|
| |
"THE LAST YANKEE" (ARTHUR MILLER).
Term Paper ID:27040
|
|
|
Essay Subject:
Analyzes one-act satirical play about the inability of marital partners to connect with one another.... More...
|
4 Pages / 900 Words
1 sources, 7 Citations,
MLA Format
$16.00
Return to List of Papers
|
Paper Abstract:
Analyzes one-act satirical play about the inability of marital partners to connect with one another.
Paper Introduction:
In his play The Last Yankee, Arthur Miller presents two marriages under strain because of differing needs and perceptions by the husbands and wives who once thought they shared everything and who now believe they share less and less all the time. New feelings have emerged to replace the feelings of love that began these marriages, and these new feelings include anger, resentment, anxiety, self-doubt, and disgust. The couples might survive if each member could learn to forgive his or her spouse, but instead, each person is too taken up with a need for self-justification and self-preservation at the expense of his or her spouse.
The story is set in a state-run mental hospital, and three women are being treated there for clinical depression. Patricia is married to Leroy Hamilton, a carpenter, and she believes he is
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
. Patricia is married to LeroyHamilton, a carpenter, and she believes he is a failure because he does nothave the necessary ambition to achieve anything in this competitive world.Karen is married to Mr. Frick, and he is highly successful, quite theopposite of Leroy Hamilton. New feelings have emerged to replace thefeelings of love that began these marriages, and these new feelings includeanger, resentment, anxiety, self-doubt, and disgust. The American dream issomething often presented in fiction as a distortion and an illusion, assomething individuals strive for either in the wrong fashion or in a futileattempt to gain something withheld from them. Thesame frustration will emerge again--Patricia has already been in thehospital several times. There's really not a trouble in the world (Miller 12-13).Frick believes his wife has changed from the optimistic women he thoughtshe was into the depressed woman he now sees, yet it is clear that he wasthe one who was optimistic and not his wife: Whatever deal I was in, couldn't wait till I got home to talk about it. In the end, these people fail theAmerican Dream, it does not fail them. They are bedrock, aspiring not to greatness but to other gratifications--successful parenthood, decent children and a decent house and a decent car and an occasional nice evening with family or friends, and above all, of course, some financial security (Miller 92).This description applies to both couples, though in different ways. He says as much to herwhen he asks, This is just about as rich and handsome as I'm ever going to be and as good as you're ever going to look, so you want to be with me or not? Frick's relationship with his wife shows what sort of man he is, aself-absorbed and intolerant one who is so concerned with himself that hebarely notes that there are other people in the world. Indeed, Mr. Frick is a driven man, a type-Apersonality who owns businesses that dominate the local economy and makehim an important man in the business world of the area. The story is set in a state-run mental hospital, and three women arebeing treated there for clinical depression. If economic success were the only criterion, Mr. Frick might be theposter boy for the American Dream. And second, my view of their present confusion and, if you will, decay and possible recovery. In his play The Last Yankee, Arthur Miller presents two marriagesunder strain because of differing needs and perceptions by the husbands andwives who once thought they shared everything and who now believe theyshare less and less all the time. Both dynamics are evident inthis play. Arthur Miller writesabout his own intentions in this play in an afterward for the publishededition, and he states, The main thing I sought in The Last Yankee was to make real my sense of the life of such people, the kind of man swinging a hammer through a lifetime, the kind of woman waiting forever for her ship to come in. Frick has learned nothing and still does notunderstand his wife or her thinking. The couples mightsurvive if each member could learn to forgive his or her spouse, butinstead, each person is too taken up with a need for self-justification andself-preservation at the expense of his or her spouse. . Instead, Leroy is content toget by and to be himself, though his wife is not happy about this at all.He also is aware of the irony inherent in his family background, but he isno more able to understand his wife or what is happening to her and why shehas been to the hospital so many times: This is the third time in two years for mine, and I don't mean to be argumentative, but it's got me right at the end of my rope (Miller 23).He is more realistic about his situation than his wife in some respects,but this is precisely what has been bothering her. Real estate, stock market, always interested. Had a man in a few weeks ago to put in a new showerhead. He is descended from Alexander Hamilton, one ofthe key theorists who created this country, and this gives Leroy theimprimatur of being a true American. All of a sudden, no interest whatsoever (Miller 14). Seventeen dollars an hour! Both Karen andPatricia, however, see themselves as failures, in part because of theirhusbands--Patricia would be a success if she were married to a success, andKaren would be a success if her husband allowed her to be one instead ofcentering all ambition and all desire in himself and his career. Nothing to it. (Miller 17).Frick sees the fact that Leroy is a descendant of Alexander Hamilton asironic, while he is the one who is successful and has no such ancestry.This in fact gives Frick all the more reason to view himself as a self-mademan and so as a superior man. In a different sense entirely, LeroyHamilton might qualify. New York: Penguin, 1994. The two women are treated as their husbands wait outside, one beingpatient and the other anxious and more interested in being somewhere elseto get back to his business. Mr. Frick does not swing a hammer but is an entrepreneur whoworks at that every day, and his wife feels that she has been denied herown ship as he pursues his. Screw off the old one and screw on the new one. The wives are seeking to understand their ownanxieties, while the husbands are part of the cause. Thebest he can say about her is, "Just a nice, quiet kind of women. Work CitedMiller, Arthur. ." (Miller 11). The thirdwoman is hiding from life and is disappointed at everything she has evertried. Frick is the sort of businessman who admires money but has no respectfor all the little people whose work makes it possible. There's no bills; we're very well fixed; she's got a beautiful home. The Last Yankee. Miller connects thesetwo couples to an image of the American Dream, with Frick living that dreamin a way that is hollow, while Hamilton has failed to achieve the dream andso is thought less of by his wife and others. Leroy Hamilton thinks he is much more aware of his wife and herproblems, though he can do nothing more about them than can Frick. LeroyHamilton does swing a hammer each day, and his wife is waiting for her shipto come in. As the wives prepare to go home, there is a sense on their part thattheir problems have evaporated and that things will change, but it isevident that their husbands have not changed and neither have they. Just a she judgesthe plumber based on what the plumber charges him, so he judges his wifebased on how well she serves his needs and otherwise keeps to herself. Alwaysslept well. Leroy is, in fact, the last Yankee ofthe title, the last in a long line of Hamiltons stretching from thebeginning of this nation to this moment in time. Frick simply has no idea why his wife wouldbe depressed: I just can't figure it out. It is the two married couples who are central to the play, however. . Thisis apparent when he says he admires Leroy's attitude and differentiates itfrom what he sees all around him: Everybody's got the gimmes, it's destroying the country. . He is always readyto criticize the ambitions of others while elevating his own to theposition of something inevitable, as if he deserved all he could get. (Miller 59). Leroyhas given up on the American Dream that would have energized his ancestorand that gives a form of direction to Frick.
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
Click here to request an essay written just for you.
|
|
|
