Critical Lens

However, I disagree. Although an average story is seldom to be captivating, every story ends up being different from the rest. It is these small differences that depict the story and its' originality. A story doesn't have to be so extremely extraordinary to intrigue a reader, and it is the more "normal" stories that we often find ourselves relating to. I personally believe that understanding a story requires finding common ground with a character, because, in a way, it slips your mind into the storyline. Not a lot of authors, average or bizarre can have that much of an impact with words.

Two of America's favourite books, being Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" and J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye", are a good read without the extra additives that authors currently use for grabbing readers' attention. Both are books we can read, and very much relate to. An average American today could easily understand Willy Loman's struggle with money, and a teenager would have no problem agreeing with Holden Caulfield's view on the world. It is also, in my opinion, a great gift in the author to be able to truly capture and display people's common thought process, and write a story that proves to be timeless and still influences people decades after publication.

"Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller was written and published in 1949. It is an average story about an average family residing in Brooklyn. The Father's a salesman, the Mother a homemaker. You'd think it'd be boring but as the story unfolds, you get to look deep into the minds of the characters and see their struggle, being money, trust, and family. Now although I can't speak for everyone, I'd still say I believe that those three issues cross are inevitable during a lifetime. In fact, a lot of families find themselves battling with the same evils. What Miller wrote over half a century ago, still finds it's way into our hearts and homes today, because we are still human and we are still going through similar troubles. "Sometimes, you find that you're worth more dead than alive." is not just something