

Death Of Salesman By Arthur Miller - 1475 Words

It is human nature to work hard and have a luxurious life, but sometimes people put so much pressure into their lives to accomplish their expectations. However, eventually they later figure out that they have lost other values of life. Is it worth it to sacrifice our life for materials? Today in America, many people have lost the real values of life to enjoy with their beloved families and friends because they are working themselves to death to achieve their so- called American dream. They live alone and there is no love of parents and siblings. They may have not noticed the America dream costs them so much, which will cause a bigger regret later. In the play Death of Salesman, Arthur Miller brings a great story of a man who is at very older age and still works hard to achieve his desire, which is the American dream. Later, he notices that his youth is gone and there is less energy in his body. Willy Loman is a salesman, who for decades travels in various states to do business. He ha s two sons, Happy and Biff and a loving wife Linda who is infatuated with Willy. Willy also discusses their son Biff with his wife that he is now mature and must find his own way to work and earn money. Willy also argues to keep working hard until death to pay the bills. The pressure Willy puts on himself and his family in trying to achieve his American dream destroys his life. Willy pressures himself to earn more money. Humans are made to work hard and earn money to satisfy their dreams.Show MoreRelatedDeath Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller1387 Words   |  6 PagesAmerican play-write Arthur Miller, is undoubtedly Death of a Salesman. Arthur Miller wrote Death of a Salesman in 1949 at the time when America was evolving into an economic powerhouse. Arthur Miller critiques the system of capitalism and he also tells of the reality of the American Dream. Not only does he do these things, but he brings to light the idea of the dysfunctional family. Death of a Salesman is one of America’s saddest tragedies. In Arthur Miller’s, Death of a Salesman, three major eventsRead MoreDeath Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller888 Words   |  4 PagesDeath of a Salesman† is a play written by Arthur Miller in the year 1949. The play revolves around a desperate salesman, Willy Loman. Loman is delusioned and most of the things he does make him to appear as a man who is living in his own world away from other people. He is disturbed by the fact that he cannot let go his former self. His wife Linda is sad and lonely; his youngest son Biff is presented as a swinger/player while his eldest son Happy appears anti-business and confused by the behaviorRead MoreDeath Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller1573 Words   |  7 Pagesrepresents a character with a tragic flaw leading to his downfall. In addition, in traditional tragedy, the main character falls from high authority and often it is predetermined by fate, while the audience experiences catharsis (Bloom 2). Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman is considered to be a tragedy because this literary work has some of the main characteristics of the tragedy genre. In this play, the main character Willy Loman possesses such traits and behaviors that lead to his downfall, and theRead MoreDeath of Salesman by Arthur Miller972 Words   |  4 PagesIn the play Death of a Salesman by the playwrigh t Arthur Miller, the use of names is significant to the characters themselves. Many playwrights and authors use names in their works to make a connection between the reader and the main idea of their work. Arthur Miller uses names in this play extraordinarily. Not only does Miller use the names to get readers to correlate them with the main idea of the play, but he also uses names to provide some irony to the play. Miller uses the meanings of someRead MoreDeath Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller1628 Words   |  7 PagesArthur Miller wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning play Death of a Salesman in 1949. The play inflated the myth of the American Dream of prosperity and recognition, that hard work and integrity brings, but the play compels the world to see the ugly truth that capitalism and the materialistic world distort honesty and moral ethics. The play is a guide toward contemporary themes foreseen of the twentieth century, which are veiled with greed, power, and betrayal. Miller’s influence with the play spreadRead MoreDeath Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller949 Words   |  4 PagesDeath of a Salesman can be described as modern tragedy portraying the remaining days in the life of Willy Loman. This story is very complex, not only because of it’s use of past and present, but because of Willy’s lies that have continued to spiral out of control throughout his life. Arthur Miller puts a modern twist on Aristotle’s definition of ancient Greek tragedy when Willy Loman’s life story directly identifies the fatal flaw of the â€Å"American Dream†. Willy Loman’s tragic flaw can be recappedRead MoreThe Death Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller846 Words   |  4 PagesA Dime a Dozen The Death of a Salesman is a tragedy written by playwright Arthur Miller and told in the third person limited view. The play involves four main characters, Biff, Happy, Linda, and Willy Loman, an ordinary family trying to live the American Dream. Throughout the play however, the family begins to show that through their endeavors to live the American Dream, they are only hurting their selves. The play begins by hinting at Willy’s suicidal attempts as the play begins with Linda askingRead MoreDeath Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller Essay2538 Words   |  11 PagesSurname 1 McCain Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course: Date: Death of a Salesman Death of a salesman is a literature play written by American author Arthur Miller. The play was first published in the year 1949 and premiered on Broadway in the same year. Since then, it has had several performances. It has also received a lot of accordances and won numerous awards for its literature merit including the coveted Pulitzer for drama. The play is regarded by many critics as the perfectRead MoreDeath Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller2081 Words   |  9 Pages#1 â€Å"Death of a Salesman† by Arthur Miller is a tragedy, this play has only two acts and does not include scenes in the acts. Instead of cutting from scene to scene, there is a description of how the lighting focuses on a different place or time-period, which from there, they continue on in a different setting. The play doesn’t go in chronological order. A lot of the play is present in Willy’s flashbacks or memories of events. This provides an explanation of why the characters are acting a certainRead MoreDeath Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller1517 Words   |  7 PagesArthur Miller’s play titled â€Å"Death of a Salesman† offers a plethora of morals pertaining to the human condition. One moral, shown in Aesop’s fable â€Å"The Peacock and Juno†, pertains to that one should be content with that of which they are given, for one cannot be the best at everything. In Death of a Salesman there is, without a doubt, a paucity of content and ha ppiness within the Loman family. But what does it mean to truly be content? Aesop’s fable â€Å"The Peacock and Juno†, as the name suggests,