Cue cards on Death of a salesman
IB Literature II—HL: Cue Card Instructions
L.Lyon (Adapted from A.Wiggins)
Spring 2014
Contents of each Cue Card:
1. AUTHOR and TEXTS (properly punctuated)
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
2. BIRTH/DEATH DATES AND PLACES OF BIRTH/DEATH
He was born on October 17, 1915 in Harlem New York
He died on February 10, 2005, in Roxbury, Connecticut.
3. HISTORICAL DATE THE TEXT WAS PUBLISHED The play was first performed in 1949. That period was the post war period for the Second World War. From the end of the 30s until mid 40’s was the great economic depression. So the play was first performed in the recession period when businesses were recovering from the economic downfall, which caused many people to go bankrupt. This had a great impact on the play’s plot as Willy was a salesman. The play was also known to be the first American tragedy.
4. SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT THE AUTHOR WAS BORN OUT OF
Arthur Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was born in New York and raised there until he attended the university of Michigan. Before collage he lived with his family moderately but after the economic recession his family lost a lot of their assets and money. So in the play, the plot and specifically Willy is described in detail as a reflection upon his life and the effect of the Wall Street crash on his family. He completed writing his first play in collage and continued to write other plays while working on other jobs to maintain a middleclass lifestyle.
5. Name of Text: 1-2 LINE SUMMARY OF TEXT
This play is about the character Willy Lomen who suffers with balancing his life between his fantasy and reality. Characters such as his son Biff and his friends Charley try to help him and this ends up contributing to his downfall by committing suicide and becoming a tragic hero.
6. LIST OF SIGNIFICANT SUBJECTS AND PEOPLE IN THE TEXT, AND ALLUSIONS/CONNECTIONS TO OTHER PEOPLE, PLACES, PLAYS, OR LITERARY SYMBOLS OR ARCHETYPES.
Characters:
L.Lyon (Adapted from A.Wiggins)
Spring 2014
Contents of each Cue Card:
1. AUTHOR and TEXTS (properly punctuated)
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
2. BIRTH/DEATH DATES AND PLACES OF BIRTH/DEATH
He was born on October 17, 1915 in Harlem New York
He died on February 10, 2005, in Roxbury, Connecticut.
3. HISTORICAL DATE THE TEXT WAS PUBLISHED The play was first performed in 1949. That period was the post war period for the Second World War. From the end of the 30s until mid 40’s was the great economic depression. So the play was first performed in the recession period when businesses were recovering from the economic downfall, which caused many people to go bankrupt. This had a great impact on the play’s plot as Willy was a salesman. The play was also known to be the first American tragedy.
4. SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT THE AUTHOR WAS BORN OUT OF
Arthur Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was born in New York and raised there until he attended the university of Michigan. Before collage he lived with his family moderately but after the economic recession his family lost a lot of their assets and money. So in the play, the plot and specifically Willy is described in detail as a reflection upon his life and the effect of the Wall Street crash on his family. He completed writing his first play in collage and continued to write other plays while working on other jobs to maintain a middleclass lifestyle.
5. Name of Text: 1-2 LINE SUMMARY OF TEXT
This play is about the character Willy Lomen who suffers with balancing his life between his fantasy and reality. Characters such as his son Biff and his friends Charley try to help him and this ends up contributing to his downfall by committing suicide and becoming a tragic hero.
6. LIST OF SIGNIFICANT SUBJECTS AND PEOPLE IN THE TEXT, AND ALLUSIONS/CONNECTIONS TO OTHER PEOPLE, PLACES, PLAYS, OR LITERARY SYMBOLS OR ARCHETYPES.
Characters: