Summary 6: Fifth Business

In an attempt to prove himself and his work with saints, our main character Dunstable Ramsay writes this novel-length somewhat ranting letter about his life to the current headmaster of the school he had taught at. His story begins with his youth with a cold winter day and a friend yet also enemy named Percy Boyd Staunton. In a childish quarrel with Percy, Percy throws a rock containing snowball at Dunstable. He ducks, and this snowball hits the Baptist minister Amasa Dempster’s pregnant wife Mrs.Dempster. She falls to the ground, and prematurely delivers a boy named Paul, who is frail and weak. Dunstable feels guilty for ducking, and this guilt haunts him for the rest of his life. Over time, Mrs.Dempster becomes mentally unstable and the town shuns her as improper for a minister’s wife. Dunstable’s guilt, however, drives him to constantly visit Mrs.Dempster and care for her. He gets picked on at school for helping the “crazy woman”, and continues to see her despite all the town criticism. Dunstable gets a job at the library, and he reads encyclopedias and magic books. He demonstrates all these tricks to the young Paul Dempster, who ends up being better than Dunstable.  Dunstable also becomes obsessed with saints, and many years later he believes Mrs.Dempster to be a saint. One of her miracles is that she somehow brings a dead Willie back to life. She does a number of other things that cause her to be alienated, one being that she has sex with a tramp. This tramp, however, later becomes an extremely charitable person because of her, so this is also one of Mary Dempster's miracles. Dunstable goes off to war for a few years, and also sees her face on a Virgin Mary, and so this becomes the third miracle that he thinks she performs. Dunstable ends up in a hospital for a few years where a woman named Diana cares for him, who gives him his first sexual experience and a new name: Dunstan. After his recovery, he continues to be Percy Staunton, or now Boy Staunton’s, friend. He lives through their entire relationship, from their wedding to the eventual death of both of them. He becomes Mary Dempster’s caretaker, and while traveling he encounters Paul Dempster again in a circus troupe. Many years pass, and Dunstan spends a majority of his time traveling to find information on saints for his research papers. When in South America, Dunstan stumbles upon Paul Dempster again, this time with the name Magnus Eisengrim and an absolutely stunning magic show. He soon joins the magic troupe and with the convincing of Eisengrim’s ugly assistant Liesl, agrees to write a falsified autobiography of Magnus Eisengrim. During his time with the troupe, he spends a lot of alone time with Liesl, and she is the one who tells him he is fifth business: the important yet insignificant role in an opera or drama. She asserts that he has been living his life by not living it, as the person who does everything for other people and never really does anything else than be the “Fifth Business”. They then make love, and despite her roughness, he feels healed from the experience. The troupe makes an appearance in his native Canada, where after one of the shows Boy, Dunstan, and Eisengrim have a discussion. Here, Dunstan confesses his inner guilt and tries to get Boy to admit his guilt as well; he pulls out the stone that was in the snowball but Boy still refuses to confess to anything. When they leave, Dunstan discovers that the stone is missing. Boy eventually dies by driving his car off a bridge into a river, which many suspect to be a suicide. There is a stone that is found in his mouth, which is very similar to the one that was in the snowball. At a later magic show, someone asks “Who killed Boy Staunton?”, and at that same moment Dunstan gets a heart attack. Backstage, Liesl says he was killed “by himself, by the woman he knew, by the woman he did not know, by the man who granted his wish, and by the inevitable fifth, who was the keeper of his conscience and the keeper of the stone.”  Dunstan wraps up his novel with “And that, Headmaster, is all I have to tell you.”

Just like how Dunstan is obsessed with saints, the author Robertson Davies fosters a lot of Carl Young’s work into his novel. The Youngian concepts of the ego, the shadow, and the persona are constantly reflected through the character of Dunstan with an emphasis placed on persona. Dunstan is never really true to his ego as he tries to manipulate his persona and project himself as an omniscient walking encyclopedia.

A theme that Robertson Davies explores is that one must forgive and forget; and one must espeically forgive themself. Dunstan lives his entire life in the shadow of feeling responsible for Mary Dempster’s mental instability, causing him to never really live a life of his own. He constantly flashes back to that memory, and his guilt grows into a weird obsession about Mary Dempster. His association with her causes his school mates to pick on him and also causes a rift with his mother. Indeed, the message that we must vanquish guilt in order to live happily is heavily implied with Dunstan’s rather dismal life.

The snowball repeatedly comes up, and could symbolize many things such as Dunstan's guilt. All of Dunstan's life is troubled by the guilt that comes from the actions of the stone and snowball combination, and he keeps the stone with him for the rest of his life. Literally, he is carrying that burden and he only starts to sort of live once it goes off the bridge in Boy's mouth. 

Some quotes to pass along:

'It was as though she was an exile from a world that saw things her way.” This quote captures how Mary Dempster is the town outcast, but not because she is crazy or completely senile. The sentiment expressed here implies that she is simply misunderstood by the small town that Dunstan lives in. This could be worked into an essay about society and how it affects a specific character.

“I cannot refrain from boasting that it was I who provided the idea for one of the illusions that made Eisengrim the most celebrated magician in the world.” Indeed, Dunstan is kind of full of himself and inflates his image quite frequently. In the beginning of the novel, he feels liable for Mary Dempster’s incidence and Paul’s premature birth. He esteems himself so highly that the guilt he initially fosters somehow turns into unnecessarily forcing duties upon himself.

Summary 5: Hamlet.

After discovering a ghost very much like the late King Hamlet, whose brother Claudius has taken his throne and his wife. The guards at the Elsinore Castle panic and immediately notify Hamlet, who then goes with these guards to talk to his father. The ghost is indeed his father, and he tells Hamlet of his murder and how he must avenge his death. Hamlet listens and dedicates himself to killing Claudius.  His complicated schemes, however, take over his sanity and he becomes crazy-to the point that his mother and Claudius worry. They call upon Rosencratz and Guildenstern to try and figure out the cause of his madness. Polonius, Claudius’ chief counselor, then suggests his daughter Ophelia as a possible source of Hamlet’s issues:  Ophelia has been banished from speaking to Hamlet, because Polonius didn’t think their family was good enough to marry into Hamlet’s and so Polonius thinks that this silent treatment is the cause of Hamlet’s problems. Polonius and Claudius then hatch a plan to spy on a conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia to see if this truly is the cause. Their encounter, however, seems to suggest the exact opposite as Hamlet shuns Ophelia and tells her to go to a nunnery. A bunch of actors then come to Elsinore, and Hamlet comes up with a great idea to recreate the entire murder and guilt Claudius into confessing. Indeed, Claudius reacts and leaves the room. Hamlet then goes to kill him, but stumbles upon a praying Claudius. Because he is praying and doing something holy, Hamlet doesn’t kill him. Hamlet wants Claudius to rot in Hell, so he insists on waiting till Claudius is doing something less pious. Claudius at this point starts to fear that Hamlet knows and orders that Hamlet be sent away to England. Hamlet goes to tell his mother about the murder, and finds her in her bedchamber. Polonius is hiding there, and Hamlet thinks that the person hiding is actually Claudius and stabs him to death. Because of the crime, Hamlet is sent away to England where Claudius has sent sealed orders to the King of England to put Hamlet to death.  Stricken with grief, Ophelia drowns herself in the river. Laertes hears about all this news and comes home extremely pissed off. After the king gets a letter from Hamlet saying how pirates seized the ship he was on to England and how he’s coming home, Claudius uses Laertes’ upset state for his own motives. He will have Laertes face Hamlet in a fencing match, with sabers dipped in poison. Then, if Hamlet is the winner, he will poison the drink that he shall toast Hamlet with. Hamlet then returns as Ophelia’s funeral is happening and attacks Laertes. The coutrier Osric arrives and tells Hamlet about the seemingly innocent fencing match. In the last epic swordfight scene, Claudius’ plan fails completely. Indeed, Gertrude takes a drink from the goblet, Laertes is cut by his own poisonous sword, Hamlet stabs Claudius with the blade, and then the plan of Hamlet dying happens after all of this. Ultimately, Fortinbras is the winner as he is the only survivor. He takes over the kingdom, and gives Hamlet a proper soldier’s burial.  

William Shakespeare tone is dark and dramatic, at times even violent. Not many happy things happen in this play, as grim motifs such as death, suicide, murder, and incest appear over and over again. The few symbols Shakespeare incorporate are quite gloomy, one being the ghost. The ghost could be interpreted as a personification of death, literally showing how death can haunt us. Additionally, it could also represent the fall of their kingdom. With his death was also the fall of Elsinore, and his ghost is a lingering reminder of the corruption that now plagues it.
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A theme I found while reading this play was that one must balance their thoughts with their actions. Hamlet is often caught thinking too much, which leads us as an audience to grow anxious. There are many times throughout the play where he fails to act because of his numerous thoughts, indicating that his overthinking thwarted any sort of actions: namely, the action of killing Claudius. Had he killed Claudius in a more timely manner, maybe his fate would have been different.


Characters:


Claudius: Current king of Denmark, killed his brother to get the throne though.
Gertrude: The queen, who seemed to have an extremely adulterous relationship with Claudius while her husband was still alive. Hamlet's mom.
Ghost: Ghost of the late King Hamlet who was murdered by his brother. He comes to Hamlet and introduces the
central conflict of this play.
Hamlet: Our main character, who is given the task to kill Claudius by his father's ghost.
Polonius: The lord chamberlain of the court
Ophelia: Polonius' beautiful daughter whom Hamlet probably had sex with
Fortinbras: King of Norway, who ends up getting all of Denmark and Elsinore when they all die


Some quotes to pass along:


,
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." This quote can be interpreted and manipulated in so many ways when writing an essay. This quotes provides commentary on not just the political state of Denmark, but also alludes to something that is literally dying: the corpse of King Hamlet. It also sums up all the general corruption in Elsinore, from lying to incest to murder.


"O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I." When Hamlet says this, he is comparing his own lack of passion to the zeal that the players have in their acting. In this context, he is specifically addressing his failure to proactively kill his uncle. Overall though, one could use this to sum up Hamlet's entire life, as he doesn't really accomplish anything with passion and determination till right before he dies.

Summary 4: Pride and Prejudice

The story begins with the Bennet family ladies chitchatting about the new wealthy bachelor Bingley, who has just recently moved into Netherfield. At a ball that they later attend with Bingley, the eldest Jane Bennet and Bingley hit it off  quite nicely. Elizabeth and Bingley's friend Darcy, however, do not experience the same feeling as she finds him to be quite rude and arrogant. After a while, Jane gets sick on the way to the Bingley residence and spends a while there getting better. In this time, bonds form between not only Jane and Bingley but also between Elizabeth and Darcy. Eventually, Jane is well enough to return home. The clergyman Mr.Collins then comes to visit the Bennets, and eventually asks Elizabeth to marry him. She declines, and he quickly then asks her friend Charlotte Lucas. Her mother is absolutely infuriated with her daughter, especially because Charlotte Lucas says yes. Meanwhile though, Elizabeth is fostering feelings for a militia officer Wickham. Wickham talks about all the grievances Darcy has supposedly committed against him. This makes Elizabeth dislike Darcy more and grow extremely cold towards him. Soon, the Bingleys and Darcys quickly move back to London, and Elizabeth thinks Darcy has something to do with it. She’s convinced that Darcy convinced Bingley to not marry Jane and to hastily leave so they could avoid the family. In the springtime, Elizabeth goes to visit the newly married Charlotte and Mr.Collins in Kent, and they often go to the residence of Lady Catherine De Bourgh. She is Darcy’s aunt, so naturally they bump into Darcy a lot. Here, he proposes to Elizabeth, and she calls him out on ruining Bingley and Jane’s relationship and also Wickham’s life. As a delayed response, he writes her a letter that explains everything. He tells the truth about Wickham and how he had schemed to elope with Darcy’s sister so he could get her fortune. He also admits to getting between Bingley and Jane and says he will make amends. After returning to her home and some time passes, Elizabeth and Jane go to visit their beloved aunt and uncle Gardiner at Pemberley where Darcy also lives. They take a day trip to his estate thinking he’ll be gone all day, but indeed he shows up and is extremely kind towards them. He shows a side of himself that Elizabeth has never really embraced, and a side that also makes Elizabeth more keen towards Darcy. The news soon arrives though, of Lydia’s elopement with Wickham and everyone worries about the disgrace it could cause. They are eventually found and have a proper marriage, which Elizabeth soon finds out is all thanks to Darcy. Following this, Bingley comes back and proposes to Jane. Lady Catherine also visits and insists that Elizabeth not marry Darcy; she is not elite enough to be in their crowd. In the end, Darcy proposes again and the two ignore Lady Catherine and get married.

The relationships in Austen's novel help us see the mannerisms and societal customs of the time. Most of the story is told through Elizabeth's point of view, and Austen uses a very light tone. Even when the characters are upset, every speech is sugar-coated before it's delivered. Rarely do we see people get straight to the point and deliver a harsh blow; indeed, everything has a very crisp and dainty feeling to it. There is little memorable imagery or symbolism, as the events that occur seem to overshadow the specific details of a setting or scene. There is, however, considerable detail when Austen describes Darcy's estate at Pemberly. It is majestic and grand, and Elizabeth sees it as an absolutely splendid place. Additionally, Pemberly could be a symbol because not only does Darcy seemingly act nicer, but also because Elizabeth begins to fondle an attraction for him. Indeed, Pemberly could represent the beginnings of their positive relationship. 

One theme Jane Austen explores is that love truly is blind, in many senses. For example, Lydia completely ignores all the faults of Wickham as she falls for him. After she has ignored Wickham's faults, she then ignores all the consequences that would go along with eloping with Wickham: she ignores the well-being of her family, the shame that her actions might bring, and overall being considerate of other people. Additionally, after Darcy eventually falls for Elizabeth, we see that love is blind in a socioeconomic spotlight. Though the Bennets are not as wealthy as Darcy, even the once arrogant Darcy is able to look past that and love Elizabeth for the smart woman that she is.

Some quotes to pass along:

"The business of her life was to get her daughters married." This illustrates the social norms of the times, and could easily be used in a "how society affects a character" essay. Mrs.Bennet is really crazy in her pursuit of eligable batchelors for her daughters, and one must remember that when writing an essay about Pride and Prejudice.

"Mr. Collins had only to change from Jane to Elizabeth—and it was soon done—done while Mrs. Bennet was stirring the fire." This quote could easily be used to juxtapose what Elizabeth wants in a marriage and what her society expects. At this point in time, love meant a mechanical sort of deal where one was just grateful to be married. Elizabeth yearns for much more than what most girls settle for, and this quote emobides exactly the opposite of what Elizabeth wants.

 

Summary 3: Ceremony

In Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Ceremony, we follow Tayo in a non-linear telling of his life. He comes back to the Laguna reservation after treatment in a veteran’s hospital.  He comes home to his grandma, aunt, and uncle Robert. His friends from the war are also home: Harley, Leroy, and Emo. They also suffer from post-war trauma,  but are more easily comforted by alcohol and drinking than Tayo. They spend hours at the bar, trapped in the past as they reminisce about the glory days.  Despite being labeled healthy enough to come home, Tayo suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress disorder just like his war pals. One scene from the battlefield that especially haunts him is where he sees his uncle’s face in a crowd of Japanese soldiers he’s supposed to shoot.  He deals with not only his disorder, but the guilt from numerous other things including his cousin Rocky’s death, the belief that he caused the awful drought on his reservation, and also thinking he contributed to Uncle Josiah’s death by not helping out with Uncle Josiah’s special Mexican cattle. After realizing western medicine isn’t working, Tayo’s grandmother brings in a medicine man Ku-oosh. Ku-oosh’s traditional ceremonies do not work though, and so he refers Tayo to Betonie. Betonie helps Tayo realize the complexity of his situation, and insists that he must invent a whole new ceremony to cure himself. He spends some time alone in the mountains, where he meets Ts’eh. He also stumbles upon Uncle Josiah’s cattle entrapped in a white man’s fences. After Ts’eh helps him gather up all the cattle, he eventually brings them home with Robert. Eventually, Tayo finds out Emo has been spreading rumors about him and how the authorities are after him. He realizes he must escape from them,  and ends up in an abandoned uranium mine after a brief encounter with Harley and Leroy where he realizes they’ve joined Emo. In order to complete the ceremony, he must stay the night in the mine. He witnesses Emo and Pinkie torturing Harley to death for letting him go, and resists the urge to kill Emo.  After the ceremony, he goes home to Ku’oosh who tells him that Ts’eh was the one who have him blessings. He spends the night here to wrap up the ceremony then heads back home. 

Leslie Marmon Silko incorporates beautiful prose poetry throughout, which provides for some nice artistic contrast to the novel. Unlike regular novels though, Ceremony seems especially more like a story rather than just a novel. It follows the traditional Native American tradition of story telling and though it is a printed novel, it still sort of conveys the oral tradition through the poetry. Reaching back to her own roots, she uses traditions to write this novel land fills it with Native American customs.


There are many things that symbolize the mix of cultures, ranging from Tayo himself to the mixed cattle that Josiah had. These subtle symbols contribute to the motif of cross culture exchanges. The ultimate success of both Tayo and the mixed cattle show us how Silko thinks positively of cross cultural exchange. Additionally, there are other characters who do not really embrace both cultures, such as Auntie, who tries to force her son Rocky to shun his native culture. Her son Rocky ultimately dies in war, which maybe imply how Silko feels about people like Auntie who shun tradition.




Through Tayo's entire ceremony process, Silko really emphasizes the theme that tradition is everywhere. Silko, however, is extremely realistic in conveying that message in her novel. While Western medicine cannot heal Tayo, old traditional ceremonies performed by Ku'oosh do not succeed either. Indeed, it is the new ceremony that Tayo has to create himself that heals him. This integration of modern elements into old tradition show her realistic view of tradition in our world today. It's there, but in no way does it dominate.

Some quotes to pass along: 

"He had believed in the stories for a long time, until the teachers at Indian school taught him not to believe in that kind of "nonsense". This quote shows the contrast of white and Indian culture, and how much of the novel revolves around the mix of both cultures. 

"For a long time he had been white smoke. He did not realize that until he left the hospital, because white smoke had no consciousness of itself. " Here, Tayo realizes that he sort of has lost his Laguna identity. The "no consciousness of itself" implies that he's not comfortable with it, and goes along with the theme of holding onto tradition and old customs. 

Summary 2: Death of a Salesman

In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, we follow the sad career of main character Willie Loman and his numerous life struggles. He is married to Linda, who seems to be more of a mother than a wife, and has two kids Biff and Willie. At this point in his life, he is old and not as good of a salesman as his young self; he struggles to bring home consistent paychecks to pay off all the appliances and the mortgage. The play begins with him coming home from another failed sales trip, and then him ending up in the kitchen reminiscing about the past. The plot jumps back and forth, often contrasting significantly with the current situation. Sometimes the flashback is happy, like this one in the kitchen where he goes back to when Biff and Happy were younger and times were better. In this same flashback, there is a lot of love and affection in their father-son relationships.  Additionally, they make fun of their neighbor Charley's son Bernard, who is smart but not "well-liked"so therefore unsuccessful. Other times, the flashback introduces a new tension, such as when Biff stumbles upon Willie and the secretary in Boston in the hotel room. Miller's use of flashbacks is extremely important for his plot development, as it gives us a very complete image of the Loman family's life without the actual entirety of their tale.

Biff and Happy are currently visiting home, and they talk about Willy's deteriorating mental state. Willy then walks in and scolds them for accomplishing nothing and they then promise their father they will make some sort of business deal. The following day Willy tries to find a job in town and Biff goes to try and sells his business deal. Though they both fail, all three Loman boys go out to dinner that night. Biff tries to tell his dad about his failure, but Willy doesn't really want to here it. Here is where Willy flashes back to the woman in Boston and Biff walking in on them. Frustrated, Biff then leaves with Happy. When Willy comes back to reality, he also leaves and then goes to buy plant seeds.

After they all get home, Linda berates her two sons for just leaving their poor father at the restaurant. Biff goes outside to talk to his father, but they just get into another argument. At this point, Biff gets extremely emotional as he forces his dad to realize that the dream of his is fake. He gets his dad to accept him for who he is and tells him how much he loves him. Willy here realizes Biff has forgiven him, and goes and kills himself so Biff can use his insurance money as a start up fund. The play ends with Willy's funeral, where Linda sadly states how she has just paid off the rest of their entire mortgage.

Miller incorporates very powerful symbolism that all somehow convey failure or false hope. For example, the stockings demonstrate Willie's failure as the family breadwinner and overall the family man: Willie gives stockings to the woman in his adulterous affair, and Linda has to mend her old ones because Willie doesn't provide enough for her to get new ones. There are many other striking symbols, such as the seeds Willie plants towards the end of the play, that illustrate how dire the entire situation is.

The tone throughout this is one of false optimism. Willie will have lapses where he goes on and on about the good old days, and Biff will appease his father by talking about a potential business deal. Though these all sound like great ideas, no one ultimately achieves anything.

Arthur Miller's overall message is clear through Willie's failures as a salesman, husband, and father: trying to achieve the American dream will not guarantee happiness and prosperity. Willie has everything the American dream outlines: a family, a house, a job, and a car. Yet Arthur exposes faults in each of these as the story progresses. Willie's two sons are two homeless low-lifes who still are living at home. His house is shabby and for most of the play they're still struggling to pay off the mortgage. He's laid off at work because he's not as cost effective as the younger salesmen. And ultimately, he kills himself with his car. Even though Willie repeatedly asserts how being "well-liked" will solve everything, his life really is a failure.

Some quotes to pass along:

"Willie, when are you going to grow up?" Charlie, his neighbor, is one of the voices of reason in this play. Though Willie is rude and inconsiderate towards him, Charlie still loans him money and even offers him a job. This quote captures how naive Willie is in his pursuit for success. Willie's considering all the wrong things in life and dwelling too much on being "well-liked".

"Will you let me go for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?" In an emotional episode between Biff and Willie, Biff breaks down the artificial dream his father has had for his entire life. Willie finally realizes how superficial his ideals, which then leads him to kill himself.

Summary 1: The American Dream

Instead of developing a very complicated and intense plot, Edward Albee uses the weird quirks and features of his characters to convey his messages in The American Dream.

This absurdist play incorporates an extremely controlling Mommy who constantly asserts herself over a whipped Daddy. As they wait for a guest to arrive, mommy tells the story about her hat purchase. She buys a beige hat, but the chair of her woman's club convinced her it was wheat, so she had to go back to the store and get one that was actually beige. Grandma then enters with a bunch of nicely wrapped boxes, and talks about how Mommy has always wanted to marry a rich man like daddy. Mrs.Barker then finally arrives. When Mrs.Barker and Grandma are finally alone, Grandma explains to Mrs.Barker why she's there. She tells her about the first baby they adopted, and how mommy and daddy completely destroyed it. Some lines later, a young man enters their apartment. He is desperate for work and money. After he describes his emptiness inside, Grandma realizes that the young man is the twin of the mutilated baby. Grandma then hatches up a plan: she has the young man pretend to be the "van man" who takes her away and tells Mrs.Barker about having the young man be mommy and daddy's new adopted child. Though Grandma is out of the scene, she is still on the set and addresses the audience to quiet down. The people in the apartment celebrate the new arrangements, and then grandma bids the audience farewell.

The characters are rather interesting in this play: daddy is completely emasculated both figuratively and literally via a vasectomy. The plot develops along the anticipated visit of Mrs.Barker, who is a character that embodies many different roles: she is the president of the woman's club, yet mommy doesn't know who she is when she visits them as the lady from the adoption agency. And even though she's from the adoption agency, she doesn't really seem to know why she's there or who she's visiting.

Albee uses Mommy and Daddy's relationship critique of the American Dream: once two young lovers, they seek the American Dream through a marriage and an adoption and end up destroying both. Their marriage shows no signs of love and affection as Mommy constantly controls Daddy, and their first adopted baby dies from cruel mutilations.

Their later son, who is the twin of the mutilated baby, is dubbed the "American Dream": he's tall, beautiful, and physically everything Mommy and Daddy want. He serves as a great way for Albee to convey his theme of how empty the real American Dream is.  He is completely void and empty, but this doesn't seem to affect their decision in adopting him, showing that the "American Dream" is literally only a perfect outside with nothing below.

There are many symbols that Albee explores. Through the characters of Mommy and Grandma, we see a juxtaposition of generations. Grandma represents the older generation, the "pioneer stock" that had a different less superficial American Dream while Mommy represents the more consumeristic American Dream. Grandma is much more intelligent and aware of things, while Mommy seems to have no clue. This contrasts nicely and further contributes to Albee's critique of the American Dream.

Indeed, Albee's theme does ultimately prove to be that achieving the American Dream will not yield true happiness or "satisfaction", only artificial emotions. His portrayal of Mommy and Daddy's empty relationship, juxtaposed with Grammy's knowledge and enlightenment she has over them, show how the dream at the time really was not prosperous. The "American Dream" says many memorable things to support this, such as:

"I am incomplete.... I can feel nothing. I can feel nothing. And so...here I am...as you see me. I am...but this...what you see. And it will always be thus." This sad statement from the young man further contributes to Albee's illustration of an empty American Dream.

Additionally, the young man seems to have this focus on money:
"I'll do almost anything for money." and he also says  "Money talks." Literally, the "American Dream" will do whatever he can for money, showing how superficial the actual dream is.

Revisit: Open Prompt 4.

2009. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

    Unfaithful men are often stereotyped to spend lavishly on their mistresses, buying items such as expensive jewelry and lingerie. In Death of a Salesman, however, the stockings Willy Loman purchases represent more than just a gesture of kindness. Arthur Miler uses the symbol of stockings to represent Willy's financial failings as well as unfaithfulness, significantly contributing to Arthur Miller's general critique of the American Dream. 

     Arthur Miller first brings the symbol into the play when Linda is patching up her old battered stockings. Upon seeing this, Willy is completely outraged and insulted by her actions. He insists that he can buy her new stockings, forcefully implying that he is completely able to buy her new stockings. From the beginning though, we know that Willy hasn't been losing sales and that there is financial insecurity. Therefore, we as an audience can easily draw some connections, that their financial standing is battered just like the stockings. Willy has not been a prosperous salesman, and consequently cannot purchase new stockings for his wife like he once could. Thus, Willy's incapability to produce stockings and income expose how faulty the American Dream truly is.

     Furthermore, these stockings show his failure as a family man. Instead of buying new stockings for his wife, we see in a dramatic encounter where he hands his mistress two boxes of stockings as Biff awkwardly watches. Biff then accuses Willy not of cheating on Linda, but simply that Willy gave Linda's stockings to the mistress. Miller uses the stockings to convey that Willy is not focusing his love and sexual attention towards his wife, the rightful recipient of the stockings. Using the stockings to illustrate sexual desire, we see the failure of the stereotyped family in the American Dream especially since Biff was there to watch as Willy's affair unfolded.

     In conclusion, Death of a Salesman is powerful in it's criticisms of the American Dream as it utilizes the symbol of stockings to undermine the dream. The symbolism of the stockings has two meanings, representing both Willy's incapability to provide income and also his adulterous activities. Overall, the stockings help the audience really grasp specific details of the play that expose how false the American Dream is.