Victor And Walter example essay topic

Arthur Miller's The Price Arthur Miller's The Price Essay, Research Paper I have chosen to write about Arthur Miller and his play The Price. The reason I choose Arthur Miller is that I have read two other works which are All My Sons and The Crucible. I really liked Miller's style of writing. It relates to the reader personally which I think is important in any work of literature. It gives the reader a better understanding of the work. You can understand the characters troubles and decisions due to Miller's style of writing and use of language.

Arthur Miller was born in New York city. Miller was the son of a coat manufacturer who suffered financial ruin in the Great Depression of the 1930's. After his graduation from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, young Miller worked as a stock clerk in an automobile parts warehouse for two and a half years until he had enough money to pay for his first year at the University of Michigan. He finished college with the financial aid of the National Youth Administration supplemented by his salary as night editor on the Michigan Daily newspaper. Before his graduation with a B.A. degree in 1938, he had written a number of plays, winning a five hundred dollar Avery Hopwood Award in 1936 and a one thousand two hundred dollar Theater Guild National Award in 1938 for an effort entitled The Grass Still Grows.

After having returned to New York in 1938, he joined the Federal Theater Project. But before his first play had been produced, the Project ended. He worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and wrote radio scripts heard on the Columbia Workshop and the Calvacade of America. He also wrote two books during this period, Situation Normal in 1944 and Focus, a novel about anti-Semitism in 1945.

He had not however given up playwright ing. In November, 1944, his The Man Who Had All the Luck opened on Broadway but proved to be unlucky. It's favorable reception dishearten Miller, and he decided he would write one more play. If that were not successful, he would give up. In 1947 he wrote All My Sons, his first real success, which established him as a significant American playwright.

Miller's major achievement was Death of a Salesman in 1949. It won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1949 New York Drama Critic's Circle Award for best play of the year and is often cited as one of the finest plays by a contemporary dramatist. It tells, in almost poetic terms, the tragic story of Willy Loan, an average man just like Miller's father. The Crucible his 1953 Broadway hit, which won a Tony Award, was about Salem witch trials and hangings in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, but reflected the practices of the McCarthy era of the time it was written.

The play was aimed at the widespread congressional investigation of subversive activities in the United States. Miller himself appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956. He was convicted of contempt, but later the conviction was appealed and reversed. Miller's other works include After the Fall which is a Drama with an autobiographical tone written in 1964. Also other plays written by Miller are A View from the Bridge in 1955 and The Price in 1968. Arthur's Miller's later works include The Creation of the Word and Other Business in 1972 and The American Clock in 1980.

Miller also wrote the script for Play for Time the true life dramatic special about the experiences of an all woman orchestra in a Nazi concentration camp. This play won four Emmy Awards. Miller received an Emmy for Outstanding Writing. In 1987, Miller published his autobiography Time bends: A Life, in which he recalls his childhood in Brooklyn, the political turmoil of the 1950's and later half of the century. Miller continues to write, winning the 1995 Oliver for his most recent play Broken Glass. In many works of that Arthur Miller has wrote, many share common themes and literary techniques.

In his writings Miller shows us alot of realism. Also you can see the decisions that the characters face. In the works you can also see the same style and use of language which is very common of Miller. These factors are what really make his works of literature so interesting to read and also see on stage. The work I have chosen to write about is The Price by Arthur Miller.

The major characters in this drama are, Victor Franz, a 49 year old police officer who has reached retirement. He is trying to sell the furniture in his parents old apartment before the building is destroyed. Victor is a serious person. He is angry at his brother Walter Franz due to their pasts. He has much resentment for Walter because Walter did not give him the loan that he needed for school so that forced Victor to drop out.

Esther Franz is Victors wife. She is a funny character and also serious. She is an alcoholic which she denies. She tries to show Victor that it is time for him to move on.

Also by the end of the play to open his eyes to the past which kept him and Walter apart for so long. Walter Franz is Victors brother. He is a doctor. Walter left his family to finish his schooling. He didn't like his father due to that he was lazy and didn't like to work and also that he used and exploited Victor. He comes to the apartment to makeup with Victor and form a good relationship.

To the end of the play the truth of theirs pasts come up. Walter explains to Victor the past the way he saw it. Gregory Solomon is a 89 year old appraiser. He comes to the apartment to buy the old furniture from Victor. He is a funny old man but tricky as well.

He is also good with words. He gives Victor eleven hundred dollars for the furniture. He explains to Victor that one who sells furniture shouldn't get emotional. The play's setting is an old apartment building in New York that's going to be destroyed. The play takes place in Victor Franz parent's apartment. The main plot of the play is Victor realizing his past for what it really was.

The play starts off with victor and his wife Esther waiting for the appraiser in the old apartment. While waiting they look around the old furniture which bring up memories. They talk about the past and Walter Franz which Victor doesn't like to talk about. Mr. Solomon arrives and Esther leaves to pickup Victors uniform from the cleaners.

Mr. Solomon looks at the furniture to appraise it. He talks with Victor about the furniture and asks about Victor and his life. Mr. Solomon also explains to Victor that he really wasn't a rich man but still wanted to buy the furniture to try to bounce back into the business. Solomon offers eleven hundred dollars for the furniture. Victor accepts and while Solomon is paying Victor Walter comes in. Walter and Victor hadn't seen each other in sixteen years.

They greet each other and ask about each families. Then to the end of the play the past comes up. Victor wants to know why Walter walked out on the family and why he didn't give him the loan of five hundred dollars for school. Walter explains to Victor that he was blind. That their father used him. That Victor was exploited and he never opened his eyes to it.

Victor then feels resentment towards Walter. Walter offers Victor a job in the new science wing in the hospital. But Victor brings up the past again and tries to blame Walter for the problems. Walter leaves and tells Victor he can have all the money from the furniture. Victor gets the money and him and Esther leave the apartment for the last time and go to the movies. The major conflicts in the play are between Victor and Walter.

The conflict between these two are their pasts. Victor has resentment toward Walter for the way he walked out on the family. Walter feels guilty for his brother not being able to finish school and being exploited by his father. He tries to open his brothers eyes on the past.

To make him see it for what it really was. Another conflict was Victor and his past. Victor saw the past different. But due to Walter his eyes were opened. He sees the past different then before. Walter showed Victor what the past was really about.

The major theme of the play is not to be so close minded. That a person should be open to ideas and views from different people. That sometimes things can not be seen until someone shows you or tells you what the missing pieces are. Also not to deny the truth to yourself. See things for what they really are not for what you want them to be. A memorable incident in the play was when Esther is leaving the apartment to get Victors uniform.

Solomon arrives. They make fun of each other which made me laugh. Each of them is trying to be smarter then the other. The memorable quotation in the play is when Mr. Solomon say's to Esther Sweetheart, all the girls like me what can I do? My Critique of The Price by Arthur Miller is that it is a fine piece of literary work.

Miller shows real life decisions and problems that many families in America go through and that the readers and audiences can relate to. My reaction to this work of literature is that I never thought I would actually be interested in reading the book. But as I got into it the story got me hooked. I really admire the play because of what it taught me. To see the world for what it really is and not what I want it to be. 339.