Death of a Salesman compared to The Glass Menagerie

There are many similarities between these two plays. Most obviouse is the memory aspect of the play. However it is slightly different because the Glass Menagerie is a memory as its entirety while Death of a Salesman is real-time with the influence of Willy's memory. The characters are somewhat similar. The parents are overbearing on their children and they are treated like they are much younger than they actually are. The parents mistakes in the past are effecting how they treat their children now. THe setting of the two plays are aslo very similar. There is a transparent fourth wall that the light shines through in both plays. The family's live in apartments. Even though neither of these plays are musicals, they both have a music aspect to them; the flute and the glass menagerie song. This music adds to symbolic meaning in the plays. The similarities in the two plays are very intersting and I think it will be even more intersting to see what a Raison in the Sun has that is similar to the two.

#6. Theatrical components

Death of a salesman has a set that is set up so as a transparent fourth wall exist. The audience can see through this wall when the light is shown through. THis shows what different characters are doing while a specific action is taking place. As things are happening in the present, characters walk through the doors while during willy's memories the characters seem to walk through the walls. This set adds to the nonrealistic aspect of the play. There is a tune played on a flute that is heard whenever Willy thinks about his car that he once drove. This is a theatrical commponent that makes the audience realize that the car has a significance to Willy that is notable. The theatrical components add to the play because without them we may not pick up on some of the symbolic components of the play and the memories of Willy.

Death of a Salesman- #1 realistic vs. nonrealistic

While reading the Glass Menagere, We discussed the realistic and nonrealistic parts of the play in depth. Death of a salesman also has a realistic/nonrealistic quality. The play takes place in the present and the people are leading real lives. However. Willy, the father, is trapped in the past and has trouble distiquishing between the past and the present. He often thinks that his memories are the present. HE is haunted by his past and he is unable to get rid of it until he kills himself. So Willy's character is living in a nonrealistic world but the other characters are. Further more, because Willy's memories haunt him there are actual ghosts that have a part in the play. Willy aslo hears music and talks to his son biff as if he were younger and even when Biff is not around. This realistic/nonrealistic clash creats an interesting story thatrevolves a man coping with his past or in Willy's case not coping.

Theme? The ending? What?

While I thought this was a really interesting play from the way it was set up and presented, I also found it to be confusing. THe author explains some of the symbols and actions of the movie. These all tell us about the plot being a memory but they don't explain the significance of the memory. I think it was an important stepping stone for both TOm and Laura. Tom found that there is nothing he can do to please his mother. Unless he actually knew that Jim was engaged.. Laura also found that she has potential. Amanda, however, says that Tom has tricked them and that she will be forever stuck at home with her crippled daughter leaving her right in the place she was before the gentleman caller came to vist. I think this has a theme of what memories or events in our lives impact where we are today. For example, why Tom has become like is father. I also don't quite see the conection with the title and the glass figurines. I think they are fragile like Laura and when she gives one away she is realizing that she is not so fragile. But I have to believe there is more to it than that.

#5 the scenery

Tennesse Williams spells out for the reader the importance of the scenery and the props. He explains that because this play is a memory play, there is dim lighting and the important events have background music just like they would in a real persons memory. This play is set up very different than most. There is a translucent screen creating a sort of "fourth wall". This adds more of a realistic aspect to the stage but also could make a muddled image like a memory. The family enters and leaves the house by way of the fire escape symbolizing escaping from the house. The music has a big impact on the play. This is one of the only plays I have heard of that isn't a musical but has music especially made for it. However this adds the effect to the idea that this is a memory and that events are enhanced (by music) by whom ever the person remembering is.

#1 real or not?

This is an interesting play because it presents the plot in a fashion that the reader (or viewer) is not familiar with. Tom is presented at both the narrator and character in the story. THis in itself is unusual. Tom then tells us that the play is a memory, so the setting is in both the present and the future. Because the play is a memory, characters and events are enhanced just as the person remembering the events sees them. This is a difficult concept to grasp beacuse usually a story is told in past or present. This part of the play is nonrealistic. Along with this is the music in the background and the set. Things that are realistic include the events. There may in fact be an overbearing mother with a cripled daughter and rebelious son. These events could take place and make the play something that the audience can relate to. In this way the play displays both realistic and nonrealistic convention.