Ph.D.

PROPOSAL
TOPIC:
THE PARADOXICAL AMERICAN DREAM:
A CRITIQUE OF SELECTED ARTHUR MILLERS DRAMA:
A Death of Salesma! All m" Sos! The C#$%&'le! The Ma (ho Ha) All The L$%*
SU+MITTED FOR RESEARCH IN EN,LISH LITERATURE! ----- UNI.ERSIT/
+" JASIM MOHAMMED KHAZI
The Supervisor would be Dr. ---------------------
1. SCOPE.
The structure of a play is always the story of how the birds came home to roost.
Arthur Miller
Ea#l" L&fe.
Arthur Miller, born in Harlem, New Yor on !ctober "#, "$"%, was raised in a
moderately affluent household until his family lost almost e&erythin' in the (all )treet *rash of
"$+$. They subse,uently mo&ed from the -pper .ast )ide in Manhattan to /ra&esend,
0roolyn. After 'raduatin' from hi'h school, Miller wored a few odd 1obs to sa&e enou'h
money to attend the -ni&ersity of Michi'an. (hile in colle'e, he wrote for the student paper and
completes his first play, No Villain. He also too courses with the much2lo&ed playwri'ht
professor 3enneth 4owe, a man who tau'ht his students how to construct a play in order to
achie&e an intended effect. 5nspired by 4owe6s approach, Miller mo&ed bac east to be'in his
career.
Ca#ee#.
1
7or Miller, thin's started out a bit unsteady8 His "$9:;s play, The Man Who Had All the
Luck, 'arnered precisely the antithesis of its title, closin' after 1ust four performances and a stac
of woeful re&iews. Howe&er, si< years later, All My Sons achie&ed success on 0roadway, and
earned him his first Tony Award =best author>. (orin' from a small studio that he built in
4o<bury, *onnecticut, Miller wrote the first act of Death of Salesman in less than a day. 5t was
adored by nearly e&eryone. Death of Salesman won him the triple crown of theatrical artistry8
the ?ulit@er ?ri@e, the New Yor Arama *ritics6 *ircle Award and a Tony.
5n "$%B, Miller left his first wife, Mary )lattery. )hortly thereafter, he married the then
famed actress Marilyn Monroe. Cater that year, the House of -n2American Acti&ities
*ommittee refused to renew Miller6s passport, and called him in to appear before the committee
his play, The Crucible, a dramati@ation of the )alem witch trials of "B$+ and an alle'ory of
Mc*arthyism, was the foremost reason for their stron'2armed summons. Howe&er, Miller
refused to comply with the committee6s demands to DoutD people who had been acti&e in certain
political acti&ities.
5n "$B", Monroe starred in The Misfits, a film for which Miller supplied the screenplay.
Around the same time, Monroe and Miller di&orced.
(ithin se&eral months, Miller married Austrian2born photo'rapher 5n'e Morath. The
couple had two children, 4ebecca and Aaniel. Miller insisted that their son, Aaniel, who was
born with Aown syndrome, be completely e<cluded from the family6s personal life. Miller6s son2
2
in2law, actor Aaniel Aay2Cewis, &isited his wife6s brother fre,uently, and e&entually persuaded
Miller to reunite with his adult son.
F&al /ea#s.
5n his final years, Miller6s wor continued to 'rapple with the wei'htiest of societal and
personal matters. His last play of note was The Price ="$BE>, a piece about family dynamics. 5n
+::+, Miller6s third wife, 5n'es, died. The famed playwri'ht promptly too a fourth wife, F92
year2old minimalist painter A'nes 0arley. The two planned to marry, but on 7ebruary ":, +::%
=the %Bth anni&ersary of Death of a Salesman6s 0roadway debut>, Arthur Miller, surrounded by
0arley, family and friends, died of heart failure. He was E$ years old.
Arthur Miller was one of the leadin' American playwri'hts of the twentieth century.
Miller has recei&ed numerous honors and awards throu'hout his career. Miller6s accolades
include8 the Michi'an6s A&ery Hopwood Award, "$FB and "$F#G the Theatre /uild6s 0ureau of
New ?lays Award, "$F#G the New Yor Arama *ritics *ircle Award, "$9#G the ?ulit@er ?ri@e,
"$9$G the New Yor Arama *ritics *ircle Award, "$9$G the Antoinette ?erry and Aonaldson
Awards, "$%FG and the /old Medal for Arama by the National 5nstitutes of Arts and Cetters,
"$%$. Miller was also elected ?resident of ?.N =?oets, .ssayists, and No&elists> in "$B%.
)ome of the ma1or wors of Arthur Miller are as follows8
All My )ons ="$9#>
Aeath of a )alesman ="$9$>
The *rucible ="$%F>
3
A Hiew from the 0rid'e ="$%%>
After the 7all ="$B9>
0roen /lass ="$$9>
4esurrection 0lues =+::+>
7inishin' the ?icture =+::9>
)ince Miller was in the spotli'ht, he was a prime tar'et for the House of -n2American
Acti&ities *ommittee =H-A*>. 5n an a'e of anti2communism and Mc*arthyism, Miller;s
political beliefs seemed threatenin' to some American politicians. 5n retrospect, this is ,uite
amusin', considerin' the )o&iet -nion banned his plays.
5n response to the hysteria of the time, he wrote one of his best plays, The Crucible. 5t is
an insi'htful criticism of social and political paranoia set durin' the )alem (itch Trials.
.&en into his late E:s, Miller continued to write. His newer sta'e plays did not 'ain the
same amount of attention or acclaim as his earlier wor.
5n "$E#, his autobio'raphy was published. Much of his later plays dealt with personal
e<perience. 5n particular, his final drama, inishin! the Picture mirrors the turbulent last days of
his marria'e to Marilyn Monroe.
4
*ritics ha&e carefully traced symbolic elements in Death of a Salesman since its
publication o&er si<ty years a'o. The 'arden is such a dynamic motif, that it emer'es as perhaps
the most unifyin' symbolic element in Death of a Salesman.
Arthur Miller saw his efforts in the theater as political wor. He used drama to teach, to
intimidate, to entice, and to reassure audiences all o&er the world that ideas matter, that politics
should ne&er be business as usual, and that the pli'ht of the indi&idual must not be for'otten
amid the machinations of the powerful. Ieffrey A. Mason, in his boo Stone To"er# The
Political Theater of Arthur Miller, ar'ues that DMiller6s indi&idual was not simply a man alone or
apart, but specifically one who dissents from the ma1ority &iew, an independent thiner who
follows his con&ictions and 'oes his own wayD. 0ecause of the len'th of Miller6s career, his
political and cultural influences span the twentieth century, from the /reat Aepression throu'h
the early days of the new millennium. Alon' the way, his writin' was shaped by the politics of
(orld (ar 55, Mc*arthyism and the *old (ar, the socio, cultural and political uphea&als of the
"$B:s, and capitalism6s uneasy and uncertain triumph from the days of 4onald 4ea'an onward.
His ideals did not always fit the taste of the times, at least in the -nited )tates, which accounted
for Miller6s mar'inali@ation at home as well as his increasin' popularity abroad.
The anti2)emitism that Miller encountered at wor and in the wider adult world of New
Yor became another theme that would shape much of his wor, particularly early in his career,
althou'h not e&eryone Miller encountered e&en reali@ed he was Iewish. Miller remained
interested in the peculiar stren'ths, both pro and con, of ethnic identity, in how it can create both
community and di&ision. His "$9% no&el, ocus, e<plores this idea throu'h a man who, while
not a Iew, is taen to be one after he starts wearin' 'lasses. .&en this le&el of 'ross
5
stereotypin', Miller6s no&el ar'ues, can be transformati&e22not for the accusers but for the
accused.
0. AIMS AND O+1ECTI.ES.
The aim and the ob1ecti&e of the research study to understand the parado<ical impact of
American dreams as enunciated by Arthur Millers dramas.
Cie many youn' people of his 'eneration, Miller was also radicali@ed by the )panish
*i&il (ar and the bombin' of /uernica in April, "$F#. Cooin' bac on this time in "$#F, he
e<plained that Dto most supporters of the )panish loyalists, their stru''le was far more profound
than any politics could embraceG the )panish ci&il war was a battle of an'els as well as the lowly
poor a'ainst the murderous rich.
4eturnin' to 0roolyn after 'raduatin', Miller continued to hone his craft, writin' both
plays and fiction. 7or a few short months, he 1oined the 7ederal Theatre ?ro1ect =7T?> until
*on'ress disbanded it in "$F$, in part because of the left2leanin' politics of many 7T? artists.
.&en after the 7T?6s demise, Miller wored briefly for the 'o&ernment6s (ors ?ro1ects
Administration, collectin' oral histories in the )outh for the Cibrary of *on'ress. Miller was
writin', but his wor that now found an audience happened not in the theater but on the radio.
He wrote many short radio plays, often on patriotic themes, for N0*6s Ca$alcade of
America series and others, honin' his sills with dialo'ue and storytellin'. He also adapted other
literary wors for radio, includin', improbably, Iane Austen6s Pride and Pre%udice.
Miller6s first chance to succeed on 0roadway was an ab1ect failure. 5n "$99, The Man
Who Had All the Luck closed after only a few performances, despite the fact that the play won a
6
National Award from the Theatre /uild. (hile continuin' to write prose fiction and radio drama,
he looed to the Norwe'ian playwri'ht Henri 5bsen as he re&ised a play he had be'un in "$9F,
in the midst of (orld (ar 55. Miller saw in 5bsen6s social dramas techni,ues that were both
moral and practical. The resultin' play, All My Sons, relies on the dramatic structure and
insistent moral &oice found in 5bsen6s wor. 0ased on a real incident, the play tells the story of a
manufacturer whose shady wartime business practices caused the deaths of twenty2one pilots.
After the war, his family learns 1ust how personal those losses were. All My Sons was a hit in
"$9#, althou'h it nearly missed its historical moment because in the postwar period audiences
were be'innin' to loo bac on manufacturers lie Ioe 3eller as heroes.
All My Sons catapulted Miller into a brand2new income bracet. After years of scrapin'
by on his earnin's, Miller found himself with enou'h money to buy two homes. )hortly after
that success, and because he was studyin' New Yor6s 5talian community for a play about the
waterfront, he tra&eled to 5taly, where he met some Holocaust sur&i&ors but came away from the
meetin' without fully understandin' their e<periences.
Miller6s ne<t play, and the one for which he is most remembered, focused not on the
aftermath of the war in .urope but on what he would soon call Dthe Tra'edy of the *ommon
Man.D Iust as he was mo&in' away from elements of theatrical realism in All My Sons, Miller
in&oed a family story, that of his -ncle Manny, always sellin' on the road. He also drew on a
&i'nette written while he was still in hi'h school, in which a youn' narrator named Arthur meets
a salesman who, drownin' in failure, commits suicide. Throu'h his story, Miller tried to chan'e
people6s e<pectations about tra'edy and about drama itself. *omplemented by .lia 3a@an6s
direction and Io Miel@iner6s set, Death of a Salesman was an artistic triumph. Howe&er, lie All
7
My Sons, it was seen by some as insufficiently patriotic because it ,uestioned the &alues of
American capitalism. 5ronically, Death of a Salesman, the story of a family haunted by po&erty,
would mae Miller rich, securin' his income for life and finally separatin' him from the worin'
class.
(hile Miller6s career rose from powerful and specific historical moments, the plays
themsel&es transcend their times. (ritin' in Time bends, Miller reflected that the meanin'
of The Crucible is somewhat different in different places and moments. 5 can almost tell what
the political situation in a country is when the play is suddenly a hit there22it is either a warnin'
of tyranny on the way or a reminder of tyranny 1ust pastD. (hen Miller himself returned to The
Crucible to prepare the screenplay for director Nicholas Hytner6s "$$B film &ersion, the spectacle
in (ashin'ton no lon'er seemed an essential part of the play e&en to him. The lar'er stories,
themes, and characters connected with new audiences in new 'enerations.
The Man (ho Had All the Cuc is set in a small Midwestern town, somewhere not far
from Aetroit, as the characters; support of the Ti'ers is =at first, at least> un,uestionable. Here, in
a shabby barn con&erted into the worplace of our auto2mechanic hero, Aa&id 0ee&es, the first
act is played. Aa&id is in lo&e with a local 'irl called Hester 7al, but cannot marry her due to
her father;s ob1ections. (hile he is relati&ely successful in that he has his own business, he does
not ha&e all the tools or capital he re,uires. 0oth problems are fi<ed when Cady Cuc comes to
Aa&id;s aid as it always has done and will continue to do in acts two and three. 0ut Aa&id must
be spectator to the misfortunes of his comrades. ?arado<ically, his empathy for their tra'edies
mae him not so lucy as he chooses to thin he is. As *hristopher 0i'sby aptly puts it, Aa&id
feels a terror of failure and 'uilt at success. His constant success not only builds a 'uilt within
8
him, but a fear that he is 'oin' to one day lose it all, with one fowl swoop of bad lucG he
belie&es that tra'edy is ine&itable.
Throu'h this plot, the play deals with the theme of human incapacity to control life;s
fortunes and misfortunesG the fear that all is left to a twisted supernatural power that determines
our fate, that our personal sills and desires are meanin'less in the end. )hory, who has had
more than his fair share of bad luc, claims that we are all 1elly fish cau'ht in the tide.
The Man (ho Had All the Cuc, while lacin' the social and political rele&ance of The
*rucible and Aeath of a )alesman, is a wor that anyone with any worldly e<perience can relate
to and learn from. All minor flaws in its presentation aside, this production is well worth a trip
to the Cyceum.
Arthur Miller utili@es the concept of the American family as an underlyin' conte<t in a
number of his plays. The ideals that come with such a sti'ma &ary, yet some remain star and
&ital in Miller6s wors, such as the notions of 'raspin' the American Dream at any cost, family
dysfunction, success, failure, and hard wor. These concepts become pre&alent in The Man Who
Had All the Luck, Miller6s earliest play. -tili@in' these ideals as dri&in' forces for character
de&elopment, the prota'onist Aa&id emer'es, brin'in' the audience to its nees as he battles
internal and e<ternal demons for a chance at an honest, beautiful American life.
*ritics of Miller tend to find such underlyin' themes as displayed in the aforementioned passa'e
to be the dri&in' force in many of his stron'est plays. All of the characters in The Man Who Had All the
9
Luck are obsessed with tamin' the American dream without truly nowin' what it is. All of Miller6s
prota'onists also face a certain type of conflict.
(eales6 summary of the play and its most incessant themes directly correlate to the
passa'e late in Act 55. This passa'e becomes the turnin' point for the 'reatest action in the play,
comin' to a standstill before fallin' into placidity. 5t also shows the concept of Miller6s dri&e for
ima'e and his characters, colorin' the audiences opinions of Miller6s innate intentions for how he
wishes to lea&e his &iewers.
)o far a number of boos and articles ha&e dealt with the theme of the American dream
of success in Miller;s plays and e<plained how this theme has been de&eloped in such plays as
All My )ons and Aeath of a )alesman. Howe&er, not enou'h attention has been paid to The Man
(ho Had All the Cuc, which has the same theme. This paper e<amines how the play could be
interpreted, a'ainst Miller;s intention, as a play on the American dream of success in the /reat
Aepression. )ection 5 discusses the prota'onist;s stru''le si'nifyin' the critical condition of the
Aepression, and e<plains how The Man (ho Had All the Cuc can be a play of realism,
reflectin' a time of uphea&al, and focusin' on the prota'onist, who sees the new dream of
success represented by min farmin', and yet 'ets restless after his success based on 'ood
fortune or luc, a symbol of the con&entional success myth. )ection 55 compares the play with
Al'er;s success myth, re'ardin' the play as a parody of a self2made man. )ection 555 discusses
the play in relation to All My )ons and Aeath of a )alesman, e<plainin' that Aa&id 7rieber has a
lot in common with Ioe 3eller and (illy Coman. )ection 5H discusses some of the weanesses
of the play, ar'uin' that Miller failed to add enou'h sense of reality, which is supposed to brin'
10
in a 'reat impact on the play. )ection H, finally, tries to e&aluate The Man (ho Had All the
Cuc by analy@in' some of the ma1or criticism of the play. 5t then concludes that Miller ended up
creatin' a drama with an unrealistic fable2lie content in a realistic style.
The American myth of success has had remarable &itality and persistence, especially on
the popular le&el. The essential ,uestion underlyin' JKL is this8 (hat happened to this deeply
in'rained and wonderfully compellin' dream of success durin' the Aepression of the "$F:s
when the star reality of an economic crisis seemed to dispro&e the assumption that, in America,
anyone who possessed the proper personal &irtues =initiati&es, perse&erance, fru'ality, industry,
reliability> could raise himself from po&erty to wealthM Historically, the myth of success has
been identified with our most cherished cultural &alues, focusin', dramati@in', and supportin'
the &ery ideals that we consider most distincti&ely American.
Historically, from the end of the nineteenth century until the Aepression, industriali@ation
,uicly pro'ressed and hu'e industrial businesses be'an to pop up one after another in the
-nited )tates. The (estward Mo&ement with the 7rontier )pirit was replaced by industrialism
or capitalism, which increasin'ly widespread. 0efore the twentieth century the so2called Al'er;s
success myth was pre&alent, encoura'in' youn' people, particularly, stricen by the *i&il (ar,
to li&e a meanin'ful life so that they could climb the ladder of success from the bottom to the top
of society with such &irtues as honesty, dili'ence and hard wor. The myth, howe&er, 'radually
became e<tinct, replaced by new concepts of success. The Aepression, apparently, played a
crucial role in chan'in' the con&entional ideas of success.
11
5t appeared to Miller that success then depended only upon luc or a sense of an
in&isible world. 5n The Man (ho Had All the Cuc, it is clearly su''ested as a sense of luc,
which Aa&id tries to re1ect. Yet the situation did not allow anybody to always win success
throu'h luc or hard wor, as depicted in Al'er;s stories. That is the &ery reason why Aa&id
'ets ,uite uneasy and e&en 'uilty about the luc brou'ht to him. He cannot accept and put up
with the fact that only he himself en1oys 'ood luc. As a result, by denyin' the stroe of luc
befallin' him, he 1ust lon's to feel as hapless as the ne<t 'uy and dares to put his hands on the
new risy business of min farmin' by his own efforts at the &ery last moment. Min farmin'
could be a solace and a source of identity and self reali@ation.
Min farmin' is the symbol of how the stru''le for success is carried on in a competiti&e
society. 5t is an appropriate symbol because it epitomi@es both the primiti&e, brutal nature of the
stru''le and the spectacular rewards that moti&ate the participants to 1oin the battle.
5n All My Sons and Death of a Salesman& Miller shows his social concern and is thus
considered a playwri'ht of social problems. And in this first debut wor on 0roadway, he deals
with a serious social phenomenon, althou'h the wor does not seem to openly contain social
implications, as the subtitle a fable indicates. 7urthermore, what should be pointed out is that
at the same time, Miller is wrestlin' with the con&entional theme of the /ree tra'edies
concernin' the uni&ersal theme on the fate of human bein's8 whether human actions ha&e any
influence on their fortune in life or fate is beyond their control, and whether human fate is
determined predominantly by an in&isible 'od;s power or rather de&eloped by an indi&idual;s
efforts. This is a ,uestion pondered by the /ree dramatists and is e<actly what Miller refers to
12
as the ulterior ,uestion JKL how much of our li&es we mae oursel&es and how much is made
for us.
5n both All My Sons and Death of a Salesman Miller portrayed the &ainness of the
modern &ersion of the dream of success in the -nited )tates. Ioe 3eller and (illy Coman are
representati&es stru''lin' to reali@e the dream in the competiti&e, industriali@ed society of the
twentieth century -.)., Ioe as a successful businessman and (illy as an unsuccessful salesman.
Miller;s attention, thou'h, is not paid apparently to whether they are successful or not. A decade
a'o success meant the achie&ement of hard wor and effort, and it was itself the ob1ect to be
respected. 5n the competiti&e society of capitalism and industrialism, what Miller calls do'2eat2
do' society, the form of success, on the contrary, transformed into that of the sur&i&al of the
fittest, and it has become impossible to define the dream of success in the optimistic sense any
lon'er. A new theory connected with the new business ethics has come to surface. This is the
main reason why Ioe does not care about others for his own success in business and also why
(illy has suffered 'reatly between the traditional &iew of success and the modern one.
2. METHODOLO,/ OF RESEARCH
5n this study, the writer of this proposal employs the ,ualitati&e research or the library
research to show and to now the characteristic of Arthur Miller;s dramas. Nualitati&e research
is a field of in,uiry that crosscuts disciplines and sub1ect matters. Nualitati&e research was one
of the first forms of social study and the e<ploratory tool. Nualitati&e research ser&ed the data in
the form of words, not in the form if numbers, 'raphics, statistics or other ,uantitati&e forms.
13
So$#%es of the Data
Aocumented e&idences, as primary and secondary sources of data, were used throu'h
Cibrary 4esearch Method O *ontent Analysis.
3. TENTATI.E CHAPTARISATION.
*HA?T.4 P ". The ?arado<ical American Aream
*HA?T.4 P +. About Arthur Miller and his dramas
*HA?T.4 P F. -nderstandin' Arthur Millers; dramas
*HA?T.4 P 9. *ritical Analysis of Arthur Millers; drama P Aeath of a )alesman
*HA?T.4 P %. *ritical Analysis of Arthur Millers; drama P All my )on;s
*HA?T.4 P B. *ritical Analysis of Arthur Millers; drama P The *rucible
*HA?T.4 P #. *ritical Analysis of Arthur Millers; drama P The Man who had all the
Cuc
*HA?T.4 P E. 5mpact of Arthur Millers; dramas on the American )ociety
*HA?T.4 P $ *omparati&e study of Arthur Millers; dramas &is2Q2&is the American
Areams
*HA?T.4 P ": *onclusion
14
CONCLUSIONS.
(e ha&e looed into some of the premature aspects of The Man Who Had All the Luck in
terms of both theme and techni,ue. Howe&er, it is not well nown that the play won the Theater
/uild Award for new dramatists. 5t is not possible to now how it was e&aluated simply because
there is no material a&ailable. ?robably the reason would be that the play reflected the
atmosphere of the time well when it was published. Another reason, of course, mi'ht be that not
a few people reco'ni@ed Miller;s talent despite his not so lucy debut on 0roadway. Anyway,
most of the re&iews of the play were rather critical and e&en ne'ati&e. A fa&orable one amon'
the few is found in the Ne" 'ork World(Tele!ra)h by 0urton 4ascoe. His comment supports
the &ery reason why the play won the abo&e2mentioned award.
(e ha&e already seen how the myth of the dream of success miserably broe down by
the Aepression, and was, as a conse,uence, replaced by the new emer'in' &iew of success as
depicted in Miller;s early plays. Here it could be said that in The Man Who Had All the Luck&
Miller chiefly deals with the demise of Al'er;s dream of success, in All My Sons the new aspect
of the dream of success in the do'2eat2do' society under capitalistic America, and in Death of a
Salesman the conflict of the old and new concepts of the American dream of success. This is the
main reason why 5 call them, as a unit, the trilo'y of the American dream of success. Now here
a ,uestion arises8 what is Miller;s real intention of pursuin' this theme in these playsM As
15
Masunori )ata ar'ues, the reason could be that Miller wanted to warn people of the ne'ati&e side
of the dream of success durin' the Aepression in the -nited )tates. All the prota'onists such as
Aa&id, Ioe and (illy etc., are alienated from society, sufferin' from a loss of identity, and at the
same time, losin' confidence in their personal li&es. The cause is, undoubtedly, their innocent
obsession with the illusion of the dream of success per se.
!f the theme of The Man Who Had All the Luck, 4obert Ho'an ar'ues8 )e&eral themes touched
&a'uely upon in this play become the clearly enunciated ones of All My Sons, and Death of a
Salesman P the themes, for instance, of money and morality and indi&idual responsibility.
*ertainly, in All My Sons& The Crucible and Death of a Salesman, the themes and issues are
dramati@ed ade,uately throu'h the main characters; inner psycholo'ical conflict. !n the other
hand, in The Man Who Had All the Luck the themes are not well2or'ani@ed into a unity, and thus,
there is no concei&able dramatic de&elopment. !&erall, the action feels rushed and crowded with
many disasters amon' the supportin' characters that not all of them pay off emotionally for the
audience. *onse,uently, we cannot find Miller;s own uni,ue dialo'ues of characters, re&ealin'
their emotional, psycholo'ical conflicts on the sta'e. A 'ood e<ample, in particular, is Aa&id;s
inner psycholo'ical phase with the bacdrop of the Aepression period, which is not fully
portrayed, and this is ,uite ob&ious, compared with Ioe 3eller. 0en1amin Nelson e&en ar'ues
that Aa&id is a semi2reali@ed composite of *hris and Ioe 3eller, concludin' that Aa&id wors
out his destiny in a social &acuum.
*oncernin' the play he re&ised after its initial debut, Miller has said8 5t was throu'h the
e&ol&in' &ersions of this story that 5 be'an to find myself as a playwri'ht, and perhaps e&en as a
person. 5n retrospect, we can as well understand that the sub1ect =dream of success> and other
16
issues =father2son conflict, formation of two brothers, etc.> in The Man Who Had All the Luck
laid the 'roundwor for his three important plays that followed8 All My Sons& Death of a
Salesman and The Crucible. 5n conclusion, after ha&in' e<amined The Man Who Had All the
Luck from &arious aspects, it would be possible to say that althou'h flawed, amateurish and
immature, the whole play contains the seeds of Miller;s ensuin' ma1or wors in the li'ht of both
theme and techni,ue. This is literally the prototype in Miller;s entire canon, and should ha&e its
ri'ht place in the body of his wor, not 1ust as a mere minor wor.
4. +I+LIO,RAPH/
Arthur Miller *+*,-*+./, *hristopher 0i'sby =+::E, -.3.G +::$, -.).>
0ishop ? =+::$>. Analytical ?sycholo'y and /erman *lassical
0owie, Malcolm. ?sychoanalysis and the 7uture of Theory. *ambrid'e, MA8 0. 0lacwell,
"$$9.*ambrid'e -ni&ersity ?ress, p. "%E.
*usatis I =+:":>. 4esearch /uide to American Citerature, "$9%2"$#:. New Yor8 5nfobase
?ublishin', p. "%%
7reud, )i'mund. )tandard .dition of the *omplete ?sycholo'ical (ors of )i'mund 7reud. +9
Holumes. trans and ed. Iames )trachey. Condon8 Ho'arth ?ress, "$%F2#9.
17
Miller A ="$%#>. Arthur Miller;s *ollected ?lays with an 5ntroduction. New Yor 8 The Hiin'
?ress, pp. F$2FB$ The Cambrid!e Com)anion to Arthur Miller 0Cambrid!e Com)anions to
Literature1, *hristopher 0i'sby, editor ="$$E, updated and republished +:":>
Twentieth *entury Citerary *riticism, Aa&id Cod'e =.d.>, Con'man, -3, "$E$.
Miller, Arthur. Aeath of a )alesman8 *ertain ?ri&ate *on&ersations in Two Acts and a 4e,uiem.
Harmondsworth8 ?en'uin, "$#B.
Abbotson, )usan *. (. )tudent *ompanion to Arthur Miller. (estport8 /reenwood, +:::.
0i'sby, *. (. .. A *ritical 5ntroduction to Twentieth2*entury American Arama, "$::2"$9:.
Hol. ". *ambrid'e8 *ambrid'e -?, "$E+.
/ould, Iean. Modern American ?laywri'hts. 0ombay8 ?raashan, "$B$.
/oyal, 0. )., ed. Aeath of a )alesman. 0y Arthur Miller. New Aelhi8 Aarti, "$$:.
Hi'h, ?eter 0. An !utline of American Citerature. New Yor8 Con'man, "$EB.
3rutch, Ioseph (ood. Modernism in Modern Arama8 A Aefinition and an .stimate. New
Yor8 *ornell -?, "$%F.
?radhan, N. ). Modern American Arama8 A )tudy in Myth and Tradition. New Aelhi8 Arnold2
Heinemann, "$#E.
Thaur, A. Cin'uistics )implified8 )emantics. ?atna8 0harati, "$$$.
*harles 4. Hearn, The American Dream in the 2reat De)ression =(estport, *onnecticut8
/reenwood ?ress, "$##>
*hristopher 0i'sby, 5ntroduction, The Man Who Had All the Luck =Condon8 ?en'uin 0oos,
+::9> <&ii.
Aa&id Madden, 5ntroduction8 True 0elie&ers, Atheists, and A'nostics in American Dreams&
American Ni!htmares =*arbondale and .dwards&ille8 )outhern 5llinois -ni&. ?ress, "$#:> <<&ii.
Morris 7reedman, American Drama in Social Conte3t =*arbondale and .dwards&ille8 )outhern
5llinois -ni&. ?ress, "$#">.
Masunori )ata, Arthur Miller;s (arnin' *oncernin' the American Aream, American
Citerature in the "$9:;s8 Annual 4eport "$#%, The Toyo *hapter of the American Cit. )ociety
of Iapan =Toyo8 3yodo !bun *enter *o., Ctd., "$#B> +"$ P +%.
Andrew Moore =+::E>. D)tudyin' Arthur Miller6s All My )onsD
18
*entola, )te&en 4. DAll My Sons.D Cambrid!e Com)anion to Arthur Miller. .d. *hristopher
0i'sby. *ambrid'e8 *ambrid'e -ni&ersity ?ress, "$$#.
19