This study emphasizes the private and public struggles of the common man as portrayed in two representative plays by Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman and The Price, and two by Thornton Wilder, Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth. These plays demonstrate man's struggle because of failures in responsibility toward self and family and because of his inability to fully appreciate life. Miller concentrates on the pathetic part of Man's nature, caused by a breakdown in human communication. Wilder, however, focuses on the resilient part which allows man to overcome natural disasters and moral transgressions. The timelessness of man's conflict explains the motivations of symbolic character types in these plays and reveals a marked applicability to all average citizens in American society.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc935829 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Hastings, Robert M. |
| Contributors | Kesterson, David B., 1938-, Hamilton, Stanley K., Davidson, James |
| Publisher | North Texas State University |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | 93 leaves, Text |
| Rights | Public, Hastings, Robert M., Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights |
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