Discussion 9 - Career of a Salesman

Read Kerrane's "Arthur Miller vs. Columbia Pictures: The Strange Case of Career of a Salesman" and discuss the implications of Career of a Salesman. Use examples from the screenplay that Kerrane found to help you support your ideas. The essay can be found on the course website.
You can get the file either from the Death of a Salesman subpage, or from the ENG4U Files page.
This it the last blog of the course. Check the course calendar for due dates.

Bonus Discussion 1 - Career of a Salesman

Read Kerrane's "Arthur Miller vs. Columbia Pictures: The Strange Case of Career of a Salesman" and discuss the implications of Career of a Salesman. Use examples from the screenplay that Kerrane found to help you support your ideas. The essay can be found on our course web site.

Discussion 1 - Considering Miller

We have spent the first two weeks of ENG4U1 reading and thinking about Miller's Death of a Salesman. We have also talked about Modernism, Ancient Greek drama, the American Dream, and we have begun to deal with the elements of tragedy.

Before you transition from this landmark play to the next text, you should give Death of a Salesman a little more consideration before you write your first paper for this class.

There are three options for this first blog assignment. The essays can be found on our course web site.

It would be beneficial to you to read each question, then it's accompanying essay. This will help you to decide which topic you would like to approach.

1. Read Zoglin's "American Tragedy" and discuss Zoglin's thesis. I have included these starting points to help you formulate your response.

• Identify Zoglin's thesis, and trace his attempt to support it
  
• Elia Kazan's response to Miller
• Modernism - the wikipedia article for modernism can be found here
  
• Ibsen - the wikipedia article for Ibsen can be found here
  

2. Read Miller's "The 'Salesman' Has a Birthday" and discuss Miller's thesis. I have included these starting points to help you formulate your response.

• Note the date of the essay
• "And an old insistence - sometimes difficult to summon, but there none the less - that we will find a way beyond fear of each other, beyond bellicosity, a way into our humanity"
• Miller coming to terms with what he had written
• The realization of the script, from idea to production
• Miller's thoughts on the play's theme
  

3. Read Ferris' "A Conversation With Arthur Miller" and discuss Miller's response to Ferris' questions. I have included these starting points to help you formulate your response.

• Note the date of the interview
• The role of the artist in society
• How "one person's story can transcend itself"
• The effect of Death of a Salesman on drama
• The dramatic works mentioned in the essay / the nature of drama
• Saul Burry
• The theme of Fathers and Sons
• "There is an old rule of psychology that if something doesn't meet resistance, it is probably not true." How does this response link with "the public role of the artist"

Note, there are three choices for Assignment 1. Once 10 people have submitted responses to a specific topic, that topic will be closed.