Open Prompt

1986. Some works of literature use the element of time in a distinct way. The chronological sequence of events may be altered, or time may be suspended or accelerated. Choose a novel, an epic, or a play of recognized literary merit and show how the author's manipulation of time contributes to the effectiveness of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.


       In Audrey Niffenegger's book, The Time Travelers Wife, the author uses time travel to enhance her story. The way she uses time is quite interesting actually, because she creates a character who has a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably.

       The love story between Henry, the time traveler, and his wife Clare is a sad but amazing one. Niffenegger uses the time travel to have their love grow over time because once they meet naturally; Henry then begins to time travel back to Clare's childhood. This means that Clare has known Henry her whole life and she has been falling in love with Henry since she was six years old.  This strong connection between the love Clare has for him as she grows up and he is there for her then, and how she loves him when they are older proves how important the time travel was to their relationship.

       Henry and Clare’s story complicates when they are unable to conceive children due to the genetic disorder that Henry is passing onto the child. This is obviously very sad for the both of them because they want children but Henry does not want Clare to go through that pain of having miscarriages anymore and gets a vasectomy. This would have worked if a version Henry who had not yet had a vasectomy had not traveled to visit Clare and had gotten her pregnant. Henry is upset at first, but when the child is born is ultimately happy for the occurrence.

       Henry then travels and meets his ten-year-old daughter before she is technically born; he learns from his future daughter that she is able to somewhat control where she travels in time. He also learns some sad news. His daughter, Aba, informs him that he died when she was five years old. This give Henry the knowledge of his untimely death at the age of 43 and means he only has five years left to live. The way the author uses time travel to predict Henry’s death and how he dies is very clever and allows for a lot of emotional reaction from the reader because he knows, and we know that he is going to die and that he has zero control over it.

       Niffenegger uses time effectively to show the connection and love between Henry and Clare. She also uses it to strengthen the story and the hardship of Henry’s disease, which contributes to the work as a whole. 

Death of A Salesman: Summary and Analysis

Author: The author of Death of a Salesman is the American playwright, Arthur Miller. He is most famous for this play and The Crucible.

Setting: The Setting of the play is mainly in the home of Willy and Linda Loman. The house seems to be falling apart throughout the whole play and Willy is always either fixing or having to pay for things to be fixed. During Willy's visions of the past, we see the house as it used to be, not surrounded by high rise apartments, even a few trees in the yard. It is sad to see the difference between past and present in these scenes.

Plot:

Act One: 

        The play begins with the sound of a flute, and Willy Loman coming home from a business trip. This is the first time we see Willy interact with his wife Linda. Their relationship seems normal until you see her reassuring him on things that can't possibly be true and treating him like a child. Linda complains that Willy travels too much and convinces him to ask his boss tomorrow if Wily can have a job in New York so he doesn't have to drive so much. He agrees and tells Linda to go up to bed. 

        Now is when the reader also sees Willy have one of his episodes. He begins talking to himself and goes in-between the past and the present. This is where we see Willy's version of what life was like when his sons, Biff and Happy, were younger. They idolized him. The first flashback is of the boys washing Willy's car and playing around and asking how his trip was. Then Bernard, a neighbor that is Biff's age, comes out of their house and tells Biff and Willy that Biff needs to study for math or he fail the class. This seems to be of no concern to any of the Lomans, they have this belief that everything will just work out without hard work. After this first episode, the present Happy comes downstairs to try and get his dad to stop talking to himself and come upstairs. This doesn't work as well as hoped. During this whole time with Willy talking to himself, Biff and Happy have been upstairs discussing old times and dreams for the future. This is the most we hear from Happy during the whole play, and it has the most substance in it. When Biff comes down to try and get Willy to stop yelling and ranting things that don't really make sense, we see the tension between Biff and Willy. Though we are not sure yet what it was that ruined their relationship, we know that there is absolute zero respect for Willy from Biff. This is a sad, broken, father-son relationship. Biff is clearly angry with Willy for something, and Willy is very disappointed that his boy never amounted to anything. 

         During this first night, we also learn about Willy's brother Ben, who went to Africa/Alaska and struck gold and became very rich. We see that Willy regrets not going with his brother.  After Willy finally calms down from his fight with Biff, he goes upstairs while Linda scolds Happy and Biff about being so rude to their father. She explains what struggles he has been going through and how she suspects he is trying to kill himself and how Biff has to save him. Biff finally makes Willy happy by agreeing to go meet with Bill Oliver the next day about a business proposition. 

Act Two:

         Act two begins with Willy and Linda having breakfast, Linda tells Willy how excited the boys were when they left the house this morning and how they are going to treat Willy to dinner that night after the meeting. Willy then proceeds to go and meet with his boss about getting a job in New York. This is a very sad scene because his boss denies him a job and Willy loses it. He breaks down and yells and acts childish. After he gets fired he goes to Charley's where he runs into his son, Bernard, who has become a very successful lawyer. This depresses Willy because Bernard became a success and Biff did not, even though Biff was well-liked. Bernard asks him what happened in Boston when Biff visited Willy all those years ago, and Willy shuts down. He doesn't want to take the blame for Biff's failures. Charley gives Willy the money he needs, offers him a job which Willy denies because he is too proud, but takes the money anyways. He goes to meet his boys for dinner, which goes horridly. Biff tries to explain how awful the meeting with Bill Oliver went and how he stole his fountain pen but he can't do it. When he finally does, Willy gets crazy upset and goes into the bathroom where he is met with more memories of the past. We finally discover what ruined the relationship of Biff and Willy. It happened when Biff visited Willy in Boston and discovered Willy was cheating on Linda with another woman. The boys meet up with two girls and leave the restaurant with Willy in the bathroom. When they get home Linda is very upset. She cannot believe that they left their father at the restaurant and yells at them relentlessly. Willy is outside, having one of his episodes trying to plant seeds into the dirt. Willy and Biff fight some more once they come into the house and Biff breaks down and says he is going to leave but tells Willy he loves him. Willy stays downstairs while everyone else goes up stairs and begins to talk to Ben again and about insurance money and commits suicide in his car.

Requiem:

This little piece at the end is just Willy's funeral. We see that his family, Charley and Bernard come. Linda cannot cry and it is all in all depressing. Biff, though sad, says how his dad's dream was wrong and he was always chasing the wrong things, at the same time Happy is defending Willy. This is when we finally see how Happy is very similar to Willy and how they will probably end up with the same fate.

Significant Characters:

Willy Loman: Main character of the play, the salesman. He is very depressed when we meet him and has spent his whole life under the false idea that the key to success was being well-liked. This does not serve Willy well because not only is he not well-liked and a liar, he is not a very good salesman.

Linda Loman: Wife to Willy, just trying to make him happy even if it means going along with his lies and stories. She is not only his wife but also acts as his mother figure in the book. She seems to care more for Willy then her two sons combined and blames them a lot for what is happening to Willy. She expects them to save him because she can't.

Biff Loman: Willy's eldest son, was doomed to failure after discovering Willy was having an affair and cheating on his mother. He is the opposite of Willy, he goes West in search of the old American dream but is sent back home to try and save his father.

Happy Loman: Does not really have a personality---Exactly like Willy. A businessman. He is very disrespectful towards women and is constantly begging for attention from his mother and father who have always been more worried about Biff.

Charley: The opposite of Willy, Charley is his neighbor who has been a very successful businessman and has a very successful son.

Bernard: Also neighbor of the Lomans, he is Charley's son. He has been very successful in all things he has done.

Important Quotations: 

1) "And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. ’Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?" -Willy Loman

-This quote shows how desperate Willy is to be liked, which is why he does everything in his life. He wants to be loved and remembered and a successful salesman. It's sad he never becomes one.

2) "He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong." -Biff (pg 11)

-This quote shows that Biff understands the differences between the American dreams, Happy and Willy's dream compared to Biff's dream. It helps bring the book full circle because we now understand Willy more now that he has passed.

Theme:

     The theme of Death of a Salesman, is the American Dream of consumerism. Of being well-liked, attractive and having material objects that are supposed to provide happiness when they really cannot. This is shown in the text because of Willy's desire to become a great salesman, be well-liked and have lots of money. He made the mistake of telling his kids that this was how the real-world works. This theme is shown constantly throughout the play.

Response to Course Material #4

     We have done quite a bit in class since my last post. We finished annotating, re-watching, and discussing Death of a Salesman. While I understand that this is a very important play and we have learned a lot during this unit, I have to be honest and say I am glad we are done with it, well besides the summary and analysis I have yet to finish. I feel like my class especially felt very differently about the book and could never really agree on much in the class, some people hated Willy, others loved him. I found the way Happy was portrayed to be hilarious while others hated him for his disregard for anyone else. I understand that point of view, but I feel like with such a depressing play, one must take advantage of the comedy in Happy's comments. I learned a great deal about plot and how complicated it is through this play, for which I am grateful.
     We have started Hamlet since my last post! Though I am still working on reading my part allowed without getting tripped up by Shakespeare style of writing, I find myself enjoying it as well. It is more work, but I am glad I get to read a part in this play, I feel like it will help me get connected to the play and my character more, which is good.  I remember now how much I hated Shakespeare before this, realizing now that I don't absolutely despise his writing is a breath of fresh air. I'm not very good at always understanding what he means though, which I want to work on because I feel like that would make analyzing the play so much easier. I'm really excited to keep reading this play because of how often it is used in modern plots. I feel like once I finally read the original story of Hamlet I will realize what a huge deal it really is. Very excited to keep reading it!