SacredJellybean

I very unfortunately lost my book-bag last weekend when I accidentally left it on the side of the road in a neighborhood that I unwittingly did not realize was considered "bad". It was abandoned for a total of 10, maybe 11 minutes. Snap, gone. The contents included, but were not limited to:

-A big bottle of Everclear
-A $260 optical camera
-A pair of underwear and socks
-DVDs of Army of Darkness, Creepshow, Willard, Sin City, and The Big Lebowski
-a couple of paperback novels/plays I need for my American Literature class
-a good number of my toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, deoderant, razor)
-my checkbook

I would have been sooooo pissed off if Shirley, my bubbler, had been in the schoolbag. Hell, I would have gone into bloodhound mode and searched the motherfucker who took it, so I could disembowel him with rusty fishing hooks.

So, what does being a careless dumbass for my stuff and fantasizing of commiting violent and homocidal acts against the person who is now in possession of said stuff, have to do with Death of a Salesman? ...I'm getting to that.

I had to obviously replace all the stuff, including the books I needed for class. I happened to see "Death of a Salesman" under a book recommendation, and remembered that my teacher said that if we're familiar with the play, we can compare it to a play we were assigned to read, "A Long Day's Journey Into Night" (a play about addiction by Ed O'Neill that's very good, I highly recommend it) as a subject for an essay that's due in two days. So, I said "What the hell, why not get slightly more cultured?" and ordered it. I think it's a bit late to start from scratch and incorporate the play into my essay, especially including that I'd have to read it first, having never done so before.

So, how is this play? Any fans? I have a feeling I'm going to like it.

__________________
"Every age has its peculiar folly and if Charles Mackay, the author of the 19th century classic, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds were alive today he would surely see 'cannabinophobia' as a popular delusion along with the 'tulipmania' and 'witch hunts' of earlier ages. ... I also believe that future historians will look at this epoch and recognize it as another instance of the 'madness of crowds.'"
~Dr. Lester Grinspoon

mirabela

While I don't know much about your taste in particular, I highly recommend the play in general. It has much to say about the emptiness of many people's version of the "American Dream," and remains as relevant now as it was when it was first produced. Two thumbs up.

BTW, isn't that Eugene O'Neil, not Ed?

SacredJellybean

Right, it's Eugene O'Neill. Unless the author was a shoe salesman who came home from work cranky to no dinner from his deadbeat wife and put his hand down his pants.

IGemini

I read both the play and saw the movie, which was practically scripted from the play dialogue. Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich, good performance, great story in any form.