One of the key aspects of Death of a Salesman is Willy's inability teach the his kids the reality that in order to be successful you have to work hard especially in a America's competitive capitalist economy. I really this is even more relevant today not only with unemployment rates so high and colleges continuing to become more competitive to get into, but with Americans also having to compete with China and India. In todays society Bernard doesn't only represent a fellow American who understands the importance of hard work in order to achieve the American Dream, but he could also represent a kid in India or China who is years ahead in math and science. Biff would be the lazy American who is more concerned about sports and his social life rather than school. I believe the reason why these books are still relevant today is because the problems about America and Americans in general are still relevant today.
We have also just started Hamlet in class. We haven't really disscussed the novel in depth yet, but so far it seems pretty similar to the other Shakespeare works I have read. A guy and girl who in their best interests probably shouldn't like each other but they do, all the men a scheming ways boost their egos and gain power, and everyone seems to be coming up with incredibly elaborate plans that are always doomed from the start. So far it seems like its Romeo and Juliet crossed with MacBeth. I also think annotating this will be the next step up in difficulty. We eased into the process of annotating by starting with the American Dream which has very simple language then stepped up to Death of a Salesman which has more difficult language and now Hamlet will defiantly be a struggle with the elaborate language of Shakespeare.
Nathan,
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about your own views on the deterioration of the American Dream. I agree that a lot of the principle of the American Dream are still relevant today. People really devalue the importance of hard work!
So what do you think about class discussions? Do you think that they help you? Or do you think class lectures help you more?
I agree with Vivian, your application of DOA and the American Dream to today shows that you are thinking about the literature on another level. If you look at many of the books from old times that survive to our day they have a common strain: we can always relate to them. For example, Cinderella was written ages ago ,but as humans we still connect to those that story of overcoming unfairness and achieving your dreams. Do you think that Hamlet can be made relate able to our day?
ReplyDeleteI feel almost like a broken record, but, as Amaris and Vivian said, your connections between the themes of the American Dream and Death of a Salesman were quite strong, and I liked how you brought it all into a modern context. Amaris mentioned that stories that speak to us on a basic human level continue to affect us no matter the age, but I think that there's another dimension to the messages of American Dream and Salesman. They seem to me to be quite reactionary texts--reacting to this huge shift in the priorities of our society. These changes (in values and in ideologies), I believe, are accelerating in modern America (as you pointed out in your mention of Jersey Shore and television culture) and I think that's an equally big part of why they're still so relevant. Question is, which is more significant: that these parts of our society are still rapidly changing and we're still reacting to that change, or that the human, emotional aspect of the story is universally relatable?
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