The end of the Play

Blanche continues to hear music in her head and Stella comes to the sense that Blanche is truely going insane in the membrane. Stella tricks Blanche into going to a hospital and once they arrive the doctors take her away. Blanche doesn't really ever come to terms with the situation because she is spacing out. She thinks that the doctor is a gentleman because he shakes her hand. Stella is extremely upset about the whole situation but deep in her heart she knows it was the right thing to do. She needed to help her sister because if she didn't who would. She hasn't exactly had a cinderella story of a life either. She drinks constantly and then claims she doesn't she had a gay husband shoot himself because of her and she has dealt with more death then anyone should ever have too. So in a way she was a deeply troubled woman. 

Blanche

In our reading find out a little bit about the skeletons that Blanche has been keeping in her closet. We find out that her youngest husband experimented with men and one night Blanche walks in on him in bed with another man. she keeps her mouth shut for a very little amount of time. One night she is out dancing with him and she tells him exactly how she feels about the situation. The husband runs out of the room and kills himself. Another skeleton comes out that she was at the Flamingo hotel selling herself. Really the least of the three but the last one is we discover that she was fired as a teacher. she was fired because she was having an inappropriate relationship with a student.  The young man was 17 years old and the father of the boy uncovered the relationship leading to several meetings causing her to end up being fired. The only shocking one to me though was the one about her husband killing himself. the other two we sort of figured out in class.

Blanche and Stanley

The fist time Blanche is described to us it becomes apparent that she isn't going to fit in to the neighborhood that Stella and Stanley live in. She tells Stella straight to her face that it is an ugly house and she is shocked that she is still living in a dump like that. She brings extravagant outfits so she can out dress everyone and she can't really stand the sight of Stanley because how dirty he is. Blanche starts to compare Stanley to the men the used to date when they were younger even though Stella begs her not to. Once Stanley strikes her Blanche's view of him becomes more dim and more disgust. Blanche is way out of her comfort zone and can't really handle it. She looks down on everyone who is less than her and can't embrace the fact that Stanley and Stella love each other. 

Stanley

In the first scene Stella makes it apparent that she holds strong feelings towards Stanley and is madly in love with him. Stella shows all this affection and Stanley doesn't seem to do much in return. He treats her like a piece of meat that will always be there so he sees no need in treating her like a queen. Later on in scene three Stella goes out with her sister, Blanche, to see a show due to the fact that Stanley is hosting a poker game at his house. When the sisters return they find Stanley belligerently drunk still in the middle of playing. He starts to become physical and rude with his wife. He ends up slapping his Stella who so happens to be pregnant with Stanley's child. Blanch leaves with Stella going to upstairs compartment of the apartment which belongs to  Eunice. We see the change in Stanley when he legitimately becomes upset that Stella has left.  He starts to become upset with his friends and swings at them. The all decide to leave him there and Stanley begins to shout Stella's name. STELL-LAHHHHH! We see that he really cares about Stella and feels awful about striking her. He has affection for her just like Stella has for him. He does love her but just doesn't show it as much as most women would want. 

my initial thoughts on the paper

I think writing this paper won't be too difficult. Comparing and contrasting Willy and Norma is going to be simple because they are very much a like. Although Norma was once successful and still has a lot of money. Both of the characters never truly achieve what they want. Norma wants to be loved again and Willy wants to be well liked and successful. The tow have both tried to kill themselves and both of them have a few screws loose. Norma is basically the woman version of Willy. 

Wily and Norma

Willy and Norma are not that different from each other. Although Norma was once a big silent movie actress and was successful she is just like plane old Willy. Just like Willy, Norma likes to embellishes herself a little bit. When Joe Gillis first meets her he says that she was once a big movie star but she says that she still is. She builds herself up to be someone that she really isn't just like Willy. They both live in their own little worlds where they seclude reality. There is one difference between the two. Norma was once successful and by the looks of her house she isn't making it up but Willy on the other hand never really had any money and is past is complete fiction. They are both very similar though in the sense that they like to lie a little bit. 

Willy's final action

I think for the most part that Willy chose the easy way out. I think Willy was a weak man and couldn't see himself for what he really was. He had to always embellish his stories and make himself out to be a great successful man but instead of trying to be he lied so much that he actually thought he was. Willy killed himself so his family could have money and so that Biff could carry on with his life and make something of it.  Willy never tried to fix the problems he had he just lied to get out of them. In general Willy was a weak man who was lazy and envied everyone else around him who had money.  Willy's final action was no "Death of a Salesman". He didn't go out with a big boom or make much of himself. He left behind a broken hearted family with two kids who saw him for what he was and a more then depressed wife. Willy was so washed up in his own fantasy of being rich and successful that he never really understood how to be a good husband or father or even a good salesman. 

Willy & Biff

In our reading we find out what truly happened when Biff visited Willy in Boston. After flunking math, Biff goes up to Boston to see his dad since he is away on Boston. When he gets to his dad's hotel room, he is forced to beat on Willy's door constantly until he almost breaks it down. Willy doesn't answer at first because he is with another woman and isn't expecting company. After a few moments he flings the door open to find 17 year old Biff. Biff starts to tell his dad what happened with his grades and how he needs him to come home to talk to his math teacher. After a few stories are told by Biff to Willy he starts to laugh, and the woman that he had put in the bathroom before Biff's entering, began to laugh along as well. Biff confused by the third party laughter asked if anyone was in the room. Willy tells him its from the other room but Biff doesn't believe him. The woman comes out of the shower and then Willy and Biff's relationship goes down the crapper. Biff relates his father to a fake and a phony for the rest of his life. Biff is so appalled by Willy's actions that he can never look him straight in the eye again or get along with him. Willy cheating on LInda was so detrimental to Biff that he never wanted to do anything for his dad ever again and he threw his life away because of it. When ever Willy hallucinates it's of the years that he and Biff were still close and deep down Willy knows it's his fault that they no longer have the same relationship but he chooses to remember the past in the way he wants. 

Willy's decision

I think Willy made the wrong decision in not working with Charley. I understand why Willy believes he can't work with Charley but i think Willy needs to get over himself. The man was just fired and has to go beg an old friend for money every week, of course it was dumb of him not to take a job offering by one of his only friends even though it's hard to work with a friend. He holds himself to higher standards then he can achieve and he sets himself up for failure. He is so interested in how everyone else gets their money and how they did it instead of worrying about himself. He is trying to reach the rags to riches dream but has such a big ego that he can't stand to be criticized or helped or even fail. He needs to get over himself and become more opened minded to different ideas instead of being so old fashioned. 

Ben's influence on Willy

I believe that Ben was a negative influence on Willy. Ben would always come from out of no where to stop by and spill lies about get rich schemes and how he could travel the world with him along with his boys and Linda. The reason he was such a negative influence is because he tricked Willy into believing him. He through out all these ideas to the point where Willy could almost taste them and then in a matter of seconds he leaves him behind. Willy has spent his life trying to get rich like his brother and sees himself as sort of a failure and is upset with his life because he isn't like his brother. Linda thinks that Ben was a negative influence on Willy because he always wanted Willy to travel with him and Linda didn't see the reason. She said, "Why must everybody conquer the world?" She thought that Willy was happy enough at home and he had a family to raise. He is "well liked". 

Biff and Happy's plan

Through out the first act Biff and Willy go at it with each other. The two of them hold certain standards for each other and neither of them seem to be living up to those standards. Biff decides he is going to stay home and help Willy. Happy comes up with this idea of doing something with sports. Happy and Biff then decided they are going to talk to a man named Oliver to help them set up their own sporting goods store. Willy is more then thrilled when he hears about their plan. He thinks it will be a great success and money will start flowing because they are "well-liked". I think that the sporting goods store idea will go down the drain. We have learned that Biff and Happy are both unreliable characters and at the first sign of trouble will drop the ball and run for the hills. It really all depends on how much they will work at it to help their dad or if they will just turn back to their old ways.