Author’s argument for Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman  

 In Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman (1949), Miller portraits the struggle of an average man on his quest to become successful. Willy, the father did everything possible he could in life to ensure that his children would live lives of ease, but his children have other dreams. In the case of Biff, the oldest son, he rather work on a farm and not be in the business world, something his father Willy wants him to be, but Biff realizes he is not fit to be in that type of world. Miller portraits through Willy the pain and suffering of the common man and what he goes through to succeed by whatever means it takes. Given the time set this play was written in Miller is able to depict the struggles and scarifies of the average man. Biff being the oldest, Willy has big expectations of Biff being a great business man and making it big and thus sacrifices what he thinks will let Biff f accomplish the dream Willy has for Biff. In the end, Willy’s tragic outcome just shows the extremes the common man is willing to go and what he has to do even if he has to lie, cheat, and steal in their attempt to succeed.

 Vocabulary:

Simonize-to polish with wax

Incipient-beginning to appear or develop

Carte Blanche- permission or authority given to somebody to act with freedom or discretion

Imbue- soak something with something

Enthralled- completely fascinated

 Tone:

Longing, solemn, reflective

 Rhetorical strategies:

Metaphor- “Linda: Biff, a man is not a bird, to come and go with the springtime” (54).

Telegraphic sentence- “Willy: Biff Loman is lost” (16).

Allusion- “Charley: Why must everybody like you? Who liked J.P. Morgan?” (97)

Rhetorical question- “Linda: And what goes through a man’s mind driving seven hundred miles home without having earned a cent?” (57)

Periodic sentence- “Linda: …But now his old friends, the old buyers that loved him so and always found some order to hand to him in a pinch- they’re all dead, retired”(57).  

 Questions:

How did Biff’s discovery of his father’s affair affect their relationship?

What role did the flashbacks play in the character of Willy?

Is it worth going to the extremes for success for a dream that one has and not the other person?

 Memorable quote:

"Happy: All right, boy. I’m gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman 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” (138).

The Big Thirst chapters 8-10

In Charles Fishman’s book The Big Thirst (2011), Fishman argues that water should be provided in rural areas twenty-four-seven hours a day, seven days a week in pipes that keep it clean and safe. As developed as India is in the technology sector it is not on the water sector. The poor people in India have to pay a daily price for their water that makes them give up education, employment because they have to make lines for hours just to get their water. They do not have easy access to water like Americans do, when they should be provided with a twenty-four-seven hour system as well, which can make a huge difference in their daily lives. Fishman states that water is in fact essentially free and what we pay for simply covers the costs of delivering the water. The belief that there is an abundance of water makes us misuse more because we think it will always be there. So, Fishman argues putting a price on the quantity of water we use would not be a bad idea because the lack of a price on water “leads to all kinds of inequities and inefficiencies”. A price on water will make people value it because the price is to make sure this substance is available in the quantity and quality that sustains the kind of communities we want to live in. Fishman says Americans have to reimagine the idea of “clean water” and stop using water cleaned to drinking- water quality standards for things like flushing the toilet and watering lawns. The concern that Americans have of the quality of tap water should not be one when in fact the United States has among the safest, most closely monitored water systems in the world, but we instead opt for bottled water. Our relationship with water has to change to a positive view because as Americans we’ve become accustomed to the water habits of misusing it. Our behavior towards water has to change which will determine the future of water.

Vocabulary:

Dichotomy- a separation into two divisions that differ widely from, or contradict each other

Vexation- something that provokes irritability or anxiety

Ubiquitous- present everywhere at once, or seeming to be

Cacophonous- sounding loud, jarring, and unpleasant

Desiccates- to remove the moisture from something or become free of moisture

Vertiginous- tending to change frequently or suddenly 

Leverage- power over other people, especially something that gives an advantage but is not referred to openly

Refurbish- restore something to good repair

 Tone: sympathetic, concerned, sincere

 Rhetorical strategies:

Simile- “…[The] golden age water has caused us to think that water delivery is a kind of natural phenomenon—you turn on the faucet, the water comes out. It’s like opening a window and having a cool breeze come in” (290)

Anaphora- “We all know what it feels like to be thirsty…We know what a dried-up lawn looks like…we know what a plush, well-watered lawn feels like… We know what water that’s been sitting in the bottom of the canoe…” (312)

Personification- “When you think of the qualities of water that are so appealing—the energy, the playfulness, the adaptability, the variety of mood, the artistry…” (312)

Simile- “I don’t like drinking tap water because I don’t trust tap water”… “It would be like Specter standing up before a group of college students, shrugging, and saying that he avoids bridges because he “doesn’t trust” the bridge building system in the United States, or that he always drives because he “doesn’t trust” U.S. air controllers” (299)

Rhetorical question- “Why wouldn’t we revere water, of all the things we could revere?”(298)

Statistics- “Forty-five percent of Indians do not have routine access to safe drinking water—that’s 540 million people who don’t have reliable water, everyday” (223)

                  “…39 percent of Indian adults can not read or write, with the burden falling most heavily on women. Fifty-two percent of Indians adult women are illiterate- more than 200 million Indian women who can neither read nor write” (227)

 Questions:

What system is installed in Orlando, Florida and Orange County for recycled water?

What connection is made through the use of repetition in the final chapters and the beginning chapters?

How does the lack of a twenty-four-seven hour water system affect the life style in rural areas?

Memorable quote:

“That is the first lesson of water poverty -- in rural India, but anywhere else as well. Water poverty doesn’t just mean your hands are dirty, or you can’t wash your clothes, or you are often thirsty. Water poverty may mean you never learn to read, it means you get sick more often than you should, it means you and your children are hungry. Water poverty is, quite literally, de-civilizing” (246).

The Big Thirst by Charles Fishman

In The Big Thirst (2011) by Charles Fishman he presents how the water problems of other towns from other countries should serve as an example for us, Americans.  Fishman does a lot of comparing of the management of water in Australia and how America misuses their water.  Again Fishman brings the problem this nation has of believing that there is an abundance of water. When we realize the fact of the unavailability of water we are heading close to that is when we will start making the changes that will affect our lifestyles and how we take care of water.   The water scarcity some Australian towns have suffered had affected their life style in general and caused them to approach this problem cautiously.  Another issue presents that Fishman addresses is the question of how clean tap water is.  This is a big concern that people in general have because they are concerned with the pollution in tap water. When in fact the more developed countries have safe tap water than they think. Water has on earth for thousand of years that contain all kind of possible substances. Due to the many chemicals that have entered the water it is hard to really purify the water from harsh chemicals but then again there is a small chance those substances are harmful.      

Vocabulary:

Acrimonious- full of or displaying anger and resentment 

Cantankerous- easily angered and difficult to get along with

Harrumphed- to clear the throat, or make a noise that resembles the sound of clearing the throat

Raucous- loud and hoarse or unpleasant

Tone: honest, formal

Rhetorical strategies:

Rhetorical question- “Why would you drink recycled water if you didn’t have to?” (160)

Analogy- “If you earned $10 million in your lifetime, 1 part per billion of that income would be a single penny, out of all the pennies that rattle through your life. So the new ability to test for substances at a concentration of 1 part per trillion is the same as the ability to find a single penny out of a lifetime of $10 million in earnings, not for one person but for 1,000 people. And not just to find a penny, but to find a single specific penny.” (175)

Compare and contrast-“Residents are exhorted to “Target 155”- use only 155 liters of water per day per person, 41 gallons, about what an American would use with a single bath.” (170) 

Simile- “But running out of water is like slipping out of the edge of a cliff-it’s hard to be saved.” (147)

Personification- “This is my forest, crying out for water.” (214)

Questions:

Why did the residents of Toowoomba reject the water plan they were presented?

What effect does the compare and contrast between other countries and the United States have?

Why is recycled water a problem for countries that are accustomed to pure water?

Memorable quote:

“Our water habits rely on those same assumptions of water availability. Abundant, flowing water is its own invitation to indulgence. That’s true in nature-who can resist putting a hand in the flowing current of a creek? And it’s especially true in a world where literally no signals tweak us about our water use, either as were using it or even in our monthly or quarterly water bills.” (210)

The Big Thirst: The Secret life and turbulent future of water by Charles Fishman chapters 1-5

            In Charles Fishman’s book The Big Thirst (2011), Fishman starts by providing several examples of how water is used and its presence in life in general. Given the fact that water is an important substance in our lives we take it for granted and do not see water as an important element and instead just misuse water. Fishman says that our relationship with water is invisible and that relationship should change. This distant relationship between the both has our golden age of water coming to an end and instead demanding to take management measurements on the conservation of water. Fishman wants the people to take awareness of the scarcity of water and in what ways can contribute as individuals and as a society to manage water. Companies that depend on the source of water have acknowledged this crisis of water that they have taken measures to manage water smartly. He also states that water goes beyond being taken by granted because the water system is another factor that is not considered. As a society we are still stuck in that era of golden age water believing that clean dependable tap water will always be available. Is this belief that makes it difficult for people to understand the money and effort it takes to sustain a system that has been in place for years. The only way people see the visibility of water it’s when it becomes unavailable.

Vocabulary:

Prosaic-   not having any features that are interesting or imaginative

Emporium- store offering wide selection of goods

Queasiness- causing a feeling of uneasiness

Profligacy- extremely extravagant or wasteful
Leach-   to remove soluble components from a solid mixture by the use of a solvent
Corroding-to undermine or destroy something gradually

Tone: sincere, optimistic, witty

 Rhetorical strategies:

Personification-  “But in terms of water’s fundamental character, it’s personality, water is elegant, it’s smart, it’s a little sly…” (pg 48)

Repetition- “We all know how it feels to be so thirsty…We all know how it feels to be so grungy…” (pg 25)

Metaphor-“The feel of water is as familiar as the feel of our own skin” (pg26)

Hyperbole- “Water speaks a whole range of languages, specialized and universal, utilitarian and poetic and romantic” (pg 26)

Antithesis- “Water is both mythic and real” (pg 2)

 Questions:

What conservation and management approaches have companies made in the water system?

How does the use of examples and repetition convey a relationship between water and the reader?

What effect has water’s scarcity in less developed countries had?

 Memorable quote:

“Water is as familiar as anything in ordinary life, and yet largely ignored, misunderstood, overlooked.” (pg 50)