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Introduction to Death of a Salesman and the 1940’s. Arthur Miller. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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INTRODUCTION TO DEATH OF A SALESMAN AND THE 1940’S
Arthur Miller
"The American Dream is the largely unacknowledged screen in front of which all American writing plays itself out," Arthur Miller has said. "Whoever is writing in the United States is using the American Dream as an ironical pole of his story. People elsewhere tend to accept, to a far greater degree anyway, that the conditions of life are hostile to man's pretensions."
Miller Bio. Son of a women's clothing company born in 1915 in New York City. His father lost his business in the Depression and
the family was forced to move to a smaller home in Brooklyn.
After graduating high school, Miller worked jobs ranging from radio singer to truck driver to clerk in an automobile-parts warehouse.
Miller began writing plays as a student at the University of Michigan, joining the Federal Theater Project in New York City after he received his degree.
His 1949 Death of a Salesman won the Pulitzer Prize.
What’s so Special about the 1940’s?
FACTS about this decade. Population 132,122,000 Unemployed in 1940 - 8,120,000 National Debt $43 Billion Average Salary $1,299. Teacher's salary $1,441 Minimum Wage $.43 per hour 55% of U.S. homes have indoor plumbing Antarctica is discovered to be a continent Life expectancy 68.2 female, 60.8 male Auto deaths 34,500 Supreme Court decides blacks do have a right
to vote World War II changed the order of world
power; the United States and the USSR become super powers
Cold War begins.
Other 1940’s Contributions
Frozen Dinners Tupperware Aluminum Foil Diners Slinky With fathers away (WWII) and mothers at
work, another new phenomenon arose - the juvenile delinquent