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Thread: AO help, im stuck on a paper about Arthur Miller and his anti capitalist literature

  1. #1
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    AO help, im stuck on a paper about Arthur Miller and his anti capitalist literature

    Blah i have to make this long paper - not really but i dont feel like doing it so its really long 5-7 pgs.

    its due friday, but i have to show her a rough draft tomorrow. ANYWAY these are the fruits of my last 30 minutes of work.

    im stuck now and when i get stuck 2 things happen. i either do nothing for the rest of the day, or i get help and a spark ignites and i keep writing.


    without further wait, here is my pos paper (btw im not concerned with the content, i can shape it up quickly before friday.) but if you notice any egregious errors please let me know.


    Arthur Miller was questioned by Senator McCarthy for the suspicion of communist ties, and anti-capitalist literature in 195x. Death of a Salesman is one of the playwright’s most controversial pieces of literature; the contrast from his portrayal of benevolent socialistic societies, and capitalistic corruption is quite clear. His sense of Marxism allows the presumably capitalist American audience some insight as to how their system (of capitalism) has failed their “little brother” - the one whom we can help by reevaluating what has become of our consumerist, production based society. However, it fails to portray the negative side of socialism, whereas it embellishes upon the negatives of capitalism. Furthermore Arthur Miller skews reality in his plays and then has the audacity to condemn the government for their expressed displeasure in his communist uplifting literature during the “red scare.”
    The “Red Scare” caused many people to question their views on communism; Arthur Miller was no different than any other idealistic young man searching for the answers -having to tear down and question what he knows in order to progress as a man. Arthur Miller took part in several communist meetings, and with a better understanding of communism’s precepts, he wrote the Death of a Salesman, a scathing play which condemns America’s foundation, or what was settled once and for all at the end of the Civil War. This is of course the idea that a lowly man can become an entrepreneur and succeed. “As the representative of the pioneer and entrepreneur, Ben embodies the avenues to success of the earlier, more individualistic, production phase of the American economy” (Spindler p. 61). Willy understood this, but what he didn’t understand is that there is only room for one number one. Willy is a salesman that above all things, even his undisclosed product, sells himself. As a salesman he is unconcerned with attaining some quota, rather he is concerned with maintaining an amiable personality that will sell for him (Spindler p. 62). So when people stop returning Willy’s smiles, he recedes into his make-believe world where everything is ok, and his hopes are still alive rather than being crushed entirely by the harsh society. Inarguably, a man whom is fired after forty years of work, in the beginnings of his elderly stages, would be livid with his boss, and we as the audience should feel compassion for this man who is put out on his own, but “this is no ruthless executive callously firing the trusted employee from calculated mercenary motives: it is the ‘nice guy’ forced into a situation that he doesn’t know how to handle ‘nicely’ consequently . . . Making the ugliness of it worse” (Wetland pp. 53-54 The horrible events and overwhelming success that surrounds Willy swallows him up and suffocates the “life out of him.” As we the audience notice this we can’t help but challenge whether or not the capitalist way of life is right way to live. Still one mustn’t tear down capitalism without fairly comparing it to socialism.
    Arthur Miller seems to overlook this, and roasts capitalism until its appearance to the public is blackened, and its reputation tainted.
    It is of course the capitalist system that has done Willy in; the scene in which he is brutally fired after some 40 years with the firm comes straight from party-line literature of the ‘thirties, and the idea emerges lucidly enough through all the confused motivations of the play that it is our particular form of money economy that has bred the absurdly false ideals of both father and sons. [. . .] The playwright withdraws behind an air of pseudo-universality, and hurries to present some cruelty of misfortune . . . after [Willy] has been fired, or gratuitously from some other source, as in the quite unbelievable scene of the two sons, walking out on their father in the restaurant (Welland 52).
    This misrepresentation of capitalism is an attempt to change the audiences opinion of the country they live in; since Miller had a notoriety amongst his peers and especially since he was betrothed to Marilyn Monroe, he was able to reach the audience in a personal way.






    as you can see i have 2 paragraphs left so im not near done. any ideas? i realize this may be a hard topic, so if you cant help then thats cool


    and if you think socialism is cool then go to hell

    thanks
    Dion
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  2. #2
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    well ya might wanna mention the crucible, its alot more frank in explaining the actions of the red scare. it also rules. and cross referance miller to other authors in his day.
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  3. #3
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    yeah i know about the crucible and how it makes fun of the McCarthy trials, but i was talking about what was written prior to them and what occurred during the beginning and prior to the red scare

  4. #4
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    Smile

    I know nothing about the content, but there are a number of changes you should make.
    Paragraph 1:
    Remove the comma after "ties."
    Make sure you either underline or italicize the title of the play (I assume you copied and pasted and it wouldn't show up unless you used tags in your post).
    Remove the comma after "societies."
    Take "of capitalism" out of parentheses.
    Use a comma after "Furthermore."

    Paragraph 2:
    Change "different than" to "different from."
    Remove comma after "meetings."
    You use "red scare" in the previous paragraph and "Red Scare" in this one. Which is it?
    This sentence is HUGE (run-on), has too many commas (run-on), and is unclear: Inarguably, a man whom is fired after forty years of work, in the beginnings of his elderly stages, would be livid with his boss, and we as the audience should feel compassion for this man who is put out on his own, but “this is no ruthless executive callously firing the trusted employee from calculated mercenary motives: it is the ‘nice guy’ forced into a situation that he doesn’t know how to handle ‘nicely’ consequently . . . Making the ugliness of it worse” (Wetland pp. 53-54).
    Who is Ben? Don't assume the reader is familiar with Miller's works.
    "Still one mustn’t tear down capitalism without fairly comparing it to socialism." Are you going to compare it to Socialism? If you decide not to compare it, at least comment on why you think Miller doesn't.

    Paragraph 3:
    It's one sentence and has too many commas. Using a comma and "and" to separate two things is redundant.

    Paragraph 4:
    How much of this is your own words? It appears that the whole paragraph is taken from something. References should be used to support your argument and it's difficult to tell what the point is of the paragraph.
    The first sentence is too long. Reword it without using a semicolon.

    Last paragraph:
    Use an apostrophe in "audience's."
    Replace every "since" with "because." The two are not synonymous. "Since" refers to time while "because" refers to cause.

    In general, there is little transition between paragraphs and the point of your paper is unclear. There are times when the best means of stating your purpose is to just state it. When your first sentence mentions McCarthy and he isn't mentioned anywhere else, it's probably not the best way to begin.

    This is 5-7 pages? I get a little more than one page when I pasted it into Word. There are other changes you should make, but I'm getting tired of pointing out incorrect comma usage.

    Put some more time into it and post your edit.

  5. #5
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    double spaced 12pt font courier new translates into 4 pages so far.

    thanks for the help, im gonna change that now.

    Dion

  6. #6
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    Arthur Miller was questioned by Senator McCarthy for the suspicion of communist ties and anti-capitalist literature in 195x. Death of a Salesman is one of the playwright’s most controversial pieces of literature; the contrast from his portrayal of benevolent socialistic societies and capitalistic corruption is quite clear. His sense of Marxism allows the presumably capitalist American audience some insight as to how their system of capitalism has failed their “little brother” - the one whom we can help by reevaluating what has become of our consumerist, production based society. However, it fails to portray the positive side of capitalism, whereas it embellishes upon the negative aspects of it. Furthermore, Arthur Miller skews reality in his plays and then has the audacity to condemn the government for their expressed displeasure in his communist uplifting literature during the “Red Scare.”



    The “Red Scare” caused many people to question their views on communism; Arthur Miller was no different than any other idealistic young man searching for the answers -having to tear down and question what he knows in order to progress as a man. Arthur Miller took part in several communist meetings and with a better understanding of communism’s precepts, he wrote the Death of a Salesman, a scathing play which condemns America’s foundation, or what was settled once and for all at the end of the Civil War. This is of course the idea that a lowly man can become an entrepreneur and succeed. “As the representative of the pioneer and entrepreneur, Ben embodies the avenues to success of the earlier, more individualistic, production phase of the American economy” (Spindler p. 61). Willy understood this, but what he didn’t understand is that there is only room for one number one. Willy is a salesman that above all things, even his undisclosed product, sells himself. As a salesman he is unconcerned with attaining some quota, rather he is concerned with maintaining an amiable personality that will sell for him (Spindler p. 62). So when people stop returning Willy’s smiles, he recedes into his make-believe world where everything is ok, and his hopes are still alive rather than being crushed entirely by the harsh society. Inarguably a man whom is fired after forty years of work would be livid with his boss, and we as the audience should feel compassion for this man who is put out on his own, but “[Howard] is no ruthless executive callously firing the trusted employee from calculated mercenary motives: [he] is the ‘nice guy’ forced into a situation that he doesn’t know how to handle ‘nicely’ consequently . . . Making the ugliness of it worse” (Wetland pp. 53-54 The horrible events and overwhelming success that surrounds Willy swallows him up and suffocates the “life out of him.” As we the audience notice this we can’t help but challenge whether or not the capitalist way of life is right way to live.



    However, Capitalism is not given the slightest chance for fair representation. Arthur Miller seems to overlook this, and roasts capitalism until its appearance to the public is blackened, and its reputation tainted.
    It is of course the capitalist system that has done Willy in; the scene in which he is brutally fired after some 40 years with the firm comes straight from party-line literature of the ‘thirties, and the idea emerges lucidly enough through all the confused motivations of the play that it is our particular form of money economy that has bred the absurdly false ideals of both father and sons. [. . .] The playwright withdraws behind an air of pseudo-universality, and hurries to present some cruelty of misfortune . . . after [Willy] has been fired, or gratuitously from some other source, as in the quite unbelievable scene of the two sons, walking out on their father in the restaurant (Welland 52).
    In order do put oneself in the mindset of this eccentric playwright, one has to understand the mindset and experiences they went through. Arthur Miller lived through the great depression, and lived with FDR’s social welfare programs. Then When WWII ended the American economy was bolstered by the person savings accumulated during the war, and the 1940s economy mimicked a not long since past ‘twenties atmosphere (Spindler 59). Miller was not old enough to appreciate this time period as he was only 4 years old when the black Tuesday occurred October 29th 1929. It is understandable to want to grow old under the same circumstances as you grew under, but the ’thirties were a special time, not mean to change the nation permanently. Arthur Miller’s gross misrepresentation of capitalism is an attempt to change the audience’s opinion of the country they live in; Miller had a notoriety amongst his peers and because he was wedded to Marilyn Monroe, he was able to reach the audience in a personal way.



    And when Mr. Miller attracts the attention of the masses, he also attracts the attention of the United States government. HUAC (or the House of Un-American Activities Committee) is not pleased with Millers anti-capitalist literature to say the least, and subsequently summons Miller before Senator McCarthy for questioning. He is asked whether or not “he was now or had ever been a member of the communist party,” and being that he had be, he replies that he was. Arthur Miller is fined the amount of 500 hundred dollars, which is no small amount of money considering the times. Arthur Miller is not happy with the ruling, but he must pay in order to avoid jailing. This makes the United States government look bad, but one must understand the times to justify the importance of enfeebling any communist factions in America. Communism was a plaguing eastern Europe with is terribly infectious ideals. A communist does not need rights from the state anymore than that righteous man needs rights from his god (Welland 54). In order to keep this seed of communism from growing in the United States, the government takes measures to protect itself. Arthur Miller’s message is seen as one of those seeds, and by making him an example, the government averts what could become the downfall of the nation.



    Protecting individual’s rights and the right of a nation as a whole is a fine line to walk, but it must be walked sometimes. This was a line formed between Arthur Miller’s rights and the governments security; in this epic clash between David and Goliath lies are told, reality is skewed, and thoughts are provoked. Who is right? Who can tell, but when the dust settles, one must decide if is it better to be lied to, or better to be repressed? The answer is neither.



    its still gay and the conclusion sucks so bad, but thats what it is now... any more help would be terrific

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