Revision #4

1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

Conflicts between parents and their children are a common occurrence. However, a conflict that spans many years and continuously deepens is more unusual and significant. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, such a conflict arises between Willy and his son, Biff. Their conflict begins with Biff catching his father having an extramarital affair, and deepens as the play continues. This conflict contributes greatly to the overall theme of illusions versus reality present in Death of a Salesman.

The conflict between Biff and Willy begins when Biff catches Willy having an affair with another woman in Boston. This event is when Biff loses his innocence and is forced to open his eyes to who his father really is. Before, he looked up to and worshipped Willy. After this event, however, Biff never again looks up to his father in the same way. Willy is also drastically changed by this event. He is terrified that he has lost his son’s love and respect. This change in their once almost lover-esque relationship is what begins the conflict.

                  Their conflict deepens as Willy tries to live his own dreams through Biff, and Biff refuses. Throughout Death of a Salesman, Biff expresses his desire to move out west and live on a farm. He does not want to stay in the city and become a salesman like his father. However, for Willy, living out west isn’t good enough. In his mind, Biff needs to go into business and become wealthy and respected. This dream that Willy has for Biff stems from his own shortcomings. Biff represents this savior for Willy, his last hope for true success. Biff tries to appease his father for a short time, but then decides to live the life he wants instead. Biff’s decision to refuse his father’s wishes stems back to when he caught Willy having the affair in Boston. Before that event, had Willy told Biff to go into business, Biff probably would have gone along. Perhaps that might be the biggest reason for their conflict: Willy wants to control Biff, but he no longer can.

                  Willy and Biff’s conflict contributes to the meaning of Death of a Salesmanbecause it contributes to the overall theme of illusions versus reality. When Biff sees his father having an affair, Biff suddenly stops believing all of his father’s lies. His eyes are opened to the reality that his father is not perfect, and that he’s not an amazing salesman. As Biff and Willy’s conflict later deepens, Willy continuously tries to pull Biff back under this illusion that Biff was great in business and has these connections. Biff, on the other hand, tries to pull his father out of the illusion that he could still be this great businessman. He tries to open his father’s eyes to the reality of their situation.

                  Overall, the fracture in Willy and Biff’s relationship is extremely deep. What begins as a fight between Biff and Willy when Biff catches his father cheating turns into a bitter, irreconcilable conflict between the two of them. Biff’s refusal to appease Willy’s illusions contributes to a theme of illusions versus reality that is very much present in the play. 

Ceremony Summary and Analysis

Author Leslie Marmon Silko
Setting the Laguna Rez, land beyond the Rez that's owned by whites/government, jungles and cities from during the war, Gallup
Main Characters
-Tayo: Half white, half Laguna. WWII vet. Protagonist.
-Robert: Auntie's husband. Doesn't play huge role in Tayo's life until Josiah dies.
-Josiah: Father figure for Tayo. Auntie's brother. Dies during the war. Loves his cattle.
-Rocky: Tayo's cousin. Loves white culture. Dies during the war, despite Tayo's promise to bring him back safely.
-Auntie: Rocky's mom, Tayo's Aunt. Devout Christian. Very concerned with what people think of their family.
-Emo: Laguna war veteran. Thinks white culture/whites in general are better. Practices witchery.
-Night Swan: Old Mexican Cantina dancer. Josiah's boyfriend. Hooks up with Tayo.
-Ts'eh: Yellow woman. Tayo's lover. Helps heal Tayo.
-Betonie: Healer that lives in Gallup. Begins Tayo's ceremony to heal him.
-Harley: Tayo's "friend." War vet. Alcoholic. Betrays Tayo in the end by conspiring with Emo.
Plot
Tayo, a World War II veteran, is suffering from some sort of sickness. He has been treated by a white doctor, and by Laguna medicine, but nothing has worked. On top of this sickness, Tayo is struggling with a lot of guilt. He blames himself for Rocky's death during the war, and the feeling that he let Josiah down by going to war, when he promised Josiah that he'd take care of his cattle. Tayo also thinks he caused the draught that's plaguing his reservation by praying away the rain when he was in the jungle during the war. Meanwhile, his "friends" such as Harley and Leroy are enjoying getting drunk at bars and reliving war memories when they felt accepted by white culture. Finally, Tayo visits a Navajo healer, Betonie, at Gallup. Betonie performs a ceremony on Tayo, but warns him that the ceremony isn't complete. Later, Tayo skeptically follows Betonie's instructions, and end up meeting Ts'eh, finding Josiah's cattle, and having a significant encounter with a lion. After this, Tayo ends up going into the wilderness to live with Ts'eh and care for the cattle. He lives peacefully for awhile, until he finds out that Emo has been telling everyone he's crazy and now the government (and Emo) are coming to get him! Because of this, Tayo leaves Ts'eh and goes into the mountains. He eventually gets a ride with Harley and Leroy, and passes out in their car from exhaustion. When he wakes up, Harley and Leroy are gone and Tayo realizes that they are working with Emo. Tayo flees to the mines. That night, he watches Emo, Leroy, and Pinky brutally murder Harley in an attempt to lure Tayo from hiding. However, Tayo resists the urge to kill Emo and, in doing this, finally discovers true balance and banishes the witchery.
Style
-Narrative voice is third person, generally limited to Tayo. There are also extra war stories and Laguna stories that are told through some unknown/unspecified person.
-Lots of importance in the landscape/details/descriptions.
-A ton of symbolism.
Quotes
"Here they were, trying to bring back that old feeling, that feeling they belonged to America the way they felt during the war. They blamed themselves for losing the new feeling; they never talked about it, but they blamed themselves just like they blamed themselves for losing the land the white people took."
This really shows the problem that Laguna war veterans such as Emo and Harley struggled with in the book. They wanted so badly to feel like they belonged to white culture again, and they blamed themselves for not being able to achieve the feeling of belonging again. They never thought to blame whites for not being accepting of native americans.
"You don't have anything if you don't have the stories."
This reiterated the importance of stories, a theme prevalent in Ceremony.
Theme
It's imperative to achieve some sort of balance/harmony in the world.
This is something that comes up in the Laguna story being told throughout the book, as well as in Tayo's own story. For example, when the people in the Laguna story begin to ignore Mother corn, the harmony is thrown off and Mother corn leaves. To restore balance, the people and animals have to perform all of these tasks to bring her back. The theme is even more clear in Tayo's own story. Tayo has to work through this whole ceremony to reconcile the differences between white culture and Laguna culture, and how rapidly the world is changing, in order to find peace and balance in his world.

Course Response #?

So, Ceremony is now done, and we're forging ahead to our final book. Finally!

Ceremony was decent. I liked it more before I had to annotate DURING MY SPRING BREAK, but whatever. The packet that Ms. Holmes gave us about the symbolism and stuff in Ceremony was actually really helpful. I didn't realize how important the different animals (like the bear and lion) that Tayo meets along his journey were.

And now, on to Fifth Business! The narrator is one interesting cookie so far. He doesn't really seem to care about much of anyone, except Mrs. Dempster. I guess you could argue that he cares about Mrs. Dempster's son, but I would say his actions are merely driven by guilt, not an actual love for the kid. The narrator actually really bothers me! He reminds me of the main character in l'Etranger (the foreigner) by Albert Camus, who doesn't even care about the woman he's about to be married to.

That aside, AP season is almost upon us, folks. Am I the only one who feels completely unprepared?