INSTRUCTIONS
you will need to decide on an actor to play any one of the following characters in the movie “Death of a Salesman”: Willy, Biff, Happy, or Linda. You can choose any actor, living or dead, or any race, ethnicity or gender. However, you can not choose any actor who has played the role in a film production of the play!
This assignment will have a very specific thesis, namely why you believe that the actor would be right for the role. And you will need to prove your thesis by providing quotes from the play, as well as examples from other roles that the actor has played.
So, for example, let’s say that you wanted to write about how you think that Stephen McKinley Henderson would made a good Charley (You of course cannot write about Charley; I am only using it as an example.) your thesis could be, “If I were casting someone to play Charley in Death of a Salesman, I would pick Stephen McKinley Henderson, someone who clearly fits the physical descriptions of Charley.
However, he is also a good choice because he presents as humorous, and good-natured, just like Charley, but will still be able to become serious and contemplative when he needs to be.” Notice that this thesis not only tells us who you plan cast as Charley, but very specifically why. And those reasons must be rooted both in the text of the play and other roles that the actor has had to help support your conclusions.
This project needs to be at least 750 words long and in MLA format.
THE ASSIGNMENT HAS TWO PARTS
PART 1. A WRITING PLAN
For the Writing Plan, you will need to do the following:
1. State the thesis of your writing project
Remember, that your thesis must mention symbols and must explain specifically what the symbols tell us about the overall meaning of the story. Your thesis should be only one or two sentences long. Make sure to look at the sample thesis in the Assignment for Writing Project #3 for a guide.
2. State the topic sentence for your first body paragraph
A topic sentence is a complete sentence that expresses the main idea of a body paragraph.
Remember that each paragraph has to specifically support your thesis, so I should be able to see that connection when reading your topic sentence. Also, each body paragraph must have a particular idea that holds it together and differentiates it from other paragraphs.
Important: Do not write the entire body paragraph, just the topic sentence!
3. Write the specific quote or quotes that you will use to support the topic sentence Your topic sentence needs to be supported by at least one quote from the story. Write the specific quote that you plan to use. This quote must be directly related to the topic sentence!
Important: Do no say anything about the quote, just write it here!
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for however many body paragraphs you will have, it should be at least 3 body paragraphs.
HERE IS THE TEACHER’S EXAMPLE OF A WRITING PLAN: do not use the same character that he used (which was STEPHEN MCKINLEY HENDERSON)
THESIS: If I were casting someone to play Charley in Death of a Salesman, I would pick Stephen McKinley Henderson, someone who clearly fits the general physical and temperamental descriptions of Charley. However, he is also a good choice because he presents as humorous, and good-natured, just like Charley, but will still be able to become serious and contemplative when he needs to be.
BODY PARAGRAPH #1:
TOPIC SENTENCE: The first peason why Sephen Kinder fenson would make a good
QUOTES/EVIDENCE: “He is a large man, slow of speech, laconic, immovable.”; discussion of his role as Bono in Fences where he played the best friend to Denzel Washington’s troy.
BODY PARAGRAPH #2:
TOPIC SENTENCE: Henderson also has a humorous, good-natured air about him, which fits with many of the lines from the play.
QUOTES/EVIDENCE: “Baseball in this weather?”; Don’t you listen to the radio? Ebbets Field just blew up.; “Knock a homer, Biff, knock a homer!”; Evidence from Fences.
BODY PARAGRAPH #3:
TOPIC SENTENCE: However, Henderson can also believably play a practical and successful businessman as evidenced by his portrayal of Thufir Hawat, a trusted advisor in Dune.
QUOTES/EVIDENCE: “The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And the funny thing is that you’re a salesman, and you don’t know that.”; “Why must everybody like you? Who liked J. P. Morgan? Was he impressive? In a Turkish bath he’d look like a butcher. But with his pockets on he was very well liked.”; Examples of scenes from
PART 2: THE ESSAY
COMPLETE THE ESSAY USING THE WRITING PLAN YOU WROTE, WHICH INCLUDES THE THESIS ,THE 3 BODY PARAGRAPHS WITH THE 3 TOPIC SENTENCES AND QUOTES/EVIDENCE.