Death of a Salesman (1 Viewer)

[Benny_]

Anyone read it? I'm not usually one for reading plays, but few stories of any medium affected me quite as profoundly as Death of a Salesman did. I'd really like to see it on stage sometime.

 

[Namlet]

I have the play in my bookshelf, yes I would like to see this on stage also. Would be really good.

Nam - Will read it after I read this other play.

 

[05er]

I love it. Its clever adaptation of the tragedy to the American can-do-it context brought me new insights into the tragic formula.

Thanks, Miller.

 

[CieL]

i've read this book for school..
didnt like it at all..

i think i saw a video for it, but never on stage..

 

[walrusbear]

yeah i think it's a tops play (i didn't read a lot of plays myself, but arthur miller and samuel beckett are two writers i really enjoy).

i think it articulates the failure of the american dream better than most anything i've read. a stage production would indeed be nice to see.

 

[seremify007]

My Dad used to say it was a really good book- I read the first bit (before HSC) but then didn't have time to finish... maybe I might buy it from Dymocks or something. Isn't this book meant to have a lot of 'morals' behind it or something?

 

[walrusbear]

there are 'moral's of sorts behind most things didn't they pound that shit about 'values' into you in advanced english?!

anyways, my understanding of death of a salesman is that it is cynical of the idea of the 'american dream'; that of a closely defined materialistic achievement as a guide to success and social acceptance. i think it exposes the emptiness of that sort of firm handed belief in capitalism and its capacity as an actual source for individual worth.

it also undermines the common belief that people have only themselves to blame for not 'achieving' under these social conditions. the play portrays Willy as a 'loser', but more as a failure of the system itself than as a personal failure.

 

[seremify007]

>__> Maybe I should read the book. I dunno- my Dad said something about the guy in the book is overconfident and thinks his children are so great- and that the other person's kid is a nerd/loser- yet the nerd/loser ends up better off.. or something like that.

 

[Benny_]

^ Are you sure those are the words your Dad used to describe it? I'm sure you'd be able to get a heck of a lot more out of it if you read it yourself. That's a shonky synopsis of a play if I've ever seen one

 

[walrusbear]

hahaha yeah
it almost almost describes some of the play

 

[fleepbasding]

I've read it and think it's a great play. Certainly one of Millers best (god rest his heart).

 

[heybraham]

one of the greatest texts of any genre or medium i've ever encountered. i bought the play after studying it in year 11. it's not just a criticism only about the "American Dream", it's a study about how the past affects the present, about hopes and failures, about the reality of life.

after watching the video...the play clicked in, and wasn't the boring piece of crap i originally thought it was. there is something good about advanced english after all

Rest in Peace, Miller.

 

[chicky_pie]

i watched the movie n it was sooo crap. now thats a movie u should watch if u wanted to sleep! oh n the book is just as boring

 

[lala2]

Did it for Year 11, it was very touching. Yep, watched the movie too--not as touching, but still good.

 

[seremify007]

^ Are you sure those are the words your Dad used to describe it? I'm sure you'd be able to get a heck of a lot more out of it if you read it yourself. That's a shonky synopsis of a play if I've ever seen one

Well that's the short version of his summary from what I can remember- mind you, it was one of the first books he read (IIRC, it was for his HSC) when he was learning English as a newly migrated Year12 student from Malaysia. Apparently in "those days" you could sit the HSC (prelim/hsc) in one year at Sydney Tech.