For your final paper, you will read on your own either Arthur Miller’s Death of a
Salesman or Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (only choose 1 text
with which to work). You will read the play on your own, develop a thesis of your
choosing (in relation to how the play represents & American Dream and its
critique of it). Think of this paper like a final exam—I want to see what you can do
on your own, in terms of analyzing a text and putting forth your own take
(argument) on it.
I am looking for you to grapple with themes of the American Dream (I have
included to “worksheets” that detail aspects of that Dream). Some possible
approaches might be found in making use of one of these questions as a thoughtstarter for brainstorming:
• How does the playwright represent the values & ideals of the American Dream
in his play? (I would advise you to hone in on two values, as listed in the
supplement material on American Core Values, to assist with locating how
those 2 get represented.)
• Does the playwright affirm, revise/redefine, call for reform of, and/or resist
those American values?
• Does the play reveal certain problems with the American Dream or, perhaps,
certain virtues that need to be reappropriated once more, in order to remedy
ways in which America is failing its citizens in terms of delivering on the
promise of the American Dream.
• How does the play critique its own historical moment’s social, cultural, or
ideological dimensions to life in America during the mid-century?
This paper needs to be 4.5 full pages in length, minimum (no matter that 6 pages,
maximum), double-spaced in Times New Roman 12-point font with one-inch
margins, etc. In short, standard MLA formatting must be used to format the
paper.