Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Death of a Salesman is probably the most successful and much talked about stage play by Arthur Miller that was first performed in 1949. It is a two-act play in which the story of protagonist Willy Loman is depicted using a montage of his arguments, memories, and dreams. It is a tragedy of the common man. In the same year (1949), Arthur Miller wrote and published his essay Tragedy and the Common Man in which he presented his reason to make an ordinary American man the subject of a theatrical tragedy. He suggested that the modern world is not gullible, it is more skeptical about the idea of heroes. Thus, the audience cannot understand how tragedy with its tragic hero is relevant to the modern world. On the other hand, Miller argued that the world is full of heroes. According to Miller, a hero is anybody who is willing to lay down his life in order to secure his ‘sense of personal dignity. It doesn’t matter what his social status or background is.

Death of a Salesman is a prime example of Miller’s thoughts on the tragedy. Willy Loman is a traveling salesman. His tragedy is brought about partly by his own actions, but the desperate situations in which he finds himself because of the harsh, competitive, and unforgiving world of sales also are responsible for that. In a world where if he cannot make money as a salesman, he has to think of something else to acquire money so that he can provide a two-time meal to his family and offer a secured adobe. In the Tragedy of the Common Man, Miller argues that theatrical tragedy is dependent on a common ‘man’s total compunction to evaluate himself justly.’ However, while trying to do so and maintaining his dignity, the tragic hero often loses his life. Such a tragedy will prompt the audience to think about what is wrong with society and situations and how they can be changed for the better. The story offers a contrast between the American dream and American reality.

Characters of Death of a Salesman:

Willy Loman is a 63 years old traveling salesman. He has recently lost his job. He is unstable, insecure, and self-deluded. Linda Loman is Willy’s loyal and loving wife Willy is a responsible family man who loved his family, but he had an extramarital affair once that he broke pretty soon. Linda knows and understands realities better than Willy but she remains passively supportive of Willy. She wishes her grown-up sons Biff Loman and Happy Loman help their father. Biff Loman is Willy’s 32-year-old son. He was a football star in his school but dropped out because he couldn’t pass the math exam. He is well-built and handsome. Happy Loman is Biff’s younger brother. He is not happy within himself but pretends to be happy in front of all others. He always tries to win the approval of his parents but miserably fails. Charley is Willy’s neighbor. Charley and Willy do not like each other much, yet, they are friends. Charley cares for Willy and tries to help him. Bernard is Charley’s son. He used to be a huge fan of Biff during his school days. He isn’t as well-built and handsome as Biff is. But he is a successful lawyer. Ben Loman is Willy’s elder brother who became a rich diamond merchant after his tour to Africa. He died years ago but Willy keeps remembering him and has hallucinations of him. Howard Wagner is Willy’s boss who fires him from the job.

Summary of Death of a Salesman:

The play begins as Willy Loman returns home from his tour. Linda notices Willy is confused, disturbed, and tired. Willy met an accident and had to return halfway through his tour. As Linda worries, Willy tells her that nothing has happened but says that he doesn’t remember all of the details of his trip. Linda tells him that he should rest for a while. She tells him that he should now change his job as a traveling salesman and should work in New York. Willy says that he feels he is not needed in New York. He says that had Frank Wagner been alive, Willy might have been in charge of New York. But Frank’s son Howard Wagner is his current boss and Howard doesn’t like him much. Linda informs Willy that both of their sons Biff and Happy are at home as Happy has arranged a double date for them. She tells Willy not to lose his temper on Biff. Willy on the other hand says that he feels Biff has some resentment against him.

In the other room, Biff is discussing with Happy. Biff is 34 years old well-built handsome guy while Happy is two years younger. Happy is equally good looking but he is not self-assured. Biff says that Willy’s health is deteriorating. He complains that Willy continues to mock him, but Happy says that he merely wants Bliff to live up to his potential. Bliff isn’t too sure of his potential. He says that he tried more than a dozen jobs since he left home before the war but was fired from all of them. He wonders if he can do any job. He reminisces about the countryside, herding cattle, and dreams about farming land. Happy says that he has many girls, and he maintains a car, yet he feels unsatisfied. He says that he doesn’t respect any girl he has seduced till now and he is still longing for a girl of character like their mother to whom he may marry. Bliff thinks that he may try going back to Bill Oliver for whom he worked in the past.

Willy, on the other hand, is thinking of the past when Bliff and Happy were kids. Happy complains that he is losing weight while Bliff shows a football to Willy that he took from the locker room. Willy is happy about Bliff’s success at football field and says that one day, Bliff will have a bigger business than Charley’s because while ‘Charley is liked, he is not well-liked.’ At the same time, Bernard enters their home and says that he is worried that Bliff will fail math class and will not be able to attend UVA. Willy isn’t worried at all, he tells Bernard not to be a pest and go away. He then tells Bliff that like Charley, Bernard is liked, but not well-liked. He says that Bernard will not succeed in business despite his good grades as Bliff can because success in business depends on personality and not grades. He says that Bliff has a much better personality than his.

The scene changes and we see a woman with a scarf in a hotel room. Willy tells her that he gets lonely and worries about his business. The woman says that she chose Willy because of his sense of humor. Willy promises the woman that he will see her the next time he visits Boston.

The scene changes again as Willy meets Bernard and asks him to give answer keys for the Regent’s exam to Bliff. Bernard however refuses to do so as it is a state exam. Linda complains about Bliff being too harsh against girls and Willy scolds her and asks if she wants his son to be a worm like Bernard.

Willy returns to the present as Happy approaches him. He tells Happy how he met an accident on his tour. He wonders why he didn’t go to Africa with Ben, his elder brother who got hold of some diamond mines in Africa and made huge riches. Happy reassures Willy and says that he will make him retire decently. Charley visits their home and plays cards with Willy. He offers a job but Willy refuses. Willy tells Charley that his elder brother died in Africa a few weeks ago. Willy then starts hallucinating while imagining Ben visiting him and asking about their mother. Charley leaves him alone.

Willy continues his imagination of the past when he introduced Ben to his sons. He then sees Charley reprimanding him for letting his sons steal from a nearby construction site. Willy tells that his sons are fearless. Charley chides that such fearlessness often leads people to imprisonment to which Ben retorts that such fearless characters succeed in the stock exchange.

In the present time, Bliff and Happy ask their mother for how long Willy is talking to himself like this? Linda answers that this has been going on for years. She complains Bliff that he is not helping his father at all. She informs them that recently Willy tried to kill himself by driving his car off the bridge. She says that earlier too Willy tried to commit suicide by hooking a tube up to the gas heater in the basement. She says that Willy is not a great man but he is a human being and he needs attention. Bliff understands the situation and promises that he won't argue with his father anymore and will go to Bill Oliver to talk about a sporting goods business he may start with his brother Happy. Willy feels good about this and claims that had Bliff stayed with Bill Oliver, he would be on the top by now.

The next day, as Willy is sitting in the kitchen with Linda, she asks him to talk to his boss to let him work in New York so that he may get rid of his traveling job. Willy goes into the past again. He visited Howard Wagner's office where he showed his new wire recorder. Willy asks Howard to let him work in New York as it is the time he should get settled. Howard says that Willy is doing good as a traveling salesman and refuses to listen to him as he walks away. As Willy is still in his office, he thinks had Howard’s father been his boss, he would have listened to him. He accidentally puts on the wire recorder and is startled by its voice. He shouts for help. As Howards returns to his office, he gets angry at Willy and fires him from the job.

As Willy gets back to the current time, he decides to visit Bernard at his office. He asks Bernard what led Bliff to failure while he was a promising football star? Bernard asks why Willy didn't make Biff to go summer school so that he could go to UVA. Bernard pinpoints the timing of Biff's failures to his visit to his father in New England, after which Biff burned his UVA sneakers. He wonders what happened during that visit. Charley enters the office at the same time and offers a job to Willy as he knows he has lost his job. Willy refuses again out of his pride and Charley chides him. Willy says that a man is worth more dead than alive. As he leaves the office, he says that though he doesn’t like Charley but Charley is the only friend he has got.

From the office, Willy goes to the restaurant where his sons are having a double date. Happy refuses to recognize his father in front of the girls as he has told them lies about him being a successful businessman and Bliff being a successful football player.

Willy goes into the past again as he sees himself in the hotel room at Boston with the same woman. Bliff visits him in Boston and begs his father to talk to Mr. Birnbaum to change his marks in maths and allow him pass the exam. At the same time, the woman enters the room from the bathroom. She is half-naked. As Bliff sees her, he realizes that his father is having an affair. Willy makes the woman go away and admits the affair to Bliff but promises that the woman meant nothing to him and that he was lonely. Bliff has lost confidence in his father and he runs away.

As Willy returns to the present, a waiter informs him that his sons have left him alone. He goes back to his home. When Bliff and Happy return home, Linda accuses them of leaving Willy alone. She asks them if they even care if their father lives or dies? Bliff and Happy feel sorry and Happy says that he will soon marry and settle in life. Willy is planting some seeds in the garden as he dreams of his own funeral. Ben tells him that he will be a coward if he commits suicide. Willy faces Bliff and says that Bliff has ruined his life in spite of his father and refuses to take the blame for Bliff’s failure. Bliff gets angry again and confronts his father. He tells Linda that it was not Willy who attached the rubber tube to the gas heater but it was him. He further tells that his parents couldn’t contact him for three months when he left home because he was in jail. As he admits all this, he starts crying and embraces Willy and says that he and Bliff are ordinary men, they are not heroes. But Willy says that Bliff can still prove his mental and succeed in life. He is happy that his son cried for him. He starts talking to Ben in his hallucination and rushes out of his house in his car. He meets an accident and dies. At his funeral, only his two sons, wife Linda, and neighbor Charley is present. Linda wonders where are other people. He cries at his grave and tells how she succeeded to pay the loan on their home through his insurance money. Bliff says that Willy had wrong dreams but Charley says that a salesman must dream and that for a salesman there is no rock bottom in life. Bliff says that he will leave the city and asks Happy to accompany him. But Happy says that he will stay in New York and prove that his father did not die in vain. Everybody leaves for the house but Linda remains there at Willy’s grave, telling him, how she paid back the loan on their house in full.

Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage by Jeremy Collier

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Jeremy Collier was an English non-juror bishop and theologian who chose to be a strong English theatre critic during the Restoration period. He was born on 23^rd September 1950, and he experienced the days of the Protectorate when all theatres and other forms of entertainment were literally banned. A substantial part of the English citizenry always disapproved of English drama. They opposed the increasing profanities and immorality being depicted in the theaters during the times of Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, and others. King Charles II was restored in 1660 and soon the stages of English drama began sparkling again. However, the opposition to theatres persisted. In 1698, Jeremy Collier published a pamphlet titled Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage.

Collier accused the English playwrights and theatre houses of debauching the English citizenry. His main targets whom he directly opposed were William Wycherly, John Dryden, William Congreve, John Vanbrugh, and Thomas D’Urfey. In place of targetting stage art historically, Collier attacked the recent and popular dramas of his time. In his essay, he offered numerous pieces of evidence suggesting how the dramas are affecting the populace and how stage poets use these dramas to profess support for immorality and profanities. He specifically targeted Restoration comedies and mentioned that all of the Restoration comedies lack poetic justice. Vulgar comedies and tragedies depicting clergymen in villainous roles had been a pattern during the Jacobean age too, however, poetic justice was maintained before the Puritans took hold of the crown. However, after the restoration, when the theatres were reopened, Collier complained that the new dramatists forbade the idea of poetic justice.

Poetic justice is the idea that logic always triumphs and logic suggests that ultimately, virtues should be rewarded and vices should be punished. Poetic Justice was recently termed coined by English dramatist Thomas Rhymer. However, the need for poetic justice has been consistent in classical authorities including Aristotle, Horace, Plutarch, and Quintillian. Even William Shakespeare floundered on the lines of poetic justice while Ben Jonson tried to maintain unity and poetic justice in his plays. During the Restoration period, flouted poetic justice by rewarding libertines and punishing dull-witted moralists became a trend. This could have been because during the Civil War, Puritans banned the theatres and after the Restoration, this faction got a chance to lampoon the clergymen. Jeremy Collier strictly opposed and attacked this behavior. He maintained that the only reason for which fiction can be allowed in a civil society is that of Poetic Justice. According to him, dramas should be a means to spread goodness among the people. Dramas should depict how vices are punished and virtues ultimately win. The playwrights of the Restoration period, on the other hand, were ignoring poetic justice in favor of cheap thrills. Collier condemns the characters of Restoration comedies as impious and wicked and he condemned the playwrights for failing to punish the playwrights’ wicked “favorites.” While his accusations were mild, they were comprehensive and he openly blamed William Wycherly, John Dryden, William Congreve, John Vanbrugh, and Thomas D’Urfey along with other playwrights for immorality, profanities, and blasphemy.

As a response, John Dennis published his pamphlet titled The Usefulness of Stage. John Dennis was another contemporary critic of Collier who maintained that dramas are useful for society. John Vanburgh wrote his own retaliation and published it under the title A Short Vindication of The Relapse and The Provok'd Wife From Immorality and Prophaneness in 1698. Vanburgh claimed that Collier is a clergyman and he is more upset by the unflattering depictions of clergymen than actual blasphemy. William Congreve vehemently opposed Collier’s accusation in his essay Amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect Citations published in 1698. Thomas D’Urfey preferred answering Collier in his upcoming play Campaigners (first performed in 1698) in which he lampooned Collier. Collier relaunched his attack on these playwrights in his next pamphlet titled Defence of the Short View published in 1699.

The comedies of the Restoration period were clearly sexually explicit, and Collier’s pamphlet did trigger a change of pattern. Furthermore, while the playwrights enjoyed free runs during the reigns of Charles II and then James II, William III, and Marry II were not so supportive of English drama.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the History of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

Samuel Pepys | The Diary

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Samuel Pepys was a British Naval Administrator and a Diarist, one of the founders of The Royal Society who later became the president of the scientific organization. However, he was a scientist, nor he had any maritime experience. Yet, he was an able administrator. He is most known for his diary which he continuously wrote every day for 10 years. He was close to both King Charles II and King James II. He was born on 23rd February 1633 and died on 26th May 1703. The detailed private diary that Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 was first published in the 19th century and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. Unlike John Evelyn, he was more consistent about his diary entries. Many of Evelyn’s diary entries were made as memoirs. On the other hand, Samuel made a habit of making accounts of happenings in his diary daily. The diary provides personal revelations and eyewitness accounts of some of the very important incidences of the Restoration Period, including the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War, and the Great Fire of London.

Samuel Pepys began writing his diary at a very crucial point in British history and this offers great importance to his entries. Oliver Cromwell died in September 1658 and his son Richard became the new Protector of England. Many factions had tried to establish Oliver as the King of England but Oliver Cromwell refused because of the fear of a possible revolt by Republicans. However, after his death, Richard found it difficult to maintain power and was overthrown in April 1659. The Republicans were gaining strength. The Rump government favored a Parliamentary republic system, however, the army officer opposed it and took control of the offices in 1659. The only possible peaceful solution to these new situations was a return to Monarchy.

Samuel Pepys began writing his diary on January 1^st, 1660. It was a period of political turmoil and the public was fearing of another war and anarchism. Samuel Pepys began noting all the important incidences of the time. On April 4^th, 1660, King Charles II returned to the thrown. Pepys continued writing his diary for 10 years. His diary contains a decade-long record of his private life, his thoughts, and the current socio-political events in more than 1 million words.

Pepys never thought that his diary will become public and will be seen by his contemporaries or other people. He wrote in short hands and used words from other languages including French, Spanish, and Italian. Since he never planned to publish his personal diary, he used many profanities in native English while recording his views in the diary.

Samuel Pepys was not healthy in 1669 and his eyesight was getting weaker. He believed that writing in dim light will cause more problems to him and he may go blind. Thus, he stopped writing his diary in 1669. He made the last entry in his diary on 31^st May 1669.

While his fears could have been correct, he gained better health and never lost his eyesight. However, he never returned to writing his diary again.

John Evelyn’s diary was successfully published in 1818, which inspired John Smith to transcribe Pepys’s diary in simple English. There were many other transcriptions of Pepys’ Diary but all of them omitted the entries in which Pepys mentioned his sexual adventures which were considered too crude by the transcribers. Pepys chronicled the various extramarital liaisons that he had with other women.

Historians use Samuel Pepys's diary to gather greater details of life during the Restoration period. It offers a greater insight into the daily public life of that period because Samuel Pepys wrote about almost everything including personal finances, when he got up in the morning, what he ate, and so on. Not only he chronicled his personal life, but he also mentioned all the important socio-political events of Britain during those 10 years.

Samuel Pepys started chronicling his day-to-day life from New year’s day in 1660 (1^st January 1660) and continued writing every day consistently for 10 days. He broke this habit of his on 31^st May 1669.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

All My Sons by Arthur Miller | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Arthur Miller was an American playwright, essayist, and screenwriter took birth on October 15, 1917, and died on February 10, 2005. Some of his popular plays include All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, and A View from the Bridge. He won Tony Award for Best Author for All My Sons in 1946, while he gained the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Death of a Salesman in the year 1949. His work is known for portraying complex characters who cope with real-life situations and who confront their guilt and remorse for their past actions. His stories talk about the mistakes a person makes and how he looks forward in his life knowing that he has committed a grave mistake.

Arthur Miller wrote his first play No Villain in 1936 while he was still a college student. The play examines the Marxist theory and its inner conflicts using a story of an individual facing problems as a result of a strike. It tells the story of the Simons, an immigrant family, in their parlor, anxiously awaiting the return of their son from university. The Simons were once successful, but appear to have fallen upon rough times.

In 1946, he wrote All My Sons which became his first commercial success. All My Sons is a three-act play based on a true story. In 1941–43 the Wright Aeronautical Corporation based in Ohio had conspired with army inspection officers to approve defective aircraft engines destined for military use. It was covered by newspapers and Miller used the news to make his most successful play.

Characters of All My Sons:

The main character is Joe Keller, a middle-aged businessman who has been exonerated of the charge of knowingly supplying defective aircraft engine cylinder heads during World War II. He cleverly blamed his partner and former neighbor Steve Deever for the whole episode while pretending to be innocent. However, his wife Kate Keller who is in her late 50s knows his secrets. She knows that he is "the guy who made 21 P-40s crash in Australia". Larry Keller is the younger son of Joe and Kate who has been missing for the last three years since he went to participate in the war. Kate believes that he will return and maintains that Anne Deever, who had a relationship with Larry before he went missing, is still his girl. Chris Keller is the elder brother of Larry who returned from World War II two years ago. He respects his father and idolizes him until he comes to know that his father was responsible for the defective aircraft engine cylinder heads. Chris is an idealist and many people don’t like him for that. Chris and Ann have been in contact with each other through letters since Larry went missing. Anne knows that Larry is not going to come back ever and she has moved on. She is trying to make Chris’s parents agree to her marriage to Chris. George Deever is Ann’s elder brother. Like Chris, he is also a WWII veteran. He is a successful lawyer in New York and a close friend of Chris. He was angry at his father for his doing but when he visited Steve Deever, he realized that his father has been wrongly trapped by Joe Keller, and he feels deceived. He decides to convince Anne not to marry Chriss. Dr. Jim Bayliss is a successful doctor and a friend of the Keller family. He wished to be a medical researcher but he acknowledges his responsibility towards his wife and family. Sue Bayliss is Dr. Jim’s wife. She is demanding but affectionate. She is also a friend of Keller’s family but doesn’t like Chriss much. Frank Libbey is one year older than Chriss and George. He missed the draft because of his age and remained at home. He married Linda Lubey who used to be George’s girlfriend before the war. As George went to war, she married Frank and had three children within three years. Bert is an 8-year-old boy living in the neighborhood. He is a friend of Jim Bayliss’s son Tommy. He plays cop-and-robber games with Joe Keller.

Summary:

The play begins at Keller's residence where Joe and Kate Keller live with their elder son Chriss. Joe is a successful businessman living in a luxurious life in an American city. He is living his American dream along with his wife Kate. The only thing that troubles them is their missing younger son Larry who went to fulfill his national duties for World War II but didn’t return. The army declared him missing. While most people know that he is already dead and will never come back, Kate is full of hope and believes that Larry is alive and will soon come back. Larry Keller and Anne Deever were in love and were planning to marry before he went to the war front. Since h was declared missing, Anne moved on and developed a relationship with Chris, Larry’s elder brother and now she hopes to marry him. However, Kate still insists that she is Larry’s girl. Chris has invited her to Keller's residence to make things work for them. Anne’s father Steve Deever and Joe Keller were business partners. During the war, Joe and Steve gained a very profitable project for providing airplane parts to the US Army. One day, Steve found a defective supply of aircraft engine cylinder heads. It was a time of need and the Army was pressurising Steve and Joe to provide the cylinder heads immediately. Joe wasn’t at the factory at that time when Steve called him to ask what should he do. Joe nonchalantly asked him to weld the cracks in the airplane part and supply them to the army. Steve was reluctant but he was under pressure. Joe told him that he had flu and couldn’t come to the factory that day and he will have to send the cylinder heads on his own and he did the same. Thus, they provided such cylinder heads to be used in war aircraft that they didn’t know will work properly or not. Later on, some of the defective cylinder heads busted during the war causing 21 American airplanes to crash and their pilots to die. After inquiry, Steve and Joe were charged and arrested. During the hearing, Joe denied that Steve ever called and informed him about the defective cylinder heads and claimed that Steve is solely responsible for the mischievous act that caused the death of 21 American soldiers. Joe was absent from the factory that day while Steve was there. Steve didn’t have any proof of him calling and informing Joe about the defective heads. He lost the case and was convicted and jailed while Joe was exonerated. Joe’s wife Kate knew that Joe never had any flu and he deliberately didn’t go to the factory to avoid any responsibility in case of a mishap. Steve Deever swore he would never forgive Joe, so Kate worries that Ann will try and harm her family to gain revenge for her father. Thus, she objects to Chriss marrying Anne.

Kate is also hopeful of Larry returning back. She invites Frank Lubbey to check Larry's horoscope to confirm if the day he went missing was fortunate for her. Frank claims that it was an auspicious day for Larry and he couldn’t die that day. This further fills Kate with hope. Joe opposes Kate and says that most probably Larry no more. To this, Kate says that Joe must believe that Larry is still alive, because if he is dead, then Joe is responsible for his death.

George Deever is Anne’s elder brother, a childhood friend of Chriss. He is happy about the prospective marriage of Anne and Chriss. Being a World War II veteran like Chriss and Larry, he is ashamed of his father’s act. Yet, he goes to jail to inform him about Anne and Chriss getting married. At the jail, when George meets Steve he realizes that his father is comparably innocent and the whole plot was of Joe Keller who is the main culprit yet escaped any punishment. This fills him with rage and he decides to stop Anne from marrying Chriss.

At home, Chris and Joe try to suggest to Kate that she should learn to forget Larry. Kate says that Joe should believe that Larry is alive, because if he is not, then their son's blood is on Keller's hands. At the same time, George arrives there and confronts Joe. However, Joe convinces George with his sweet talk that he is innocent. He claims that he was ill and absent the day the incident happened. George gets convinced but after some time, Kate unknowingly says that Joe hadn’t been ill ever for many years. As George notices it, Joe adds that except for a flue that he suffered. While George again gets convinced, Chriss notices something odd in Kate and Joe’s behavior. He again confronts Kate and says that she must understand that Larry is no more. To this, Kate says that Chriss must believe that Larry is alive because If Larry is dead, it means that Joe killed him by shipping out those defective parts. Chriss is devastated after hearing this. Everything is clear to him now. He understands that his own father is the main culprit. Chriss is an idealist who always stands up for the right. But in this case, his most loving father is on the wrong side. He shouts angrily at his father, accusing him of being inhuman and a murderer, and goes away to solitude. 

Kate then confronts Joe and asks him to go to the authorities and commit his crime and accept jail. Joe tells her that whatever he did, he did for the welfare of his family and goes away. Kate confronts Anne again and says that she must believe that Larry is alive and wait for him. Anne then shows her a letter that Larry wrote to her the day before he went missing. The letter written by Larry is essentially a suicide note. Kate comes to know that Larry’s airplane got crashed, but it was not because his plane’s cylinder head was defective. Larry deliberately crashed his plane because he knew that his father supplied defective airplane parts that caused the deaths of other soldiers and he couldn’t bear the shame. Kate is devastated after reading the letter. She asks Anne to hide the letter and not let Chriss or Joe read it. But Anne doesn’t agree with her. As Chris returns, Anne shows him the letter. Chris says that he is not going to send his father to jail but he will leave the family and will not marry Anne too because if he does, Anne will continue to expect justice from him.

Joe enters the room and Chris shows him the letter, saying that Larry knew his father was responsible for the unfortunate deaths of 21 pilots. He reads Larry’s letter aloud. Joe realizes that Larry believed that he is not only his father but he is like a father to all the 21 pilots that were murdered by him. He accepts that he is responsible and agrees to go to jail as all the dead pilots were his sons. He tells Chriss to wait for him as he takes his jacket. But as he goes away, Chriss, Kate, and Anne hear a gunshot. Joe Keller shoots himself and the play ends.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

John Evelyn’s Diary and Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees and the Propagation of Timber

 John Evelyn’s Diary and Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees and the Propagation of Timber

John Evelyn was an English writer, landowner, horticulturist, and government official during the restoration period. He was a founding member of the Royal Society. He was very interested in growing trees and he wrote a research paper titled “Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesty's Dominions” and presented it to the Royal Society in the year 1662. Later on, it was published as a book in the year 1664. Thus, John Evelyn was a writer with scientific acumen and a great interest in botany. He was a friend of Charles II and was a part of the influential group that also had Christopher Wren, Samuel Pepys, and Robert Boyle.

John Evelyn’s Diary or ‘The Diary of John Evelyn’ is a memoir that he began writing at the age of 11 and continued writing till his death in 1706. It was a period when no regular magazines or newspapers were published. His diary became a primary source of historical information. Evelyn’s Diary is a comprehensive source of information that covers art, culture, and politics, including the execution of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell's rise and eventual natural death, the last Great Plague of London, and the Great Fire of London in 1666. John Evelyn was a Commissioner for sick seamen and prisoners of war during the Dutch Wars. He made extensive diary entries about the war and his experiences with the sick soldiers and prisoners of war. His experiences led him to work for the establishment of Chelsea and Greenwich Hospitals. He was a prolific writer who wrote about architecture, art, arboriculture, fashion, and pollution. In his Diary he recorded the events and experiences of his long and remarkable life and also wrote about his friends, relatives, and family members. While Samuel Pepys is a better-known diarist of that era now, John Evelyn’s Diary became the ground on which Pepy’s Diary gained success. The Oxford Standard Authors edition of John Evelyn’s Diary was edited by E. S. de Beer, and it was first published by Oxford University Press in 1959.

Evelyn’s other major work was Sylva which he presented as a research paper to the Royal Society in the year 1662. The sub-title of this paper was A Discourse of Forest-Trees and the Propagation of Timber. Timber is a wood of considerable commercial value and as the sub-title suggests, this paper was written to discuss and develop better ways for the propagation of timber for better uses. Sylva means all the types of forest trees growing in a particular region or country.

He warned that the continued growth of glassworks and iron industries would have dramatic consequences for British timber resources. He vehemently advocated an extensive reforestation program and the systematic foundation of forests and parks in England. Evelyn received a lot of attention for his assertion that careless deforestation would cause the downfall of the British fleet, which was heavily dependent on wood. His writings reflected a sense of responsibility towards future generations and Sylva is now perceived as one of the most important precursors of modern sustainability discourse. Along with timber, Evelyn discussed the various other kinds of forest trees, their cultivation, and their uses. It was published in a book format in the year 1662. This book established John Evelyn as a distinguished prose writer of the 17th century.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was a popular play written by Tennessee Williams that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955. This play is based on one of Tennessee Williams’ previous short stories titled “Three Players of a Summer Game.” The drama is a three-act play that starts, continues, and ends in a single bedroom. It is set in a plantation home in the Mississippi Delta. Williams won his first Pulitzer Prize for his play A Streetcar Named Desire, and this was his second one. The major theme of the play includes mendacity or falsehood, and unrequited love. Sexual frustration and homosexuality remain the hidden theme.

Characters:

Brick Pollitt is a good-looking handsome married man with a cool attitude marked with aloofness. His good looks win love and favor for him from all including his parents and his beautiful wife Margaret also called Maggie. However, he is unable to reciprocate their love. Maggie continues to try and win Brick’s affection but fails and suffers unrequited love. Maggie is a vivacious woman who deeply loves her husband but fails to win his love. She is desperate to get Brick not only for her own satisfaction but also to make a claim on the fortunes of the Pollitt family for which she needs an heir. Big Daddy is the father of Brick and he is also as impressive and aloof,. Big Mama is Brick’s mother and like Magie, she also fails to win her husband’s approval. While Big Daddy is suffering a prolonged illness, Big Mama is taking care of the plantation and businesses. Big Daddy is a cancer patient however, he and his wife Big Mama do not know about his cancer and that he is near his death. Gooper is Brick’s elder brother and Mae is his wife. Gooper is jealous of Brick the favorite child of their parents. However, Gooper and Mae have children and Gooper tries to take control of Pollitt's estate. Mae continues to taunt Maggie for her barrenness. Dr. Baugh is the family doctor. He is sensitive and intelligent. He allows Brick and Gooper to make their own decision about when and whether to tell Big Mama and Big Daddy about the patriarch's terminal condition. Skipper is a dead friend of Brick who committed suicide.

Summary:

At the Pollitt mansion, everybody is busy preparing to celebrate Big Daddy Pollitt's 65th birthday. Big Daddy is being ill for a long time and except for him and his wife Big Mama, everybody in the family knows that he is suffering from cancer and may soon die. The family has avoided telling him or Big Mama the truth, to avoid any shock to them. Meanwhile, Gooper and his wife Mae are trying to gain control over Pollitt's estate as Big Daddy hasn’t made any will yet, and while they have children, the younger brother Brick and his wife Maggie are yet to have offspring. They are planning on letting him know later that night, right after he blows out the candles.

Maggie and Brick are in their bedroom. Maggie chides Brick for his foolish behavior as last night, he broke his leg while trying to jump hurdles at the school track. She blames it on his constant state of drunkenness. However, her attitude is not that of argumentation or fighting, rather, she is trying to please and seduce Brick. We learn that Brick hasn’t had any physical relationship with Maggie for a long time and this has strained their marriages. Maggie wants Brick to sleep with her so that she may get pregnant and give birth to a potential heir of the Pollit estate. Maggie belongs to a poor family and she is extremely afraid of poverty. She knows about the cancer of Big Daddy and that he hasn’t made any will. So she wants to be pregnant to make sure that she and Brick have a secure place in Big Daddy's will. To do so, however, she must contend with Brick's brother Gooper and his wife's children.

Brick not only remains uninterested in Maggie’s effort, he says that he is disgusted with Maggie and he has no interest in Pollitt's estate. He has been this aloof since the death of his close friend Skipper.

He and Skipper were best friends. However, Maggie always felt that their relationship is much more than that. She noticed that brick prefers to spend more time with Skipper than her. Brick often used to show disinterest in her. She felt that Brick and Skipper were homosexually involved and she confronted Skipper about it. Skipper denied his homosexual inclinations and to prove Maggie wrong, he forced a physical relationship with her. However, deep within, Skipper did love Brick the way Maggie believed he loved him. Thus, Maggie and Skipper both deeply loved Brick while Brick didn’t return any of the two’s love in the manner they wished. Maggie and Skipper continued to make love with each other instead of Brick. This created a dilemma for Skipper and he soon began self-destructing. He was having an affair with the wife of the man whom he actually loved. Soon he committed suicide. His suicide turned brick towards alcohol because deep within, he too loved Skipper.

While the two are having their arguments, more people in the family join them. Everyone but Big Daddy and Big Mama know that Big Daddy is dying, but he and his wife were told by the doctor that he just had a spastic colon. Tonight, the sons will tell their mother the truth.

In the evening, after celebrating the birthday, the older couple is left alone. Big Daddy is cruel to Big Mama, who insists that she loves him even though he doesn't believe her. They appear like an older version of Brick and Maggie. Big Daddy is frustrated that she has taken charge of the estate since he became sick, but now that he knows that his days are no longer numbered (he thinks he is going to be fine) he is going to take it all back and return Big Mama to her place.

Big Daddy reveals that he is concerned about Brick’s alcoholism. As Big Mama leaves, Big Daddy calls Brick to talk to him. The father tries his best to engage Brick in a conversation but Brick is not interested. He says that he never had any interest in Big Mama and he is thinking of taking a young mistress. He openly shows that he has a great deal of affection for Brick but brick remains uninterested.

He tries to coerce his son into admitting why he drinks, eventually stealing his crutch and knocking him to the ground. Soon Brick admits to revealing the truth. He informs that it is all because of Skipper. The night that Skipper made a physical relationship with Maggie, Skipper called Brick and tried to make an admission. As Skipper admitted that he is in love with Brick, Brick hung up on him, because he was entirely incapable of even allowing the possibility of homosexuality into his outlook. It is this disgust with himself and with his world and his knowledge about Skipper sleeping with Maggie that drove Brick to alcohol.

As he is forced to reveal his truth and shame, he reveals the truth about Big Daddy’s cancer and that he won’t be living long. Big Daddy leaves, upset, and the rest of the family enters. With difficulty, Big Mama is told that Big Daddy has cancer, although she refuses to believe it at first. She tells Maggie that Brick has to get his act together so that he can take care of the estate when Big Daddy is gone. However, Gooper and Mae aren’t happy about this. They produce legal papers that would establish a will favorable to their interests. Gooper tells Big Mamma that it will be in the best interest of the family as Brick is always drowned in alcohol while Maggie is barren. To this, Maggie objects and claims that she is pregnant and is expecting a child soon. Her brother- and sister-in-law don't believe her for a second, but Big Mama rejoices in the good news and leaves to tell Big Daddy.

Maggie and Brick are left alone. He says she was very bold to make that lie, but Maggie intends to turn the lie into truth. She takes away Brick's liquor and says that she will not get him any more drinks until he consents to sleep with her. Big Mama runs in, searching for the morphine that the doctor left for Big Daddy as he is suffering pain. She leaves, and as the play ends, Maggie tells Brick that she loves him as Brick wonders "wouldn't it be funny if that were true?"

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Hudibras by Samuel Buttler | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. After the fall of Cornwell’s government and the restoration of the monarchy in England, the group of Puritans, Presbyterians, and other religious zealots faced a strong backlash. One such poetic backlash that gained huge popularity was Hudibras, a mock-heroic satirical poem written by Samuel Buttler. Hdibras was published in three parts in the years 1663, 1664, and 1678. The poem describes the last years of the Interregnum, around 1658–60, immediately before the restoration of Charles II as king in May 1660. Since the poem satirizes the Puritans and other opponents of monarchy it was cherished and supported by King Charles II. Hudibras is a mock-heroic satiric poem. This poem basically attacks the Puritans, Presbyterians, and those people who are involved in the English Civil War. Hudibras is about eleven thousand lines. It is a socio-religious satirical mock-heroic poem with little or no stress on politics. Samuel Buttler incorporated religion, science, matrimony, and superstitions with satires of socio-political, moral, and literary themes. The title of the poem is taken from the name of a knight in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. Spenser, on the other hand, got the name from the king of the Britons, Rud Hud Hudibras.

The poem is built with an octosyllabic couplet with strange double rhymes. The poet changed the vowel rhymes and mixed two monosyllabic words to rhyme with a dissyllable. To show knowledge of illustrations, the poet works with the rhyme to make the burlesque effect. Hudibras is written in iambic tetrameter with closed couplets. While Buttler satirized puritans and Presbyterians through this poem, it is less an attack on the puritans than a criticism of antiquated thinking and contemporary morals, and a parody of old-fashioned literary form.

Characters:

Hudibras is a Presbyterian colonel. His squire, Ralpho, is one of the Independents, who follow a more radical version of puritanism, one far less formal and structured than Presbyterianism. Hudibras is described as a “Mirrour of Knighthood.” that is, an epitome of knighthood. He is a combination of incongruous traits and a Presbyterian knight errant. He is hypocritically shy and cowardly. Hudibras even has difficulty mounting and staying on, his horse. The poet describes Hudibras as a formally educated person from a University with knowledge of logic, rhetoric, geometry, algebra, arithmetic, and theology and then shows how illogical and ignorant he is. Ralpho is Hudibras’s squire who is a tailor and is not well-educated. Ralpho considers formal educational skills as pointless.  He guides his life not by philosophical systems but by direct personal inspiration: “Some call it Gifts, and some New light; A liberal Art, that costs no pains Of Study, Industry or Brains.” The Rich Widow is another important character that remains unnamed throughout the poem. Hudibras schemes to get her money, whether by marrying her or by legal trickery. She enjoys leading him on to make a fool of himself. Trulia is another woman who defeats Hudibras significantly. Turla is a village prostitute. Being regularly defeated, sometimes by the skills and courage of women, Hudibrras ultimately makes a witty and detailed declaration that women are superior to men. Sidrophel is a local astrologer and Rosicrucian conjurer, a magician. Whackum is his assistant. In 1663, a fake copy of Hudibras Part II was published by someone and Buttler depicted the character of Whackum based on that anonymous author.

Hudibras is similar to Cervantes’ Don Quixote which is also a parody.

Summary:

The first part of the poem begins as Hudibras and Ralpho set out on an adventurous journey. They encounter a local bear-baiting. While the local people want them to face the bear, Hudibras and Ralpho decide to avoid it. However, both Hudibras and Ralpho offer different reasons for avoiding bear-baiting, and then both argue over the reason for doing so. As the townspeople encounter them, they initially win over them and brag about their bravery. Soon, a local village prostitute Troila comes forward and pushes Hudibras, the “Mirrour of Knighthood”, off his horse, beating him with a rain of blows, then climbing up and standing on him. Hudibras owns her the victor and strips off his armor and weapons. She mockingly throws her own mantle on Hudibras’s back, then locks him and Ralpho in the village stocks. Later on, the rich widow of the town comes and bails out Hudibras and Ralpho on the condition that once he is free Hudibras will give himself the flogging he deserves. Part 1 ends here.

In the second part, Hudibras and Ralpho argue whether it would be good for Hudibras to break his oath to the widow, to not give himself a flogging, and then to lie to her. While they are discussing, townspeople gather and arrange for an entertaining skimmington in which women are commemorated while men are dressed as clowns. As Hudibras sees this, he objects to it and starts lecturing the crowd for their indecency. The townspeople get offended again and throw rotten eggs and tomatoes on them and their horses. Somehow, Hudibras and Ralpho rescue themselves and run away to find a pond where they could clean themselves. As they clean themselves, Ralpho discusses the bad luck they are going through and suggests Hudibras meet the local conjurer for some help. Hudibras and Ralpho go to meet Sidrophel the astrologer. However, soon Hudibras and Sidrophel engage in a heated argument over what arts are lawful and what are unlawful. Hudibras claims that Sidrophel’s astrology and magic are unlawful and fraudulent. Sidrophel taunts Hudibras with having been humiliated at Kingston and Brentford Fair and claims that it was his assistant Whackum who stole Hudibras’s cloak and picked his pocket. Hudibras points out that Sidrophel is drawing that story from the spurious “Part Two”, but nevertheless he sends Ralpho out to fetch a constable to charge Sidrophel with the possession of the stolen property. Hudibras knocks Whackum and Sidrophel down and picks their pockets. Believing that they are both dead, Hudibras decides that since Ralpho is disrespectful towards Hudibras’s orthodox puritanism, he will leave Ralpho to come back with the constable, find the two bodies, and charge with the crime of two murders. The second part ends here.

The third part of Hudibras was published in 1678. It begins with a satirical letter written by Hudibras to Sidrophel in which he satirizes the activities of the recently formed Royal Society. Hudibras knows that Sidrophel and Whackum were not dead. Though he is now estranged from Ralpho. Hudibras pursues the rich widow who bailed them out. He is determined to get his hands on the widow’s wealth. He goes to the rich widow and lies about how he flogged himself, and then defeated Sidrophel and Whackum. However, Ralpho had already visited the rich widow and had told her how Hudibras wished to get his hands on her wealth. He also informed her how Hudibras intends to lie to her about flogging while Ralpho opposed his lying. He also informs her how Hudibras tried to trap Ralpho for the charge murders of Sidrophel and Whacko and ran away while they were not dead.

Aware of the truth, the rich widow engages Hudibras into a long argument about the true nature of marriage (she pointedly maintains that men marry principally because they are after a woman’s money), which takes them till sunset. This argument is interrupted by a loud knocking on the door. Terrified that it might be Sidrophel, Hudibras hides under a table in a nearby room, in the dark, only to find that he is being pulled out and trampled by what appears in the dark to be a group of demons; one cloven-hoofed demon, standing on him just as Trulia had done in Part One, makes him admit his intention to defraud the rich widow of her money; also to confess his lie about having scourged himself, and to confess his dishonesty and mercenariness, and more. Colonel Hudibras shows himself up as a dishonest, cowardly, and superstitious fool. The demons then leave him, still in darkness, but there is, somewhere in the dark room, one remaining “blackguard sprite” who upbraids him in detail with all his deceits and cowardice. Hudibras finds him uncomfortably well-informed about his doings. As dawn approaches, Hudibras and the “blackguard sprite” escape from the Widow’s house, find Hudibras’s and Ralpho’s horses, and flee. After this, Buttler offers a satiric disquisition on the turbulent state of puritan and national party politics in 1659–60.

The story then continues as daylight breaks, Hudibras discovers that the “blackguard sprite” who upbraided him in the darkness was in fact Ralpho, who tells him that the cloven-hoofed demon who stood on him and questioned him was a local weaver in a parson’s gown and that the widow heard every word, and laughed.

Ralpho goes on to persuade him not to pursue the rich widow directly, but to go to law against her for a breach of contract to marry and get hold of her money that way. Hudibras consults a pettifogging lawyer in London, who advises him how to begin by writing the widow a letter that will entrap her into making statements on paper that Hudibras can use to pursue a breach of promise suit against her.

The widow reads Hudibras’s letter, smiles, and writes him a reply that avoids his trap while spelling out in riotously contemptuous detail how right women are to despise men. Her last words meant that men are inferior to women: she ends her letter, and the entire satire, with a clear statement that she has no intention to “Let men usurp Th’unjust Dominion, / As if they were the Better Women.” The poem ends here.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the History of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.