Revision of 1997 Prompt

1997.    Novels and plays often include scenes of weddings, funerals, parties, and other social occasions.  Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters and the society in which they live.  Select a novel or play that includes such a scene and, in a focused essay, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a whole. 

      Weddings are usually symbols of a joyous new beginning. The Jungle begins with a wedding scene, and what is traditionally filled with hope the family off on their trail of hardships. Sinclair uses the archetype to introduce the contrast between the “American dream” and the reality he sees immigrants face.

      The wedding scene is the opening of the novel, and emphasizes the Rudkus' original innocence. The family invites everyone who walks past to join them, despite the cost of the bar and feast they'll have to pay for; they trust people, like back in Lithuania, to give donations. They are more welcoming than they can afford; after eating and drinking, many of the guests sneak out of the building, leaving the poor family with a staggering bill. The behavior is shocking to the Rudkus family. It's a betrayal. The family, still, carries on with innocence and optimism, Jurgis taking responsibility with an "I will work harder.” it's clear that they still believe in the America that had been advertised to them, a place for hope. The wedding sets up a place for the characters to fall from. 

      The family's traditional values, as well as their hope, fall. In this environment, their generosity harms them. It's traditional to invite people nearby inside, but it's not as practical in Chicago as it was in Lithuania; the sidewalks are much more crowded. Their kindness, unrequited, is out of place. They're faced with people out for themselves, a foreshadowing to their own eventual loss of values: Majija and Teta Elzbieta's prostitution, and Jurgis' abandonment of the family.

      The family, battered by harsh surroundings, is later broken. The structure of the novel is an ironic twist, beginning with a wedding and ending apart, again emphasizing the family's fallen hopes.

Revision of 1972 prompt

1972. In retrospect, the reader often discovers that the first chapter of a novel or the opening scene of a drama introduces some of the major themes of the work. Write an essay about the opening scene of a drama or the first chapter of a novel in which you explain how it functions in this way.

      To focus an audience on themes and clue them subtly into later conflicts, both authors and playwrights often fill opening scenes with hints. After rereading The American Dream, for example, one can see that the beginning echoes the themes of the rest of the play, both foreshadowing and connecting the play back to itself. The opening shows what Albee was most interested in getting across: the superficiality of this middle class society.

      Childishness is quickly introduced. The first two characters the audience meets call each other Mommy and Daddy, something usually reserved for when among children. Mommy talks to Daddy like he is a small child, often stopping to ask for proof that he had been listening. The two treat each other condescendingly, she consistently with her style of speech, and he with his agreement that she "did get satisfaction" after stating that it was impossible, a sarcastic assurance. Mommy's immature behavior in the store also makes them seem less like responsible adults; she was upset over something as trivial as a hat being beige versus wheat.

      The beige or wheat hat is an example of the miscommunication so central to absurdist plays. The difference between the colors is clearly one of opinion, yet becomes a conflict; they're fighting, then, not about color, but power. The characters, throughout the beginning of the play, don't respond to or present ideas clearly. While Daddy can repeat what Mommy last said, he's not focused on the meaning; he rarely adds his own responses to the conversation, and is disinterested, again a kind of rebellion, a power claim

      Satisfaction is often referred to in the play, a motif. Mommy proclaims that shopping gives her satisfaction, while Daddy says "you just can't get satisfaction." The opening of The American Dream prepares the rest of the play through introducing themes and conflicts.

Revision of 1986 prompt

1986. Some works of literature use the element of time in a distinct way. The chronological sequence of events may be altered, or time may be suspended or accelerated. Choose a novel, an epic, or a play of recognized literary merit and show how the author's manipulation of time contributes to the effectiveness of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

      Memories are a kind of time travel. Miller's Death of a Salesman uses this to form a layered narrative of Willy's life. The play, in following Willy to the past and present, lets the audience sympathize with him. Because it's not realistic chronologically, Death of a Salesman leans the audience toward a more emotional reading.

      Willy's conversations with Ben don't happen in the "present time" of the play, yet they contribute great meaning, as does their repetition. He's haunted by the success that Ben achieved, and sees him as a role model. He frequently quotes how Ben "walked into the jungle" and walked out a rich man. It becomes a kind of fable for him, a legend: the world isn't working out for him, but it's not hopeless; Ben made it through! He returns to that memory when he's confused or overwhelmed, asking for advice. This pattern reveals his insecurities to the audience, and shows one of his motivations. Later, when he's talking over the possibility of suicide with an imaginary Ben, Ben already symbolizes someone who Willy trusts, someone clever. If he can convince Ben, it's a good idea. This image helps portray the gravity of the scene. Ben, in being used as a memory helps to make Willy's way of thinking understandable.

      The flashbacks also flashbacks carry the audience along closer to Willy's pace, suspending their understanding of the situation and its causes. For example, Biff's discovery of the Woman is later in the play, after the conflict between him and Willy has been established. Knowing that it is not yet resolved makes watching the fall even more tragic. Without traveling with his memories, Willy would be alienated from the audience. If they didn't travel with him, so much of his increasing tension is brought from the weight of the conflict in his memories as well as the memories' interactions with the present. He's disturbed whenever he sees Linda with stockings, and the connection between those stockings and the Woman's is understood through the twisting of time. By manipulating the order of events, Miller helps the audience understand Willy and why he committed suicide.