Death of a Salesman
Close Reading of Willy
Lohman’s monologue from
Act II
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Willy Loman
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Juicy Sentence Willy (talking about Dave
Read the sentence to the
left.
1. Break the long
sentence into
smaller simple
sentences for each
idea.
2. Why are each of the
details included in
this sentence?
3. How does each part
of the sentence
function within the
whole?
4. What questions do
you have about the
whole play based on
this sentence?
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Singleman): When he died—
and by the way he died the
death of a salesman, in his
green velvet slippers in the
smoker of the New York, New
Haven and Hartford, going
into Boston—when he died,
hundreds of salesmen and
buyers were at his funeral.
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Superior Standards
Supportive School Climate
Successful Students
Superior Standards
Supportive School Climate
Successful Students
Superior Standards
Supportive School Climate
Successful Students
Now read the entire monologue on your own.
Annotate as you read with
** – Main idea or central to the author’s purpose
*– Author’s craft or use of style elements
! – I love this part! Great writing or idea
? – Raises a questions, possible discussion point for class
?? – Something is unclear or confusing to me. I need to ask about
this in class
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Text Dependent Questions
Questions of Key Ideas
and Details
• Why did Willy Loman
become a salesman?
Cite evidence from the
text.
• What do we learn
about Willy’s character
in this scene? Show
what words lead you to
make that conclusion.
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Questions of Craft and
Style
• How does the use of
multiple conjunctions
(known as polysyndeton)
affect your understanding
of Willy’s character?
What do you think the
author’s purpose was
using “and” 20 times in
this short passage?
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Breaking it up
You will now be performing ONE line from the monologue.
• In groups of 2-3, read your line several times. Select
one or two key words that seem to convey the meaning
or purpose of that line of dialogue. Chart the word(s)
and explain next to each why you selected it based
upon what you know from reading the entire
monologue.
• Then, rehearse and perform your line with your
partners in a way that will show at least 2 different
purposes or emotions in mind (angry/explanatory,
questioning/afraid, etc.) Be ready to share one
interpretation with the class as a whole.
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Final Assessment
• Students compare three recorded
productions of Death of a Salesman
to the written text, evaluating how
each version interprets the source
text and debating which aspects of
the enacted interpretations of the play
capture a particular character, scene,
or theme.
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3 interpretations of Willy Loman
http://youtu.be/tOG0kiPJMtE
http://youtu.be/TX
pGQCvtrUo
Links given to
YouTube
performances—
files too large to
include
http://youtu.be/GTkR-YUITFE
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