Preview

2.3.1 Journal

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
354 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
2.3.1 Journal
2.3.1 Journal: Analyze the Reading
Journal

This is your journal activity. Complete the prewriting steps below before moving on to the journal response.

Read and Paraphrase
Read the opening stage directions of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

A melody is heard, played upon a flute. It is small and fine, telling of grass and trees and the horizon. The curtain rises. Before us is the Salesman’s house. We are aware of towering, angular shapes behind it, surrounding it on all sides. Only the blue light of the sky falls upon the house and forestage; the surrounding area shows an angry glow of orange. As more light appears, we see a solid vault of apartment houses around the small, fragile-seeming home. An air of the dream clings to the place, a dream rising out of reality. The kitchen at center seems actual enough, for there is a kitchen table with three chairs, and a refrigerator. But no other fixtures are seen. At the back of the kitchen there is a draped entrance, which leads to the living room . . .

Willy Loman, the Salesman, enters, carrying two large sample cases. The flute plays on. He hears but is not aware of it. He is past sixty years of age, dressed quietly. Even as he crosses the stage to the doorway of the house, his exhaustion is apparent. He unlocks the door, comes into the kitchen, and thankfully lets his burden down, feeling the soreness of his palms. A word-sigh escapes his lips — it might be “Oh, boy, oh, boy.” He closes the door, then carries his cases out into the living room, through the draped kitchen doorway . . .

Write Your Response

Journal question: How do the opening stage directions from Death of a Salesman prepare the reader to read the play? Focus on how different sounds, colors, and images help establish the setting and mood of the play.

Topic sentence: The opening stage directions of Death of a Salesman use images and language that help the reader understand the setting and mood of the play.

Example #1:

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    1) To be effective, a play’s opening scene must engage the audience or the reader’s attention. To…

    • 1820 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Death of a Salesman,” by Arthur Millier addresses many of literary fiction’s universal themes. In general two themes can be constantly seen throughout the play, abandonment and betrayal. Willy Loman, a man set on reaching the American dream, lives in a state of delusion and altered perception on what really matters. The play itself switches from flashbacks to other flashbacks to let the reader understand how and why Willy Loman decides to commit suicide.…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The story, Death of a Salesman, is a story that has many literary devices that help to make it the deep and riveting story that has become an American classic. The use of symbols in the story adds to the overall effect and theme and also creates a different mood that the reader must infer from it. The symbols not only represent something in the story as literally a symbol, but of much importance because of the numerous times they appear in the work. There are countless symbols in the story that help to give the reader a different feeling for it but there are a select few that really represent the most important themes and ideas from the book.…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The way to Rainy Mountain

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This is your journal activity. Complete the prewriting steps below before moving on to the journal response.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Arthur Miller uses realism as a prevalent factor that truly defines the drama, Death of a Salesman, and allows the audience to identify with one or more of the characters in the play; primarily Willy. There are several aspects of the drama that contribute to its likeness to the lives and experiences of the audience. The setting refers to existing physical elements of the modern time, along with the verbiage. Just as well, characters in the play have real life situations that mimic the everyday lives of those watching, especially of the middleclass.…

    • 925 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death of a Salesman is a short, yet satisfying play. Willy Loman’s tragic story can speak to us in such as way that we feel sympathy for him despite all his flaws. Without any of these added layers and depth. The story’s final death, symbolism for Willy’s affair, and geography all convey the tragedy of Willy Loman in a unique and captivating way that is not predictable or…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What, in your opinion, are some of the purposes of this opening soliloquy? Provide at least three possibilities. Explain your answer by making specific references to the soliloquy and to the events from the play so far. (6)…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his play Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller skillfully presents the nomadic mind of the bewildered salesman, Willy Loman. Miller says, “I wished to create a form which, in itself as a form, would literally be the process of Willy Loman’s way of mind.” He accomplishes this through the blending of past memories with present reality, stage descriptions, and the obsession of his career. Since Willy plants all his faith into the “greatest country in the world” that promises itself to be the land of success, he is only left to look within himself to find the reason for his failure. Miller captures Willy’s journey to find when everything went wrong through the structure of the play, enabling readers to keep up with the flow of Willy Loman’s restless…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For Theatre Response Essay #2, I chose to watch “Death Of A Salesman” by playwright Arthur Miller, directed by Paul Wickline. I saw the performance at the College Of The Canyons Performing Arts Center on Sunday April 2nd, 2011. “Death of A Salesman” was written in the 1949 and had a 742 performance run. This play is so world known that it has gone from the stage to the theater.…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Miller created this play with enough detail and stage direction for the reader to picture this imagery. However, when directing a play, the director has the chance to create a spin off the author’s first intention. In 1985, Volker Schlondorff directs a more contemporary version of the play “The Death of a Salesman”. In the first scene, Schlondorff introduces the Lowman family just as Miller does in the written play, but he makes the family appear more likable to the audience. The costumes for each character are modern. Willy dresses in casual business attire, Linda in lively colors, and the sons in casual clothing, as well. Willy and Linda live in a modern-day home, in the suburbs. Linda has her makeup and hair fixed throughout the play. The lighting plays a crucial role because it allows for Willy’s flashbacks to fade in and out to help the play keep the past and present flowing instantaneously. The sound makes the audience aware of what is going on inside Willy’s mind. For example, you hear an echo of the woman Willy had an affair with in the back ground. As the sound fades in louder on stage, it sets forth the way for a visual flashback to occur. In the written play, the reader does not have the spotlight and audial visual. Where as in the 1985 play, visual and audial elements help the audience get a better insight on the director’s twist to the…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    This essay explains the relevance and importance of dreams in the play; “Death of a Salesman”.…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Death of a Salesman is a play created to evoke thoughts and emotions. The audience sees mental decline and personal demons manifesting themselves in various ways. Three characters stood out more than others. They made the audience feel many more emotions than all the others and cause the strongest reactions.…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Terwin (1949, cited in Page, 2003,) described Willy Lowman as “the little salesman with a pathetic belief in his worthless son.” Willy Lowman could be viewed as a father trying to give his son who has lost his way in life some direction by assisting to get “him a job in selling” (Miller, 2000, 1.11). However, Willy Lowman could be seen as a man having failed to achieve his own ambition who decides to superimpose his pipe dreams upon his son Biff. Willy believes; if Biff applies himself as a salesman he “could be big in no time” (Miller, 2000,1.11), Willy measures success in monitory terms and believes it is easily achievable to the deserved and to achieve this you have to “be well liked and you would never want” (Miller,2000, 1.26). Unfortunately reality does not support Willy’s philosophy on achievement. The tragedy is in fact that Willy has locked himself into a belief system which forces him to work harder and harder for thirty eight years in order to feed his conviction that the achievement of…

    • 2792 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    To be able to access the true essence of the introductory scene and figure out its significance, its imperative to have proper understanding of what meaning the exposition in its description has in its holds. An exposition in a play is the means used by the playwright as a tool to provide certain background details concerning the characters’ histories, setting and theme, which serves the purpose of aiding the reader towards having a proper comprehension of the play by placing before him the summarized events of the play and thus giving him chances to anticipate developments and turns in the drama in the read further ahead which can either have the consequential results of drawing in the reader’s interest by making it easier for him to feel reasons to get attached to the play or simply drive off far even the little initial interest he started off with.…

    • 1356 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Choose one episode from Death of a Salesman, which you feel contributes significantly to the plays overall tragic dimension. Identify how your chosen episode functions within the wider framework of the whole play. Discuss different interpretative possibilities offered by this episode.…

    • 1608 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays