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This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

Comparative Study Of Arthur Miller
And Beomsuk Cha

presented by

Yonghee Lee

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

M.A. degree in manne—

(14%

Major professor

MS U is an Affirmative Action/Equd Opportunity Institution

 

 

 

 

 

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DATE DUE

DATE DUE DATE DUE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1m chlHCJDdoOuopGS-p.“

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ARTHUR MILLER AND BEOMSUK CHA
BY

YONGHEE LEE

A THESIS
SUBMITTED TO
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

In partial fulfillment of the requirements
For the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS
Department of Theatre

1999

ABSTRACT

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ARTHUR MILLER AND BEOMSUK CHA
BY

YONGHEE LEE

This study discusses the similarities between the
playwrights, Arthur Miller and Beomsuk Cha, and pays
particular attention to the inseparable relationship

between humans and their society. The plays, All My Sons,

 

Death of a Salesman, and A View from the Bridge by Arthur

 

 

Miller are compared with the socio—familial plays of

Beomsuk Cha, The Barren, and Castle of Roses. This study

 

 

explores the relationship between society and the
individual, or the family and the individual. This same
relationship is also evident in each playwright’s
biographical life as much as in their plays. This study
examines how the environment effects the protagonist’s
tragedy.

The study uses obsession, alienation and differing
generational values to examine the relationship between the
social environment and the protagonist. This study also
includes a telephone interview with Beomsuk Cha as an

appendix.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank the members of my committee,
Professor Frank C. Rutledge, Dr. Dixie Durr, and Professor
Joyce Ramsay for their interest in this project.

I would like to particularly acknowledge and thank
Professor Rutledge for propelling me many times to refine
this project from its rough drafts. I would also like to
give special thanks to Wendy Hedrick for patiently helping
to edit my thesis and for continuously motivating me to
rewrite the thesis with fresh ideas.

Additionally, I would like to thank Beomsuk Cha for
allowing me to interview him on the phone and for sincerely
answering all of my questions about his work. I hope I will
not disgrace his great plays.

Finally, I would like to thank my family in Korea—-
Hankyo Lee, Taeja Kim, Yongeun, and Yongchan-—for trusting
my ability and giving me the powerful strength of love

whenever I fell.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE . . . . . . .

CAREER OF ARTHUR MILLER .

CAREER OF BEOMSUK CHA
CHAPTER TWO

ALL MY SONS .

DEATH OF A SALESMAN

A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
CHAPTER THREE

THE BARREN

CASTLE OF ROSES

CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION

INTERVIEW WITH BEOMSUK CHA

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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61

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84

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123

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.136

INTRODUCTION

This study explores the similarities between two
different cultures could be found by analyzing two
playwrights: an American, Arthur Miller(1915—) and, a
Korean, Beomsuk Cha(1924—). These men are prominent
contemporary playwrights who established themselves after
World War II. According to a phone interview with Cha, Cha
personally admitted that there are some similarities
between Miller’s and his own work when he was asked to
share the likeliness to Miller. Cha mentioned that “I
really like Miller's plays. Despite some severe criticisms
about his plays, I like All My Sons, Death of a Salesman

and A View from the Bridge. It's because he describes

 

persons under certain social systems and circumstances, not
persons who belong nowhere.” In addition to Cha’s
acknowledgement, these two playwrights are recognized as
social dramatists, and they live in the similar historical
period. These similarities suggest that both men might
dramatize similar social situations, and they might also
use similar approaches to enlighten their societies. Among
many major historical incidents, World War II, a war that
both playwrights experienced, created a great deal of

confusion and led to a shift of value systems in the two

cultures. By looking at the shifts in value systems that
both dramatists witnessed, it is hypothesized that both
Miller and Cha share a similar perspective toward their
societies. Both playwrights understand that the environment

of society and social values greatly influence human life.

In order to explore similar social perspectives seen
in both Miller and Cha, Miller's major socio—familial

plays, All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and A View from

 

 

 

the Bridge and Cha’s major socio-familial plays, The Barren

 

 

and Castle of Roses have been selected for their emphasis

 

on social values and social environment. In these five
socio-familial plays, the theme of an inseparable
interrelationship between humans and their society is well
indicated by each protagonist’s struggle with members of
their family and their interactions with society. These
plays exhibit specific social conditions that affect each
protagonist in the same way those social conditions
influence the people in that society. These five plays also
show the different generational value systems between
parents and children that have changed over time. By using
conflicts between parents and children, both playwrights,
depict humans affected by and resisting changes in their

society.

The main concern in the study is the playwrights’
perspectives toward the relationship between society and
individuals rather than specific cultural or social
circumstances. Thus, Confucianism will not be compared with
Christianity, even though Confucianism is a factor in the
socio-environmental background of Korean society. The
study, rather, focuses on the similarities in the plays.
Despite cultural differences, society greatly impacts both
the playwrights and the characters in their plays. This
study is justified in that the similarities of both
playwrights not only provide an opportunity to bridge two
different cultures, but they also help us understand
another culture.

Chapter One is divided into two parts, dealing with
the careers of Miller and Cha. Because their social
perspectives were formed by the influences of their own
societies, we can see the environmental forces to human
life through Miller and Cha's biographical and educational
backgrounds.

Chapter Two analyzes Miller’s three socio-familial

plays, All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and A View from

 

 

 

the Bridge, and examines them in terms of three elements,

 

obsession, generational value systems, and alienation which

are found in all of these plays.

Chapter Three deals with Cha’s two plays, The Barren,

 

and Castle of Roses. This chapter analyzes the plays using

 

the same three elements explored in Miller’s plays and
begins to compare Cha’s work with Miller’s three plays. It
explains specific aspects of Korean society in both 19505
and 1960s in order to examine a social background in Cha’s
work. This chapter also compares the two plays with each
other in order to highlight the socio—environmental
characteristics in Cha’s plays and Korean society.

Chapter Four concludes by focusing on the two
dramatists’ similarities in respect with both their careers
and writing. In their plays, Miller and Cha, share the
perspective that social environments seriously determine
human life. In addition, this chapter suggests the need for
further comparative studies of Korean and American

literature.

CHAPTER I

This chapter will discuss the careers of two
playwrights, Arthur Miller and Beomsuk Cha, focusing on the

impact their youth had on their writings.

Arthur Asher Miller (1915-), one of the greatest
American modern playwrights, was born on October 17, 1915
in Manhattan, New York City, as the second son of Isidore
(a Jewish immigrant and owner of the Miltex Coat and Suit
Company) and Augusta Miller. Young Miller grew up observing
Jewish customs and was inculcated in Judaism. His house was
located near Harlem, so he attended public school in Harlem
until 1928.

According to Miller’s autobiography, Timebends: A
Life, before he entered elementary school, he watched a
movie that “deepened [his] misunderstanding of the real”
(1987: 57). As young Miller viewed the movie, the projector
light suddenly went out and he became curious about where
the actors and actresses were. His curiosity remained
unanswered until he had the opportunity to watch a theatre
performance. At about the age of eight, Miller went to the
Shubert Theatre with his mother. There he learned “two

kinds of reality,”(1987: 58), true reality and

representative reality in theatres and movies, recalling
his unsatisfied curiosity about what happened to the people
he saw on the movie screen. However, compared to the movie,
theatre provided Miller with a much more real and exciting
View. Watching the performance full of tension, he was
entrapped by the magic of stage.
In 1929, because of the crash of Wall Street and the
Great Depression, Isidore’s business suffered great
financial losses, and finally the family had to move to
Brooklyn. To Miller, the crash of 1929 and the Depression
helped develop his View of real life. The Depression
destroyed his father’s business and
put serious strains on the young Miller's
relationships with other members of his family. The
relative poverty to which they had been reduced meant
that sacrifices were called for and every desire to
place self—realisation above family solidarity implied
a fundamental betrayal. (Carson 4)
In addition to troubles within his own family, he saw many
jobless or homeless people roaming the street. He gradually
realized that there was no way anyone was immune to these
disasters, and later he recalled his memories of
irresistible forces of circumstance during the Depression.
In Brooklyn, Arthur Miller attended Abraham Lincoln

High School where he distinguished himself in everything

except football. In high school, he injured a knee during

football practice, which made him ineligible for military
service during World War II. After graduation from high
school, Miller worked at various jobs “ranging from a
singer on a local radio station to a truck driver to a
clerk in an automobile—parts warehouse on Tenth Avenue in
Manhattan”(Martin 1978zxi). Finding a job was not easy, and
even more difficult for Jews, which Miller personally
confronted as a harsh reality. Nelson explains that
“[aJnti—Semitism, which was [an] abstract and distant
concept in his comfortably clannish neighborhood, now
emerged as a personal and particular fact of life”(19).
While working for the warehouse, Miller read The

Brothers Karamazov, by the Russian novelist Dostoievsky,

 

which had a great impact on him, and steered him toward
becoming a writer. He was struck at the conflict between
the father and his sons and between brothers in the novel.
This conflict later became his main subject in his works.
Miller read more in the year following his discovery of The

Brothers Karamazov than at any previous time. “[WJith his

 

reading," according to Nelson, “came the first sense that
writing could be a way of communicating, of defining
experience, shaping chaos, making some kind of sense out of

apparent senselessness”(19). His experience at the

warehouse later produced a one—act play, A Memory of Two

 

Mondays.

Despite his low test scores, the University of
Michigan granted Miller conditional admission, and he
enrolled as a journalism student in 1934. To earn tuition
fees and other living costs, Miller decided to work for the
student newspaper, The Michigan Daily, as a reporter and
night editor. This experience enabled him to widen his
political perspective because the 1930s were full of
political and social issues such as the New Deal, President
Roosevelt’s confrontation with TVA, and many strikes and
protests. He was interested in the Spanish Civil War and
gradually found himself immersed in the socialist ideals of
the time which supported the need for change and progress
in society. In 1936, his political and social interests

yielded the play No Villain. This play is about a Jewish

 

family living in the outskirts of New York. This family is
threatened by a strike. The play portrays Millers' family
as a frame of the story. In this play, the father runs a
garment business, like Miller’s father, and his sons, Ben
and Arnie are like Miller and his brother, Kermit. Neil

Carson commented that No Villain is

 

[a] realistic treatment of a domestic crisis which is
precipitated by external, political events. The
conflicts provoked arise from what might be called

ideological differences but these are by no means
confined to political ideologies. (7)

In No Villain, Miller is also concerned with the question

 

of how an individual may live with others in his family and
in society. Because the characters in the play are affected
by their social circumstances, these circumstances cause
conflicts among the family, as the form of generational
conflicts; and conflicts between an individual and society
as the form of alienation. Miller depicts an individual
under particular social surroundings and how deeply he/she
is influenced by the surroundings. This concern has

produced Miller's later major plays such as All My Sons,

 

Death of a Salesman, and A View form the Bridge.

 

 

Miller started his playwriting career with No Villain,

 

and received a Hopwood Award in Drama from the Avery
Hopwood Writing Contest for this play. Even though he began

to write No Villain in order to earn $250, in his

 

autobiography, Timebends, he confessed that he couldn't

 

help writing plays as the tool for expressing his artistic
spirit and freedom. Miler explains that,

[f]rom the beginning, the idea of writing a play was
entwined with my very conception of myself.
Playwriting was an act of self-discovery from the
start and would always be; it was a kind of license to
say the unspeakablem writing meant freedom, a
spreading of wings. (1987: 212)

Before submitting No Villain, he let his friend, Jim Doll,

 

read the play and Doll praised it fully. At that time,
Miller expressed his discovery by saying that “the magical
force of making marks on a piece of paper and reaching into
another human being, making him see what I had seen and
feel my feelings—I had made a new shadow on the
earth”(1987:213). Miller realized the thrill of great power
of writing when his friend, Doll, sympathized with him. In
September of 1936, he changed his major from journalism to

English, and he revised No Villain for the Theatre Guild’s

 

Bureau of New Plays Contest and renamed it They Too Arise.

 

The next year, he enrolled in the playwriting class of
Professor Kenneth Rowe because, until that time, Miller had
not had any real playwriting lessons. In Rowe’s classes,
Miller learned how to establish a well—constructed plot by
studying the dramatic forms of the past, especially the
realistic works of Henrik Ibsen. Rowe taught “Ibsen's
emphasis on social problems and the way in which the
playwright focused on the questions of moral values,
integrity and will underlying those problems”(Carson 7—8).
Through this perspective, Rowe influenced Miller’s
development in the process of his playwriting, stressing

the importance of a good plot:

[l]et [the author] present the story, translate it, if
necessary, in terms of a background and kind of people
he knows and understands. Then let [the author]
develop the play earnestly and sincerely in truth to
the characters and to life as he sees it. (Rowe 1939,
52)

While he studied at the University of Michigan, Miller kept

writing plays such as Honors at Dawn, which received

 

another Avery Hopwood Award, and The Great Disobedience. He

 

had a chance to put his play They Too Arise, on stage at

 

the university. In June of 1938, he graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts Degree in English. As soon as graduated,
he began to work with the Federal Theatre Project in New
York, sponsored by the United States government in order to
provide work for actors, writers, and theatre technicians
(Carson 9).

Between 1938 and 1943, he wrote many radio plays and
scripts for the government in support of the war effort.
Since there were so many restrictions and taboos from the
government, Miller expressed his dislike for radio scripts
in a 1947 New York Times interview: “I despise radio. Every
emotion in a radio script has to have a tag. It’s like
playing a scene in a dark closet"(Hogan 1964z7). In spite
of his dislike, the experiences of writing radio plays and
scripts helped him financially and later in literary

aspects. One of his radio plays, The Pussycat and the

 

 

Expert Plumber Who Was a Man, foreshadowed his later major
plays. Tom, the cat in the radio play, was reminiscent of
two characters of Miller's major plays—Eddie Carbone in A

View from a Bridge and John Proctor in The Crucible. Tom,

 

 

the cat, says,
the one thing a man fears most, next to death, is the
loss of his good name. Man is evil in his own eyes, my
friends, worthless, and the only way he can find
respect for himself is by getting other people to say
he’s a nice fellow. (Hogan 8)
The idea of the significance of keeping a good name, was
explored in this script.
In 1943, because World War II was still going, Miller
was asked to write a screen play based on Ernie Pyle’s war
report in newspaper columns. Miller did not have military

service experience, so he toured army camps to gather

material for the film script The Story of G. I. Joe. In

 

1944, he also published a book about this tour under the

title Situation Normal. In the same year, he produced his

 

first Broadway play, The Man Who Had All the Luck; although

 

the play closed 4 days after it opened, it received the
Theatre Guild National Award. More importantly, this play
showed Miller’s major concerns about the father—son
relationship, a son's search for his identity, and
individual responsibility in a family tragedy. Miller

explains in his Collected Plays that, “[t]he crux of All My

 

12

Sons, which would not be written until nearly three years

later, was formed; and the roots of Death of a Salesman

 

were sprouted”(1957: 126).

During World War II, as the world knew that the
Germans were hunting down the Jews en masse, American
bigotry and hostility became worse toward Jews as well as
foreigners in general. In 1945, Miller published the novel
Focus as a remembrance of his job hunting experience. In it
he attacked anti—Semitism in American society and further
concentrated on the irrational hatred toward any racial
minority. In future works, Miller returned to Jewish

settings and characterizations in Incident at Vichy and The

 

After World War II, “the growth of America’s
responsibility toward the world’s oppressed people”
(Scharine 1991: xxi—xxiii) was a dominant political idea.

Miller put this concept into his play, All My Sons, which

 

deals with social idealism and universal relatedness. Two

years after World War II, All My Sons was produced in New

 

York and ran for 328 performances. This play received both
the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award and the Donaldson
Award and gave Miller professional recognition as a

playwright.

After publishing All My Sons, Miller admitted Ibsen’s

 

influences on his playwriting. Miller thought contemporary
playwrights could do more with Ibsen’s intention to “cling
always to the marvelous spectacles of life forcing one
event out of the jaws of the preceding one and to reveal
its elemental consistencies with surprise"(1978: 545).
Namely, Ibsen dealt with the process, change, and
development of life; therefore there are relationships
between past and present. Miller stressed the causation
between the past and present; “[an] enormous past was
always heavily documented to the end that the present be
comprehended with wholeness, as a moment in a flow of time,
and not as a situation without roots”(1978: 544). Miller‘
took Ibsen’s insistence on the valid causation of events in
writing plays.

In addition to the irrevocable relation between past
and present, Miller found the spirit of Greek tragedy in
Ibsen’s realistic plays to be a force which he wanted to
capture in his own writing. “To me,” Miller said,

[Ibsen] was a reincarnation of the Greek dramatic

spirit, especially its obsessive fascination with past

transgressions as the seeds of current catastrophe.

Past and present were drawn into a single continuity,

and thus a secret moral order was being limned. (1978:
547)

14

The ideas of “obsessive fascination with past
transgressions” and the impact of public life on the
private guided Miller. Using stories he had heard from his
relatives or friends, Miller produced Greek tragedy—like

plays such as All My Sons (1947) and A View from the Bridge

 

(1955, 56).

Exactly two years after releasing All My Sons, Miller

 

introduced his most influential play, Death of a Salesman,
to audiences all over the world in 1949. This play earned
many awards, from the Pulitzer Prize to the Theatre Club

award. Many critics questioned the theme of Death of a

 

Salesman; however, personally I will focus on how Miller
depicts society through an individual’s mind as well as an
individual through the materialistic society. This matter
will be discussed in great detail as the main point of the
later chapters of this thesis.

After Death of a Salesman was published, Miller wrote

 

“Tragedy and the Common Man” in the New York Times on Feb.
27, 1949 to explain his definition of tragedy. In addition
to this article, he published other articles, such as “The
Family in Modern Drama” (1956) and “The Shadows of the
Gods” (1958), to explain the ideas in his plays which
caused misunderstandings and confusion among critics,

readers and politicians of the period.

15

During the period that Miller wrote Death of a

 

Salesman, the early 19508, Senator Joseph McCarthy brought
the issue of anti-communism to the public. He warned
Americans that communists in government positions, the
military, and the arts threatened the American way of life.
The House Committee on Un-American Activities, a special
committee put in place “to investigate the extent of
Communist infiltration into American life”(Carson 15),
accused Miller of being a communist. Starting with writing

Death of a Salesman, and followed by An Enemy of the People

 

 

(1950), and The Crucible (1953), Miller attracted the

 

attention of politicians because of the anti—capitalism
aspect of his plays, which caused suspicion that he was a
Communist.

In particular, The Crucible drew more attention

 

because it reflected the McCarthy hunt for communists. By
chance, Miller noticed a copy of Marion Starkey’s book on

the Salem witch trials, The Devil in Massachusetts. Miller

 

was impressed by the “terrible marvel of people who could
have such a belief in themselves and in the rightness of
their consciousness [that they would] give up their lives
rather than say what they thought was false”(Carson 16).
People who read this play and watched the performance

definitely thought this play criticized the current

political climate where people were afraid to speak out
about what they really thought.
Despite his denial, in 1954 when he tried to renew his

passport to attend the Brussels opening of The Crucible,

 

the State Department refused his application. In 1956,
Miller sent a letter to the chairman of the House Committee
on Un—American Activities which said,
I was looking for the world that would be perfect. I
think it necessary that I do that if I were to develop
myself, as a writerm. I am not ashamed of this. I
accept my lifem. What I sought to find from without I
subsequently learned must be created within. (Carson
32)
This statement is indicative of him as a social dramatist
and his continuous search for a better society. His role as;
a social dramatist, which is greatly significant to this
thesis, will be dealt with in the next chapter.
Between 1956 and 1961, when Miller was married to

Marilyn Monroe, he did not write plays, but instead devoted

three years to writing a movie script, The Misfits, which

 

was later published as a novel. After divorcing Monroe,

Miller returned to Broadway with After the Fall (1964) and

 

Incident at Vichy (1964), ending a seven—year absence.

 

People were interested in seeing these plays because they
presumed both plays would be based on his marriage to

Marilyn Monroe. Instead, both plays returned to his earlier

17

familial concern —“how to make of the outside world a home,
a world after the fall from innocence, a world invaded by
evil most manifest in the Holocaust but evident as well in
personal betrayals”(Griffin 114).

In 1962, he married Ingeborg Morath, an Austrian-born
professional photographer, and the couple worked together

on the three books In Russia (1969), In Country (1977), and

 

 

Chinese Encounters (1979); Miller wrote the stories and

 

Ingeborg took photographs for each book. From 1965 to 1969,
he was president of International P.E.N., an organization
that advocated freedom of expression. Since 1968 when he

wrote The Price, which treats hostility between competitive

 

brothers, Miller has, almost annually, produced plays and
books.

Miller himself mentioned after 1972 his plays became
more mythological, particularly, The Creation of the World

and Other Business (1972) and Up from Paradise (1974). When

 

 

speaking about these plays, Miller explained that, “the
characters are actually mythologicalm. And perhaps it isn’t
as obvious to others as it is to me that the characters in
all my other plays are also mythological"(Griffin 9).

In 1980, Miller’s adaptation of Fania Fenelon’s

memoirs, Playing for Time, was shown on TV and became one

 

of television’s all—time best dramas. In 1983, Miller

18

 

directed Death of a Salesman at the People’s Art Theatre in
Beijing, The People’s Republic of China, proving his
universal recognition as a leading modern playwright. This

experience gave birth to Salesman in Beijing the next year.

 

In addition to these two plays, after 1984, Miller produced

many plays, such as Danger: Memory! (1987), The Last Yankee

 

 

(1991), and Broken Glass (1994).

 

In 1987, Miller wrote his autobiography, Timebends: A

 

Life at the age of 72, recalling his life in relationship
to various historical events of the ZOH‘Century such as the
Great Depression, World War I and II, the collapse of the
Cold War, and the Vietnam War. Having experienced these
political and social issues in person, Miller knew
firsthand the power of these invisible and irresistible
forces over human life. This knowledge influenced his
thought about how we may live, and continued his career as

a social dramatist.

Nine years after Arthur Miller was born in America,
Beomsuk Cha (1924-) was born in the southwestern Port City
of Mokpo, Korea. Cha is an outstanding and representative
Korean playwright whose voice parallels that of Miller’s.
When he was born, Korea was under the rule of Japanese

Imperialism and most Koreans were treated as slaves of the

19

Japanese. However, because his father, Namjin Cha, was a
large landowner in those days, Beomsuk Cha did not, as a
boy, experience many difficulties surviving and was free to
continue his schooling, hardly noticing that Korea had a
subordinate relationship with Japan.

In 1932, he entered Jaeil Elementary School, and he
read all sorts of books, magazines, and novels in Japanese
without any trouble. His Japanese was good enough to write
compositions and translate into Korean so that, in the
future, the college student Cha could translate the

Japanese version of Oedipus the King into Korean for

 

himself, and he used that script for performing the plays.
When Cha recalled his youth, he was appalled with how
intensively Japan forced Koreans to learn and use Japanese
instead Korean.

Like Miller, Cha also experienced the miracle of the
performing art as a young boy. In 1936, he watched a dance
concert by Seunghee Choi which affected him greatly. Choi
was a famous Korean international dancer at that time,
therefore many Koreans looked forward to seeing her dance
with the expectation of seeing something other than
traditional dance. Attending Choi’s dance concert left a
strong impression on Cha about what real and true art was.

Choi made him feel full of mirth. “This mirth originally

20

came from the dance, and the dancer spread her enthusiasm
to the audience unconsciously. At the end the dancer and
audience connected into one assimilated unit, and this for
me was the highest point of art"(Cha 1993: 64). Choi’s
dance concert aroused in him the dream of becoming an
artist, and in fact, he later knocked on the door of the
dancing world.

As a middle school student, Cha dimly realized the
social circumstances in which he lived. Because of the
severe militarism of Japan, Koreans could no longer learn
the Korean language in school. They had to change their
names to Japanese, and young Korean students were forced to
take military service in school with the volunteer system
for World War II. Cha, however, was only 14 years old, and
he had something else on his mind—-love and romance. One
day he was called to see a teacher and was pressed hard
about a violation of school rules. His error was that he
had exchanged letters with a girl, so he was suspended from
middle school and forced to return home for a long period
of time. During his stay at home, he became curious and
questioned what he had done wrong. Eventually he became
angry at the older generation for prohibiting his naive and
natural feeling toward a girl and which, moreover, punished

him as a violator of rules. Cha explained,

21

I indulged myself in several novels that claimed free
love in those days. As a boy opening my eyes to love,
these novels might have sprouted my revolt against the
older generation’s moral and educational values which
condemned my behavior of sending a letter as being
sinful. (1993: 75)
His revolts against the older generation influence the
pictures of the younger generation in his plays. Cha
depicts a younger generation that has conflicts with the
older generation and is furthermore forced by the older
generation to do things it does not want to do.

After graduation in 1942, he failed twice to enter the
university and lived in Japan for two years. This stay
allowed Cha to widen his artistic perspective, and in the
end, he made up his mind to be a playwright. In Japan, he
attended many cinema and theatre performances because he
felt the need to know various aspects of life, and movie
and theatre performances were the best method for this. Due
to World War II, he could not View American or British
plays or movies; instead he had chances to watch French,
German, Italian and Swedish movies because these nations
were friendly with Japan during wartime.

In 1943, two years after Japan had declared war
against the United States, the United States bombed Tokyo,

so Cha hurried back to Korea. As the war deepened, Japan

enforced the conscription system and, to exempt himself

22

from military service, Cha entered Kwangju Educational
College. The war created a need for more teachers in order
to substitute for conscripted teachers. During this time,
Cha wrote some novels in Japanese to release his restrained
desire, and these novels symbolized for him the struggle
for real freedom. Despite his attempt to avoid the army and
become a puppet of Japanese Imperialism, he was drafted in
June of 1945 into the Japanese army and stayed on Jaeju
Island, which is located in the southern most part of
Korea. Cha comments about the terrible humiliation and

oppression in Life of the Artist. He explained that

 

everything was forced unconditionally and one-sidedly;
we had to receive this with silence and submissionm. I
didn’t have enough courage to tear off the Japanese
national flag sewn on my shoulder. I didn't have the
power to resist and claim for whom I ought to die.
(1993:95—6)
Luckily, two months later the war was over, and Korea was
liberated from Japan.
Cha started to work for Bukkyo Elementary School in
1945 when he saw the national flag for the first time. He
had already decided to become a playwright, so one year
later, in 1946, he entered Yeonhee University (today,
Yeonsei University), majoring in literature. Since 1947,

the same year he was married, Cha's theatrical career has

blossomed.

23

At first he established the Yeonhee Theatre Art Yeon
Gu Whoi Club, and in this club he began his theatre
activities. Original Korean plays, however, were so scarce
that the demand for Japanese plays rose. In addition to
this club, Cha joined Sae Ma Eul literary club whose
members had interests in poetry, fiction, and drama. The
club’s View of literature was social realism, which is
defined as: “Literature must be based on realism and it
doesn't have significance if a work ignores historical and
national reality"(1993:116). This view of literature slowly
attracted Cha to the works of revolutionary Korean writers.
In 1949, the Yeonhee Theatre Art Yeon Gu Whoi, a theatre
group, received the second prize at the first Korean
University Theatre Contest. The club performed the Greek

tragedy, Oedipus the King, translated and directed by Cha,

 

which was the first time a Greek tragedy was presented on
stage in Korea. As he wondered about the proper play for
this contest, Cha spoke with Chijin Yoo (1905-74), an early
ZOH’Century Korean realistic dramatist, who influenced
Cha’s writing. Yoo recommended using a Greek tragedy,
saying, “Try a Greek tragedy. I think, when student
theatres have an academic and experimental spirit, they

finally get vividness. Besides, if you want to be a

24

playwright, you need to study plays methodically”(Cha 1993:
149).

In addition to the advice from Yoo, Cha was affected
by Yoo’s literary tendencies, especially his realistic view
of society. While he took Yoo’s class, “Theory of Drama,"
in 1947, Cha learned that “a play is conflict,” and that
“[t]heatre is an art which lets the audience see, not
listen.” Yoo told his students that, “[p]lays must be
established as one genre of literature in Korea. Theatre
cannot become theatre for the people without educating the
public”(Cha 1993: 147). Yoo’s life greatly impressed Cha
because Yoo devoted himself to establishing drama as a
higher art in Korea. Cha received another stimulus from
Yoo’s beliefs regarding the need for a Korean theatre
movement. Yoo believed that this need resulted from the
oppression and humiliation the Korean people received
during 35 years of Japanese Imperialism. “The only method
to break down people’s sorrow under tyranny and furthermore
awaken their suppressed consciousness,” according to Yoo,
“is theatre”(Cha 1993:148). This painful and strong comment
urged Cha to follow Yoo and taught him how to perceive
reality as a writer.

Yoo personally confessed that he was influenced by

Romain Rolland’s Theory of People’s Theatre (1903) and the

 

25

plays of Sean O’Casey, an Irish playwright. Yoo especially
shared O’Casey’s agonies over despotism, because Ireland
also had been ruled by a foreign force, the British Empire.
Thus, when Yoo read O’Casey’s plays, he felt the empathy
with O’Casey’s distress as a person of a colony. Romain
Rolland helped Yoo to “choose the most direct and practical
drama among literature and the most active and realistic
theatre among art”(Yoo 1975: 101-2). Beginning in 1920, Yoo
exploited the dark age of Korean drama under Japanese rule.
While Cha’s aspiration was growing under the influence
of Chijin Yoo and other theatre activities, the Korean War
broke out in 1950. Cha had to leave Seoul, giving up his
studies. On the way back to his hometown, Mokpo, with his
wife, Cha underwent unforgettable experiences and life or
death choices. Fortunately, Cha and his wife arrived at
Mokpo 17 days after they left Seoul, and Cha found a job at
Mokpo Middle School, where he taught for the next six
years. As a humanistic teacher he told his students to
respect humanity. Influenced by Chijin Yoo, Cha, as a
literature teacher, taught his students the function of the
literature of the time. “[T]he function of literature,” Cha
taught, “is to frankly speak and express, not neglect or
disregard, about everything surrounding us today”(1993:

143). During this period, he wrote approximately 10 plays

26

and directed them in Mokpo Middle School in order to
prepare to make a future debut in letters.
In 1955, Cha’s efforts to become a playwright yielded

recognition when he won second place for his play Home—brew

 

at the New Plays Contest, sponsored by Chosun Il Bo, the

daily newspaper. The next year, he wrote Homecoming, and

 

this play received first prize in the same contest. He was
still working for Mokpo Middle School at that time, but he
gradually made up his mind to leave the school and devote
himself to writing plays. While he worked at Mokpo Middle
School, he saw the evil side of human nature in the
educational organization. Some of his co-workers, doing
supercilious things, betrayed other teachers to promote and
succeed in their jobs. At last in 1956, he left Mokpo
Middle School and moved to Seoul again and worked for
Duksung Girls High School for five years.

In Seoul, the capital of Korea, Cha was quickly
conscious of the change in theatre. After the Korean War,
many playwrights attempted to illustrate pictures of the
social impact of the war on the family and old value
systems. Sunghee Kim, in her Masters thesis, mentioned the
general characteristics of the postwar plays in Korea:

the family image described in the plays of the 19505

can be thought of as a microcosm of the postwar
society begetting such a variety of problems as the

27

conflict between old and new valuesmthe hard struggle

for survival and the changes of societal customs and

morality. (1986: 82)

Cha agreed with these tendencies of the postwar plays and
became engaged as one of the influential playwrights of the
period.

Among many contributions to Korean theatre, first of
all, he felt the urgent need for different theatre troupes.
In those days the theatre company, Shin Hyep, monopolized
theatre performances. Cha thought Shin Hyep used hyperbole
too much in its plays and chose too commercially limited a
repertoire. Although he respected realistic viewpoints in
art, Cha disliked Shin Hyep’s style. Finally Cha revolted
against Shin Hyep and formed Jae Jak Geuk Whoi with his old
college friends. Jae Jak Geuk Whoi aimed at producing plays
which made people aware of the sorrow and happiness of the
time. It also looked for plays to fit more modern and
subjective tastes. It was the beginning of a community
theatre movement in Korea; however, with Jae Jak Geuk Whoi,
Cha pursed his literary ideal to do something for the
people.

In 1963, Cha left Jae Jak Geuk Whoi because he thought
Korea needed a specialized theatre company. He organized a

theatre company, Sanha, whose goal was to popularize and

specialize theatre as an art form. Therefore, Sanha staged

28

many local performances of original Korean plays, including
Cha’s plays, rather than translated foreign plays. Sanha
appealed to the Korean public until 1983, and made a great
foundation for theatre popularity in Korea. Cha became
appreciated as a key figure in Korean theatre.

In addition to his experience establishing a theatre
company, he worked for television, radio, dance companies,
many other theatre companies, and as a university
professor. As a representative of Korean writers, he
traveled to America for the first time to attend the 1966
International P.E.N. conference in New York City when
Arthur Miller was the president of P.E.N..

While working in theatre administration, Cha has
written 32 long—act plays, 28 one-act plays, 7 Chang geuk
(similar to opera) and dance plays, and 9 adapted plays.

Also, in 1993, he published his autobiography, Life of the

 

Artist at the age of 70.

Cha's plays are roughly categorized into three groups
according to the themes of localism, social criticism, and
biography. The plays in the first group, localism, include

Home-brew (1955), Homecoming (1956), I must survive (1959),

 

 

 

The Mountain Fire (1962), and The Forest of Murder (1976).

 

 

They describe the poverty, sorrow and joy of the common

29

people during the wartime. Those in the second group,

social criticism, The Barren (1957), Angry Machine (1958),

 

 

The Blue-roofed House (1963), Castle of Roses (1968), The

 

 

Substitute (1969), and The Occupation of Professor Wang

 

 

(1970) reflect the pictures of a society full of confusion,
alienation, collapse and emergence, and loss after the
Korean War. The third group, biography, was mostly written
after the 1970s, when Cha started to feel the need for a
new recognition of Korean history due to the recent

political and social stability. Death of Chadon Lee(1973),

 

Bird, Bird, Blue Bird (1974), Sontak Hotel (1977) and Dream

 

 

Sky (1987) belong to this group. I will focus on the second
group because those plays show the most similarity to
Arthur Miller’s plays, and in Korea they continue to be

performed successfully on stage today.

I will compare The Barren and Castle of Roses by Cha

 

 

with Arthur Miller’s socio-familial plays — All My Sons,

 

Death of a Salesman, and A View from the Bridge. As I have

 

 

described in this chapter, both playwrights have lived
during almost the same historical period, but in different
regions——Miller in Western culture and Cha in the Eastern
culture. They both went through serious historical events

in their lifetimes and the hardships during those periods

30

contributed to their similar thoughts about the invisible
and irresistible power of circumstance on human life. In
their plays, both emphasize the relatedness between

individuals and society to convey their messages.

In the next two chapters, I will study in depth

Miller’s and Cha’s similar perspectives toward the

relationship between society and the individual.

3]

CHAPTER I I

This chapter will examine Miller’s three socio—
familial plays that are based on Miller’s experiences of
the interrelation between society and the individual.
Miller often uses the fish-water analogy to illustrate that
“a serious treatment of a human being must encompass the
society that surrounds him or her as the force that has
conditioned thoughts, culture, attitudes and
values”(Griffin 1996: 15—6). A fish is directly affected by
the conditions of the water where it lives. Water nurtures
the fish and determines the external and internal
conditions of fish. Although the fish does not want to be
influenced by its water, it cannot survive out of the
water. Miller thinks this relationship is identical with
that of the individual and society. Therefore, in order to
understand an individual, it is necessary to understand his

or her society.

In three of his plays, All My Sons, Death of a

 

Salesman, and A View from the Bridge, the protagonists

 

undergo tragic experiences caused by societal influences.

Despite many arguments among literary critics about the

existence of real tragedy in modern times, Miller declares
that there is the possibility of modern tragedy:
There are among us todaymthose who act against
the scheme of things that degrades them, and in
the process of action everything we have accepted
out of fear or insensitivity or ignorance is
shaken before us and examined. . . .[F]rom this
total examination of the unchangeable
environment-—comes the terror and the fear that
is classically associated with tragedy. (1978:4)
Miller thinks contemporary playwrights can find sources of
tragedy from conflicts between humans and their social
surroundings. Since the modern man cannot get out of his
surroundings like a fish cannot leave the water, the
surroundings function as either a “promise” or a
“threat”(Miller 1978: 43) in his life. Thus, when an
individual feels threatened by his social surroundings,
conflicts between him and society are formed.

To show the conflicts between humans and their social
surroundings, and draw pictures of individuals under
certain social conditions, Miller uses the basic social
unit, the family. Hogan states that “the larger society is
reflected by the little society of the family. That little
society, that microcosm, Miller knew intimately and
revealingly documented”(1964: 15). According to Welland,

Miller “relates the frictions of family life to those of

the macrocosm outside: his families live in a recognisably

real world"(1985:12—3). By projecting a family into a
society, Miller closely studies the individual’s strife
with society.

Before looking at three socio—familial plays, I will
deal with the significance of family because Miller focuses
intensively on family; especially the father's role in a
family by depicting the father as a tragic protagonist in
each play. Family is the most fundamental institution that
“human beings require; it is the key social unit within
where we learn to love, come to terms with our aggressions,
develop a conscience and acquire values”(Salk 1992: 20).
Thus, if a family does not function well enough to nurture
an individual, the person can not survive in society, the
larger unit. For an individual, a family or a society is
like water for the fish, it produces the elements necessary
to live. Among family members, the father for Miller plays
an important role for sustaining the family’s welfare
against the waves of adversity in life.

The importance of family for the individual is present

in three of Miller’s major plays, All My Sons, Death of a

 

 

Salesman, and A View from the Bridge. In these plays, the

 

protagonists, Joe Keller, Willy Loman, and Eddie Carbone,
all fathers or father figures, respectively, share common

tragic elements. Their lives in society manifest the power

34

of their social circumstances. All of them are alienated
from the community or society to which they either belong
or wish to belong. Their obsession with something, such as
family, success, name, or passion, reflects the influential
social surroundings of their lives. These obsessions
generate conflicts with their children because of disparate
generational value systems. Finally the three fathers bring
a tragic ending upon themselves and tragedy to their

families via alienation from the family and society.

To explain the interrelationship between an individual
and society, I will focus on three common elements which
effect these three families: first, obsession; second, the
different generational value systems held by fathers and
children; and third, alienation of family members and of
family from society. These three elements clarify how
society influences an individual and how the individual
deals with social circumstances. To examine the roles of
these three elements, obsession, generational value
systems, and alienation, I will discuss the three plays
separately, focusing on the particular social conditions

and their influences on the characters in each play.

35

All My Sons

Joe Keller is a father of two young men and is a
successful businessman who made a fortune during and after
World War II selling airplane cylinder heads. Joe let Steve
Deever, his partner, ship out defective engine parts to the
Army Air Force and these products caused the deaths of 21
pilots. When the law asked who was responsible, Joe lied
that he was sick that day and with the false testimony of
his wife, Kate, even accused Steve of shipping the parts
without asking Joe. Joe was exonerated, but Steve was sent
to prison. Steve’s family moved out of the town in shame.
However, this incident was remembered by the neighbors who
believed that Joe was guilty as well.

During the war, the elder son of Joe and Kate, Larry,
a pilot, became missing in action. Joe and his younger son,
Chris, believed that Larry must be dead, but Kate fervently
believes, and even forces others to believe, that Larry is
not dead. Later, when Kate hears that Chris and Ann,
Larry’s girlfriend and Steve’s daughter, are going to
marry, Kate refuses to accept Larry’s death and spills the
beans about Joe’s responsibility for the pilots’ deaths.
This revelation of long deception causes the relationship
between Chris and Joe to be broken and finally leads to

Joe’s suicide. The causes of Joe’s tragedy can be found in

the three elements, obsession, generational value systems,

and alienation.

Joe Keller is described as a nice, funny, but somewhat
ignorant father. He simply does what he believes without
any other thought. While Joe strongly believes what he
believes is right all his life such as the justification
for his crime, he ignores what he has to ignore such as his
responsibility for deaths of the pilots. His characteristic
is exemplified by the stage direction:

When he reads, when he speaks, when he listens,
it is with the terrible concentration of the
uneducated man for whom there is still wonder in
many commonly known things, a man whose judgments
must be dredged out of experience and a peasant-
like common sense. (5—6)
Joe’s “wonder in many common known things”(5) creates the
conflicts with Chris who tries to read current state in the
world from the newspaper by being interested in recently
published books. These differences become the sources of
generation gap later. Joe’s “peasant like common sense”(6)
also separates him from the successful community. Even
though Joe is self—imposed, he is also alienated from his

society like a fish out of the water. Joe who many common

things are still wondrous cannot help to sticking to his

37

existing value system which he has believed for a long time
in spite of changes of social surroundings.

Joe is obsessed with his business and his family,
especially his son. Joe takes it for granted that his only
remaining son, Chris, will take over his successful
business. Although Chris is not interested in taking over
the business, Joe does not try to learn what Chris truly
wants to do, but thinks only about Chris’ succession to the
top of Joe’s business. This selfishness results in his
obsession with his son. Because of the loss of his oldest
son in World War II, Chris is the only son left to Joe and
his business is only thing he has been able to retain.
However, when Chris tries to move out of the family home
and live in New York with Ann for their marriage, Joe
desperately pleads with Chris to stay, saying, “ Because
what the hell did I work for? That’s only for you, Chris,
the whole shootin’—match is for you”(15). For Joe, Chris’s
departure means the end of his business, and Joe’s life
becomes futile.

In the past, Joe’s obsession with his family and
business caused the deaths of pilots.Because of the urgent
need for these parts, Joe believed he could not re-
manufacture the engine heads because it would take time as

well as money. He also did not stop shipping out these

38

defective products because the business meant security for
his family. If he had reported the truth about the defects,
his business would have been ruined and his family’s
security endangered. According to Nelson, Joe does not view
his business, “as an end in itself, but as the means by
which he can give his family the security they presently
enjoy, and enable his son to make the best possible life
for himself"(83). These values and attitudes result from
the prevailing materialism and success syndrome that is a
by-product of the American Dream. Like a fish that absorbs
everything in the water where it lives, Joe, as a
businessman, adopted these values which influenced him when
he decided to send the faulty products.

Joe’s decision to ship out the defective products to
the Air Force was not based on his individual greed and
villainous selfishness, but rather on his obsessive caring
for his family’s welfare. Yet, from a larger social view,
it is also considered selfish on the part of the individual
to think only of one’s family. Joe does not seem to be
concerned about his crime for killing the pilots and for
ascribing the fault entirely to Steve. His lack of feelings
of guilty or concern shows his selfishness toward others

except for his family.

Joe’s obsession with his family is based on the
importance of the family bond. While excusing Steve as “a
little man” who was “always scared of loud voices”(28), Joe
tries to convince Chris that a father is always a father in
spite of his crime or in any situation. Thus, condemning
one’s father is not right. Later, when Joe’s hidden crime
is disclosed, Joe still believes that he did the right
thing for his family, so he does not need to be forgiven by
his son. Joe decisively says, “There nothin’ [Chris] could
do that I wouldn’t forgive: Because he’s my son. Because
I’m his father and he’s my son”(63). This reinforces the
idea of his obsession with family and shows how strongly
Joe believes in the importance of the father-son
relationship in society. Furthermore, Joe vows if there is
anything bigger than the family, he will kill himself. As
for him, society is only his family. Joe denies the
existence of bigger society beyond his family. His vow is
like a fish’s vow that it can survive without water.

Joe’s conception of family is different from that of
his son’s. Joe thinks the family is only a “forty—foot
front and [that] it ends at the building line”(63). Joe’s
conception of the family is represented by the scope of his
activity, the backyard of his house. Joe has placed his

family as the highest value in his life, especially

40

concerning the blood bonds between a father and a son. This
value is based on “the conviction that nothing is bigger
than the relationship between a father and a son”(Carson
43).

Joe’s obsession with his own conception of family
collides with his son’s conception of family after Joe’s
crime was revealed. Chris Keller is an honorably discharged
solider from World War II; his experience in the war
greatly effected his value system. Just as Joe was
influenced by a conception of the American Dream, so Chris
was affected by his particular experience in World War II.

Through his experiences as a commander of a company in
the war, Chris learned how people are responsible for the
lives of others and ultimately connected with the larger
society. According to Scharine, after World War II, the
idea of “the growth of America’s responsibility toward the
world’s oppressed people”(xxii-xxiii) blossomed as the
United States became one of two leading world powers. This
responsibility makes Chris, a commanding officer, feel
guilty about his survival when almost all his soldiers had
been killed. When he talks to Ann about his shame of
surviving, Chris explains that

[tJhey didn’t die; they killed themselves for

each other. I mean that exactly; a little more
selfish and they’d’ve been here today. . . . A

41

kind of. . .responsibility. Man for man. And then

I came home and it was incredible. [T]here was no

meaning in it here. (31)
As a survivor, Chris feels ashamed of living happily after
the bloody war in his unchanged hometown. Chris’s ideal
society, where “they killed themselves for each other and
sacrificed themselves for others, is described by his lines
above. The reality, however, is not like what he dreamed,
because no one in the U.S. recognizes these
responsibilities. Instead, everyone was caught in the
American Dream and pursued for the materialistic success by
sacrificing others for their own desires. Moss examines
this sense of relatedness that soldiers felt in battle and
the sense of futility that these men felt when readjusting

to civilian life:

No man has ever felt identity with a group more
deeply and intimately than a soldier in battle.

But . . . the usual veteran returning to his city
or town on the usual day finds no common goal at
all. (21)

The war experiences make individuals contemplate and feel
the interrelationship and loyalty between human beings.
Since the war has extended Chris' values and
perceptions of the family to a larger view of the world,
Joe’s circumscribed values do not make an excuse for his
crime. In contrast to Joe, who makes a great account for

the blood ties, Chris thinks the family extends beyond the

42

narrow limits of immediate blood ties. The different
generational value systems between the father and the son
in this play are remarkably shown in the following scene
the moment after Kate uncovers the secret:

Joe: He never flew a P—40—

Chris: But the others.
Joe: She’s out of her mind.

Chris: Dad. . . you did it?
Joe: He never flew a P—40, what’s the matter with
you?

Chris: Then you did it. To others. (58)
Joe focuses on the fact that he did not kill his son,
Larry, because Larry “never flew a P—40.” Thus, Joe
believes he did no wrong because he sees no responsibility
to the larger community. On the contrary, Chris focuses on
the fact that his father killed other pilots, soldiers like
himself, about whom Chris felt guilt at having survived
when others did not. Chris bursts out in anger:

What kind of a man are you? Where have you come

from? . . . What the hell do you think I was
thinking of, the Goddamn business? . . . Don’t
you have a country? Don’t you live in the world?
(59)

Chris thinks Joe does not see how society affects him, only
thinking about money. As for Chris, Joe seems not to belong
to society like a fish out of the water. According to
Chris’ extended conception of family, Joe has killed his
family members for the sake of his selfish success. Thus,

Chris criticizes Joe and society calling society, “the land

43

of the great big dog”(66) where people do not love each
other and even sacrifice others for their desire for
success. To this Joe responds that no businessman, “worked
for nothin’ in that war?”(67) This indicates that every
businessman during the war pursed his own success,
therefore Joe Keller, as a businessman, followed what the
others did. Namely, Joe was influenced by his particular
social circumstance. Chris, however, cannot understand
Joe’s excuse because Chris also has been affected by his
own very different experiences. Like a fish that depends on
and is influenced by its water, each particular social
surrounding affects differently the father and the son in

this play.

In addition to Joe’s obsession and the generational
value systems between Joe and Chris, alienation illustrates
the fish-water analogy in respect to one’s
interrelationship with others in society and even in
family. The Kellers’ alienation from their community is
symbolized by the atmosphere of their house. The backyard,
where every action happens in this play, is “hedged on
right and left by tall, closely planted poplars which lend

the yard a secluded atmosphere”(5). This secluded

44

atmosphere hints at the hidden secret of the Kellers and
reflects their attempts to hide the crime.

The relationship with their neighbors also shows
alienation. Even though their neighbors seem ignorant of
what Joe actually did during the war and pretend to believe
Joe’s innocence, the neighbors still remember the case of
Joe and Steve and believe that Joe also is guilty for the
pilots' deaths. These things illustrate how the Kellers’
false relationship with their neighbors causes the
alienation of the Kellers from the community.

The alienation of the family members from each other
is due to the long deception and the lack of true
conversation in the household. For instance, from the
beginning, Joe and Kate have told lies to Chris and their
neighbors about what really happened the day the defective
products were shipped out. Chris suspected his father, but
he has never raised the issue because of his own cowardice.
Chris says, “I was made yellow in this house because I
suspected my father, and I did nothing about it"(66). He is
afraid to confront the truth, which is never openly
discussed.

These daily deceptions disable Joe and prevent him
from helping himself out of the uncertainty about his

values. When Joe asks Kate what to do, after fighting with

45

Chris who incisively condemns his father’s crime, she only
says not to ask her. This scene is described by Welland as,
“the bewilderment of a naturally garrulous man who has
suddenly realised the impossibility of communication on the
matters of deepest consequences” (28). Joe is so perplexed
by the fact that not even Kate can help him that he says,
“What am I, a stranger? I thought I had a family here. What
happened to my family?”(62) At last, Joe perceives that his
family, on which he places the highest value in his life,
cannot prevent him from standing on the edge of uncertainty
about his beliefs and he glimpses his eventual total
alienation from the family.

Joe realizes that his value for the family is blamed
for a selfish attitude by his beloved sons. In the end,
this feeling of alienation from his family leads Joe to
commit suicide. Miller comments about Joe’s tragic end when
he explains that

Joe Keller’s troublem is not that he cannot tell
right from wrong but that his cast of mind cannot

admit that he, personally, has any viable
connection with his world, his universe, or his

 

society. . . . The fortress which All My Sons
lays siege to is the fortress of unrelatedness.
(1987:130—1)

In terms of the fish-water analogy, Joe is a fish in a
materialistic ocean (society), who had to endure World War

II with his family. As a businessman, he cannot manufacture

46

products without receiving money; as a father, he cares for
his family’s welfare during the war. Joe’s tragic flaw,
however, is his ineptitude at comprehending his relatedness
to others in society. For him, his family is society, so
his limited perspective cannot survive after World War II,
which brought to the United States the idea of
interconnectedness and responsibility for and to others in
the world. Joe is a selfish man who does not care for
association with others in society. Finally, Joe admits his
responsibility to and connection with others after the
accusations of his two precious sons, lamenting, “I think
to [Larry the dead pilots] were all my sons. And I guess

they were, I guess they were”(68).

Death of a Salesman

 

Willy Loman lives with his wife and their two sons.
Willy is an aging salesman, proud of himself for being a
“well-liked” salesman. His favorite son, Biff, is a famous
and promising football player in his high school years, and
thus Willy takes pride in his son, dreaming that Biff would
be successful. But when Biff finds out about his father’s
adultery, Biff gives up his hopes and dreams. He becomes a

jobless “bum” and still wonders what he should do with his

47

life. In addition, Biff’s habitual pilfering adds to his

failure. Willy and Linda’s second son, Happy, is working

aimlessly for a company and leads a life of dissipation.

Linda is a faithful wife and mother, and really cares for
her husband.

Willy, however, is failing as a salesman. His sales
are declining, and his employer, Howard, eventually takes
Willy off salary and puts him back on straight commission.
For some time, Willy has had to borrow money from Charley,
his best friend and neighbor.

When the play opens, we find that Biff has returned
home again. Thus the conflicts between father and son are
the focus of the action. Willy’s expectations for Biff have
been continuously disappointed, and finally, Willy cannot
stand his own failure and the failure of his favorite son.

Meanwhile, Biff does not understand why Willy
constantly criticizes him. In spite of their love for each
other, they cannot reach a mutual understanding. When Biff
reaches an understanding of his own identity, Willy still
refuses to accept him, and believes that Biff is only
trying to spite him. Finally, when Biff is able to show his
father how much he loves him, Willy decides to kill himself
(something he had been planning for quite a while) in order

to provide Biff with the insurance money. Willy believes

48

this is his only worth to his family, and his only option

after he has been fired.

Much like Joe Keller in All My Sons, who is influenced

 

by the given circumstances, Willy Loman in Death of a

 

Salesman presents a tragic picture with the same three
elements: obsession, different value systems held by father
and son, and alienation. In both plays, “each father has
been egocentrically seeking a kind of personal immortality
through his sons”(Nelson 107); however, both characters’
obsessions with their sons also becomes a means of
justifying the fathers’ “fake”(58) lives.

Willy Loman is obsessed with success and his favorite
son, Biff. While his obsession with success grows out of
the American Dream and relates to his strong belief in past
values in society(the water), the obsession with Biff
originally comes from Willy’s memories of his own
childhood.

When he observed the success of an elderly salesman,
David Singleman, Willy was so impressed that he decided to
become a salesman. For Willy, Singleman’s life demonstrated
“the co-operative and benevolent nature of capitalism”
(Carson 51). Thus, Willy tenaciously hangs on to values

such as respect, comradeship, and gratitude in the world of

49

the salesman in a world that rapidly discounts these
traits.

Willy thought that being a salesman, a middle-class
white—collar salesman, looked much better than being a
carpenter, despite the fact that Willy was gifted as a
carpenter. He is captivated with the American success
syndrome, and furthermore, has tried to imbue this ideal to
his beloved son, Biff. The American success syndrome makes
people perceive “the need to amass money as proof of
character, to be well-liked at the expense of moral virtue,
to prove love for family by bestowing on them material
goods”(Adler 104). Willy’s life is immersed in precisely
this prevalent ideal of the time, similar to a fish in
water.

Willy demonstrates his strong belief and obsession
with success in a materialistic society. This
characteristic is exemplified by his perception of his own
name, Loman (low-man). Willy refuses “to think of himself,
or [to] allow others to consider him, as ‘little.’ The
dream of being Number One propels him, and the tenacity
with which he pursues the dream in itself makes him
nonordinary”(Adler 101). When Willy hears that in society
he and his son are not as great and “well—liked” as he has

believed, Willy firmly refuses it, stating, “I am not a

50

dime! I am Willy Loman and you are Biff Loman”(l32). In his
life, Willy clings to the fame and honor that comes from
being a salesman in society and a father to his family.

Willy’s infatuation with the fame and honor is driven
by his obsession with success. Particularly, Willy thinks
the best key to success is to be “well—liked”(36). When he
has an affair with “The Woman”, his well—likedness proves
to be the way to succeed. His well—likedness makes her pick
him up among the other salesmen and she “put [him] right
through to the buyers”(38). In addition to The Woman’s
case, Willy uses, as a key to success, being “well—liked"
by his children as a father. When Willy feels stressed out
because of the travel associated with his job, Linda
consoles him with, “[f]ew men are idolized by their
children the way you are”(37). Through the love of his sons
and The Woman, Willy positively prided himself on his being
“well—liked,” and this value has proved a useful means to
success. This is the reason Willy is so strongly obsessed
with being likeable.

Willy’s obsession with success and his son produces
the vision of Ben in order for Willy to justify to himself
that his teaching this value to his sons is right. Ben is
Willy’s success dream and confirms Willy’s belief in the

values of success. Whenever Willy sees Ben in his head,

5]

Willy is eager to hear about how Ben became rich and
whether Willy’s teaching is right or not. Ben only talks
about how he became rich, and it turns out that Willy’s
beliefs in “rugged, well—liked, all-around”(49) values are
right. However, it turns out that his values are not
practical for a successful life. Concerning Willy’s
obsession with values for success in spite of social
changes, Carson states that
[h]e fails because he never understands the
inconsistency in his beliefs and that his desire
for the emotional security of popularity is at
odds with the realities of the profession he has
entered. (81)
Willy, who has been influenced by the American Dream,
cannot be satisfied with his unsuccessful life and this
puts him at odds with society and family.

In addition to his obsession with values for success,
Willy is preoccupied with his desire to see his son as a
successful man who would replace him in society. This
obsession results from Willy’s empty feeling in himself
because of his father’s abandonment. Willy’s father was a
traveling flute—inventor who deserted the family when Willy
was very young. Therefore, Willy keeps asking Ben, Willy’s
older brother, to talk about their Dad. Since he did not

receive his father’s love, Willy tries to compensate by

showing his sons excessive love. Willy expresses this

52

incomplete feeling in himself when he explains that, “I
never had a chance to talk to [my father] and I still feel—
—kind of temporary about myself”(51). Carson points out
that Willy’s “temporary” feeling prevents him from guiding
his sons to success: “[t]he quintessential boy-man, Willy
is the eternal adolescent arrested at an early stage of
development and because of it unable to help his own son to
a healthy maturity”(49). Willy’s surfeit of love for his
sons proves not to be the key to success in society, rather
it is the source of his sons’ failure.

Just as Willy chose a salesman’s job, so Willy chooses
Biff’s job as a salesman, in spite of his preference to
work in the open—air, enjoying freedom. Since Willy does
not become a successful businessman with his self—assertive
“well-liked" value, he selfishly wants his son to
accomplish his dream.

Unlike Joe Keller’s tragic ending mainly due to the
generational value systems, Willy’s end is caused by his
obsession with his dream of success and love for his son.
Thus, Willy’s suicide reflects the great influence of
social surroundings on him.

Since Willy realizes that Biff still loves him, he
decides to sell himself to bestow some money on his beloved

son. As a failed salesman, Willy has the only one thing

53

(his life) left in order to earn money. When Willy makes up
his mind to kill himself, he never gives up his Number One
dream, saying, “Imagine? When the mail comes [BiffJ’ll be
ahead of Bernard again!”(135). Willy thinks that the money
he can give to Biff will make his son become ‘Number One’
again like Biff’s youth as a famous and promising football
player. As for Willy, success in society means to earn much
money and to enjoy materialistic wealth. Therefore, Willy
believes that the insurance money can restore hope to
Biff’s future. This idea shows how deeply Willy is
influenced by the American Dream. In addition to his Number
One dream, Willy’s sense of competition toward everything
and everyone is also one of by—product of the American
Dream.

Nelson comments about Willy’s decision to kill himself
in terms of the inescapable impact of social circumstance:
“Unable to break the shackles of commercialism that have
both defined and limited his life, Willy apparently seeks
death as the most feasible resolution to an increasingly
desperate dilemma”(127). In other words, Willy thinks that
killing himself and making some money for his family are
better than “standing here the rest of [his] life ringing
up a zero”(126). If his death can provide some money for

his family, especially his oldest son, taking his life is

54

worth it to Willy who has been fired and can no longer
expect to provide for his family at all. Willy sacrifices
himself to get some money for his family’s welfare and in
particular to ground Biff’s success in society. Willy’s
obsession with the success syndrome works as the agent of
his death.

Willy’s obsession with Biff and his success generates

the conflicts with Biff. Like Chris Keller in All My Sons,

 

Biff loved his father very much before seeing through his
father’s mask. Willy’s adultery was shocking to young Biff
and Biff gave up every hope for the future, and “sever[ed]
the bond of mutual respect [for his father]"(Moss 45).
While Chris’s war experience formed his new value system
which was in contrast with that of his father, Biff is not
influenced by other particular value systems except Willy’s
teaching before the discovery of his self—identity.

Since Biff was young, he has been affected by Willy’s
values, with an emphasis on well-likedness. However, in
reality Biff “never got anywhere because [Willy] blew [him]
so full of hot air”(131), and he realizes his father’s
value system is impractical for achieving success in
society. After discovering the truth about himself, Biff
knows what he wants to do and who he is. But these

discoveries are the opposite of what Willy has believed

55

concerning himself and his son. While Biff admits his petty
position in society as a “dime a dozen”(132), Willy
strongly rejects it, saying, “I am Willy Loman and you are
Biff Loman”(132). Willy’s obsession with his values for
success prevents him from accepting Biff’s true realization

about both of them.

Willy’s obsession with past values alienates him and
his family from the success in society. If he had been
satisfied with his carpentry ability or with living in
Alaska, Willy would probably not kill himself for
materialistic success. However, Willy’s fixation on success
as salesman in a city causes the alienation of himself and
his family from their community. This alienation of the
Lomans is visible through the stage direction of their
house. The Loman house is surrounded by “a solid vault of
apartment houses”(11). Their house is the small, fragile-
seeming home which looks like a dwarf among normal people.
It represents the Lomans’ ineptness in the successful
community surrounded by them.

In addition to alienation from their community, the
Lomans are alienated among themselves. In particular, this
alienation is caused by the lack of true conversation.

According to the stage direction, Biff and Happy are

56

described as distracted characters: “Biff. . .bears a worn
air and seems less self—assured. . . . [HJis dreams are
stronger and less acceptable than Happy’s. Happy. . .like
his brother, is lost, but in a different way”(19).

Because Willy and Linda have been preoccupied with
Biff, their first son, Happy has grown up with the sense of
being less valued in his home. In the play, whenever Happy
attempts to attract his parents’ attentions, he fails. For
instance, young Happy said to Willy, “I’m losing weight,
you notice, Pop?”(29) and grown-up Happy says to Linda,
“I’m gonna get married, Mom. I wanted to tell you”(68).
Every effort is ignored because of his parents’
indifference and their preference for Biff. Thus, when
Happy confesses about his life to Biff, Happy expresses his
emptiness, and makes excuses why he hunts for women: “I
don’t know what the hell I’m working for. Sometimes I sit
in my apartment—all alone. My own apartment, a car, and
plenty of women. And still, I’m lonely”(23). His family and
society cannot replace his desolation, and mostly his
parents’ obsession with their elder son causes Happy’s
alienation in his family.

Biff’s alienation comes from Willy’s obsession with
him and success. When he works in an office, Biff feels he

is “making a contemptuous [and] begging fool of

57

[himself]”(132), so he feels isolated in the business
world, but he keeps trying to get a job as an office
worker. This is because Willy’s selfish desire is to make
Biff a successful white—collar man. Biff accuses his family
of not confronting the truth, that the Lomans have lived a
false dream: “We’ve been talking in a dream for fifteen
years”(104), and “We never told the truth for ten minutes
in this house”(131). Although Biff sees the truth, the
other members do not want to and Happy and Linda even
interrupt Biff to prevent him from facing Willy with the
truth. Thus, Biff’s efforts to make his family see their
reality fails and he feels alienated from his family.
Linda demonstrates her lack of understanding in
requiem. She keeps saying that she could not understand why
Willy killed himself, even though they finally have their
own house. Linda’s lamentation shows the capitalistic View
that if a materialistic problem is solved, then there is
nothing to be suffered in life. According to Nelson, her
comments over Willy’s grave illustrate “how much she has
emphasized this materialism and how little, for all her
insight, she really knew the man to whom she was
married”(113). Even though Linda is a faithful and devoted
wife and mother, she is not able to truly communicate with

her husband.

58

Willy’s alienation from his family is clearly seen
when he is deserted by his beloved sons. Willy feels the
futility of what he has really cared for throughout his
life. Thus, in compensation, Willy desperately tries to
plant seeds which will yield something tangible. When Willy
says “Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the
ground”(122), he realizes that in his life there is no
reward for his devotion. Willy’s sense of futility
increases when Biff claims that he is nothing, and so is
Willy. Willy thinks Biff’s spite for him results from the
fact that Willy has nothing to give his sons. Here, Willy
does not truly understand what Biff really wants from him
and this lack of understanding causes alienation between
Willy and Biff. Willy’s fixated thought on materialistic
success inhibits him from giving what his son really needs
from him. Willy’s materialistic view toward Biff’s
accusation manifests the power of his social surroundings.
Thus, when Willy decides to kill himself, he is pleased
with the expectation that his son will worship him for what
he has provided through the insurance money.

Willy’s serious alienation starts with his dismissal.
To a salesman in a capitalistic society, dismissal means

death. Willy expresses his distress about bad days during

his travel:

59

’Cause I get so lonely*especially when business
is bad and there’s nobody to talk to. I get the
feeling that I’ll never sell anything again, that
I won’t making a living for [Linda], or a
business, a business for the boys. (38)
He is afraid of becoming a useless salesman kicked out of
successful salesmen’s society and, furthermore, being
isolated from where he wishes to belong. In a capitalistic
society, the worth of an individual is measured by
materialistic wealth, thus work alienation is a serious
problem for an individual in society. “Miller notes,”
according to Griffin that “Willy has broken the law which
says that a failure in society and in business has no right
to live. . . . to fail is no longer to belong to
society”(36). Willy fails to become a successful salesman,
and to make up his alienation from work and to cover his
inability as a bread-giver of family, Willy sells himself,
through death, to earn money for his family.

Through Willy’s last choice to commit suicide, Miller
indicts both Willy’s materialistic society and his
obsession with the success syndrome. About Willy’s tragic
ending, Hayman says that

[Willy] has committed himself so completely to
the counterfeits of dignity and the false coinage
embodies in his idea of success that he can prove
his existence only by bestowing power on his
posterity, a power deriving from the sale of his

last asset, himself, for the price of his
insurance policy. (35)

60

Willy is influenced by the American success syndrome which
highlights the significance of materialistic wealth. Like
Joe Keller, Willy is a fish in a materialistic society.
While Joe succeeds his business, Willy has wished to become
a successful salesman, and Willy’s dream lets down him in
reality. However, Willy’s obsession with the values of the
salesmen’s world of the past prevents him from accepting
his ineptness in successful society. Conversely, his social
surroundings that provided him with dreams of success and
values drive Willy to commit suicide in order to earn
material worth. So to speak, Willy’s ‘water’ serves as a
misdirecting and ultimately self—defeating source in his

life.

A View from the Bridge

 

Eddie Carbone lives with his wife, Beatrice, and their
niece, Catherine, in Red Hook, a part of Brooklyn. He is an
Italian longshoreman who gets along with other longshoremen
in Red Hook. Eddie has an inappropriate passion for
Catherine who is 19 years old. Every time Eddie feels that
Catherine is about to get out of his control, he prohibits

her from doing what she wants, making an excuse that he has

6]

responsibility for her. In the meantime, Catherine
considers Eddie as a father, and feels that she has to be
obedient as a daughter figure. Thus, she follows his
instructions when conflicts arise.

As Rodolpho and Marco, Beatrice’s relatives from Italy
who have come to America illegally, start to live with
Eddie’s family, Eddie’s passion becomes less disguised.
This is because Rodolpho and Catherine fall in love with
each other. By using the American law system, Eddie
attempts to break up their relationship in order to regain
Catherine. But there is no legal sanction against love
between Rodolpho and Catherine. When Rodolpho and Catherine
decide to get married, Eddie feels desperate and, at last,
reports Rodolpho and Marco to the Immigration Bureau. In
Red Hook, informing against illegal immigrants is
equivalent to betraying the community. Therefore, Eddie is
isolated from his community. Catherine, who has followed
and respected Eddie, condemns him for his betrayal after
she realizes his crime. In the end, while fighting with
Marco in order to regain his name (which has been ruined by

Marco), Eddie dies by his own knife.

Compared to the two previous plays, this play presents

much more intensely the power of social surroundings. This

62

is because Eddie Carbone, the protagonist in this play,
lives in tightly knit Italian American community. This
surrounding provides Eddie with his particular value
system, while Willy Loman and Joe Keller struggle with
their prevalent surroundings, such as the American Dream,
World War II and capitalism. Miller uses the conception of
the Greek polis when he explains Eddie’s specific social
surroundings:
The polis were small units, apparently deriving
from an earlier tribal social organization, whose
members probably knew one another personally
because they were relatively few in number and
occupied a small territory. (1987: 52)
Miller emphasizes the fact that people in the polis were
“engaged, [so] they couldn’t imagine the good life
excepting as it brought each person into close contact with
civic matters”(1987: 52). Therefore, if someone broke the
rules of the polis, he or she would be isolated from the
rest of the people in the polis, which was a kind of social

“death.”

Compared to Death of a Salesman and All My Sons, which

 

 

deal intensively with the struggle between fathers and
sons, this play mainly focuses on how Eddie violates the
social codes and how he confronts the facts of social
circumstance. Miller and other critics refer to this play

as having the tendency of a Greek tragedy, because Eddie

63

has fatal obsessions which cause him to end his life. Like

the previous plays, A View from the Bridge demonstrates the

 

three elements (obsession, value difference, and
alienation), which lead the protagonist to tragedy. In
fact, Catherine, Eddie’s niece, shows less conflict with
Eddie in terms of value difference than did Chris and Biff
with their fathers in the two previous plays. However,
similar to Chris and Biff, who are disappointed with and
revolt against their fathers’ realities, Catherine stands

on her own feet and revolts against him.

Eddie Carbone lives in Red Hook where the Italian
immigrant longshoremen constitute a polis in New York. As
in ancient Greece, people in Red Hook are engaged with each
other. Eddie is one of those who has observed their rules
and social codes. Even though the people in Red Hook live
in America, they observe the strict Sicilian social codes.

In the introduction of A View from the Bridge, Miller

 

remarks about Eddie’s values, which are formed by his
social conditions:

The mind of Eddie Carbone is not comprehensible
apart from its relation to his neighborhood, his
fellow workers, his social situation. His self-
esteem depends upon their estimate of him, and
his value is created by his fidelity to the code
of his culture. (1960:viii-ix)

Thus, influenced by his social condition, Eddie is obsessed
with keeping his good name in his community, which is the

most important value in his life.

Eddie has two strong obsessions: his secret passion
for Catherine and his good name in his community. In fact,
passion is the biggest tragic flaw in Greek tragedy, and it
leads to the downfall of many Greek heroes. In a community
like Red Hook, a man with an inappropriate passion,
bordering on incest, is liable to destroy himself. Like a
fish that must remain within the limit of the water, Eddie
cannot step outside of the community’s prohibition against

incestuous relations without facing punishment.

From the beginning of the play, Eddie shows his
obsession with Catherine, who has become a beautiful woman
and is about to fly out of Eddie’s nest. He uses the
slightest pretext to try to criticize her behavior, such as
her short skirts, her high heels, and her waving to other
men. Whenever Eddie says these things, he justifies his
obsession with her by claiming responsibility for her.
Eddie had “promised [her] mother on her death bed. [He is]
responsible for [her]”(8). Eddie also uses this excuse when

he tries to separate Catherine and Rodolpho, saying that he

65

has acted out of family loyalty and especially on his
promise to Catherine’s late mother to care for Catherine.
His inadmissible and irresistible passion is characterized

by Miller in the introduction of his Collected Plays as

 

the awesomeness of a passion which, despite its
contradicting the self—interest of the individual
it inhabits despite every kind of warning,
despite even its destruction of the moral beliefs
of the individual, proceeds to magnify its power
over him until it destroys him. (1967: 48)
In the play, however, Eddie constantly denies his immoral
passion for Catherine and he justifies his excessive
concern for her on the grounds of his responsibility as a
father figure.

Eddie’s obsessive love for Catherine is visible when
Catherine asks him to allow her to take a job offered
through her school. Hearing this, Eddie at first prohibits
her from getting a job because there is a Navy Yard near
the office where she will work. Eddie is afraid that
Catherine may meet some sailors and leave his house. His
inappropriate passion for Catherine is dimly condemned by
his wife, Beatrice, berating, “I don’t understand you;
She’s seventeen years old, you gonna keep her in the house

all her life?”(13). Eddie is pierced by her accusation, and

finally, he lets Catherine go to work.

66

Eddie’s obsession with Catherine is exposed clearly
when Beatrice’s Italian relatives enter America illegally
and stay with the Carbones. At first, Eddie is very
thoughtful and considerate when he hears Beatrice’s
concerns about her relatives staying in their house. He
comforts Beatrice, saying that “as long as they know where
they’re gonna sleep”(10), which foreshadows the conflict
that will soon erupt in his house. This thoughtful man, who
respects honor, suffers his downfall because of the
obsession with his niece.

Eddie becomes disturbed as one of Beatrice’s
relatives, Rodolpho, attracts Catherine's interest.
Rodolpho is a young Italian man who can sing, cook, and
even make clothes. Eddie warns Catherine not to hang around
with Rodolpho on the pretense of his responsibility for
Catherine and for Rodolpho, because if Rodolpho is seen
often in public, he is likely to be recognized by the
Immigration Bureau. Eddie cautions Catherine against
speaking of the two “submarines”(illegal immigrants) in
their house to others, and in doing so tries to rationalize
his obsession with Catherine to himself. In his mind, he is
only looking out for Rodolpho’s best interests. Moreover,
to cover up his obsession, Eddie warns Catherine that

Rodolpho is a “hit—and—run guy"(30) who will do anything to

67

be an American. Eddie keeps saying that Rodolpho only
pretends to love Catherine and after accomplishing his
dream, he will desert her. But, in spite of Eddie’s
efforts, Catherine does not end the relationship with
Rodolpho.

At last, Eddie thinks that he needs to take legal
action against Rodolpho, who is trying to snatch Catherine
from him. Therefore, he sees Alfieri, who is an Italian—
American lawyer in Red Hook. Alfieri represents the bridge
between American law and Sicilian social codes. Eddie
accuses Rodolpho of not being “right"(34), referring to
Rodolpho’s girlish traits, like cooking and sewing.
According to Murray, Eddie is “shifting the guilt he feels
for his neuroticism concerning his niece onto Rodolpho’s
alleged abnormality”(107).

Desperately, Eddie asks Alfieri to punish Rodolpho in
the name of American law. Alfieri warns the distressed
Eddie not to be obsessed with Catherine, which is likely to
flow in a different direction. Alfieri says, “We all love
somebody, the wife, the kids . . . every man’s got somebody
that he loves, heh? But sometimes . . . there’s too much.
You know? There’s too much, and it goes where it
mustn’t”(36). Despite Alfieri’s warning against Eddie’s

obsession with Catherine, Eddie does not recognize his own

68

passion, but rather berates Alfieri, who cautions that
Eddie cannot marry her.

Eddie’s obsession with Catherine reaches the climax as
he sees Catherine and Rodolpho coming out of the bedroom.
This represents Rodolpho’s violation and Catherine’s
betrayal of what Eddie has offered them. Catherine betrays
her long loyalty for Eddie by choosing her love, and
Rodolpho refuses to sleep where Eddie thinks he should
(anywhere but with Catherine). Eddie’s jealousy of and
anger toward Rodolpho makes Eddie kiss Catherine on the
mouth and kiss Rodolpho in order to show her that Rodolpho

is not a “right” guy.

Eddie’s obsession with Catherine propels his betrayal
of the social codes. Eddie places great value on keeping a
good name in his community. To him, one’s name is the
indication of a good reputation and morals. For Eddie his
name has a dual significance: first, it is “the symbol of
personal integrity and supreme selfhood,” and second, it is
“the symbol of a connection, a communion with one’s
fellowmen, without which the self becomes a vacuum"(Nelson
217). Therefore, when Louis, another longshoreman, praises
Eddie for taking care of the illegal immigrants, Marco and

Rodolpho, in his house, saying, “Believe me, Eddie, you got

69

a lotta credit comin’ to you”(27), Eddie is pleased to hear
it. It means that he is appreciated as a man with loyalty.
According to Welland, “Eddie’s loyalty to Marco and
Rodolpho as ‘submarine’ is more than a loyalty to his
wife’s relatives: it is an ethnic loyalty to a self-
contained group with common antecedents”(81).

Eddie's loyalty and obsession with his name are
betrayed by the obsession with Catherine. The moment Eddie
hears Catherine’s decision to marry Rodolpho and leave the
house, he blinds his respect for the social codes that he
has observed for a long time. To prevent Catherine from
marrying Rodolpho, Eddie reports Marco and Rodolpho to the
Immigration Bureau without considering what this betrayal
will cost him. Eddie’s violation of the social code
destroys his honorable name, and he is isolated from his
community.

In order to regain his status in his community, Eddie
tenaciously denies what he did and finally fights with
Marco in public. Eddie demands Marco apologize to him and
give him back his name. When Eddie says “Wipin’ the
neighborhood with my name like a dirty rag! I want my name,
Marco . . .now gimme my name and we go together to the

wedding”(64), he puts his good name on a higher plane than

70

his illicit passion. Eddie’s attempt to regain his name
fails, as Marco calls him an animal in front of everyone,
“Animal! You go on knees to me”(64—5). Eddie’s obsession
with his name results in his death at his own knife during

the ensuing fight.

As mentioned above, this play shows less conflict
between a father and a child figure compared to the two
previous plays. However, after Catherine, who is obedient
and loyal to Eddie, discovers her uncle’s crime, she
strongly revolts against Eddie and develops her
independence.

Eddie’s constant denunciation of Rodolpho confuses
Catherine because she has been loyal to Eddie since she
started to live in his home. Catherine says, “I don’t know,
Bea. It just seems wrong if he’s against it so much”(31).
Because she has obeyed Eddie for so long, Catherine is
scared and worried whenever he is against what she really
desires. In spite of being seventeen, she still acts like a
child and is not independent. Unlike Biff Loman and Chris
Keller, who develop their own independence, Catherine needs
to learn from Beatrice and from Rodolpho how to be

independent and how to find her identity.

7|

When, due to Eddie’s strong opposition, Catherine is
confronted with what she has to do with Rodolpho, Beatrice
advises her to stand on her own feet, getting out of
Eddie’s shadow: “Was there ever any fella,” Beatrice asks,
“[that] he liked for you? There wasn’t, was there? . . . It
means you gotta be your own self more”(31). Beatrice helps
Catherine to realize she is a grown-up woman to whom Eddie
cannot give orders any more. Like Beatrice, Rodolpho also
encourages her to be independent from Eddie. Catherine is
still conflicted by her loyalty to Eddie and her love for
Rodolpho. She explains to Rodolpho how hard it is for her
to betray Eddie: “I’ve been here all my life.” Catherine
explains, “You think it’s so easy to turn around and say to
a man he’s nothin’ to you no more?"(47) Later, Catherine
begs Rodolpho to help her to leave Eddie without feeling
any guilt.

As Catherine becomes more independent through Beatrice
and Rodolpho, Eddie desperately tries to cut off the love
between Catherine and Rodolpho. Eddie justifies it to
himself that Rodolpho is not “right,” thus he as a father
figure must stop their relationship for Catherine. By
kissing Rodolpho on the mouth, Eddie attempts to prove
Rodolpho’s supposed homosexuality. However, this results in

hostility from Catherine, and she decides to leave the

house by marrying Rodolpho. In spite of Eddie’s pleas not
to marry so quickly, she makes her own firm decisions: “No,
I made up my mind . . . ’cause I did. I don’t want nobody
else”(55). Her obedience to Eddie is gone, and she finds
herself as an independent individual who can speak out
about what she wants.

Catherine’s revolt against Eddie grows stronger after
Eddie reports Marco and Rodolpho. When Eddie prevents
Beatrice from attending Catherine’s wedding, Catherine
condemns him, saying, “Who the hell do you think you are!

You got no more right to tell nobody nothin’!"(62)
Catherine, who used to obey Eddie, is sharply changed here
and accuses him of “biting people when they sleep”(62).
Furthermore, she denounces his betrayal of the “submarines’
and the community: “He comes when nobody's lookin' and
poisons decent people——in the garbage he belongs"(62). Like
Chris and Biff, Catherine also realizes the truth about the
father figure of whom she has been so proud. While she is
so disappointed with who he really is, Catherine finds her
identity through removing her father figure’s mask. She
cannot believe the fact that he betrays the people who are
considered to be family, and the fact that he violates the

social codes which he has observed so proudly and which he

73

has tried to make her observe as well. Catherine, however,

never knows what truly makes Eddie act the way he does.

Basically, Eddie’s obsession with Catherine causes his
tragic death, but his efforts to retain the name and not to
be alienated from the community also work as sources of his
death. In this play, the alienation relates to Eddie’s
obsession with his name. Just as Willy Loman feels
desperate after being alienated from work, Eddie does after
being alienated from the community.

Alfieri warns of Eddie’s isolated future before Eddie
loses his name. When Alfieri notices Eddie's intention to
report the “submarines” because of his niece, he
remonstrates Eddie that if he reports them, he will lose
everything in his community: “You won’t have a friend in
the world, Eddie! Even those who understand will turn
against you, even the ones who feel the same will despise
you”(51). Despite Alfieri’s warning about Eddie’s
alienation, the obsession with Catherine drives Eddie to
betray a social code. Later, Eddie has to confront this
situation as a punishment for his violation of the social
codes.

Everyone in Red Hook lives between “the Sicilian code

of honor, omerta and revenge, and the American legal

74

system”(Martine 89). However, as an Italian immigrant
neighborhood, Eddie’s community respects the loyalty to
each other more than the law of America. Thus, Eddie
threatens the security of his community. Welland explains
that Eddie’s “betrayal of submarines is a threat to the
right way to live together, which Miller regards as the
great feature of the polis; in cutting himself off from his
polis he destroys himself”(81). When Marco accuses Eddie of
informing on him to the Immigration Bureau, gradually the
people turn away from Eddie and leave him, even though he
denies his guilt. In order to remedy his dishonorable,

isolated situation, Eddie confronts Marco in the end.

Eddie’s downfall proves that human beings are social
beings, subjected to their surroundings. In the

introduction of A View from the Bridge, Miller concludes

 

that “it is more possible now to relate his actions to our
own and thus to understand ourselves a little better not
only as isolated psychological entities, but as we connect
to our fellows and our long past together"(ix—x). Compared
to the two previous plays, Eddie very clearly presents an
individual’s destruction under social circumstances and the
relatedness to society. Like a fish that cannot get out of

water to survive, Eddie cannot survive in isolated

75

surroundings from his community. Eddie is fully influenced
by his social surroundings, which respect loyalty to each
other. All of sudden, this observance to loyalty is
violated by his inappropriate obsession with Catherine.
However, Eddie returns to what he has strongly believed.
Eddie’s community places a high value on a person’s name
and thus so does Eddie. Therefore, he fights for his

name/honor to the death.

I have studied Miller’s three socio—familial plays, in
terms of obsession, generational value systems, and
alienation. Although each play illustrates a different
downfall for each family, there are several similarities in
terms of the fish—water analogy.

First, the three protagonists, Joe Keller, Willy
Loman, and Eddie Carbone, have obsessions with success,
fame/name, or family, which cause their tragic endings. The
values that the three protagonists obsess over reflect
particular social circumstances. Eddie’s society reinforces
for him that retaining a good name is the prime virtue in
life, so he desperately tries to retrieve his name. Willy’s
obsession with success comes from the American Dream, which
makes people think that everyone can be successful. As for

Joe, the family equals society, so he only makes efforts to

76

 

maintain his position as father. In addition, all three
characters keep trying to justify their acts as being for
the good of their families.

The second similar aspect in these three plays is that
each father’s obsession collides with his child’s will. Joe
and Willy immerse themselves in materialistic values shaped
by the American Dream, so they want their sons to follow
these values. However, as society changes, each son
realizes the inadequacy of his father’s values in
contemporary society. The sons are also impacted by their
own social circumstances. Through the conflicts between
fathers and sons in terms of each generational value
system, Miller shows that human beings are subject to their
social circumstances. While the conflicts of different
generational value systems are remarkable in the first two

plays, in A View from the Bridge, the conflict of the

 

generational value systems is not so conspicuous. Like
Eddie, Catherine has also been affected by the social codes
of Red Hook. Thus, when Catherine discovers that Eddie has
broken the social codes, she defies him. She protests
Eddie's violation of the social codes, but does not support
any new generational value systems.

The third similarity is the main characters’

alienation from society. Each father attempts to secure his

77

status in a particular surrounding. However, after failing
in their attempts to secure their societal positions, they
feel isolated from where they belong. In the case of the
Kellers and the Lomans, each family’s isolation from
society is represented by the stage direction about their
house. The backyard where Joe Keller always stays is a
secluded place hedged by tall poplars. The Keller’s
alienation results from their attempts to hide Joe’s past
crime. Meanwhile, the house of the Lomans is dwarfed by
tall and solid apartment houses, and implies that the
Lomans do not belong to their successful community despite
Willy’s attempts. In Eddie’s case, even though he is a
respectable man at the beginning of the play, his betrayal
of social codes is directly punished by alienation from his
entire society. Thus, the power of his social circumstance
is stronger than that of the two previous protagonists
because Eddie’s alienation is what ultimately leads him to

death.

Overall, Miller displays three different individuals
who were greatly influenced by their social surroundings.
Specifically, I have focused on three elements—~obsession,
generational value systems, and alienation——which are

determined by their social circumstances. Through the main

78

characters' gradual (self—) destruction under certain
social conditions in each play, Miller stresses how
directly society and individual connect with each other and

how deeply society impacts a human life.

In the next chapter, I will explore Cha’s two plays
which show similar aspects in terms of the socio—familial
plays. Miller’s idea about the relationship between an
individual and society appears similarly in the works of

the Korean playwright, Beomsuk Cha.

79

CHAPTER I I I

Like the previous chapter of Miller’s socio-familial
plays, this chapter will study Beomsuk Cha’s two socio—
familial plays. Cha noticed the impacts of circumstances on
individuals and expressed these impacts in his plays.
Taking specific circumstances in Korean society, he
commented about the interrelationship between individuals
and society:

we are influenced by the change of surroundings
such as political or cultural or social elements.
Especially, in the mid 19005, [Korean] society
was under strong political control. .
Besides, the process from an agricultural
society, to an individual society which is the
change of circumstance, causes many conflicts
among human beings (Phone interview with Cha, Feb
13, 1999).

Like Miller, Cha was aware of the interrelationship between

society and individuals.

Cha started his literary career after the Korean War.
“[In general] post—Korean war plays in the 19505,”
according to Sunghee Kim, “expressed very clearly such
pictures of social impact as the destruction of families
and the collapse of the traditional View of values caused
by the terrible war”(81). The Korean War (1950—51) caused

Korean society to change greatly in various ways.

80

The 19505 was a period that saw the collapse of
traditional order and the rise of existentialism. The
partition of the Korean peninsula was fixed politically,
economically, and ideologically; the same period brought
Western values to Korea. The Korean plays in the 19505
reflected the conflicts between the traditional and new
ideals that were the result of these social changes. Cha’s
family dramas deal with the struggle between the
traditional Korean view of family and the Western view of
family, especially the American idea of individualism
within the family.

Traditional views of the family, in Korea, are based
on Confucianism, and stress the importance of the family in
human life. The family is the root or center of the
societal unit to which the individual first and foremost
belongs from cradle to grave, and it is through this
concept of family that the whole society can be seen.
Confucianism considers society as a big family, so a king
in a nation parallels a father in a family, and the
relationship between a king and his people is like the
relationship between a father and his sons. Everyone in the
nation has responsibility to each other because of their
bonds as one family. Just as Miller sees the family as a

microcosm of society, so does Cha.

8]

Korea has been influenced by Confucianism for 600
years; however, after the Korean War, Western culture and
its value systems were introduced and mingled with the
dominant traditional value systems. To the Koreans,
distressed by Japanese Imperialism and the Korean War,
American individualism and the American Dream were
attractive. Koreans uncritically accepted them. This caused
many problems in Korea, such as “loss of humanity resulting
from alienation and solitude of modern men, troubles of
love and lust produced by change of age, and collapse of
tradition”(Jung 1988:1) and an emergence of new ideas.
These problems, arising in the 19505, became popular
subjects for Korean writers.

Cha in response to what he sees happening in Korea,
examines how the individual has been influenced by the
modern age both socially and morally. He stresses the
interrelationship between human beings and society,
especially how human beings survive the influence of the
gigantic mechanism known as society. After the Korean War,
Cha saw that, due to the absurdities and corruption in
society, the relationship between individuals and society
was in conflict rather than compromise and adjustment(Lee

19). In his plays, Cha shows this relation, emphasizing

82

alienation, frustration and the failure of an individual in
the family which symbolizes the failure of an individual in
society. Cha has a perspective similar to Miller’s toward
the affect of society on human beings and explains that
[Koreans] are greatly influenced by the change of
surroundings such as political or cultural or
social elements. Especially in the mid 19005,
[Korea] was under strong political control that
did not allow artists to express their desires.
Besides, the process of moving from an
agricultural society to an industrialized
society, which is the change of circumstance,
causes many conflicts among human beings. (Phone
Interview with Cha, Feb 13, 1999)
Cha illustrates these various changes of surroundings and
the reactions of individuals through the protagonists in
his plays. Most of his major plays deal with social changes
after the Korean War, adjustment to Western culture, and
alienation resulting from those changes. These changes
caused conflicts between the old and the new generations
and finally led to the collapse of the traditional value

system.

Cha’s two socio—familial plays, The Barren and Castle

 

of Roses, show that the particular social condition causes
each family’s tragedy. As in Miller’s plays, in Cha’s two
plays, “society is a power and a mystery of custom and

inside the man and surrounding him, as the fish is in the

water and the sea inside the fish, [is] his birthplace and

83

burial ground, promise and threat”(Miller 1978:143). Cha
depicts the process of the collapse of a family, a private
space, from the encroachment of society, an outer space
which encompasses the family(Kim 72)and eventually becomes

part of the family. While The Barren chiefly deals with the

 

conflict between the old generation and the new generation,

like Death of a Salesman and All My Sons, the main concern

 

 

in Castle of Roses is alienation, like A View from the

 

 

Bridge. With these similarities in mind, I will use the
three elements of obsession, the differing value systems
between generations, and alienation to discuss these

similarities and examine these two Cha plays.

The Barren

This play shows Korean society at the end of the 19505
confronting confused value systems and a generation gap
resulting from economic depression, increasing
unemployment, and capitalism. According to Cha, the

inspiration for The Barren came to him when he was walking

 

through downtown Seoul. “After the Korean War,” Cha
confesses that

Chongro street of Seoul was built up by tall and

sturdy buildings. . . . Among high buildings, I
saw an old house. On the roof there were darkish
mosses and weeds. . . . I started to imagine the

world between a father and a son, who each

84

struggle for their lives and goals, under a roof
where the sun did not shine. (Lee 41)

This comment becomes the exact background of The Barren. In

 

this play, Cha focuses on the different generational value

systems caused by the changes of social surroundings.

The Barren is set in down town Seoul where Mr. Choi

 

lives with his wife and four children. He runs a
traditional wedding equipment store, but recently, his
business is declining because of the advent of new Western
style wedding equipment. Mr. Choi’s eldest son, Kyoungsoo,
is a discharged soldier from the Korean War who has a
university degree. Kyoungsoo has a difficult time finding a
job after the war, so he roams the city and drinks
everyday. The second child, Kyoungae, dreams of becoming an
actress in spite of lacking acting lessons. She is proud
and sure of becoming a famous actress in the near future.
The third child, Kyoungwoon, is the only one who earns
money for this family as a typesetter. The youngest,
Kyoungjae, is a high school student who will enter
university next year. As the play begins, Kyoungjae
complains about the inconvenience of living in such an old
house. Except for Mr. Choi, the family members want to move

to another place, but Mr. Choi does not listen to them. The

85

 

old house was presented to him by his father a long time
ago for his wedding gift. Everybody is afraid to tell him
to sell the old house because they know Mr. Choi’s
stubbornness. Meanwhile, Mr. Choi cannot fathom why
Kyoungsoo does not get a job with his good educational
background, and why Kyoungae does not cease her vain dream
to be an actress.

At last, when he becomes angry with the drunken
Kyoungsoo, who interferes with his business with the
realtor, Mr. Choi’s severe belittlement to Kyoungsoo drives
Kyoungsoo to leave the house with a hidden gun. Kyoungsoo
plans to commit suicide for the sake of his family, but
instead, he robs the jewelry shop in daytime and is
arrested just before a notification of job employment
arrives from a pharmaceutical company. Kyoungae, in the
meantime, realizes that she follows a false dream. She is
swindled by a fake Movie Company. Since Kyoungae loses her
money and her virginity to become an actress, she kills
herself in order to escape from the shame and misery she
will experience for violating traditional value systems.
Suddenly, when Mr. Choi loses two children, he finally

cries out and condemns his miserable fate.

86

The first sign of obsession, generational value
systems, and alienation is seen in the family business, a
wedding store. Mr. Choi, the protagonist, owns a
traditional wedding equipment store in the 19505 when
people begin to prefer Western style weddings. This
traditional wedding store becomes a relic of the past, and
represents Mr. Choi’s obsession of sticking with tradition.
His complaints that “everyone is crazy about new and
Westernized things”(6) highlight the change in social value

systems. Like Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Mr. Choi

 

refuses to accept the changes in society and is obsessed
with his past ideals, such as compassion and intimacy among
others, based on Confucian morality. These past ideals do I
not fit the social circumstances of the 19505, so his
values are destined to disappear with the advent of the new
generation.

Mr. Choi’s obsession with his traditional value
systems is also seen his obsession with the old house. The
house symbolizes the disappearing tradition or the old
generation and even Mr. Choi himself. Surrounded by changed
and developed tall buildings, this house is “like a dwarf
among normal people"(16). Because a Korean traditional
house used to be built as a one—story building, compared

with Western style high rise buildings, Mr. Choi’s house

87

looks inferior. In spite of changes in the neighborhood,
Mr. Choi insists on keeping this house. Amidst the waves of
social changes, the old house is the only thing he has. His
dead father had bought it for him as a wedding present, so
Mr. Choi firmly believes in the great value of the house
like he believes in the great value of tradition. For 47
years, the Chois have lived in the old house, since Mr.
Choi, who is over 60, “grew up, got married, and [had]
children”(3) there. The old house represents his whole
life, and he is obsessive about the house in spite of other
family members’ suggestions to sell it.

His fixation with the old house produces conflicts
with the rest of his family who want to move to a different
house for their own convenience. According to the Choi’s
children, despite its good location, the family house is
too antiquated to have a water supply at home. They have to
go to the Civil Water (public water) to procure the water
they need. When Kyoungjae complains about drawing water
every day and asks his father to move out, Mr. Choi
obstinately refuses and emphasizes the relationship between
him and the old house which share their lives: “I was born
here, therefore I will die in this house”(5). Mr. Choi’s

strong obsession with keeping the house ignores Kyoungjae’s

88

suggestion. Because of a patriarchal tradition, the family
must follow the father’s decision.

The fact that Mr. Choi is “strongly obsessed with
disappearing traditional value systems,” according to
Sunghee Kim, “closing himself off from the advent of new
value systems”(72) is shown when he complains about his
neighbors who “only think for themselves and don’t care for
others”(7—8), dumping dirty water. Mr. Choi thinks “these
days people become shameless”(7-8). Compared with the past
when people cared for each other like a big family, the
current society had become selfish and indifferent in Mr.
Choi’s eyes. He believes that modern development
represented by the buildings surroundings his house is a
cause of dehumanization in society. These buildings block
his house from the sun, so “the flowers and vegetables
don’t grow”(4). The flowers and vegetables symbolize a life
or birth and his children, especially, Kyoungsoo and
Kyoungae who are choked off by modernized society. This
life or birth does not exist in this house because of
“ghostly buildings”(4) that surround it and represent
modernization. Mr. Choi curses that “the world will become
barren”(4) at this rate. The older generation, as
represented by Mr. Choi, sees the development of technology

and industrialization negatively, and believes this

89

modernization will destroy human life rather than improve
it. This negative attitude toward changed society provokes
the conflicts with his children in the play.

Compared with Mr. Choi’s traditional view of society,
his children’s attitudes toward social circumstances are
different and various. The oldest son, Kyoungsoo, thinks of
himself as a victim of society and takes a pessimistic View
of new society. Kyoungae, the oldest daughter and the
second child pursues her dream of success which a changed
society provides; she takes an optimistic view of life.
Kyoungwoon and Kyoungjae, the youngest daughter and son,
see society very realistically. They understand wrongs and
rights in the modern society. For instance, when Mr. Choi
complains about the changed neighborhood and praises the
past, Kyoungjae explains that the past is of no use, “Today
is today. . . . Someone who realizes this fact clearly can
seek his future”(4). Kyoungjae faces up to the modern
reality; he knows the advantages and disadvantages to human
life resulting from the development of technology.
Kyoungjae neither praises the social changes nor blames
them. He just accepts the reality which Mr. Choi continues
to fight.

This realistic attitude is also shown by Kyoungwoon,

the youngest daughter. When Mr. Choi complains about

90

Kyoungsoo’s joblessness and laziness in spite of his
position in the family, as the eldest child, Kyoungwoon
tries to make Mr. Choi understand the current unemployment
situation. Kyoungsoo’s joblessness is because “the society
doesn’t offer him one. [Thus] it’s not his fault”(6).
Kyoungwoon realistically perceives the changes in social
circumstances, and in her family she functions as a buffer
in the generational conflict. For example, when Kyoungsoo
comes back home looking drunk and wretched, and starts to
complain about the cruel society and inhumane people of the
day, Kyoungwoon “understand[s] [his] situation better than
anyone does”(14) in their family. She realizes that “such
compassion and excuses”(14) of a discharged soldier are not
useful to live in society, but are like the behavior of a
coward. She thinks that doing nothing and only complaining
about others and social wrongs is not the right way to live
under their social circumstances. In front of Mr. Choi,
Kyoungwoon makes her father understand and sympathize with
Kyoungsoo’s inevitable situation in society, but to the
listless Kyoungsoo, she sharply expresses her realistic
opinion about how to survive in this society. Moreover, she
thinks, “it is irresponsible and weak behavior”(15) to
complain and that he “ought to survive by any means”(15).

Kyoungwoon realizes that it will take each person carrying

91

out his/her role faithfully and tirelessly for them to
survive in their modern society.

Cha shows a positive image of the new generation
through the perspectives of Kyoungwoon and Kyoungjae toward
their surroundings. At the same time, and in the same
family, Kyoungsoo and Kyoungae represent a negative image
of the new generation that is confused and wandering as a
result of Westernization. The society that Kyoungsoo and
Kyoungae belong to is neither traditional nor Westernized,
and they are trapped in a no man’s land like a DMZ without
any support.

After the Korean War, Kyoungsoo attempts to get a job,
but because of the increase in unemployment and the
economic crisis, he fails. A5 for Kyoungsoo, his social
circumstance is like a war and thus he needs a gun to win
over others. Kyoungsoo’s experience with the war taught him
the spirit of survival in the battlefield. The battle in
the war symbolizes Kyoungsoo’s struggle in the modern world
where he sees others as his enemy. He thinks of his
struggle to find work like a war, “where, unless we killed
the enemy, we would die”(25). For the dejected Kyoungsoo,
the possession of a gun gives him a reason to live and the
energy to try again after many failures. The gun is

necessary for him to deal with his tortured reality.

92

According to Kyoungjae, “whenever [Kyoungsoo] saw the gun,
it reminded him of the battle”(25).

As the eldest son, Kyoungsoo recognizes his
responsibility for the family and his father’s expectations
of him. Reality, however, turns out to be crueler to him.

While Kyoungsoo makes efforts to get a job, he loses his

 

 

1r
self—confidence, his hope for the future and his faith in T
others, and eventually he becomes wretched. His
wretchedness is similar to Biff Loman in Death of a
Salesman. Both are elder sons in their families and each :

father depends on his son’s success. However, Biff and
Kyoungsoo cannot survive in modern society. Biff is imbued
with Willy's misguided values that do not work in changed
society. Likewise, Kyoungsoo is directly influenced by his
social circumstances that do not offer him a job and are
full of wrongs. Kyoungsoo’s burden as the eldest son and
his pessimism about himself and society cause him to commit
a crime and ruin his hopeful life in the end. In the
meantime, Mr. Choi cannot understand Kyoungsoo’s
pessimistic attitude toward society. Mr. Choi criticizes
Kyoungsoo’s inability to survive in society after the war.
Comparing Kyoungsoo, who thinks the war ruins his life,
with other discharged soldiers who made money by any means,

Mr. Choi believes Kyoungsoo’s joblessness results from his

93

laziness and his blaming of the war is “just a foolish
excuse”(21). This is similar to Willy Loman’s complaint
about Biff. The fathers expect their eldest sons to succeed
and take charge of their families. In particular, Mr. Choi
depends on his eldest son’s responsibility to support his
family after himself, which is the traditionally expected
role of the eldest son in a Korean family. However, Biff
and Kyoungsoo disappoint their fathers despite their
efforts. Because neither father can understand his son’s
true situations in society, the conflicts between father
and son arise in each play. Like Miller’s two plays, All My

Sons and Death of a Salesman, Cha focuses on the struggles

 

between a father and a son. In The Barren, Mr. Choi expects

 

Kyoungsoo to play a traditional role of an eldest son, but
Kyoungsoo’s weakness in a changed society after the war
cannot satisfy his father’s wishes. Even though they care
for each other, they cannot help failing to understand each
other and this serves to make Kyoungsoo out of sinc with
both his family and society.

Kyoungae, the second child and the oldest daughter of
Mr. Choi, indulges herself in the American Dream. She
strongly believes that she will become rich after being
cast as a new starlet. She dreams of getting rich quick,

and brags that if she should, “succeed to be selected as a

94

new face today, everything is gonna be okay”(10). She will
“afford a better house and car”(10) and give Kyoungsoo a
job, too. Kyoungae is obsessed with materialistic success,
and is wrongly influenced by the American Dream like Willy
and Happy Loman. She cannot see reality clearly and pursues
wrong values. American individualism gives Kyoungae to a
materialistic value that conflicts with the traditional
world her father offers and in which she lives. Mr. Choi
cannot understand Kyoungae’s vain optimistic attitude
toward society. When Kyoungae rattles on about her promise
to buy new Western—style wedding veils for Mr. Choi’s
store, he rebuffs her and says that he could “grow a tail
in the time it would take me to wait for you to become a
star”(6). Mr. Choi does not believe his daughter's empty
dreams for success.

While Kyoungsoo fights the fraud in society, Kyoungae
uses money and her body as a bribe to get a role in the
movies. When Kyoungwoon asks if buying off a judge is
working in the movie business, Kyoungae proudly explains
what the most important things are in order to succeed: she
explains that “if ability is a four out of ten and a bribe
is a six, then it will be okay." She believes that “most
importantly, to be an actress, a woman must have a

beautiful face and a nice body”(8) rather than acting

95

ability. Through Kyoungae, Cha censures the younger
generation that follows false dreams or ideals without
evaluating them. In a transitional period, the younger
generation that does not have a firm identity is liable to
waver aimlessly. Western value systems affect this
generation, and make it confused and in conflict with the
traditional one before it establishes its self—identity.
Therefore, the younger generation is easily swept with the
new waves in society. Kyoungbok Lee comments that Kyoungae
is “the character that represents a woman of the new
generation who chooses the easiest and the most secular way
to make a fortune at one stroke”(Lee 43). In the end,
Kyoungae is deceived by fake movie businessmen and kills
herself because of the disgrace of her losses, especially
that of her virginity. On the one hand, Kyoungae is unlike
a traditional woman whose goal in life centers on marriage.
On the other hand, her suicide shows that she still holds
traditional values. Cha depicts Kyoungae as a woman of the
new generation who pursues her own dream more than her
traditional duty as a daughter in the family. According to
Sunghee Kim, Kyoungsoo and Kyoungae cannot help “failing
because they do not play the [traditional] roles as a son

and a daughter in a strict patriarchal society”(Kim 71).

96

Mr. Choi is described as a powerful father who usually
ignores what other family members say. His stubbornness and
ignorance cause alienation from his family. When he talks
with the realtor about the house, the other family members
do not know what Mr. Choi is really trying to do because he
does not share his intention to lease the house. As a
powerful father, Mr. Choi makes a big decision for all of
his family members, yet he does not ask others’ opinions or
share his intention with others. His dogmatic decision
stems from extreme patriarchy, and it causes him to be
alienated from his family.

Kyoungsoo and Kyoungae are described as isolated
victims in changed society. Kyoungsoo drinks to escape from
reality and alienates himself from the society and his
family. He blames society and others for his joblessness.
No work means that, as a fully matured man, he is useless
in a materialistic society. This is like Willy Loman’s work
alienation. Kyoungsoo and Willy cannot adjust themselves in
low—class jobs, and both also cannot bear their
disabilities in society as jobless men. Instead, Kyoungsoo
criticizes those who get jobs, cling to their jobs
desperately, and fear being fired (13). These social
circumstances cause many wrongs, such as mammonism,

dehumanization, injustice, and immorality. For example, if

97

 

someone desired a job during that time, he needed money for
bribes. After getting a job, that person tried to recoup
the money he spent for bribes by taking bribes himself(13).
This resulted in a vicious circle of fraud. Thus, Kyoungsoo
becomes a victim of this fraud as a poor applicant of the
time. He bitterly criticizes the current society where
“everyone becomes selfish”(13). He explains that “if a guy
is in need, he treats us nicely, but after grabbing what he
wants from us, he treats us like dogs”(13). Through
Kyoungsoo’s bitterness, Cha presents Korean society in the
19505, which had been adversely influenced by American
individualism which was in conflict with the traditional
Confucianism. Cha depicts Kyoungsoo as a victim in a
confusing transition stage. Kyoungsoo is a fish that does
not get along with living in his transformed water.

Kyoungae is a victim between the traditional and the
Western value systems. Being deceived by the society that
she trusts explicitly, she feels alienated and betrayed.
After realizing her failure, Kyoungae regards herself as a
worthless and indecent woman in View of the traditional
value systems. Thus, she has to commit suicide.

In addition to each individual's alienation, the
Chois’ alienation from their community is symbolized by

their house, much like the houses of the Loman and the

98

 

 

Kellers. The old house in The Barren at both sides is

 

surrounded by “three— or four—story buildings”(1). These
skyscrapers look like that “they are superior to the old
house”(1). This indicates that the Chois do not belong to
their community, and it also represents gradual
disappearance of the tradition with the creation of the

new .

Cha concludes the play with three tragedies which are
influenced by their social surroundings; Mr. Choi’s,
Kyoungsoo’s, and Kyoungae’s. All of these characters
finally conceive the power of their society in life.
Kyoungae realizes that everything she has pursued at any
cost is a false dream. The transition stage in society
confuses her value systems and causes her to lose the most
important element of a traditional woman for the sake of
materialistic values. Kyoungsoo realizes that he is unable
to compromise and adjust himself to an absurd society. As
an educated man, he has had only to complain about society
instead of confronting with the wrongs or finding other
ways to live within it. Mr. Choi realizes that the old
house he has loved for so long is worthless in modern
society. When Kyoungae kills herself and Kyoungsoo is

arrested, Mr. Choi laments that a person’s life is not like

99

trash(35). He feels miserable and futile because everything
and everyone he has cared for over his life does not yield
any fruit. Mr. Choi curses his fate that is represented by
the old house, saying, “I thought it makes only the plants
wither, but even my daughter”(35). Like Willy Loman, Mr.
Choi fails to gain reward for his lifelong efforts to rear
his children and care for his house. Namely, his belief in
the value systems does not prove to work in his changed
society. While his society is changing, he is unwilling to
keep up with the changes and holds fast to his traditional
value systems. Mr. Choi condemns society for withering his
two children in the same way he blames the buildings around
him for the lack of sunshine that kills his plants. Through
Mr. Choi’s tragic grievance, Cha presents the irresistible
force of social forces on individuals’ lives. Bongseung
Shin comments about the environmental force on human life,
saying that
the old house represents the cultural climate of
Korean traditional society; the buildings which
block the growth of flowers from the sun, and the
neighboring café which makes the house poles
rotten by dumping dirty water are the
representatives of the gigantic mechanism and
political authority which interfere with and

control human beings. (Shin 482)

The characters in The Barren are influenced by society, and

 

the social conditions drive them to their tragic ends.

100

Castle of Roses
This play explores one of Cha’s major subjects:
conflicts caused by love and lust in a family torn by
social changes. According to Minyoung Yoo, Cha confesses
that
up to the present, in most cases, I could
remember the experiences which I started writing
from hatred, revolt, and impulse. However, over
time I realize that life is not like that.
Suddenly ‘love’ came to me [as a subject for
plays]. Even though I am neither a Christian nor
a Buddist, I am a nonbeliever, I realized
everything comes from love and this recognition
is the one change in my works over the last six
years. (Yoo 1987: 235)

Although Cha deals with issues of love, he illustrates

these issues under specific social circumstances.

In connection to the social changes resulting from
modern developments in the 19505, the 19605 was the period
that had been influenced by feminism in Western society,
especially women’s liberation. The feminist movement
generated great changes in the traditional views of women
in Korea. A traditional patriarchal system existed in

Korea, and men were placed in a higher position in society

where women were required to obey their men under

Confucianism. The relationship between a husband and a wife

was similar to the relationship between a king and his

101

_ !

 

 

 

people. In spite of the subordinate relationship, a husband
respects his wife because Confucianism is based on love and
care of each other. This relationship was not formed for
the exploitation of the weaker, but for maintaining orderly
society. According to Kyoungbok Lee, a traditional woman
was portrayed as a woman who tolerated her given situation,
obeyed her husband, and thought her best duty was keeping
her family together(68). However, after the influx of
Western ideas in the 19505, Korean women gradually grew
conscious of their equal rights. This knowledge caused

conflicts with the traditional role of women.

Cha’s first trip to America in 1966 gave him a fresh
shock because he only knew about America and its culture
indirectly through books or movies. To him, “the art and
culture of America had variety and freedom, so there were
no constraints or fetters to express"(phone interview with
Cha). Cha was impressed with the artistic freedom in
American theatre after watching Broadway shows which dealt
with aberrant sexual issues that were taboo in the 19605’
Korean theatre. In particular, he was surprised at the
multiplied expressions of sexuality that were presented

during this American period. When Cha returned to Korea

102

realizing the need for dealing with the subject of human

nature, he finally produced Castle of Roses.

 

In Castle of Roses, Cha describes a transitional

 

woman’s turmoil, shaped by alienation and resulting from
her husband’s homosexuality. Even though homosexuality had
existed in Korean society, it had never been brought to the
surface, so Cha covers new territory in this play. Castle

of Roses is similar to All My Sons and A View from the

 

 

Bridge in that the main topic is alienation from the
community. In this play, Cha depicts a woman who struggles
with hiding sexual shameful acts from her community and

even her family, and therefore, like The Barren, this play

 

also displays social issues surrounding a family unit. In

Castle of Roses the female character tries to self—impose a

 

separation which goes against what she desires.

Mrs. Yoon, the protagonist, is a famous sculptor who
lives in a remote place near Seoul. She lives with her
mother—in—law, Mrs. Lee, her daughter, Sangae, and the
maid, Ilsoon. Yoon has avoided the media because of her
hidden disgraceful memories since Youngdo Bae, her husband
and promising painter, left their house. His homosexual
acts with an U.S. soldier betrayed Yoon and hurt her pride
as both an artist and a woman. Yoon could not stand or

understand her husband’s betrayal with a man, so she forced

103

 

 

 

him to leave their house. After that, she confined herself
and her family in a place isolated from the public. In the
meantime, Yoon never tells anybody about her husband’s
homosexuality; instead she has lied to her daughter and
others saying that Youngdo is dead.

However, Hanki Kim, an art critic, brings the news
that Youngdo has returned to Korea from the U.S. as a
wretched failure and Hanki Kim wants Yoon to forgive her
husband for whatever he did wrong to her in the past. While
Yoon tells Hanki that she adamantly refuses to forgive
Youngdo, Mrs. Lee who has believed all along that Youngdo
is alive, overhears the conversation and finally accuses
Yoon of kicking Youngdo out of their house 17 years ago.
During this argument, Mrs. Lee criticizes Yoon’s hidden
passion for men. Mrs. Lee points out that choosing
Youngtaek who looks like Youngdo as a tutor for her
daughter, displays her passion. Yoon positively denies this
passion. Sangae gradually realizes her mother’s hypocrisy
and her concealed past when she overhears Mrs. Lee’s
accusation of Yoon. After recognizing her mother’s
selfishness and the reason her mother does not like her
close relationship with Youngtaek, Sangae shoots the two
male dogs that Yoon loves. Sangae, at this point, claims

that she has become independent, and is now out of her

104

 

mother’s shadow. In the end, Yoon hears of Youngdo’s
suicide and destroys her famous masterpiece, named,

‘insult.’

Mrs. Yoon’s obsession started with her memories of her
shameful husband. After she found out the truth of her
husband’s homosexuality, she felt humiliated because she
lost her husband not to another woman, but to a man, which
devastated her pride as a woman. Mrs. Yoon was used “as a
female animal, not as a woman”(87) by her husband and feels
disgraced. She becomes “cold, arrogant, and haughty"(127)
in order to avoid a loss of her pride in public. Therefore,
she hid herself from society, living in the ‘castle of
roses.’

Due to her tenacious attempts with keeping her fame
and pride, Yoon herself shows cynical wariness to the
reporter in order not to disclose her hidden past. She
criticizes the cruelty of the media, which is “like a
vacuum cleaner because it sucks up everything”(10). Yoon is
afraid of being deprived of her mask as a proud and famous
sculptor, thus she takes defensive actions toward the
media. She answers the reporter, who grumbles about her

avoidance in answering the questions,

105

 

 

I think life is cruel anyway. Can you find things
which are not cruel around us? I look at the
world today as a place filled with cruelty where
people don’t consider the ways and means to
fulfill their needs in politics, thoughts, and
even love. (21)
Her husband's treason makes her cynical about everything,
even love. Her experience of betrayal by her husband causes
her to shun and criticize society. If she did not defend
herself, the cruelty of life and traditional thinking about
homosexuality would encroach and destroy her.

While she tries to hide her ignominious past by
accusing the media of violence, she tells Hanki Kim, an art
critic, about her disguised life and how she suffered to
live in the world of fame and unable to tell anyone how
badly she was hurt(126). Because of her obsession with
sustaining her good name in society, Yoon has cloaked her
life; and in order to remove all the traces of her
dishonorable past, she tells her family a lie that Youngdo
is dead. Like Miller’s protagonists, Yoon justifies to
herself that her lies about Youngdo’s death are for her
family. She hides the truth about her husband because the
truth is “ugly”(128) and only hurts her family’s life. In
fact, Yoon is scared of losing her traditional honor as an

artist by the scandal of Youngdo’s homosexuality. Yoon’s

fear to lose her honor as an artist cloaks her basic fear

106

 

to lose her pride as a woman. Ultimately, Yoon’s
selfishness and obsession with fame create the alienation
of her family and herself from the community and block true
conversation in her family.

Yoon’s shunning attitude results in the obsession with
Sangae. In order to erase shameful memories, Yoon moved to
the ‘castle of roses’ far from their community and cleaned
the new house obsessively(iii), thus eradicating any traces
of Youngdo. The hatred against Youngdo and all males causes
Yoon to become obsessed with her daughter. Yoon also feels
an urgency to cleanse their daughter who “was born between
a human being and an animal"(88), because she thinks Sangae
is contaminated by her animal—like father’s homosexual
blood. Therefore, Yoon tries to cleanse Sangae from the
dirty blood of her father by warning Sangae about men and
by controlling her life completely. Her feelings of
betrayal create Yoon’s obsession with Sangae and, as a
result, her alienation from the community because Yoon is
afraid of being hurt by people(8). Like Joe Keller with

Chris in All My Sons, for Yoon, Sangae is all she has and

 

is very precious to her(53).
Sustaining the lie about her father’s death, Yoon
dominates Sangae's love. Yoon strongly posits that her

excessive love for her daughter makes Sangae not need a

107

 

father figure. When her tutor, Youngtaek, brings up the
question about Sangae’s father, Yoon explains that she
“didn’t know why there had to be a father. It’s natural
that [Sangae] thought that way, because I did her father’s
share, too”(56). Here, Yoon shows that, in the concept of
modern family, a perfect family does not necessarily
consist of both father and mother. Her concept is compared
with that of Korean traditional family that emphasizes the

need of both parents for a healthy family. Yoon is vexed at

 

Youngtaek when he advises her about her daughter. Yoon fl
believes she knows best and what her daughter needs. Like
Willy Loman, Yoon does not truly know her child. Even
though Sangae is really hungry for a father figure, Yoon
has never realized Sangae’s true need because of her
selfishness and because she is trying to avoid the social
stigma that revelation would create.

Yoon’s obsessive care for her daughter clashes with
Sangae’s close relationship with Youngtaek. Sangae has been
following Yoon’s instructions all her life, but Yoon’s
protectiveness becomes extreme. Sangae cannot understand
why her mother is afraid of her dependence on Youngtaek.
She turns on her mother and thinks her mother’s excessive
care is not love, but is “meddle"(54). Basically, Sangae, a

representative of the new generation, thinks that she is an

108

independent person, and that no one can take care of her
life except herself. Thus, she considers her mother an
outsider in her life and that her mother's concern
interferes with her affairs.

In the meantime, Yoon thinks her concern for her
daughter is reasonable as a mother. Her daughter’s problem
becomes Yoon’s own problem. On the one hand, Yoon is a
modernized and liberal woman, because she is a single
parent who earns wages like a traditional father. On the
other hand, she still has aspects of a traditional mother
who believes that a mother helps her daughter to find
happiness, and that the mother is responsible for the
daughter’s happiness. Thus, Yoon thinks Sangae’s business
is hers as well. Yoon confesses her life has been lived
only for her daughter: “I’ve been doing my best for your
well-being until today, and I’ve endured agonies until this
day only for you”(66). This is similar to the pleadings of
Joe Keller, who thinks his business and his life have been
only for the sake of his remaining son, Chris.

Cha shows the generational value systems through the
differences between Sangae’s and her mother and between
Mrs. Lee and Yoon. Sangae is influenced by individualism,
so she does not value the blood bond and explains to Yoon

that “water sometimes can be thicker than blood”(43).

109

Traditionally, Koreans have made a great account for the
blood ties, but Sangae respects the modern tendency to
Westernized individualism and thus each person’s rights.
She also admits the fact that, for whatever reasons her
parents broke up, it is not her problem. She is sure that
she will “have [her] happiness even though [she] was born
from such parents,” because “there is happiness each to his
own”(89). Sangae represents the positive image of new
generation, according to Cha(Phone interview with Cha).
Sangae values her own efforts for her life because nobody
can live her life for her.

Sangae’s individualistic value systems cannot fathom
why Yoon has lived as a single mother. When Sangae’s father
left the house she was only one year old. Because Yoon has
completely erased all traces of her husband, Sangae does
not know what he looks like and the truth of why he
deserted his family. Without knowing the truth, Sangae sees
her mother as a traditional faithful woman. Traditionally,
after her husband’s death, a Korean woman used to live a
solitary life for her dead husband until she died. This
loyalty for her husband is treated as the greatest virtue
of a woman. Therefore, Sangae thinks her mother has
observed this traditional virtue, which Sangae considers as

a disappearing virtue of the time;

110

Fighting loneliness for 17 years can’t be
considered a virtue any longer. You should know,
mother, that there are more people who laugh at
you than admire you, because you live far out in
a deserted area surrounded only by roses. (67)
Sangae recognizes the changes in the values of her time and
that her mother’s solitude looks like hypocrisy. Sangae
confesses that because of her mother’s hypocritical

attitude, she cannot understand Yoon at all.

Yoon’s hypocritical attitudes result from her self-

." il‘ .. -_? t

contradiction. By saying that she never feels lonesome or ,

 

afraid living out in a remote place without a man in her E
family, Yoon tries to deny her passion and need of a man,
but her hypocritical attitudes are revealed in her
obsession with her dogs and Youngtaek.

Yoon’s obsession with her daughter in forbidding
Sangae to get close to Youngtaek, a tutor who looks like
Sangae’s father, comes from her selfish desire. Yoon chose
him as her daughter’s tutor among other applicants in order
to compensate for her deprived husband. After losing her
husband to a man, Yoon disguised her desire for a man as a
hatred against and superiority to men for 17 years.
Therefore, in her family, there is no man, and Yoon firmly
denies the need of a man in her life. Yoon’s hidden desire,
however, is shown in two stage directions. When she sees

Youngtaek entering, “her startled reaction is a self-

111

conscious behavior, which she pretends to be official,
hiding gladness from him”(41). Here she not only finds him
attractive, but also happy to have a male presence again.
In addition, when she hears that Sangae and Youngtaek often
go to the garden of roses, “Yoon looks very uncomfortable.
.[and] tries to read the newspaper to calm herself”(48).
Even though Yoon pretends to loathe her husband and all
males, she cannot refuse the need of a man in her life.
Another example of Yoon’s self contradiction is Yoon’s
special care for two big male dogs that they rear. Yoon
does not let the others bathe them. The two big dogs are
male dogs, not female and this shows her need of and desire
for male companionship. As she bathes them, Yoon can
control and fondle the two male dogs that can passively
receive her love. These behaviors imply bestiality which is
related to her husband’s homosexuality. Also, when touching
her sculpture, titled, ‘Insult,’ she looks like she is
stroking the back of a living animal gently and warmly:
“Her attitude seems to suppress her passion"(67). These

attitudes reveal that, like Eddie Carbone in A View from

 

the Bridge, concealing his passion for Catherine in the

 

disguise of the duty as a father figure, Yoon hides her
passion for men. Her self-denial of this passion is hidden

in her belief that everything is for her daughter. Thus,

112

 

her passion is disguised as the obsessive care that Sangae
does not get close to a man, and eventually is represented

by her art piece, ‘Insult’.

While Sangae realizes that her mother’s obsession with
her is, in fact, her mother’s disguised passion, at the
same time she discovers her self-identity that produces the
conflict with her mother. Like Chris Keller, Biff Loman and
Catherine who realize their fathers’ realities and launch
their own lives from the fathers’ shadows, Sangae firmly
stands on her own two feet. After shooting the two male
dogs——this violent act symbolizes her revolt against her
mother--Sangae cries out, “You’re not my mother! I neither
have a father nor a mother. Only me.”(141). As the
distraught Sangae aims the gun at her mother, Yoon begs her
to calm down, emphasizing their blood bond relationship.
Here, Yoon displays a contradictory behavior because she
mentions earlier that “a blood relationship doesn’t mean a
thing. To the modern men, blood has lost its meaning and
power"(120). But now, in front of Sangae, she appeals to
the relationship between mother and daughter. Yoon’s self-
contradictory attitude represents the picture of the
transitional stage woman in the 19605 of Korea. Yoon stands

between concepts of the traditional and the modern woman.

Sangae, however, responds to her mother’s begging, “there’s
no use of relationship. Everybody is busy finding one’s own
need. We all became animals"(142). Sangae becomes like
‘practical’ Chris and ‘tearless’ Kyoungsoo, as she
discovers how to survive in such a bestial society by being
independent.

In addition to the conflict between mother and
daughter, there is another conspicuous conflict shown
between mother—in-law and daughter—in—law. Cha uses Yoon to
illustrate a transitional image of a woman from the
traditional to the modern woman in the same way he uses

Kyoungsoo and Kyoungae in The Barren. Compared to Sangae,

 

Yoon still has aspects of a traditional woman; but compared
to Mrs. Lee, she is modernized. Yoon shows aspects of a
very active and revolutionary woman. For example, she asked
Youngdo to marry her during their college years. This
attitude is uncommon in the ordinary and traditional image
of women of the period. Women were supposed to be passive.
Yoon does not feel the need of a father figure for raising
her daughter, so she has been a single parent. Unlike
traditional mothers, Yoon enters the society of works like
fathers and earns money for her family. Rather, she feels
superior to men as a career woman. Thus Yoon’s liberal

thoughts and conduct with regard to love and works reflect

114

 

the new ideas influenced by the American feminist movement,
which supported equal rights of women. In the meantime,
through Mrs. Lee, Cha embodies the image of a traditional
Korean woman who only endures whatever fate is determined
for her by her father, husband, and later her eldest son.

Mrs. Lee has lived with Yoon and Sangae for 17 years since

1'

her son left their house, not uttering a word about how she
felt(72). Without knowing the truth about why Youngdo left

their house, but condemning Yoon Youngdo’s departure, Mrs.

 

“ff. '-_. flu .-
'

Lee expresses her opinion about a wife’s role. Mrs. Lee
explains that a traditional wife would “have sold the house
to support him for a husband if her husband wanted to study
abroad”(84). She thinks Yoon’s selfishness to keep her
husband with her prevented Youngdo from studying abroad.
Mrs. Lee believes when he decided to follow the U.s.
soldier for studying, Yoon forced him to leave and not to
come back. Driving a man out of the house is not a proper
way for a wife to treat her husband whether he does
something wrong or not(80-84). A traditional Korean woman
has to be patient with her husband, whatever he does. Yoon
is not either a traditional woman or a completely modern
woman, and in this conflict, like the conflict with her
daughter she conflicts with her mother—in-law because of

different value systems.

115

Yoon’s obsession with getting rid of her memories and
not being hurt by people makes her “[drift] to an island
from the city civilization”(18) and thus she becomes
alienated from society. Yoon does not even maintain contact
with her relatives. Four people live in this confined
situation Mrs. Yoon has constructed since the miserable end
of her marriage. When the reporter from the magazine visits
Yoon’s house, according to the stage direction, “the maid
shows awkwardness serving the guest. This indicates that
she is not used to serving many guests here”(1). The maid’s
awkwardness to Visitors reveals how much Yoon’s family has
lived separately from the community.

Yoon’s house represents her alienation from the
community as well. Like Joe Keller’s secluded house, Yoon’s
house is surrounded by a virtual fence of roses and is
located in a place isolated from people. These living
conditions reflect Yoon’s obsession with ridding herself of
a painful past and defending herself from betrayal by human
beings again.

In addition to the external alienation of the
surroundings, Mrs. Yoon’s internal life is wrapped with
lies and agonies that cause her family to be alienated from

each other and society. She has never revealed the truth

116

about why she has lived such a lonely life without her
husband. She has never told the truth about the past
happenings between her and her husband, Youngdo. Instead,
she lies to her daughter that her father was dead after
leaving their house. Even though Sangae believes what her
mother told her about her father, she still does not
understand Yoon’s obsessive hatred of and warnings about
men. Sangae expresses her wish to “feel one tenth of the
praise which other people say for [her mother] being a
famous sculptor”(104). In fact, Sangae really needs a
father figure, but she has never spoken of her need because
she knows her mother’s delicate characteristics. Yoon’s
obsession with the certainty that Sangae does not need a
father figure hinders Sangae’s true desire. Yoon’s
obsession with demolishing her disgraceful past and her
lies prevent the relationship between the mother and the
daughter to be shared fully and finally causes alienation
between them.

Yoon's eventual alienation comes from her family that
she has cared for much. When Sangae accuses Yoon of being
an animal, exactly what Yoon has accused her husband of
being, Yoon loses her conviction that she is different from
her animal-like husband. Yoon denounces Youngdo’s immoral

passion, but later her hidden passion for men is revealed,

117

and she is accused of such by her precious daughter.

Similarly, in A View from the Bridge, Eddie warns Catherine

 

about not speaking about the ‘submarines,’ but later his
passion for Catherine results in betrayal to his society.

Just as Eddie’s passion and betrayal bring out alienation

 

from his community, Yoon's betrayed feelings and concealed
passion cause her to be alienated from her community. At
last, when labeled an animal, Yoon feels total alienation

from what she is obsessed with in her life. Yoon breaks her

 

sculpture, ‘Insult’ into pieces. According to

Kyoungbok Lee, this represents “the frustration of her pure
eroticism”(70). In addition to Lee’s comment, destroying
her masterpiece means that Yoon finally admits her
disguised life. ‘Insult’ symbolizes her belief in a woman’s

superiority over a man. Lee comments about Castle of Roses,

 

saying, “[This play] is a work stressing both an artist’s
completeness and a woman’s happiness which are accomplished
by her husband’s existence”(70). Yoon's extreme alienation
cannot sublimate itself in art. Cha highlights the fact
that human beings are social beings that cannot be
alienated from society. Cha shows both Yoon’s hypocrisy as
an artist in order to sustain her fame in public and her

incompleteness as a human who denies the psychological and

118

physical need of the opposite gender for accomplishing
one’s life fully.

In Castle of Roses, Cha presents a woman who is in a

 

transitional stage between a traditional and a modern
woman. This unstable stage reflects the 19605’ Korean
society that had been influenced by Western ideas of
feminism and individualism. These Western ideas collide
with Korean tradition and customs, mainly based on

Confucianism and this collision engenders much confusion in

 

society that is represented by the conflicts between Sangae f
and Mrs. Yoon. This play focuses on the interrelationship

between society and individuals.

Overall, in the two plays, The Barren and Castle of

 

 

59535, Cha explores the forces of circumstances on
individuals. These circumstances develop after the 19505
when Korean society was sharply changed socially,
politically and ideologically. Cha, however, emphasizes the
different generational value systems, which are greatly
affected by the social changes taking place in Korea, more
intensively than Miller does. These social transformations,
which Cha depicts in detail in his two plays, caused many
confused situations and conflicts in family as well as in

society.

119

First, each character has an obsession with something.
Mr. Choi sticks to the traditional values whereas his
children are influenced by social changes, such as the
American Dream, materialistic success, and individualism.
Mrs. Yoon is obsessed with her fame and her daughter. Her
obsession results from her homosexual husband’s betrayal
that shows the changes of sexual concept in society.

Second, in the two plays, there are conflicts between
parents and their children because of the impacts of
different social circumstances. Mr. Choi, a strong
patriarchal father, cannot understand his children’s value
systems. For Mr. Choi, Kyoungsoo is too pessimistic while
Kyoungae is too vainly optimistic toward society. Since Mr.
Choi makes a great account for living together with others
beyond his own family, for him the realistic viewpoint of
Kyoungwoon and Kyoungjae sound too modern. In case of Mrs.
Yoon, she stands between the traditional and the modern
stage, so Yoon herself shows self-contradictory acts. Since
she is affected by the American Feminist Movement in the
19605 and 19705, Mrs. Yoon is not concerned that single
parenting might be her weakness; rather she prides herself
in being a career woman. In the meantime, Mrs. Yoon holds
fast to the traditional roles of a mother and blood bonds.

Thus, she wants to control Sangae’s business like her own

120

 

business. Sangae, however, who is deeply influenced by

 

individualism, sees Yoon’s concern as an interference with
her life.

Third, Mr. Choi’s alienation is largely caused by
social changes whereas Mrs. Yoon’s alienation is self—
imposed in order to protect her honor as a woman and an

I\
artist in her society. Mr. Choi’s obsession with tradition

prevents his family from keeping up with changes. This

alienation is physically presented in the tall Westernized

 

buildings that make their house look like a dwarf among
normal people surround their house. Alienation is seen in

Castle of Roses, when Mrs. Yoon tries to conceal her shame

 

caused by her husband’s homosexuality. She alienates
herself and her family purposely by establishing castle of
roses in a remote place far from any community. The society
in which she lives is so cruel and inhumane that gossip is
likely to destroy a person different from the social norm.
Mrs. Yoon knows the destructive power of society, and thus,
she takes defensive acts toward society.

With the three elements, I demonstrated the
interrelationship between society and individuals in Cha’s
two plays. As shown in the Miller chapter, Cha gives
various pictures of individuals who struggle with their

given social circumstances. In the next chapter, I will

121

conclude the previous three chapters,

similarities between both playwrights.

122

emphasizing the

 

 

CONCLUSION

Miller and Cha have taken similar career paths in
their lives. Even though Miller started his career as a

playwright earlier than Cha, they both worked as writers

 

for radio and TV, as directors of their own plays, and as

"L23

teachers of theatre and literature. Before their
professional work, their various youthful experiences

helped to create such vivid plays as Miller’s Death of a

 

 

Salesman and Cha’s The Barren.

 

Both have lived in a similar historical period, so
they share similar perspectives in their plays, in spite of
cultural, ethnical, and geographical distances. Miller’s
background is Jewish whereas Cha has a Confucian
background. Their backgrounds, imbued in their youth, later

influence creation of such plays as Miller’s Incident at

 

Vichy and No Villain and Cha’s The Barren and The Blue-

 

 

 

Roofed House.

 

Miller, born during the World War I, experienced the
Depression as a young sensitive boy. He realized the
Depression deeply affected people’s lives. In Cha’s case,
he grew up under Japanese Imperialism. As part of a
subordinated people, Cha also noticed the power of

circumstances. Both playwrights lived through World War II

123

and the Korean War. These wars and personal experiences
under the dark social condition greatly influenced them and
solidified their thoughts about the environmental impact on

humans.

In addition to the impact of social circumstances,

Miller and Cha were influenced by different theatre

— - I'M-Illa,

figures. Ibsen affected Miller, with his spirit of Greek

tragedy. The question about harmony between the public and

 

the private life hooked Miller and in his plays, Miller
deals with conflicts between the public(society) and the
private life(family), or with tragedies of a family caused
by society. Just as Ibsen inspired Miller’s work, so Chijin
Yoo did Cha's work. Yoo encouraged Cha to perceive the
right role of theatre under specific circumstances like
Imperialism. Due to Yoo’s impact, Cha has tried to
establish Korean theatre as the effective method to
enlighten an oppressed Korean people, reflect the social
changes of the period, and to suggest a better future. Cha
thoroughly felt the environmental force in his own life as
he longed for freedom as an independent writer under the
suppressed social and political situations. Thus, both
playwrights, through their personal lives and education,

learned the power of social circumstances on human life and

124

followed the trend of social drama like their influential
preceptors.

In their socio—familial plays, both Miller and Cha
express an individual’s or a family’s frustration,
conflict, pleasure, and hope provided by the social

circumstances. In this thesis, I emphasized three

“.17

 

particular elements shown in these five plays and related
to each social influence on characters and family. Each

main character in the plays of both Cha and Miller has an

 

obsession, and this obsession conflicts with his/her £1
children in the form of the generation gap. The obsession

alienates the protagonist from both the family and society.

Through the characters(Joe, Willy, Eddie, Mr. Choi and Mrs.

Yoon), Miller and Cha depict individuals who are directly

affected by their social circumstances. They take ideas and

values from their social world and thrive or fail.

Ultimately, personal experiences of these two

 

playwrights about economic, social, or political changes
help Miller and Cha to generate plays that deal with the
inevitable relationship between humans and their social

environment.

This study suggests that further study about other

approaches to these two playwrights such as how cultural

125

difference works for adapting their plays to each culture.
An examination of Miller’s and Cha’s dramatic structures
and devices is still needed. In addition, it would be
worthwhile to compare Cha with other American playwrights
and to compare Miller with other Korean playwrights. In the
process of exploring this thesis, it became evident that
more Korean plays in English translation could be an
important contribution to world theatre and cross-

culturalization.

126

 

 

Telephone Interview with Beomsuk Cha, Dated Feb. 13. 1999

Me: What are the major influences on your writings?
Cha: Russian novels by authors such as Tolstoy and Dostoevski influenced me. I also

read lots of Irish plays, especially John M. Synge’s works.

Me: Was there a Philosophy or School of Thought that influenced you?
Cha: I can’t pick a specific school of thought but I used to be impressed by Nietzsche and

Schopenhauer, when I was a middle school student.

Me: You have heard of Arthur Miller, right?

Cha: Yes. After I entered upon a literary career, I started to pay attention to some
American playwrights such as Arthur Miller, William Inge and Tennessee Williams.
Moreover, I really liked Death of a Salesman and Glass Menggerie, so I directed those

plays in my theatre troupe.

Me: I heard you mention that you had traveled in U. S. A. in 1 966 for the first time. Did
that travel influence your writings in some ways?

Cha: I used to know about America and its culture indirectly by reading books and
watching the movies. However, through this travel, I could feel American culture directly
which gave me a fresh shock. The art culture of America had variety and freedom so

there was no constraints or fetter on expression. That greatly surprised me.

Me: So did you see many American plays at that time?

127

 

 

 

 

Cha: For one month, I haunted on Broadway and Off-Broadway and I watched “The

Fantasticks,” “Wait until the Dark,” “ People in Ravanche,” and so on.

Me: After your travels in 1966, you wrote Castle of Roses in 1968. Are there any
relations between that trip to America and writing Castle of Roses, because that play

seemed to have been very shocking in Korea in those days?

., .1

Cha: On Broadway, I watched many plays which dealt with sexual problems. It was
taboo in Korea in those days to present those problems on stage. I was inspired by

America’s artistic freedom and I wanted to deal with sexual problems in my plays.

 

‘1'

Me: How often do you travel to foreign countries?
Cha: Well. . .up until now I have been to America four times. However, I have been to

Europe more than America.

Me: Who has been the most influential theatre artist for you? Have there been any
special or specific foreign artists who have had an impact on you?

Cha: Well. . .no. Frankly, I began to realize what a play was by Chijin Yoo lecture,
“Theory of drama.” I learned my basic knowledge about plays from him. His theory
became the basis on which I write my plays and the criterion for reading foreign plays.
Yoo said, “A play is a conflict.” There are conflicts between others and me or between
me and myself, between me and current societal structures and so on. I want to say the

essence of a play is a conflict. Especially, without conflict, a play loses its meaning.

128

Me: What ’s your concept of Family?

Cha: According to our oriental and traditional concept of the family, father, the head of a
family, is the center of the unit like a maypole and the other members are bound to him as
a whole unit. Recently, however, the western concept of the individualistic nuclear family
has spread over our country so our traditional and original thought or concept of family
doesn’t work any more. For the older generations, the concept of family is in danger of
breaking down. I like the old and original idea, but today’s reality proves that the old idea
is gradually disappearing. Therefore, I conclude that in a family we need to respect each
other. In the old days in the relationship between parents and children, parents had
absolute authority over their children. In the relationship between husbands and wives, a
wife had to obey whatever her husband told her to do. But today, these kinds of
relationships are not seen any place. So I think we have to respect each other in order to
manage today’s family. Without understanding and respect among family members, that

family cannot be called a true Family.

Me: Some people said your plays depict a modern person who discards some morals
between parents and children or between husband and wife. Then what is ethics for you
here?

Cha: In the past, from the viewpoint of the expected relationships, based on
Confucianism, absolute obedience or subordiance was allowed but, on the contrary,
today’s ethics is based on individual freedom or acquisition and approval of freedom or

longing for freedom, I think.

129

Me: Have you heard American playwright Sam Shepard?

Cha: No, I haven’t. Could you name his plays’ titles? I think if I have heard of it, I may
possibly know who he is.

Me: Buried Child, Curse of the Starving Class...

Cha: Oh, yes! I know those plays. In Korea, some theatre troupes presented those plays

before.

Me: Among Shepard ’5 plays, Lie oLthe mind deals with family violence which causesthe
destruction of the family unit. Buried Child talks about incest, which represents the
condition of the collapse of morality in the family. I think both plays show collapses of
family values.

What do you think about Korean family values which you have tried to show in your
plays? Do they follow Confucianism?

Cha: I don’t think so. There are some differences between the younger and the older
generations. I think America focuses on the relationship between individuals. You just
said family violence. But in our case, we are influenced by the change of surroundings
such as political or cultural or social elements. Especially in the mid 19005, our country
was under strong political control which didn’t allow artists to express their desires.
Besides, the process of changing from an agricultural society, to an industrialized society

is the change of circumstance and causes many conflicts among human beings.

Me: So do these conflicts cause the change of value systems and furthermore the collapse

of a family?

130

Cha: Yes. In the 70s and 805, most remarkable Korean literature dealt with the questions
of how to survive and how the individual endures the process of the change of
surroundings which lead to the collapse of the old orders. I guess today because of the
industrial development, dependence on foreign countries is necessary, such as the current
IMF situation. Thus living under these dominions of circumstances where the individual

doesn’t know what to do, but just wanders, is the key problem these days.

Me: Could I dare say that your plays, The Barren and Castle of Roses, criticized the
reality of society after the Korean War?

Cha: Yes, you may. In The Barren, symbolically, I described the old and humble
traditionally built house surrounded by tall and modern buildings. This contrast shows the
picture of the old generation who struggle in the waves of the changes or the advent of a
new age. The Korean War brought these scenes, so human beings are at the mercy of
circumstances directly or indirectly. Under these circumstances, a writer tries to establish

his own world in his plays and I think this is the spirit of a writer.

Me: I ’m not sure about my knowledge, but do your plays belong to the naturalistic trend?
Cha: No. . .I don’t think so. In European culture, naturalism began with the human
recognition of the spirit of science. Also naturalism had an effect on many genres of
Korean literature, but my plays are not in the naturalistic trend. I can say “realism” or

“objectivism.”

Me: What made you mainly write family drama such as The Barren and Castle ofRoses?

131

Cha: Well...I think I need to define the meaning of family drama. In Korea, we call
“Home Drama” which doesn’t deal with society but the relationships between individuals
of a family. So in light of this definition, I’m wondering whether The Barren belongs to

the category of Home Drama.

Me: So you mean The Barren deals with circumstances and social systems rather than
conflicts between family members?

Cha: In The Barren, I show the conflict between father and son, but this conflict comes
from different ideas about current society or the waves of social changes. Roughly, I can
say this conflict was brought about by social changes, not by family members. In this

sense, The Barren is a social play.

Me: How about Castle of Roses?

Cha: This play is a bit different from The Barren. When the promising sculptor, Mrs.
Yoon buries herself into solitude, where does this solitude come from? It resulted from
the relationship with her husband. Her husband left her to follow his male-lover. This

play deals with human’s instinct and sexual issues.

Me: Sangae in Castle of Roses shows the pictures of the new generation. Did you
personally depict Sangae in a positive or negative way?

Cha: I thought in the near future, our society would follow Sangae’s thoughts and
attitudes. In effect, she is an ideal character. However, Sangae thinks of her parents are

thought negatively. Her rebellion against her mother is not due to the generation gap but

132

 

comes from value system conflict. Even though Mrs. Yoon is highly intelligent and
educated, Mrs. Yoon doesn’t try to solve her basic problem, but keeps herself isolated.

This attitude does not satisfy Sangae. So, Sangae decides not to live like her mom.

Me: So there is not a big conflict between family members in The Barren and Castle of
R_o_sg, right?

Cha: Right. It’s like Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. This play talks about one
American family so we may say it’s a Home Drama. But contradictions of a highly
developed capitalistic society are projected into this family; therefore, this play is called a

social play.

Me: What are your characters’ characteristics?

Cha: Since I have written plays, I seldom write a character who ignores his surroundings
or the changes of society. No matter when conflicts in a play may be produced, I aim at
realistically depicting a human being under certain circumstances. Thus I do not write a
work which ignores a specific social settings or surrounding, and I do not like works like
that. Like absurd drama, I don’t usually enjoy them because in absurd plays there is a

character who has a vague social circumstance.
Me: Do you think I dare say your plays and Arthur Miller’s plays are very similar?

Cha: You may. I really like his plays. Despite some severe criticisms about his plays, I

like All My Sons, Death of a Salesman and A View from the Bridge. It’s because he

133

 

describes persons under certain social systems and circumstances, not persons who

belong nowhere.

Me: According to your chronological record, you translated and directed many foreign
plays and later published some books. In the Modern One Act Plays, which plays are
included? And why did you pick such plays among many others?

Cha: John M. Synge’s works, Bernard Shaw and well...oh, yes Eugene O’Neill’s plays.
In 1950, when I tried to work with an amateur theatre company, because of the lack of
original Korean plays, I had to use foreign plays to perform. Among many choices of
plays, the reason I chose Synge, Shaw and O’Neill was these playwrights were well-

known to the public so it would be easier to understand the performances.

Me: Thank you very much, Mr. Cha. 1 really appreciate taking time to speak with me.
Cha: You’re welcome. I hope your study will contribute to the development of our
Korean theatre. Personally I hope you wisely apply your knowledge which you learn in

America to our current situation.

134

135

 

Selected Bibliography for Cha, Beomsuk

Cha, Beomsuk. Life of the Artist. 1993.

———. Recognition of Contemporary Theatre. Seoul: Bumwoosa,
1987.

———. I Love with the gestures of denial. Seoul:Bumwoosa,
1984.

-—-. The Agent. Seoul: Sunmyoung Munhwasa, 1969.

———. How and What to Write. The Contemporary Korean
Literature Vol. 9, Seoul: Shingu Munhwasa, 1965.

——-. Without the pain of tearing out of the Shell. Seoul:
Jungshinsa, 1960.

 

 

 

 

 

Chun, Seungjun. Drama of catastrophe: The Barren and
Mountain Fire. The Contemporary Korean Literature Vol. 9,
Seoul: Shingu Munhwasa, 1965.

 

Jung, Chul. The study of drama of Beomsuk Cha. Masters
Thesis, Chosun University, 1988.

 

Jung, Hosoon. Realism of Beomsuk Cha in the plays. Korean
Theatre Art Association, ed., Korean Theatre Research,
Seoul: Taehaksa, 1998.

 

Kim, Mija. Trans. Castle of Roses. unpublished, Korean
Foreign university, 1979.

 

Kim, Sunghee. Examination of family Matters in the 19505
Korean plays. Study of Korean theatre, Vol.9, 1997.

 

Korean Theatre Art Association, ed., Modern Selected Korean
Plays, Vol. 2, Seoul: Taehaksa, 1996.

Korean Theatre Critics Association, Theory of Korean
Playwrights Today. Yeni Publishing Co., 1987.

 

 

Lee, Kyoungbok. The study of drama of Beomsuk Cha. Masters
Thesis, Ehwa Women’ University, 1987.

Lee, Yonghee. Trans., The Barren. Unpublished, 1999.

 

Myoung, Inseo. Research of Cha Beomsuk. Korean Playwrights
Research, ed., Seoul: Taehaksa, 1997.

 

Seu, Yeonho. History of Modern Korean Plays. Korea
University Press, 1996.

 

136

 

Shin, Bongseung. The Picture of The Barren. The
Contemporary Korean Literature Vol. 9, Seoul: Shingu
Munhwasa, 1965.

 

Yoo, Chijin. Dongrang’s Biography. Seoul: Seomundang, 1975.

 

Yoo, Minyoung. History of Contemporary Korean Plays. Seoul:
Saemi Publishing Co., 1997.

Selected Bibliography for Arthur Miller

Adler, Thomas P. Mirror on the Stage: The Pulitzer Plays as
an Approach to American Drama. Purdue University Press,
1987.

 

Belous, Richard S. and Levitan, Sara. What's happening to
the American Family?. The Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1981.

 

Carson, Neil. Modern Dramatists : Arthur Miller. St.
Martin's Press, New York, 1982.

Centola, Steven R. Edited by, The Achievement of Arthur
Miller: New Essays. Contemporary Research Press, 1995.
Dukore, Bernard F. Death of a Salesman and The Crucible:
Text and Performance. Macmillan Education, 1989.

 

 

Eveans, Richard I. Psychology and Arthur Miller. E.P.
Dutton and Co., INC. New York, 1969.

Griffin, Alice. Understanding Arthur Miller. University of
South Carolina Press, 1996.

 

Hayman, Ronald. Arthur Miller. Frederick Ungar Publishing
Co. New York, 1972.

 

Hogan, Robert. Arthur Miller. University of Minnesota
Press, 1964.

 

Koon, Helene Wickham. Edited by, Twentieth Century
interpretations and of Death of a Salesman: A Collection of
critical Essays. A Spectrum Book, 1982.

 

Martine, James J. Critical Essays on Arthur Miller. G. K.
Hall and Co., 1979.

137

 

Martin, Robert A. Edited by, Arthur Miller: New
Perspectives. A Spectrum Book, 1982.
—--. Edited and with an Introduction by, The Theatre Essays

 

 

 

of Arthur Miller, New York, Viking Press, 1978.

 

Miller, Arthur. Arthur Miller's Collected Plays. New York,
The Viking Press, 1957.

-——. Timebend: A Life/ Arthur Miller. New York: Grove
Press, 1987.

 

 

Moss, Leonard. Arthur Miller. Twayne Publishers, Inc., New
York, 1967.

 

Murphy, Brenda. Miller: Death of a Salesman. Cambridge
University Press, 1995.

 

Murray, Edward. Arthur Miller: Dramatist. Frederick Ungar
Publishing Co. New York, 1967.

 

Nelson, Benjamin. Arthur Miller: Portrait of a Playwright.
David McKay Company, INC., New York, 1970.

 

Parker, Dorothy. Edited by, Essays on modern American
drama: Williams, Miller, Albee, and Shepard. University of
Toronto Press, 1987.

 

 

Quayle, Dan. The American family : discovering the values
that make us strong. HarperCollins Publishers, 1996.

 

 

Roudane, Matthew C. Edited by, Approaches to teaching
Miller’s Death of a Salesman. The Modern Language
association of America: New York, 1995.

 

 

Salk, Lee. Familyhoodznurturing the values that matter.
Simon and Schuster, 1992.

 

Scharine, Richard G. From Class to Caste in American Drama:

 

 

 

Political and Social Themes Since the 19305. Greenwood
Press, 1991.

 

Welland, Dennis. Miller: The Playwright. Methuem, London
and New York, 1985.

 

138