NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
DEATH OF A SALESMAN STUDENT PACKET
Check
when
done!
Points
possible
Assignment
1
Quick Write & Communication Dynamics Activity
20
2
Death of a Salesman Essential Questions—
Group Assignment
(Critical Response & Analysis)
16
3
Motifs/Themes & Symbolism
(Critical Thinking & Analysis)
30
4
Death of a Salesman Study Guide Questions
(Comprehension Questions)
32
5
Quotes to Know
(Critical Thinking & Analysis)
28
6
Conflict in Death of a Salesman
(Critical Thinking & Analysis)
26
7
Thematically Related Poetry—
SOAPSTONE & Literary Response & Analysis
(Critical Thinking & Analysis)
40
TOTAL
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
Points
earned
192
1
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
DEATH OF A SALESMAN by Arthur Miller
I. PRE-READING QUICKWRITE: Answer the following questions below—be thorough.
1. How important is it to be well-liked in life? (5 pts.)
2. How has your past shaped the person you are today at this moment? How will it shape
your future? (5 pts.)
II. PRE-READING ACTIVITY: Communication Dynamics (10 pts.)
A. List 5 qualities of good communication
(i.e .listening without interrupting)
1.
C. List 5 qualities of positive parent-child
relationships
1.
2.
2.
3.
3.
4.
4.
5.
5.
B. List 5 qualities that impair communication
(i.e.. closed mindedness)
1.
D. List 5 problems associated with keeping
secrets in a family.
1.
2.
2.
3.
3.
4.
4.
5.
5.
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
2
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
STRUCTURE OF THE PLAY
Two Acts and a Requiem. Act I opens in present day and Miller makes frequent use of flashbacks to
illustrate how Willy’s past experiences led to his current situation. The flashback scenes provide
essential information to help us understand the problems of the Loman family. Each act takes place on
a different day.
TERMS TO KNOW
Catharsis: The purging of feelings of pity and fear that, according to Aristotle, occur in the audience of
the tragic drama. The audience experience catharsis at the end of the play, following the catastrophe.
Tragedy: A type of drama in which the characters experience reversals of fortune, usually for the worse.
In tragedy, catastrophe and suffering awai many of the characters, especially the hero. Examples
include Shakespeare’s Othello, and Hamlet; Sophocles’ Antigone and Oedipus the King, and Arthur
Miller’s death of a Salesman.
Tragic flaw: A weakness or limitation of character, resulting in the fall of the tragic hero. Othello’s
jealousy and too trusting nature is one example.
Tragic hero: A privileged, exalted character of high repute, who, by virtue of a tragic flaw, suffers a fall
from glory into suffering. Sophocles’ Oedipus is an example.
Requiem: Originally a Mass celebrated for the repose of a soul at death; now, a funeral song or lament
for the dead.
III. DEATH OF A SALESMAN—ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION
Be ready to discuss the following questions based on ideas formulated in class. You will take notes as a group
on these questions that will be collected for credit.
1. Can a common man experience a tragic fall?
2. How do people establish and maintain their identities?
3. What sacrifices are defensible to exert one’s pride and dignity?
4. At what point does the need or the perceived right to assert one’s self become unacceptable in
society?
5. How do misunderstandings and faulty communication patterns generate separation and
relationship dysfunction?
6. What character traits engender self- knowledge and insight?
7. To what extent are we responsible for the lives and happiness of others?
8. To what extent can we legitimately blame others for our unhappiness or problems?
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
3
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
IV. MOTIFS AND THEMES: A motif is a recurring image, word, phrase, object, character, or situation
that acts as unifying idea and operates to develop theme or ideas in the work. Sometimes motifs recur
so frequently that they enhance the meaning of the drama and rise to symbolic importance. Motifs link
main ideas through as work. (2 pts. each)
DIRECTIONS: Explain the significance of each of the motifs below? First one is completed as an model
for the remaining motifs.
1. “Vital to New England”—Willy’s perception as a salesman in New England is that he is needed
and necessary, but the reality is that he’s not good enough to get a job at the home office.
2. Well liked/personal attractiveness—
3. Theft and associated values (cheating) —
4. Debts—
5. Boxed in—
6. Ben and The American Dream—
7. Silk Stockings—
8. Happy (isn’t happy) —
9. Father-Son Relationship—
10. The Flute—
V. SYMBOLISM: Symbolism is the use of symbols (objects or things) that represent ideas and qualities
different from their literal sense.
DIRECTIONS: Write a statement and use a specific reference from the play to explain the meaning of
the symbols listed below. (2 pts. each)
1. Seeds—
2. Diamonds/Jungle—
3. Stockings—
4. The rubber hose—
5. Alaska, Africa, American West—
6. Tennis Racket—
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
4
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
VI. COMPREHENSION QUESTION ABOUT THE PLAY
DIRECTIONS: Answer all comprehension questions on a separate sheet of paper. Make sure you label your
responses at the top and answer in complete sentences. (2 pts. each)
ACT I
1. Describe three specific incidents when Willy contradicts himself. What do these contradictions
indicate about Willy’s personality and character?
2. Cite 3 examples of what is probably considered bad advice Willy gave to his sons.
3. Cite 3 times Happy was ignored. How does Happy compensate for the treatment he receives?
4. Cite 3 times Biff drop hints about the problem between Willy and him.
5. Why did Biff come home? Where had he been?
6. List 3 times Biff stole something.
7. Describe a time when Willy was confused. What does this tell you about his mental state?
8. What does the flute music mean in the play?
ACT II & REQUIEM
9. In what important way did Biff’s life end after the Ebbet’s Field game?
10. What does Biff realize about his life the day he goes to see Oliver?
11. Which brother do you have more respect for and why?
12. Willy is finally honest when he asks Bernard if he (Willy) did something wrong as a father. If you
were Bernard, what would you tell Willy?
13. How is Willy’s comment about Bernard arguing a case before the Supreme Court a commentary
on Willy’s life?
14. In what ways did Willy misunderstand Biff? Why does he keep calling Biff’s actions “spite”? What
is Biff trying to tell his father on pages 132-133?
15. How does Willy’s death support the idea that Willy was never able to grasp the reality of his life
and his family’s situation?
16. What double meaning might be in Linda’s final words at the end of the Requiem?
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
5
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
VII. QUOTATIONS TO KNOW
DIRECTIONS: For each quote: 1. identify the context and 2. explain the relevance. Note that some of the quotations
are presented in sets. Treat them as one choice. Complete on separate sheet of paper. (28 pts)
EXAMPLE:
Biff: “Because I know he’s fake and he doesn’t like anybody around who knows.”
CONTEXT: This quote reveals more about Biff and Willy’s relationship. Biff doesn’t like his
father for some reason.
SIGNIFICANCE: Biff thinks his father is phony and disingenuous and believes that his father
doesn’t want to be around people who can see through him.
ACT I
1.
Happy: “See, Biff, everybody around me is so false that I’m constantly lowering my standards.” Biff: “Hap,
the trouble is we weren’t brought up to grub for money. I don’t know how to do it.”
2.
Biff: “He’s (Bernard) liked, but he’s not well-liked.” Willy: “Be liked and you will never want. You take, me,
for instance. I never had to wait in line for a buyer.”
3.
Willy; “Ben! That man was a genius, that man was success incarnate…The man knew what he wanted
and went out and got it! Walked into a jungle, and comes out, the age of twenty-one, and he’s rich!”
Ben: “Why boys, when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked
out. And by god I was rich.”
4.
Ben: “Father was a very great and a very wild- hearted man. Great inventor, Father. With one gadget he
made more in a week than a man like you could make in a lifetime.”
5.
Linda: “I don’t’ say he’s a great man…But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him.
Attention , attention must be finally paid to such a person.”
6.
Linda: He drives several hundred miles, and when he gets there no ones knows him, no one welcomes
him. And what goes through a man’s mind, driving several hundred miles without having earned a
cent? Is this his reward- to turn around at the age of sixty-three and find his sons, who he loved better
than his life, one a philandering bum…”
7.
Linda: “I swear to God! Biff, his life is in your hands!”
8.
Linda: “Be loving to him tonight. Because he’s only a little boat looking for a harbor…Oh, that’s
wonderful, Biff, you’ll save his life.”
9.
Willy: Because you got a greatness in you, Biff, remember that. You got all kinds of greatness in you.
ACT II
10. Willy: “Dave Singleman…do you know when he died…and by the way he died the death of a
salesman…hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral. In those days there was personality in
it, Howard. There was respect, comradeship, and gratitude in it. Today, it’s all cut and dried, and there’s
no chance for brining friendship to bear—or personality. You see what I mean? They don’t know me
anymore.”
11. Willy: “I put thirty-four years into this firm, Howard, and now I can’t pay my insurance! You can’t eat the
orange and throw the peel away—a man is not a piece of fruit!”
12. Willy: “…(to Bernard)Looks very good for Biff…Bernard…what’s the secret? How- how did you? Why
didn’t he ever catch on?…Let me talk to you. I got nobody to talk to. Bernard, Bernard. Was it my fault?
Y’see? It keeps going around in my mind, maybe I did something to him. I got nothing to give him.”
13. Willy: “I’ve always tried to think otherwise, I guess.. I always felt if a man was impressive, and well-liked,
that nothing—“ Charley: “Why must everybody like you? Who liked J.P. Morgan? Was he impressive?”
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
6
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
14. Willy: “Funny, y’know? After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you
end up worth more dead than alive.” Charley: ”Willy, nobody’s worth nothin’ dead…Did you hear what I
said?”
15. Biff: “I got so mad I could have torn the walls down! Whoever said I was a salesman? And then he gave
me one look and—I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been. We’ve been talking in a dream
for fifteen years. I was a shipping clerk.”
16. Willy: I’m not interested in stories about the past or any crap of that kind because the woods are
burning, boys, you understand? There’s a big blaze going on all around. I was fired today.
17. Biff: “Let’s talk quietly and get this down to the facts, huh?...Dad. You’re not letting me tell you what I
want to tell you!...Now, look, I’m gonna tell you what happened, and you’re going to listen to me…Why
did I go? Why did I go? Look at you! Look at what’s become of you!...I’m no good, can’t you see what I
am?”
18. Biff: “You’ve just seen a Prince walk by. A fine, troubled prince. A hardworking, unappreciated prince. A
pal, you understand? A good companion. Always for his boys.”
19. Willy: “Cause she’s suffered, Ben, the woman has suffered, You understand me? A man can’t go out the
way he came in, Ben, a man has got to add up to something…” Ben: “It’s a cowardly thing, William…”
20. Willy: “Because he thinks I’m nothing, see, and so he spites me. But this funeral—Ben, that funeral will
be massive! They’ll come from Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire!…He’ll see what I am,
Ben! He’s in for a shock, that boy!”
21. Biff: “Today I realized something about myself and I tried to explain it to you and I—I think I’m just not
smart enough to make any sense out of it for you. To hell with the whose fault it is or anything like that.
Dad, you’re never going to see what I am, so what’s the use of arguing?” Willy: “Spite, see?”
22. Biff: “Alright, phony! Then let’s lay it on the line (rubber hose)…What is this supposed to do, make a hero
out of you? This supposed to make me sorry for you?...No, you’re going to hear the truth—what you are
and what I am!...I never got anywhere because you filled me so full of hot air I could never stand taking
orders from anybody!
23. Biff: “Pop, I’m a dime a dozen and so are you…I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you…Pop,
I’m nothing! Can’t you understand that? There’s no spite in it anymore. I’m just what I am, that’s all. Will
you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?”
24. Ben: “And it does take a great kind of man to crack the jungle…One must go in to fetch a diamond out.”
REQUIEM
25. Linda: “:I can’t understand it. At this time, especially. First time in years we were just about free and
clear. He only needed a little salary.” Charley: “No man only needs a little salary.”
26. Charley: “Willy was a salesman. And for a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life…He’s a man out
there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that’s an
earthquake…Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the
territory.”
27. Biff: “He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong…He never knew who he was.”
28. Happy;” All right, boy. I’m gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loma did not die in vain. He
had a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have—to come out number-one man. He fought it out
here, and this is where I’m gonna win it for him.”
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
7
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
VIII. CONFLICT IN DEATH OF A SALESMAN—MALE CHARACTERS
This play has been called “masculine” because it appears that the major interactions occur between male
characters. However, the role of women is crucial in Miller’s defense and criticism of the American Dream.
On the chart below, identify the pivotal conflicts that occur between the pairs indicated (26 pts).
Willy and Biff
Willy and Happy
Biff and Happy
Willy and Ben
Willy and Charley
Biff and Mr. Oliver
Willy and Howard
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
8
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
Continued…CONFLICT IN DEATH OF A SALESMAN—FEMALE CHARACTERS
On the next chart, record the incidents that reflect subjugation, exploitation or disrespect of women by the
named male character.
Willy and Linda
Biff and Linda
Happy and Linda
Biff, Happy and dates (various
women from high school on)
Willy and Jenny
Happy and Miss Forsythe
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
9
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
IX. THEMATICALLY RELATED POETRY
DIRECTIONS: Annotate directly on each poem using the SOAPSTone formula (5 pts each). Then respond to
questions at the end of each poem directly in packet (1 pt each).
DO NOT GO GENTLE
by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
LITERARY RESPONSE & ANALYSIS:
1.
What is the adult child’s exhortation to his dying father?
2.
According to the speaker, how should old men live at their end of their lives?
3.
What does the repeated line, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” mean?
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
10
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS
by Robert Hayden
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,
Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?
LITERARY RESPONSE & ANALYSIS:
1. What meaning is intrinsic in the use of the word “too” in the first line?
2. What does the speaker regret when remembering this childhood pattern?
3. How has this speaker’s perspective on the father changed as he has matured?
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
11
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
FIRST LESSON
by Phyllis McGinley
The first thing to remember about fathers is, they're men.
A girl has to keep it in mind.
They are dragon-seekers, bent on impossible rescues.
Scratch any father, you find
Someone chock-full of qualms and romantic terrors,
Believing change is a threat Like your first shoes with heel on, like your first bicycle
It took months to get.
Walk in strange woods, they warn you about the snakes there.
Climb and they fear you'll fall.
Books, angular looks, swimming in deep water Fathers mistrust them all.
Men are the worriers. It is difficult for them
To learn what they must learn:
How you have a journey to take and very likely,
For a while, will not return.
LITERARY RESPONSE & ANALYSIS:
1. Identify the tone of this poem.
2. How does the speaker characterize fathers of daughters?
3. What lessons must fathers of daughters learn?
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
12
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
THE SECRET HEART
by R. Tristam Coffin
Across the years he could recall
His father one way best of all.
In the stillest hour of night
The boy awakened to a light.
Half in dreams, he was his sire
With his great hands full of fire.
The man had struck a match to see
If his son slept peacefully.
He held his palms each side the spark
His love had kindled in the dark.
His two hands were curved apart
In the semblance of a heart.
He wore, it seemed to his small son,
A bare heart on his hidden one,
A heart that gave out such a glow
No son awake could bear to know.
It showed a look upon a face
Too tender for the day to trace.
One instant, it lit all about,
And then the secret heart went out.
But shone long enough for one
To know that hands held up the sun.
LITERARY RESPONSE & ANALYSIS:
1. What memory of his father stands out for the speaker?
2. Explain the double images of a heart.
3. Explain the possible double meaning if the word “sun” in the last line.
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
13
NAME:_______________________________________________DATE:_________________ PERIOD:________
My Papa’s Waltz
by Theodore Roethke
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.
LITERARY RESPONSE & ANALYSIS:
1.
What clue does the poet provide about the age of the child?
2.
How is the image of the father waltzing juxtaposed to the image of the whiskey on his breath and his
dirty hands?
3.
What is meant by the line, “My mother's countenance Could not unfrown itself”
ENOCHS JUNIOR CURRICULUM 2014—CCCS RL 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
14