Summaries

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Setting:       -1940s or 1950s

                    -The Loman house in Brooklyn, A hotel room, and a restaurant

Characters:   Willy Loman: A traveling salesman who has failed to achieve his idea of the “American dream.”                             He is the central cause of conflict when his flashbacks make him feel like a failure.  

                    Biff Loman: the eldest son who has flunked out of college, and failed to meet his father’s expectations. He wants to work out west rather than becoming a salesman like his father.

                     Happy Loman: the younger of Willy’s sons who is desperate of attentions, and the feeling of importance. Like Willy, his feelings are transposed into bad habits.

                     Linda Loman: The loyal wife to Willy, she knows her husband is suicidal, but will is sensitive and realistic with him. She protects him against negativity from the sons.

                      Ben: Willy’s late older brother, who appears in Willy’s daydreams, and represents the dream of success that Willy never achieved.

                         Howard: Willy’s boos whom Willy watched grow up. He eventually fires Willy.

                      The Woman:  Willy’s mistress, who Biff finds in the hotel room.  After the event, Biff loses faith in his father. 

  Plot: Willy comes home from another discouraging sales trip, and mopes to himself about his job and sons. Happy and Biff discuss Willy’s self- talk, and the idea of moving out west.

Willy has a flashback of when Happy and Biff were younger, and he was pleased with them. He points out Bernard is smart, but not well- liked.

Linda makes Willy confess his sales trip was not as successful as he said, and he complaints about the payments to be made. He has another flashback of his mistress.

Willy talks to his late brother and regrets not going with him to Alaska.

Linda scolds Happy and Biff for their harshness towards Willy, and tells them of his suicidal thoughts. The sons want to go into business together. They promise to take Willy out to dinner.

 When Willy asks Howard for a position in the city, Howard instead fires him, after showing of a recording of his wife and kids.

Willy has another flashback of Biff’s big football game. When he comes back to reality he wonders if Biff’s failure was his fault. He does not blame Bernard, and Charley gives him the money he needs for payments.

At dinner with his sons, Willy has a flashback of Biff’s discovery of Willy’s mistress. He is upset when Biff tells him their business plan failed. The sons leave. Linda scolds them.

Willy has another flashback, trying to figure out why Biff is a failure. When he asks charley for another loan, Charley offers him a job, He denies the offer.

Willy kills himself in a car crash. Only Linda, Happy, Biff, Charley, and Bernard were at the funeral.

Style: Narrative voice is absent.

The plot is written in third person, with a combination of present tense and flashbacks.

 Miller’s tone is pessimistic and perhaps a bit cynical towards the American dream.

Willy’s attitude flips between proud and ashamed of Biff depending on the setting (present or flashback).              

Imagery is used during flashbacks, and to emphasize Willy’s dissociation with the present.

Theme: The American dream is easily achievable for someone who is well- liked and practically impossible for a person with esteems issues as Willy had. Only some people can reach the American dream- the “best” people.

Symbols: The color gold is important, signifying, the best- perfection.  The Pen Biff steals is gold, and it is just a pen, but it represents a higher class, something above   where Biff is.  Willy (and Happy) de, and to be desperately y strive to be the best and to have a higher position than he has.

The stockings are representative of betrayal and infidelity. Using the new stockings, Willy feels better about himself, but is betraying his family. He will go out of line to get what he wants.

Motifs: Geography is important, as it signifies the movement towards success or failure.  Willy regrets not going to Alaska with Ben, because Ben was Successful, and Willy was not. Biff and Happy also discuss going out west to work towards their business plan.

Quotes “Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You’ll never get out of the jungle that way” ------- Willy learns that he American Dream seams unachievable when one plays by the rulebook. One must do whatever it takes to get what he wants – in this case, Willy  resorts to infidelity to feel esteem.

“Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground”-----Willy uses gardening almost like a last resort, representing his failure as a salesman.

The American Dream by Edward Albee

Setting: Mommy and daddy’s apartment ,1950s

Characters: Mommy—Childlike (not in a good way), sarcastic, sadistic, emasculating to Daddy.

Daddy- Also immature, but is dependent on Mommy for reassurance, rather than overpowering like Mommy. He has no control; over her, he must agree/ go along with her.

                     Grandma- The sensible one, but plays dumb one purpose. She is clever.

                    Mrs. Barker- delivered the bumble 20 years ago. Represents society (?), Mommy wants her approval.

  Young Man—Suffered losses from the mutilation done to his twin brother- the bumble. He replaces the bumble as       Mommy’s source of satisfaction.

Plot: Mommy and Daddy, sitting on opposite side of a room, are waiting for “them” to arrive. Mommy tells Daddy of how she got a beige hat wand was told it was wheat. When she went back into the store for “satisfaction”, she got it.

Grandma comes in with boxes to pack her things and Mommy think of how Grandma would wrap up her lunch so nicely, and enjoy “day-old-cake”.

During Mrs. Barkers visit, Mommy threatens Grandma to send her away.  Grandma knows why Mrs. Barker is there, but the others don’t.  Mrs. Barker is there about the bumble dropped off 20 years ago.

Mommy had gauged its eyes because it “only had eyes for its daddy,” and it constantly cried. They chopped of different parts of the bumble for different reasons like its tongue when it said something bad to Mommy.

The Young Man comes, and he is self-aware that something is missing about him. Grandma talks to him about The American Dream, calling him the American Dream.  The mutilations to the bumble are shown psychologically in the young man, who claims to have twins with the bumble.

Mommy notices Grandma is missing, she has left. Mommy gets “satisfaction” from   the Young Man.

Grandma speaks to the audience, telling we ought to leave people as they are, and says goodnight to the audience.

Style: Theater of the absurd- absurdity of humanity, existentialism.

              Tone: Morbid humor, satire.  Images of mutilation are taken in a seemingly light mood.

Theme: The American dream is destroyed by a dysfunctional family when things don’t go their way. .

              Symbols:   the bumble: grandma calls the bumble the American Dream, and Mommy and Daddy literally mutilate it, when things don’t go their way.

                              

           Motifs:    Emasculation: shows the sadistic power mommy has.     Grandma’s epigrams: the old dreams vs. the new dream.  Mommy does not respect the old dream (Grandma) even though she is in better condition that Mommy thinks.

Quotes “You are the American Dream” –Grandma says this to the young man, saying the American dream is destroyed by Mommy and Daddy. , Grandma is the ‘old’ dream.

                 “A living room. Two armchairs, one toward either side of the stage.” – The setting suggests already of some level of dysfunction the family.

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

Setting:  Southwest Laguna reservation, Japan

                During and after WWII

Characters:  Tayo- -war veteran who struggles with PTSD of war and earlier childhood family conflicts.

                   Rocky—Tayo’s cousin who dies in war.

 Josiah—Tayo’s uncle who teaches him Native American tradition. He has a relationship with Night Swan. Tayo feels    guilty for his death.

Auntie—Takes in Tayo when his mom (her sister) leaves, but does not welcome him into the family.

                 Emo—The “bad guy.”  Source of witchery, evil. Drinks and expels anger on others.

                Betonie—The medicine man who helps Tayo heal himself of witchery through the ceremony.

                TS’eh—The land, whom Tayo has a relationship with as part of his healing.

Plot:  Tayo believes he sees his uncle’s face among Japanese Soldiers at war.

            Tayo goes into a veteran’s hospital and then home to his Grandmother and Auntie.

            Tayo feels guilty for the drought that has occurred for several years, because he once said a prayer against the rain.

           Tayo is with other war veterans he has known from childhood. They are drinking and saying war was great because the               power they had (including with women).

            Tayo’s Grandmother finds /a medicine man for Tayo, who helps him but does not cure him. Tayo remembers his childhood     with Auntie and Rocky. He also remembers Josiah and Night Swan.

Tayo starts a new healing Ceremony with a new medicine man, Betonie. To start the Ceremony, Tayo goes home to Josiah’s cattle and they get away. He finally gets them back.

Tayo Meets and has a relationship with Ts’eh who help him in his ceremony.

Running away from Emo and the white police, Tayo stays in an abandoned uranium mine.  He must watch Emo and Pinkie Torture Harley, and he has to keep himself from killing Emo.

Tayo goes back home to find out he has received a blessing from Ts’eh, and the drought is ended. He completes his ceremony.

Style:  Silko uses changing narrative voice.

              The switching of character supports the idea the no single being is bigger than the earth.

                The story is written in a non-linear time frame to enforce the idea of the “web” of time overlapping.

          Silko’s tone is dark, especially in the beginning. Towards the end, there is hope, but it is not exacly light hearted. The imagery contributes to this effect.

Theme:  In order to have a successful future, one must resolve any issues of the past.

               Time is not linear- the past is connected to the present and the future.

               No single being is greater than the earth as a whole, everyone is connected, and their needs to be balance between good and evil.

           Symbolism: circles= nonlinear time, unity     

                                  Characters such as   Spiderwoman, Corn Mother, Sun Father  that represent the balance between good and evil   

                                      Colors represent emotions hope (or lack thereof).

                                      Rain= Tayo’s healing, connecting with the earth

                                         other symbols include the mine, mountain, the bellies

         Motifs:  vomit / bellies            colors             violence                   flashbacks

          

 Quotes: “Jungle rain had no beginning or end; it grew like foliage from the sky, branching and arching to the earth”- this supports the idea that time is non-linear.

’It seems like I already heard these stories before… only thing is, the names sound different”- This supports the idea of importance of unity between Tayo and the rest of the world, including other characters.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Setting: Denmark and England

                    Elizabethan period

Characters:   Hamlet = Prince whose’ father was killed by his own brother, and hamlet’s uncle. He is conflicted deciding whether or not to avenge his father’s death.

                       Ghost: the late king of Denmark killed by his own brother.

                       Claudius: Prince Hamlet’s uncle, who killed his brother and then married his widowed wife.

                       Gertrude: Mother of prince hamlet, married Claudius after he kills her husband, the king.

                       Horatio: Good friend of Prince Hamlet

                        Polonius:  Council to Claudius, not a very good man

                         Ophelia: daughter of Polonius who is in love with Hamlet

                        Laertes: son of Polonius, and brother to Ophelia

 Plot: Watchmen and Horatio see the ghost of the late king.

              Horatio tells Hamlet of their encounter with the ghost

               Hamlet talks to the Ghost, who tell him to take renege on the man who killed him- his brother.

               When Laertes leaves, he and Polonius warn Ophelia of Hamlet. Polonius thinks Hamlet may be mad for     love of Ophelia when Ophelia tells him he was acting mad.

Claudius agrees to spy on Hamlet, he has sent for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on him.

A group of actors comes to perform, and Hamlet uses this to confirm his suspicions about Claudius.

Polonius arranges for a meeting about Hamlet’s seemingly state of madness.

When the Claudius reacts bitterly to the play hamlet set up , hamlet is confirmed of Claudius’ guilt and decides to kill him

                Hamlet almost kills Claudius as he is praying, but hesitates, and lets him go.

                Hamlet kills Polonius in Gertrude’s chamber.

                Hamlet discusses the horrible things Claudius and Gertrude have done, and warns her to stop being with Claudius. The Ghost appears to Hamlet in the chamber, and Hamlet tells him he will kill Claudius.

Claudius commands for Hamlet to be killed in England, but Hamlet escapes. Claudius finds out Hamlet has come back to Elsinore. They plot to  kill him with a poison fencing sword.

                Laertes decides to try taking over as king.

                Ophelia loses her mind with grief. She drowns herself.

                A match between Laertes and Hamlet will determine who loved Ophelia better. They each wound eacher with the poisoned sword.

During this match, Gertrude dies of drinking form the poisoned cup.

                Hamlet kill Claudies with the sword and declares that Fortinbras should become king.

                Hamlet dies.

Style:  Shakespeare uses synecdoche to describe to position/ situation of Denmark.

                Epizuixeus, antistrophe, anaphora, etc, are used to repeat important lines, and add emotion.

                Imegery is used in the play format.

                Point of view is third person

                Tone is reflecting, and discouraging.

Theme: Every action has consequences.

Be careful of revenge

Symbolism : Yorick’s skull = death always near

                Ophelia’s flowers (weeds) = Ophelia’s dead love for Hamlet

Motifs:  deceit, incest/ Oedipus complex

Quotes: “Give thy thoughts not tongue”- Hamlet is careful as to what he says or does, realizing there are consequences.

                “To be, or not to be, that is the question” – in debating over the revenge of his uncle, Hamlet reflects again, potential consequences.