Williams & Miller: Twentieth Century Abc'S

Williams & Miller: Twentieth Century ABC's

The ABC's of the twentieth century stand for more than just a lifestyle; it is a concept that drives Americans to either their success or downfall. Even though the ABC's are mentioned in this essay as a concept of the twentieth century, it is clear that this concept still resides in American lives today. The "American life and its relationship to the business world and capitalism" was such a common practice in the twentieth century that both Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller situated their plays around the "lifestyle/ American dream". Business and capitalism both have their literal meanings, but when related to life, both terms become more meaningful and easier to relate to. In the economical world business and capitalism both mean economic freedom and money; however, both these terms have a common theme of wanting more and having the potential to achieve greater success in life. The trouble is that not everyone comes out as a winner which is emphasized in both The Death of a Salesman and The Glass Menagerie. There is also a skewed perception in both plays that only the male characters can suffer and enjoy the effects of ABC, but for our purpose we will only explore the effects presented through the male characters. Both Williams and Miller were great play writers because of their ability to allow a realistic resemblance between the audience and characters. Now, my theory is that there are three difference types of people in both plays judging by the characters personality. Type A is the successful model that most people wish to achieve. This type is presented through Bernard the geeky but hardworking friend of Biff. Type B is the unsuccessful but hopeful type. Although the type B person might have failed a great amount of times, they have redirected their life and moved on from the ABC dream. Type B is shown through Biff and Tom, which is ironically the same person in both motion pictures of the play. The final type C is the person who has already dug a hole too deep to escape. This type of person can realize their mistake and can only follow the road towards destruction. Type C includes Willy and his son Hap. Both plays represent these three types of people and show how their American lives are influenced by business and capitalism.

The type A person usually starts out with little success and works his way up through hard work, determination, and improvement at a constant rate. By definition those traits are in general, the foundation to any successful business. If one is to consider most of the business that are successful today, they all insure quality which comes from hard work, consistency which is driven by determination to improve. All these traits are found in Bernard plus his intelligently loyal personality; moreover, these features are what make Bernard successful in the business world. Examples throughout The Death of a Salesman show how Bernard became successful. The first piece of dialog that Miller chooses to give Bernard is "Biff, where are you? You're supposed to study with me today". Just by reading the first piece of dialog from Bernard, the reader can pick up that he is loyal, responsible, and hard working. First off, Bernard able and willing to help a good friend study, and even when Biff doesn't show up, he takes the burden of reminding him instead of just letting it go. Many high school students are barely able to handle their own work, much less help some else with theirs. More importantly Bernard is willing to take the insults from Willy when he is the one trying to help his son through school. This shows the type of determination, and never giving up attitude needed to be successful in the business world. It is unclear in the play whether Bernard is indeed planning for his "American Dream" while in high school or if he is just working hard because it's his personality; either way he sticks to what he has committed himself to and comes out on top. Although Bernard was ultimately the one who pushed himself to the top, it is not without saying that his father laid a good foundation for Bernard's future success. Charley, with his jolly personality provided the love that Bernard needed throughout his life. Charley shows his love towards Bernard by choosing the right times and actions to let Bernard know that he had made his father proud. An example of this is when Charley puts his arm on Bernard's shoulder and tells Willy "How do you like this kid? Gonna argue a case in front of the Supreme Court". In comparison, Willy let his sons know they had made their father proud when they had actually done something wrong. Willy also believes that hard work isn't needed to be success which is completely wrong. Bernard reaches the "American Dream" due to his hard work; with out it nothing could have been achieved. (Transition)As earlier mentioned, Bernard is very willing to help Biff with his school and even goes as far as letting him cheat on tests. But, what Biff and Willy don't realize is that Bernard understands that he is being taken advantage of. During Bernard's conversation with Willy as an adult he tells Willy that he loved Biff even though he was always being taken advantage of. It was Bernard's choice to stick by Biff's side, Bernard could have simply left Biff alone but he chose to help his friend. This shows Bernard's social intelligence and proving that he wasn't just a genius who had no idea he was being taken advantage of. Miller did not accidentally make Bernard the only character sympathetic to capitalism. Out of four male characters Bernard is the only success because unfortunately a well crafted diamond is harder to come by then a regular rock in the business world.

Since diamonds are so hard to come by there are bound to be many regular rocks or people who only amount to "a dime in a dozen". The people who portray these characteristics are Tom in The Glass Menagerie and Biff in The Death of a Salesman. Both Tom and Biff have many similarities including their personalities, desires, age and gender. Tom and Biff are both confused about their past and future; however, through their struggles they both realize that there is something out there for them. For Biff it is a ranch and a lifestyle away from the business world, and for Tom it's to join the merchant sailors to seek excitement and adventure. Williams and Miller are obviously trying to portray the average middle aged man that struggles between their family and their own life. In both plays, the authors show the characters wanting to leave their family, but there seems as if there is something holding them back. In the Glass Menagerie, Laura is the one holding Tom back from leaving while Amanda is the one pushing him farther