GOOD MORNING! “We must stop talking about the American dream and start listening to the dreams of Americans.” ~Max Beerbohm 6 Nov Please take out your notebook and write down the learning target! Turn your yellow homework into the box, please! Learning Target: Describe characters and key plot details from Act I

Agenda 11/6/13  Bellwork  Play context notes  Begin reading play while answering questions Homework: Journal Write #1 due at the beginning of class Friday (1-2 pages typed up, 12 pt font, MLA)

Bellwork 11/6/13  Is the “American Dream” the same for your generation as it has been for past generations? Do you feel like your family has been able to achieve it? Do you feel like you will be able to achieve it? Explain your answers.

Death of a Salesman  Written in 1949 by Arthur Miller (who also wrote The Crucible)  Considered by many to be one of the best American plays ever written

Arthur Miller ( )  "I think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing- his sense of personal dignity […] the underlying struggle is that of the individual attempting to gain his 'rightful' position in his society.”  Born in 1915 in New York City.  His father lost his business in the Depression and the family was forced to move to a smaller home in Brooklyn.  Miller has been married three times including to Marilyn Monroe in 1956  Miller's writing has earned him a lifetime of honors, including the Pulitzer Prize, seven Tony Awards, and he holds honorary degrees from Oxford and Harvard Universities

Death of a Salesman  Miller published this play in 1949 and later won the Pulitzer Prize for it.  Miller uses the sense of time on stage in an unconventional way to illustrate that, for Willy Loman, “...the voice of the past is no longer distant but quite as loud as the voice of the present.”  Flashbacks between past and present occur, and because it’s a play, it’s all on stage at the same time!

Themes and Big Questions  The American Dream-is it real and attainable?  How do economic conditions affect a family?  How do parents’ expectations of and hopes for their children impact the family?  How does modern city life and “white-collar work” affect a person?  What pressures are put upon men and women to behave/achieve in a certain way?

Definitions  Title a page in your notebook “Death of a Salesman Act I”  Record these definitions:  Blocking: the plan for the basic movements and positions for the actors in a scene  Tragedy: Play dealing with events which depict man as the “victim of destiny”, yet superior to it. In the modern sense, fate or destiny has come to be replaced by character flaw, moral weakness or social pressure.

Characters  Record these character’s names with two lines between each one:  Linda Loman:  Willy Loman:  Biff Loman :  Happy Loman :

Casting Day 1  Linda  Willy  Biff  “Young” Biff  Happy  “Young” Happy

In your groups:  Cast the play-who’s taking which roles? (You can split up the work and swap roles mid-day, too)  Even if you’re not speaking, you should be following along with the group as the reading is happening!  Record observations about the characters including notes about their personalities, actions, and histories in your notebooks as you read/listen  Record answers in your notebooks to the questions on the bottom of the pages.  Raise your hand to ask a question if something is unclear