Tag: everyman

It was judged old-fashioned—out of touch with social trends, conventional in form and naive in its attempts to universalize identity. Contrary to general opinion, some students insisted that Willy Loman, the striving, suicidal protagonist in “Death of a Salesman,” had a good dream that he simply didn’t pursue strategically. Students could be more forgiving of Kazan after reading about the threat of communism at the time, and could better understand the mixed motives behind Miller’s seemingly virtuous behavior after reading his highly autobiographical play, “After the Fall” (1964). One group quickly assumed the resentful voice of Victor; the other, the self-justifying voice of Walter. Unprompted, students brought material from their own lives to support their positions. The “Victors” were family-oriented in the extreme. Several of them confessed to having gone against parental wishes to pursue their college careers or academic disciplines. Neither the class nor the play resolved the question. And yet my students didn’t find them despairing or nihilistic. Great literature places us at a remove from life, letting us appreciate Victor and Walter as flawed human beings—and see ourselves in them both.

Ohio voter who switched from Democrat to Republican to vote for Trump says the president is doing exactly what he said he would do. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as…