A Statement Of Death Of A Salesman English Literature Essay

A Statement Of Death Of A Salesman English Literature Essay Thesis Statement: Although Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is a classic tragedy in the Aristotelian sense, it is also a biting critique of capitalism and the empty promises of capitalism’s materialistic version of the American Dream. II. Death of a Salesman as a Tragedy A. Catharsis of Emotion B. The Play’s Organic Unity C. Reversal in Fortune 1. Waste of human potential D. Willy’s Hamartia E. Willy as a Noble Personage 1. The nobility of the salesman is derived from the values of capitalism. 2. Ways in which Willy is a noble salesman III. Death of a Salesman as a Critique of Capitalism A. Miller Shows the Ways in Which Capitalist Values have Warped the American Dream 1. Willy’s Fall is ignoble because there is no increase in self-knowledge B. Willy’s Materialism Blinded Him from his Inner Worth IV. Conclusion Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman is often heralded as the first modern American tragedy. Utilizing the American Dream as the foundation of American values and morals, Miller builds his play around the hero Willy Loman, a common man, and his family. Through the character of Willy and his family, Miller uses the play to convey the tragic consequences of unerring devotion to that dream. Although Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is a classic tragedy in the Aristotelian sense, it is also a biting critique of capitalism and the empty promises of capitalism’s materialistic version of the American Dream. One of the qualities of a tragedy observed by Aristotle was the catharsis of emotion that occurred throughout the drama, and this characteristic is readily observable in Death of a Salesman (Arp 1220). Willy’s relationships with all of the other characters in the play reveal a deep sense of grief, despair, and disillusionment as Willy clings to his version of the American Dream and alternately attacks and defends the people in his life. For instance, Willy contradicts himself constantly, cr iticizing his son Biff in one breath and defending him in the next. In Act One Willy yells at Biff, saying, â€Å"One imagines at first that Willy is focused on ensuring that his son has the best life possible according to his version of the American Dream, but as the play progresses one begins to believe that Willy’s treatment of Biff, Happy and all of the characters is an expression of his need to defend his philosophy of capitalist progress. The feelings of despair, anger, and grief that come arise are all focused around this idea that if Willy’s dream is false, his whole life will have been lived in vain. One literary technique that Miller uses to convey the emotional intensity that engenders the catharsis is repetition of phrasing and words. This device can be found throughout the play, used by any character. For instance, Willy states early on, â€Å"I’m the New England man. I’m vital in New England† (Miller 4). In a conversation between Wil ly and Biff, Biff says, â€Å"Pop! I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you!† and Willy answers, â€Å"I’m not a dime a dozen! I’m Willy Loman and you are Biff Loman!† (Miller 105). Much later in the play he says, â€Å"I’ve got to get some seeds. I’ve got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground† (Miller 96). Biff, too, talks in this repetitious style, saying to his mother, â€Å"I can’t take hold, Mom. I can’t take hold of some kind of life† (Miller 39). In each of these instances, Miller writes in such a way that the characters repeat key phrases or words that are representative of some deeper emotional message and meaning. New England represents the promised land of plenty that Willy can never reach, the phrase â€Å"dime a dozen† represents the reality of being a common man making a meager living, and the seeds Willy does not have in the third quote refer to the necessary preconditions to success that Willy never acquired. The phrase ‘taking hold’ signifies the notion of success as defined by Willy throughout Biff’s upbringing.

Bank analysis paper-Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Bank analysis paper-Economics - Essay Example The second part is done in order to get an idea about the safety and soundness of Citibank Las Vegas branch from a depositor’s perspective. There are a number of ways to examine the profitability of a bank; for example, for measuring the after-tax rates of return, ROA (the return on assets) and ROC (the return on capital), are extensively utilized for testing the performance of banks. The analysts and regulators of the bank use these measures in order to assess the performance of other players in the industry as well as to forecast trends in market structure. This helps them to gather data to predict bank failures and mergers, and also to come up with a strategy that serves the interests of their bank well. Return on assets (ROA) of a firm is an indicator of how profitable the firm is relative to its total assets, and is calculated by dividing the net income of the firm by its total assets. ROA gives us an idea about how efficient the management of the firm is at generating earnings by using its assets. A higher ROA percentage is considered better as this means that the same level of investment is yielding more earnings for the firm. Citibank’s net income in the year 2009 was $107,923,000,000, and its total assets were worth $1,161,361,000,000. This results in a ROA of 9.3% for the year 2009 which is considerably higher than the ROA recorded in 2008 (74,767Mn/1,227,040Mn = 6.1%). This suggests that there has been a rise in Citibank’s ability to earn with lesser amounts of input i.e. the profitability of Citibank has increased. Return on Capital (ROC), on the other hand, is a measure of how efficiently a firm uses the money that has being invested in its processes. It is being measured by the division of net income and the total capital. ROC should always be greater than the rate at which the firm borrows money. This is to ensure that an

Litigation involving Microsoft Corporation Essay

Litigation involving Microsoft Corporation - Essay Example Microsoft is the biggest provider of computer operating systems that facilitate communication and control of an individual’s personal computer. Microsoft also supplies other famous computer programs. Sales that come from the Microsoft software are huge and it is evident that the company is an energetic and a tough competitor. The complexity of determining competitive behavior from the anticompetitive acts is demonstrated by the Microsoft antitrust case. U.S. Department of Justice filed the case and it accused Microsoft Corporation of a variety of anticompetitive practices (Baumol and Blinder 268). The Microsoft antitrust case brings out many issues such as abuse via bottlenecks and bundling. Abuse via bottlenecks can be illustrated by the dominance of the Microsoft Windows. Microsoft Windows is an operating system that is used in almost all the personal computers. Microsoft Windows is a good example of a problem or an issue that is referred to as bottleneck; bottleneck is a pr oduct or a facility that is in the possession of a single company without which the competitor find impossible or difficult to operate. In order to reach majority of the personal computer users, the producer or manufacturer of any spreadsheet, graphics program or a word processor must make use of Windows. It is important to note that there is less likelihood that the competitors or alternative to Windows might capture a large share of consumers. (Baumol and Blinder 280). The existence of the bottleneck is in part due to the fact that Microsoft is largely considered as a good program and its user compatibility is considered desirable. There is need for communication between computer users and this can only be facilitated when they use the same or similar operating systems. In other words, there must be an existence of a network between the users of the computer products for them to be able to communicate effectively with one another and thus, the necessity for compatible software. Su ch a preference offers Microsoft a huge advantage, â€Å"because it already has so many users that a new purchaser who values such compatibility will be reluctant to buy a competing product that will make it more difficult to communicate with those many users of the Microsoft products† (Baumol and Blinder 280). The bottleneck problem or issues arises because Microsoft supplies both the Windows and most of the applications such as Internet Explorer (an internet browser), Excel (this is a spreadsheet program), and Word (this is a word processing program). However, it is worth noting that it is not illegal to become the owner of a bottleneck (Baumol and Blinder 280). The worry about the bottleneck owner (such as Microsoft) is that it uses its bottleneck product (that is, Windows for Microsoft) in a manner that it favors its programs and impairs programs supplied by the competitors (Baumol and Blinder 281). Bundling is described as the pricing agreement under which a substantial discount is offered by the supplier to the consumers if they purchase various products from the firm, â€Å"so that the price of the bundle of products is less than the sum of the prices of the products if they were bought separately† (Baumol and Blinder 281). Bundling can be either legitimate or illegitimate. Microsoft has sponsored its products through the provision of cheap products to computer manufacturers if they purchase Microsoft programs bundles rather than purchasing Windows alone. This form of practice indicates that the rival manufacturers of Internet browsers, spreadsheets, and word processors are disabled in promoting their products to personal computer owners (Baumol and Blinder 281). There are questions regarding the legitimacy and illegitimacy (for