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American Literature Diversified:from 1945 the 21st CenturyDrama in the Modern EraDrama in the Modern EraI.American DramaI.American Drama The American dramatic tradition began with Ye Bare and Ye Cubb(1665)by William Darby and other two author-performers.Native American drama began to gather some momentum in the 18th century.The first American comedy to be staged was The Contrast written by Royall Tyler(1757-1826),and first played in New York City in 1787.A.BeginningB.Drama in the Drama in the 1919thth century century In the 19th century,along with the western expansion between 1814 and 1824 appeared such plays as She would be a solider(1819)by Mordecai Noah;or,The Plains of Chippewa(1819)by James Nelson Barker.Poetic plays were very popular in the first half of the 19th century.The most significant theatrical development from the Civil War to 1900 was the move in the direction of realism from domestic melodrama.C.Drama in the C.Drama in the 2020thth century century At the turn of the 20th century American drama pointed the way from a separation from the 19th century theatricality.It made its tentative attempt to place realistic plays on the American stage.During the 1920s the extravagant spending and general license of the boom period encouraged the use of the Broadway theater as upper class entertainment.The most famous of the little theaters were the Washington Square Players which was formed in New Yorks Greenwich Village in 1914 and the Provincetown Players which was formed in Cape Cod,Massachusetts in 1915.II.Eugene OII.Eugene ONeill(1888-1953)Neill(1888-1953)IntroductionLiterary Career Characteristics CommentA.IntroductionA.IntroductionEugene(Gladstone)ONeill was born in a Broadway hotel room in New York City on October 16,1888.ONeill won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936,and Pulitzer Prizes for four of his plays:Beyond the Horizon(1920);Anna Christie(1922);Strange Interlude(1928);and Long Days Journey Into Night(1957).ONeill is credited with raising American dramatic theater from its narrow origins to an art form respected around the world.He is regarded as Americas premier playwright.B.Literary CareerB.Literary CareerONeill worked on a variety of one-act plays describing the way an individual willfully connives at his or her own doom.During 1913-1914 he wrote nine one-act plays,then he attended George Pierce Bakers“47 Workshop”at Harvard University from 1914 to 1915.He wrote six more one-act plays during 1916-1917,and four in 1918.In1920 his first full-length play,Beyond the Horizon,was professionally produced on Broadway.It quickly became popular,and won the Pulitzer Prize,and the name of ONeill became known throughout the country.As a result of his tragic and nihilistic view of life,his works in totality indicate chaos and hopelessness.In the late 1930s,he withdrew into retirement and seclusion.During the early 1940s he began to suffer from a nervous disease which prevented him from completing his great project.He remerged in 1946 with The Iceman Cometh.He died in 1953.The publication of Long Days Journey into Night in 1956 revived worldwide interest in his work.C.CharacteristicsC.CharacteristicsAs Americas foremost playwright,ONeill successfully introduced the European theatrical trends of realism,naturalism,and expressionism to the American stage as devices to express his comprehensive interest in his life and humanity.He often ignored normal play divisions of scenes and acts,paid little attention to the expected length of plays,made his characters wear masks,split one character between two actors,reintroduced ghosts,chorus,monologue,and direct addresses to audience.He employed sets,lighting,and sounds to enhance emotion rather than to represent a real place.He represent the new trend on the stage by introducing modern and timely content.He grounded his works in personal experience.His works reflect the life of his country and his time.He was able to do this,not merely because he had a talent for theater but because he was good at using the modern themes and styles developed abroad,and making them serve his own purpose.D.CommentsD.CommentsONeill was no doubt the greatest American dramatist of the first half of the 20th century.He was the first playwright to explore serious themes in the theater and to carry out his continual,vigorous,courageous experiments with theatrical conventions.His plays have been translated and staged all over the world.III.III.Long Days Journey into Night Long Days Journey into Night(1956)(1956)A.SummaryA.SummaryThe play is set in the summer home of the Tyrone family,August 1912.The action begins in the morning,just after breakfast.We learn as the first act unravels that Mary has returned to her family recently after receiving treatment in a sanatorium for morphine addiction.Edmund,meanwhile,has in recent weeks begun to cough very violently,and we learn later on in the play that,as Tyrone and Jamie suspect,he has tuberculosis.The gradual revelation of these two medical disasters makes up most of the plays plot.In between these discoveries,however,the family constantly revisits old fights and opens old wounds left by the past,which the family members are never unable to forget.B.CharactersJames Tyrone:The husband of Mary and the father of Jamie and Edmund,he was once a famous actor who toured the U.S.with his wife.Because his Irish father abandoned him at age 10,forcing him to work immediately to support himself,he has a strong work ethic and an appreciation for money that leads to strong financial prudence-bordering on stinginess.Mary Tyrone:The wife of Tyrone and mother of Jamie and Edmund,she struggles from a morphine addiction that has lasted over two decades.While she has broken the addiction several times,she always resumes her morphine use after spending more time with her family.She is on morphine in each scene of the play,and her use increases steadily as the day wears on.Although she loves Tyrone,she oftentimes regrets marrying him because of the dreams she had to sacrifice of becoming a nun or a concert pianist.Jamie Tyrone:The elder Tyrone son,he is in his early thirties.Because he squanders money on booze and women,he has to rely on his parents for support.He dropped out of several colleges and has very little ambition,much to the dismay of his parents.Edmund Tyrone-The younger Tyrone son,he is ten years younger than Jamie.An intellectual and romantic dreamer,he learns during the play that he is afflicted with consumption(tuberculosis),which means that he will have to spend up to a year in a sanatorium.Like his brother and father,he is partially alcoholic,and he has a tendency to squander money,although he works harder than Jamie.Mary always holds out hope that he will become a success one day.C.AnalysisC.Analysisa.Long Days Journey into Night is undoubtedly a tragedy-it leaves the audience with a sense of catharsis,or emotional rebirth through the viewing of powerful events,and it depicts the fall of something that was once great.b.The play is largely autobiographical;it resembles ONeills life in many aspects.ONeill himself appears in the play in the character of Edmund,the younger son who,like ONeill,suffers from consumption.c.The play also creates a world in which communication has broken down.One of the great conflicts in the play is the characters uncanny inability to communicate despite their constant fighting.d.The play is all the more tragic because it leaves little hope for the future;indeed,the future for the Tyrones can only be seen as one long cycle of a repeated past bound in by alcohol and morphine.Death Of a SalesmanArthurMillerContextCharacterlistStructureThemesMoralsContextDeath of a Salesman,whichwonthePulitzerPrizeandtransformedMillerintoanationalsensationisMillersmostfamouswork.ManycriticsdescribedDeath of a salesman asthefirstgreatAmericantragedy,andMillergainedeminenceasamanwhounderstoodthedeepessenceoftheUnitedStates.Itaddressesthepainfulconflictswithinonefamily,butitalsotackleslargerissuesregardingAmericannationalvalues.TheplayexaminesthecostofblindfaithintheAmericanDream.ThebasisforthedramaticconflictinDeath of a salesmanliesinArthurMillersconflictedrelationshipwithhisuncle,MannyNewman,alsoasalesman.NewmanimaginedacontinuouscompetitionbetweenhissonandMiller.Newmanrefusedtoacceptfailureanddemandedtheappearanceofutmostconfidenceinhishousehold.CharacterlistWillyLindaCharleyBernardBiffHappyHowardBenWilly-Aninsecure,self-deludedtravelingsalesman.WillybelieveswholeheartedlyintheAmericanDreamofeasysuccessandwealth,butheneverachievesit.Nordohissonsfulfillhishopethattheywillsucceedwherehehasfailed.WhenWillysillusionsbegintofailunderthepressingrealitiesofhislife,hismentalhealthbeginstounravelandeventuallyhedied.Theoverwhelmingtensionscausedbythisdisparity,aswellasthosecausedbythesocietalimperativesthatdriveWilly,formtheessentialconflictofDeath of a Salesman.Linda-Willysloyal,lovingwife.LindasuffersthroughWillysgrandiosedreamsandself-delusions.Occasionally,sheseemstobetakeninbyWillysself-deludedhopesforfuturegloryandsuccess,butatothertimes,sheseemsfarmorerealisticandlessfragilethanherhusband.ShehasnurturedthefamilythroughallofWillysmisguidedattemptsatsuccess,andheremotionalstrengthandperseverancesupportWillyuntilhiscollapse.Biff-Willysthirty-four-year-oldelderson.Biffledacharmedlifeinhighschoolasafootballstarwithscholarshipprospects,goodmalefriends,andfawningfemaleadmirers.Hefailedmath,however,anddidnothaveenoughcreditstograduate.Sincethen,hiskleptomaniahasgottenhimfiredfromeveryjobthathehasheld.BiffrepresentsWillysvulnerable,poetic,tragicside.Hecannotignorehisinstincts,whichtellhimtoabandonWillysparalyzingdreamsandmoveoutWesttoworkwithhishands.HeultimatelyfailstoreconcilehislifewithWillysexpectationsofhim.Happy-Willysthirty-two-year-oldyoungerson.HappyhaslivedinBiffsshadowallofhislife,buthecompensatesbyprofessionalambition.HappyrepresentsWillyssenseofself-importance,ambition,andblindservitudetosocietalexpectations.Althoughheworksasanassistanttoanassistantbuyerinadepartmentstore,Happypresentshimselfassupremelyimportant.Additionally,hepracticesbadbusinessethicsandsleepswiththegirlfriendsofhissuperiors.Charley-Willysnext-doorneighbor.Charleyownsasuccessfulbusinessandhisson,Bernard,isawealthy,importantlawyer.WillyisjealousofCharleyssuccess.CharleygivesWillymoneytopayhisbills,andWillyrevealsatonepoint,chokingbacktears,thatCharleyishisonlyfriend.Bernard-BernardisCharleyssonandanimportant,successfullawyer.AlthoughWillyusedtomockBernardforstudyinghard.BernardssuccessisdifficultforWillytoacceptbecausehisownsonslivesdonotmeasureup.Ben-Willyswealthyolderbrother.BenhasrecentlydiedandappearsonlyinWillys“daydreams.”WillyregardsBenasasymbolofthesuccessthathesodesperatelycravesforhimselfandhissons.Howard-Willysboss,whomWillyregardedas“amasterfulman”and“aprince.”ThoughmuchyoungerthanWilly,HowardtreatsWillywithcondescensionandeventuallyfireshim,despiteWillyswoundedassertionsthathenamedHowardathisbirth.StructureTheplayisdividedintothreemainparts,ActI,ActII,andtheRequiem.Eachsectiontakesplaceonadifferentdayinpresent-day.WithinActIandActII,thestoryispresentedthroughtheuseofWillysflashbacks.Thisuseofflashbackisfundamentaltothestructureandunderstandingoftheplay.Thestorystartsatpresent-dayandWillythenlapsesinandoutofthepast.Eachflashbackissomehowrelatedthepresent.Veryoften,thecontentsoftheflashbackofferessentialbackgroundknowledgeforunderstandingwhythepresent-dayproblemsintheLomanfamilyareoccurring.Themes 1.The American Dream.WillybelieveswholeheartedlyinwhatheconsidersthepromiseoftheAmericanDream-thatawelllikedandpersonallyattractivemaninbusinesswillindubitablyanddeservedlyacquirethematerialcomfortsofferedbymodernAmericanlife.WillysblindfaithinhisstuntedversionoftheAmericanDreamleadstohisrapidpsychologicaldeclinewhenheisunabletoacceptthedisparitybetweentheDreamandhisownlife.2.Abandonment.Willyslifechartsacoursefromoneabandonmenttothenext,leavinghimingreaterdespaireachtime.WillysfatherleaveshimandBenwhenWillyisveryyoung.BeneventuallydepartsforAlaska,leavingWillytolosehimselfinawarpedvisionoftheAmericanDream.Afterwards,BiffdropsWillyandhishopeforhim.3.Betrayal.WillysprimaryobsessionthroughouttheplayiswhatheconsiderstobeBiffsbetrayalofhisambitionforhim.WillybelievethathehaseveryrighttoexpectBifftofulfillthepromiseinherentinhim.whenBiffwalksoutonWillysambitionforhim,hetakesthisrejectionasapersonalaffront.MoralsFollow your heart:Willywaswellawareofthejoyphysicallaborbroughthim,buthesuppressedthosedesirestofulfillthemeaninglesspositionofasalesmanKnow your strengths and weaknesses:Willyshouldhavechosenacareerbasedonhisskillsandhisinterests,notonfalseperceptionsandtheopinionsofothers.Hard work is what pays off:Willydidhimselfandhisfamilyadisservicebyputtingtoomuchemphasisonappearanceandpopularity,andnotenoughonthevalueofhardwork.HewounduplivinginadaydreamwheneverthingswentwrongThank youThank you！