Society In The Crucible and Death of a Salesman - Literature Essay Samples

Two plays by Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, both contend that society is the indifferent, sometimes brutal, force that crushes an individual. Although the plays take place in different time periods, they each convey the force of society through setting and conflict. They particularly show this theme through the formation of masses or of opposing sides, as with the girls and townsfolk of The Crucible and the company values in Death of a Salesman. The use of scapegoats like Tituba and Willy further develop the theme. Finally, the sacrifices of Proctor and Willy show the pressure that society places on men to be honorable. Society contributes a great amount to the plight of a protagonist, and Miller portrays this theme through his characters and their interaction with one another. The two plays exhibit the theme of societys power by showing a development of opposing sides, or enemies. For example, in The Crucible, the townspeople and the young girls take sides ag ainst the older women of the town. The Putnams are the primary adult offenders in the town. They fear what they do not understand, so they fear the supernatural connection between witchcraft and the deaths of their newborn children. Their position in society causes them to fear, so they oppose the sages of the group who do not have fear. Likewise, the children form sides against the older women of the group, but for different reasons. The children are completely restricted in their actions, particularly by the elderly, who represent their authorities. Thus, they react by unleashing their imaginations on the older townspeople. Similarly, Death of a Salesman is plagued with the formation of sides. This time, however, the conflict arises between Willy and the ethics of the new salesman. According to Richard J. Foster, The values that seem to be represented in Willy, the good values that function in the play as implicit criticisms of societys bad values, are the familiar romantic ones: nature, freedom, and the body; free self-expression and self-realization; individualism and the simple life (Foster 3). Willys nostalgic, almost quixotic ethics contrast with those of society, Howard, and modern business. It is evident in Willys scene with Howard, in which he is fired, that the sides are clearly defined, and Willys morals are no longer valuable to the company. As Miller writes, WILLY. In those days there was personality in it, Howard. There was respect, and comradeship, and gratitude in it. Today, its all cut and dried, and theres no chance of bringing friendship to bearor personality. You see what I mean? They dont know me anymore. HOWARD. Thats just the thing, Willy. Thus, the forces of society crush Willy as an individual by making everything he has ever known obsolete. Furthermore, both The Crucible and Death of a Salesman portray the enormous power of society through the use of scapegoats. The difference, however, is that Death of a Salesman has a single pers on as a scapegoat, whereas the people of Salem blame an idea before individuals. The people of Salem blame witchcraft for all of their problems, whether Sarah Good and the death of a neighbors pig, or Rebecca Nurse and the Putnam babies. Because the people fear what they do not understand, anything out of the ordinary is automatically supernatural in their eyes. Thus, Tituba, the slave from Barbados, is blamed for her conjuring and is hanged, along with many others. The people of Salem blame their problems on the witches. Scapegoats are used quite differently in Death of a Salesman. Biff blames his father, Willy, for not leading him correctly and trying to shield him from the real world. Willys overprotectiveness only puts off Biffs coming of age, which occurs during his discovery of his fathers licentiousness with the anonymous woman. According to P.P. Sharma, In the traumatic experience in the hotel room, however, [Biff] achieves an insight. With the realization that his father is a fraud comes his deliveranceBy trying to make a hero out of [Willy] Biff realizes Willy was only obscuring his identity and to that extent not exactly helping. He lays the blame squarely on Willy for filling his mind with exaggerated self-conceit (Sharma 370). Thus, through the masses and their use of scapegoats, society has the brutal power to crush the individual. Finally, the societal pressure placed on honor is strong enough to break a man, as shown by John Proctor and Willy Loman. Using the definition of tragedy of Richard J. Foster, both men were tragic heroes, because both were willing to give their life up for their honor. John Proctor, the hero of The Crucible, is forced to sacrifice his honor by admitting to lechery in order to save his wife, who, ironically, lies to save him, destroying them both. His puritan beliefs hold honor to oneself in very high esteem, and this causes the his death. He chooses death over the stain of the family name by not signing the document, as portrayed in the following lines: PROCTOR. I have three children- how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends? Beguile me not! I blacken all of them when this is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence. DANFORTH. Then explain to me, Mr. Proctor, why you will not let [allow me to post your confession]- PROCTOR. How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name! Thus, Proctor rejects the societal pressure and does not give in. Willy, however, succumbs to honor and hides his cowardice behind suicide, which gives his family insurance money. He commits suicide, but by Fosters definition, which states that the tragic hero must be willing to give up his life, he is still a tragic hero. Thus, the plays Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, each exhibit the theme of society as the indifferent, sometimes brutal, force that crushes an individual through the formation of sides, the assignment of scapeg oats, and the value of honor. In each case the individuals were crushed, either physically or mentally. Society contributes a great amount to the plight of a protagonist, and Miller portrays this theme through his characters and their interaction with one another.

Danielle Norman. Professor Karsak. Enc 1102. March 19 2016.

Danielle Norman Professor Karsak ENC 1102 March 19 2016 Secret Sin Hidden Behind a Black Veil â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil†, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of a parish pastor in Milford, New England. For unknown reasons, Parson Hooper has taken to wearing a dark veil on his face that covers all but his lips and chin. This veil immediately causes an uproar amongst the church members. Despite the fact that Parson Hooper’s behavior is largely the same, the people are genuinely shocked. Right away, they view this black veil as a sign the pastor is hiding a sinful secret. Parson Hooper goes onto preach a sermon that is similar to his usual sermons, but people find that it is suddenly more meaningful because of the veil. When finished, the†¦show more content†¦One woman even swears the corpse of the girl reacts to him. Hawthorne writes â€Å"Could Mr. Hooper be fearful of her glance, that he so hastily caught back the black veil?† Hawthorne uses the black veil to symbolize secret sin and its conseque nces (Emmett). This is reinforced by the fact that Parson Hooper’s sermon is all about that very topic. While Hawthorne never reveals what exactly Hooper’s sin was, he writes in a footnote about a Joseph Goody from York Maine who had died eighty years earlier. Goody had also covered his face with a black veil because he accidentally murdered his friend earlier in his life. (Hawthorne) This reveals that Parson Hooper is certainly hiding something, but at least it isn’t that he murdered someone. His fiancà ©e Elizabeth initially tries to reason with Hooper, hoping that she can get through to him. Or that he will at least remove the veil for her. Instead, he gives her vague answers and confirms that he will never take off the veil. Finally, the creepiness begins to affect Elizabeth and she leaves him. This is definitely symbolic of the consequences of sin. Parsons Hooper refuses honesty even to his own fiancà ©e and in return, he loses her. She asks him to at least explain why he cannot remove it, but he doesn’t give an answer instead he says â€Å"Know, then, this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before the gaze of multitudes,

Culture s Complex Web Of Meaning - 1309 Words

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I was fortunate enough to spend a Thursday evening with Gabriel to conduct my interview, before we actually begun the interv iew Gabriel suggested we have a round of beers first just to loosen up from the long workweek. The interview itself was basically about his time in Liberia as a child, his thoughts and experiences when he first came to America and how he lived his life today. Throughout the initial first round of questions in my interview it was evident that Gabriel’s identity marker was his cultural and ethnic background. I found the ethnic and cultural differences and similarities between us to be quite intriguing especiallyShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Invisible Borders 1066 Words   |  5 Pageseveryday amongst the people. The United States of America is divided amongst different cultures. Not necessarily by the cultures themselves, but by how people are perceiving these cultures and how these cultures go against other. 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Shangri-La Hotel Stp free essay sample

These information will be mentioned and it is used to prepare for the major business report. Retrieved from http://www. shangri-la. com/en/corporate/aboutus/overview Table of content Introduction An international hotel is the hotel that has a chain in many countries but not just in one country. To compare with the normal hotel, international hotels are easier to satisfy different customers from all over the world, because they have more experience to treat the international customers. By contrast, the major customers of normal hotel are generally domestic customers.Industry background Organization’ background In this report, the Hong Kong luxury international hotel Shangri-la will be used. The first Shangri-la hotel was built in Singapore in 1971 and gradually became the most successful hotel in Asia and can be seen in many western countries, however, their major market is in Asia. Then they set stock exchange in Hong Kong in 1995. Competitors As we all know, nowadays, the tourist industry is developing fast that many countries need more international hotels. We will write a custom essay sample on Shangri-La Hotel Stp or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Shenzhen is a seaside city, many tourist go to the beach, Sheraton is a five star holiday hotel, which means their aims are different from Shangri-la, because Shangri-la is luxury hotel but Sheraton is a resort hotel. However, they are still competitors, having different strategies. Hilton hotel is similar to Shangri-la, they are both luxury hotel and they both seated in the city centre in Shenzhen. Also in the international area they are competitors. Environment In the series of factor of environment, the factor influence Shangri-la most is the cultural, political and economic forces, which are belong to macro-environment.It is a luxury hotel so they always need to face the changing situation of economic environment, when people’s income fall, it will affect their decision for hotel when they are travelling. The reason why cultural environment will affect them a lot is that they need to satisfy different customers in other countries, for example, they should justify style of decoration to make the local customers comfortable and make the customers from different cultures feel surprise and curious. Product categories A luxury hotel focus on bringing luxury services to customers because their main products are series of services.Shangri-la hotel in Sydney , for example, they have Spa services in the hotel, which is base on Chinese Spa theory, is called Chi. They also open a romantic Blu bar at night, it is a wonderful place to have a little drink. Of course, they have the basic service of a hotel, hotel room services (Shangri-la hotel, 2010). Marketing segmentation Firstly, a organization need to know what kind of customer will use their product or services, so they need to know the marketing segmentation of their organization.For Shangri-la, a luxury hotel, their segmentation focus on socioeconomic situation which is belong to demographic environment, customers’ behavior because they always face the high class customers, the customers who let them made the most of profits. Marketing targeting After segment the market, the organization need to target a specific market, or can be called the most important market to them from the segmentation. They can use undifferentiated marketing or differentiated marketing or concentrated marketing strategy. As a famous luxury hotel, Shangri-la use the differentiated strategy to distinguis h themselves and their competitors.