AMERICAN DREAMERS MATERIALISM, SELF-INTEREST AND TRAGIC CONSEQUENCES
Take that money. Watch it burn. Sink in the river. The lessons are learned…
Money .. You say it long enough it doesn’t mean anything… Every man does have a star. The star of one's honesty . Jim Bayliss (Act Three, 79-80)
HOW FAR DO YOU THINK THE PLAY ILLUSTRATES FAILURE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM
Page 2 THE DREAMERS CHA-CHING
THE GOOD LIFE BETTER RICHER FULLER THE DEFINITION IS PROBLEMATIC
The play can be read as a denouncement of a competitive , capitalistic society responsible for dehumanising the individual and transforming the American Dream into a nightmare .
I would love to help humanity on a Warner Brothers salary . Jim Bayliss (Act One, 7)
NATURALISTIC STYLE The play has to connect with its audience because it is about its audience, whether post-war America or modern-day Singapore, and their materialism , their self-interest .
THE SUBURBS Familiar scenes of middle class America
SETTING The Kellers’ home is a SUBURBAN IDYLL clearly defined by its MONETARY VALUE It would have cost perhaps fifteen thousand in the early twenties when it was built (3).
Page 2 EVERYBODY’S GOT A PRICE
The opening scene is tinted by the LANGUAGE OF MONEY
AN ABUNDANCE OF ALLUSIONS TO MONEY, SALARY, GOODS, PROPERTY Want ads High prices paid Make a living All the kind of business Toaster, malted mixer Money , money, money, money…
LOMAN Are all of Miller’s characters also ‘ too.. realistic ’?
Page 3 EVERYBODY’S GOT A PRICE
ANN’S DRESS COSTS ‘THREE WEEKS SALARY’ A MARK OF CONSUMER SOCIETY
For ten dollars.. Jim and Sue Bayliss Symbols of compromise & material bliss ? Domestic Medical VS Comforts Research ‘You’ve got to ‘Come and see what we did with’ give up your life ’ the house
JOE KELLER ‘Build you a HOUSE ... I had one of the best SHOPS ... BIGGER than ever’
LUBEYS REPRESENT THE AMERICAN DREAM [Frank] has three children and his house paid off. Stop being a philosopher, and look after yourself... [Joe will] help you get set, and find you a girl and put a smile on your face. Kate Keller (Act Two, 67)
SMILE LOOK AFTER YOURSELF! Does the play call for us to relinquish our ‘big principles’ ?
Page 3 I WONDER HOW THEY SLEEP AT NIGHT
The moon is strong and casts its bluish light. TRAGIC END IS THE ENDING IS THE MESSAGE ? The destruction of the Keller family might serve as a WARNING against the AMERICAN DREAM .
Page 4 WE DON’T NEED YOUR MONEY X3
CHRIS 1. AS THE CHRIST-LIKE FIGURE CLOSEST TO THE PLAY’S VALUES 2. AS A CONTRAST TO MILLER’S MATERIALISTIC CHARACTERS?
e n o t t n a t l u Chris elevates x E MORAL ideals n o i t i s o p a t x over u J MATERIAL values e n o t l u f t n e s e R
I felt... ashamed somehow. I felt wrong to be alive, to open the bank-book , to drive the new car , to see the new refrigerator . Chris Keller (Act One, 38)
CHRIS’S DISGRACE A SYMBOL OF ILL-GOTTEN GAINS AND HIS OWN COMPLICITY . Christopher Keller Inc.
( a little uneasily ) J. O. Keller is good enough. ( touched ) I will , Dad. No, don’t feel that [I’m ashamed]. I went to work with Dad, and that rat-race again. I felt—what you said— ashamed somehow .
A CONTRADICTORY CHRIS WHOSE INNER CONFLICT IS PLAYED OUT IN HIS TENTATIVENESS IN LANGUAGE AND ACTION
CHRIS SPEAKS THE LANGUAGE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM Oh Annie, Annie... I’m going to MAKE A FORTUNE for you!
Page 5 WE NEED TO TAKE IT BACK IN TIME
Annie, we're going to live now! I'm going to make you so happy . I’m going to make a fortune for you! ( putting her arms around him ) Oh, Chris, I’ve been ready a long, long time.
THE FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE AND USE OF ‘NOW’ REVEAL CHRIS TO BE ANOTHER ‘LOW MAN’ CONSUMED BY THE AMERICAN DREAM.
If I have to grub for money all day long... I want it beautiful . I want a family , I want some kids , I want to build something I can give myself to. Chris Keller (Act One, 17)
CHRIS I want to build something I can give myself to . KELLER I took it for you .. When would I have another chance to make something for you? Chris and Keller are alike in their motivation. Both strive in the name of family ‘for you’.
Page 5 YOU CAN’T PUT A PRICE ON LIFE
CHRIS A S TH E P L AY ’ S TRAGIC HERO We can consider Chris’s idealism or righteousness his hamartia It is Chris’s hamartia that indirectly causes his father’s death
CHRIS’S ANAGNORISIS MILLER’S TRAGIC HERO CONFRONTS HIS FAULTS AND ‘SPITS ON’ HIMSELF FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE AMERICAN DREAM
DEHUMANISATION - ANIMAL IMAGERY IF I WERE HUMAN ANYMORE A ZOO , A LAND OF GREAT BIG DOGS
I’M PRACTICAL. THAT’S THE PRINCIPLE. THE ONLY ONE WE LIVE BY.
CHRIS LATER REPUDIATES HIS FATHER AND CALLS FOR HIM TO BE ‘BETTER’
Page 6 YOU CAN’T PUT A PRICE ON LIFE (PT 2)
JOE KELLER FEELS NO SUCH REMORSE
I don’t know what you mean! You wanted money , so I made money . What must I be forgiven? You wanted money , didn’t you? Joe Keller (Act Three, 84)
FAMILY LOYALTY Keller’s ‘pragmatism’ is not self-interested. Just MISGUIDED ?
A SYMPATHETIC VIEW Keller as the everyman Sacrifices for the family, not pure self-interest. ‘Half the goddam country’ is guilty too. The audience can offer Keller some compassion .
Page 6 WHY IS EVERYONE SO OBSESSED?
Half of my patients are quite mad . Nobody realises how many people are walking loose, and they're cracked as coconuts. Money. Money —money—money—money. You say it long enough it doesn't mean anything… Jim Bayliss (Act Three, 79)
THE ROLE OF JIM BAYLISS AS AUTHORIAL VOICE GREEK CHORUS PROVIDES SOCIAL COMMENTARY Seemingly on his ‘mad’ patients Actually on post-war America
Page 7 WE PAY WITH LOVE TONIGHT
CAN WE BE BETTER? THE PLAY IS PERHAPS BOTH AN INDICTMENT AND A SERMON ABOUT OUR PERFECTIBILITY.
Father FORGIVE H O LY Family Son
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