Death of a Salesman Final Assessments DUE FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2013!!!!!!!!!!!!

Directions: Choose ONE of the following assignments to complete:

1. Write a detailed essay that discusses how the ideals of the American Dream in the 1940s are reflected throughout Death of a Salesman? How are these values reflected in each of the main characters (Willy, Biff, Happy, and Linda)? Do they contribute to the successes/failures of these characters? You must give a detailed definition of what the American Dream is to you, a detailed outline of the American Dream in the 1940s, and effectively describe how this affected each of the characters lives in the play and eventually the outcome of the play in your paper. 2. Watch the movie Its a Wonderful Life (1946) (the full movie can be viewed on YouTube) and write a paper comparing and contrasting George Baileys idea of success with Willy Lomans idea of success. Make sure to include the differences and similarities between how the American Dream is portrayed in both of these texts from the same time period (late 1940s). How are the main characters portrayed differently? How is poverty portrayed in both of these texts? What is significant about what happens to the heroes in both texts (Willy and George)? 3. Imagine you are in charge of creating the soundtrack of a modern film version of Death of a Salesman. Put together a soundtrack including 6 school appropriate songs for the play. What songs would you choose? Why? There are no limitations to the types of songs you may want to use, but you will need to justify the reason you used them. Each song should include at least one paragraph of justification as to why you chose it - Does it follow one of the play's themes? Does it work particularly well for what is going through the mind of a character? Choose at least two songs that could be used during certain scenes (identify the song and scene) and one song representing the American Dream - the rest could be just songs that follow the general theme(s) and tone of the play. You must provide me with the YouTube links to the songs you choose in your paper. 4. Each of the major characters in Death of a Salesman - Willy, Linda, Happy, Biff - have their own dreams of success. Create a comic strip in which you take a theme from the text (American Dream, Parenting, Success, Knowing who you are) and draw three scenes/snapshots that represent these themes. You must justify your drawings with evidence from the play. Include at least one quotation from the play for each scene - you can incorporate the quote as part of the drawing, or as a caption for the drawing. You will have to explain your reasons for the pictures you drew in writing (why did you draw what you drew, why did you use those colors, why did you choose this scene to represent this theme).