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The Myths of the Self-Made-Man: Cowboys, Salesmen and Pirates in Tennessee Williams' the Glass Menagerie and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

Most books written about American drama concern definitions of masculinity, the American dream, and the family in a society that encourages people to surpass their competences and limits. American playwrights of the twentieth century reveal the anxiety and insecurity of men who do not rise up to the standards of the American dream. In concentrating on these themes, most critics have analyzed the main characters and plots but have left aside hints about other myths. This study aims to analyse the extended use of the cowboy, of salesman, and of pirate in Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. The recurrence of these three myths touches on the core of American drama that playwrights and critics have tried to define endlessly: the definition of the male in the American society.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:GEORGIA/oai:scholarworks.gsu.edu:english_theses-1060
Date21 April 2009
CreatorsGros, Camille
PublisherScholarWorks @ Georgia State University
Source SetsGeorgia State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceEnglish Theses

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