Siddhartha

HERMANN HESSE

Plot Overview

Siddhartha, the handsome and respected son of a Brahmin, lives with his father in ancient
India. Everyone in the village expects Siddhartha to be a successful Brahmin like his father.
Siddhartha enjoys a near-idyllic existence with his best friend, Govinda, but he is secretly
dissatisfied. He performs all the rituals of religion, and he does what religion says should
bring him happiness and peace. Nonetheless, he feels something is missing. His father and
the other elders have still not achieved enlightenment, and he feels that staying with them
will not settle the questions he has about the nature of his existence. Siddhartha believes his
father has already passed on all the wisdom their community has to offer, but he longs for
something more.

One day, a group of wandering ascetics called Samanas passes through town. They are
starved and almost naked and have come to beg for food. They believe enlightenment can be
reached through asceticism, a rejection of the body and physical desire. The path the
Samanas preach is quite different from the one Siddhartha has been taught, and he believes
it may provide some of the answers he is looking for. He decides to follow this new path.
Siddhartha's father does not want him to join the Samanas, but he cannot dissuade
Siddhartha. Govinda also wants to find a path to enlightenment, and he joins Siddhartha in
this new life.

Siddhartha adjusts quickly to the ways of the Samanas because of the patience and discipline
he learned in the Brahmin tradition. He learns how to free himself from the traditional
trappings of life, and so loses his desire for property, clothing, sexuality, and all sustenance
except that required to live. His goal is to find enlightenment by eliminating his Self, and he
successfully renounces the pleasures of the world.

Sunburned and half-starved, Siddhartha soon ceases to resemble the boy he used to be.
Govinda is quick to praise the Samanas and notes the considerable moral and spiritual
improvements they both have achieved since joining. Siddhartha, however, is still
dissatisfied. The path of self-denial does not provide a permanent solution for him. He points
out that the oldest Samanas have lived the life for many years but have yet to attain true
spiritual enlightenment. The Samanas have been as unsuccessful as the Brahmins Siddhartha
and Govinda left behind. At this time, Siddhartha and the other Samanas begin to hear about
a new holy man named Gotama the Buddha who has attained the total spiritual
enlightenment called Nirvana. Govinda convinces Siddhartha they both should leave the
Samanas and seek out Gotama. Siddhartha and Govinda inform the leader of the Samanas of
their decision to leave. The leader is clearly displeased, but Siddhartha silences him with an
almost magical, hypnotizing gaze.
Siddhartha and Govinda find Gotama's camp of followers and are taken in. Siddhartha is
initially pleased with Gotama, and he and Govinda are instructed in the Eightfold Path, the
four main points, and other aspects of Buddhism. However, while Govinda is convinced to
join Gotama and his followers, Siddhartha still has doubts. He has noticed a contradiction in
Gotama's teachings: Siddhartha questions how one can embrace the unity of all things, as the
Buddha asks, if they are also being told to overcome the physical world. Siddhartha realizes
Buddhism will not give him the answers he needs. Sadly, he leaves Govinda behind and
begins a search for the meaning of life, the achievement of which he feels will not be
dependent on religious instruction.

Siddhartha decides to embark on a life free from meditation and the spiritual quests he has
been pursuing, and to instead learn from the pleasures of the body and the material world. In
his new wanderings, Siddhartha meets a friendly ferryman, fully content with his simple life.
Siddhartha crosses the ferryman's river and comes to a city. Here, a beautiful courtesan
named Kamala entrances him. He knows she would be the best one to teach him about the
world of love, but Kamala will not have him unless he proves he can fit into the material
world. She convinces him to take up the path of the merchant. With her help, Siddhartha
soon finds employment with a merchant named Kamaswami and begins to learn the trade.
While Siddhartha learns the wisdom of the business world and begins to master the skills
Kamaswami teaches him, Kamala becomes his lover and teaches him what she knows about
love.

Years pass, and Siddhartha's business acumen increases. Soon, he is a rich man and enjoys
the benefits of an affluent life. He gambles, drinks, and dances, and anything that can be
bought in the material world is his for the taking. Siddhartha is detached from this life,
however, and he can never see it as more than a game. He doesn't care if he wins or loses this
game because it doesn't touch his spirit in any lasting way. The more he obtains in the
material world, the less it satisfies him, and he is soon caught in a cycle of unhappiness that
he tries to escape by engaging in even more gambling, drinking, and sex. When he is at his
most disillusioned, he dreams that Kamala's rare songbird is dead in its cage. He
understands that the material world is slowly killing him without providing him with the
enlightenment for which he has been searching. One night, he resolves to leave it all behind
and departs without notifying either Kamala or Kamaswami.

Sick at heart, Siddhartha wanders until he finds a river. He considers drowning himself, but
he instead falls asleep on the riverbank. While he is sleeping, Govinda, who is now a Buddhist
monk, passes by. Not recognizing Siddhartha, he watches over the sleeping man to protect
him from snakes. Siddhartha immediately recognizes Govinda when he wakes up, but
Govinda notes that Siddhartha has changed significantly from his days with the Samanas and
now appears to be a rich man. Siddhartha responds that he is currently neither a Samana nor
a rich man. Siddhartha wishes to become someone new. Govinda soon leaves to continue on
his journey, and Siddhartha sits by the river and considers where his life has taken him.

Siddhartha seeks out the same content ferryman he met years before. The ferryman, who
introduces himself as Vasudeva, radiates an inner peace that Siddhartha wishes to attain.
Vasudeva says he himself has attained this sense of peace through many years of studying the
river. Siddhartha expresses a desire to likewise learn from the river, and Vasudeva agrees to
let Siddhartha live and work beside him. Siddhartha studies the river and begins to take from
it a spiritual enlightenment unlike any he has ever known. While sitting by the river, he
contemplates the unity of all life, and in the river's voice he hears the word Om.

One day Kamala the courtesan approaches the ferry along with her son on a pilgrimage to
visit Gotama, who is said to be dying. Before they can cross, a snake bites Kamala.
Siddhartha and Vasudeva tend to Kamala, but the bite kills her. Before she dies, she tells
Siddhartha that he is the father of her eleven-year-old son. Siddhartha does his best to
console and provide for his son, but the boy is spoiled and cynical. Siddhartha's son dislikes
life with the two ferrymen and wishes to return to his familiar city and wealth. Vasudeva
believes Siddhartha's son should be allowed to leave if he wants to, but Siddhartha is not
ready to let him go. One morning, Siddhartha awakens to find his son has run away and
stolen all of his and Vasudeva's money. Siddhartha chases after the boy, but as he reaches the
city he realizes the chase is futile. Vasudeva follows Siddhartha and brings him back to their
home by the river, instructing him to soothe the pain of losing his son by listening to the
river.

Siddhartha studies the river for many years, and Vasudeva teaches Siddhartha how to learn
the many secrets the river has to tell. In contemplating the river, Siddhartha has a revelation:
Just as the water of the river flows into the ocean and is returned by rain, all forms of life are
interconnected in a cycle without beginning or end. Birth and death are all part of a timeless
unity. Life and death, joy and sorrow, good and evil are all parts of the whole and are
necessary to understand the meaning of life. By the time Siddhartha has learned all the
river's lessons, Vasudeva announces that he is through with his life at the river. He retires
into the forest, leaving Siddhartha to be the ferryman.

The novel ends with Govinda returning to the river to seek enlightenment by meeting with a
wise man who lives there. When Govinda arrives, he does not recognize that the wise man is
Siddhartha himself. Govinda is still a follower of Gotama but has yet to attain the kind of
enlightenment that Siddhartha now radiates, and he asks Siddhartha to teach him what he
knows. Siddhartha explains that neither he nor anyone can teach the wisdom to Govinda,
because verbal explanations are limited and can never communicate the entirety of
enlightenment. Instead, he asks Govinda to kiss him on the forehead, and when Govinda
does, the vision of unity that Siddhartha has experienced is communicated instantly to
Govinda. Govinda and Siddhartha have both finally achieved the enlightenment they set out
to find in the days of their youth.

Character List

Siddhartha - The novel's protagonist. Siddhartha sets out on a quest for enlightenment and
tests the religious philosophies he discovers. Siddhartha's most defining characteristic is his
desire for a transcendent, spiritual understanding of himself and the world. He devotes
himself wholeheartedly to the pursuit of this understanding, even when the path is difficult.
Outside forces do not easily sway Siddhartha, and he follows his heart. A man dedicated to
his personal quest for knowledge, Siddhartha will abandon a course if he feels it is flawed.
Siddhartha has a son, who is also named Siddhartha.
Siddhartha (In-Depth Analysis)

Vasudeva - The enlightened ferryman who guides Siddhartha to a transcendent

understanding of himself and the universe. Vasudeva is spiritually and socially flawless, and
he ferries true seekers of wisdom to enlightenment. He is closely linked to the river, and he
helps Siddhartha learn how to listen to the river's secrets. Siddhartha achieves enlightenment
only because of his association with Vasudeva.
Govinda (In-Depth Analysis)

Govinda - Siddhartha's best friend and sometimes his follower. Like Siddhartha, Govinda
devotes his life to the quest for understanding and enlightenment. He leaves his village with
Siddhartha to join the Samanas, then leaves the Samanas to follow Gotama. He searches for
enlightenment independently of Siddhartha but persists in looking for teachers who can
show him the way. In the end, he is able to achieve enlightenment only because of
Siddhartha's love for him.

Kamala - A courtesan who instructs Siddhartha in the art of physical love. In addition to
being Siddhartha's lover, Kamala helps him learn the ways of the city and leave his ascetic life
as a Samana behind. Just before she dies from a snakebite, she reveals that Siddhartha is the
father of her son.
Vasudeva (In-Depth Analysis)

Gotama - An enlightened religious leader with many followers. Also known as the Buddha,
Gotama is said to have attained Nirvana. He teaches the Eightfold Path to his many followers
as the way to achieve true enlightenment. Siddhartha and Govinda seek him out, but while
Govinda becomes a follower, Siddhartha ultimately rejects him. Siddhartha concludes that
while Gotama has achieved enlightenment, his teachings do not necessarily help others find
enlightenment.

Kamaswami - An older businessman who teaches Siddhartha the art of business. Kamala
refers Siddhartha to Kamaswami, and with Kamaswami's guidance, Siddhartha successfully
insinuates himself into the society of city-dwellers. Nonetheless, the lessons he learns from
Kamaswami about the material world lead only to unhappiness. Money and business are just
a game for Siddhartha, and they do not lead to fulfillment.

Young Siddhartha - Siddhartha's son with Kamala. Young Siddhartha poses the final test
Siddhartha must pass before enlightenment. When Kamala dies, young Siddhartha resists
starting a new life with Siddhartha. He is a materialistic city-dweller, dislikes his father, and
wants to return to his familiar city life. Siddhartha loves his son, and he must overcome this
potentially binding love in order to achieve enlightenment. Just as Siddhartha's own father
had to let him go out on his own, Siddhartha must let his son discover the world for himself.
Siddhartha (In-Depth Analysis)
Siddhartha's Father - A respected Brahmin in Siddhartha's boyhood community.
Siddhartha's father familiarizes Siddhartha with many basic religious teachings, but he is
unable to provide Siddhartha with the answers he needs, which leads to Siddhartha's quest
for enlightenment through other religious traditions. When the Samanas arrive to tempt
Siddhartha away, Siddhartha's father initially resists but eventually lets him go.

The Samanas - A group of traveling ascetics who believe that a life of deprivation and
wandering is the path to self-actualization. The Samanas initially captivate Siddhartha and
Govinda, but the two eventually forsake them to follow the teachings of Gotama. When
Siddhartha eventually leaves the Samanas, he appears to have attained a superior level of
spirituality.

Summary of a short story

Q. Summarize the story from Mr. Kapasi’s point of view. Think carefully as to how the themes apply to the
title of the story. What picture does Mr. Kapasi want to preserve in the end?

"Interpreter of Maladies," by Jhumpa Lahiri is a story about an Indian family from New Jersey, the Dases,
who hire an old-fashioned Indian guide, Mr. Kapasi, to drive them out to the Sun Temple in Konarak. Mr.
Kapasi, conversant in nine languages, informs the family that he also works as an interpreter for a doctor.
This story touches on themes of love and duty. But the target of the story hinges on wordplay—what does
"interpreter" mean? Mrs. Das, desperate for advice, confides in Mr. Kapasi, hoping that, as an "interpreter of
maladies," he will offer an explanation for her unhappiness. Mr. Kapasi himself, unaccustomed to such a
request, is at a loss as to how he should "interpret" her secret. Finally, "to get to the heart of the matter," he
asks a single question: “Is it really pain u feel Mrs. Das, or is it guilt?” (p. 268) And the truth unfolds from
there.

In the course of the story, Mr. Kapasi notices how modernized the family actually is with the children dressed
in “stiff, brightly colored clothing and caps with translucent visors”(p. 255

...
Kapasi knows he would preserve this picture because of the unity of the family. It depressed him even more
when he thought about Mr. Kapasi’s address on it slips away in the wind. The story illustrates that despite
differences, all people have the same basic needs for communication, understanding, compassion, and
most importantly interpretation. Das unaware of one of his sons not being his own.

Though of different ages, nationalities, and religions, Lahiri's characters demonstrate the universality of life
experiences. Kapasi and his daughter-like tourist, it becomes evident how each comes to learn and grow
from the other's differences. The slip of paper “fluttering away in the wind” is symbolic because it
demonstrates ever so clearly the relationship of Mr. He knew it reminded her of the son she’d lost, and that
she resented the other lives he helped, in his own small way, to save. Das probably was in a sudden need to
talk to someone, perhaps a psychologist and Mr. The children, on the other hand, seemed to be
undisciplined. Das, unlike his wife, had used the word “romantic” to describe his job.

Allegory of the cave

The Allegory of the Cave, also commonly known as Myth of the Cave, Metaphor of the Cave, or the
Parable of the Cave, is an allegory used by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work The Republic to
illustrate "our nature in its education and want of education." (514a) The allegory of the cave is written as a
fictional dialog between Plato's teacher Socrates and Plato's brother Glaucon, at the beginning of Book VII
(514a–520a).

Plato imagines a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The
people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of the cave entrance, and begin to
ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Plato, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to seeing
reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to
understand that the shadows on the wall are not constitutive of reality at all, as he can perceive the true form
of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners.

The Allegory is related to Plato's Theory of Forms,[1] wherein Plato asserts that "Forms" (or "Ideas"), and not
the material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental
kind of reality.[2] In addition, the allegory of the cave is an attempt to explain the philosopher's place in
society.

The Allegory of the Cave is related to Plato's metaphor of the sun (507b–509c) and the analogy of the
divided line (509d–513e), which immediately precede it at the end of Book VI. Allegories are summarized in
the viewpoint of dialectic at the end of Book VII and VIII (531d-534e).

[edit] Presentation

[edit] Inside the cave

Socrates begins his presentation by describing a scenario in which what people take to be real would in fact
be an illusion. He asks Glaucon to imagine a cave inhabited by prisoners who have been chained and held
immobile since childhood: not only are their arms and legs held in place, but their heads are also fixed,
compelled to gaze at a wall in front of them. Behind the prisoners is an enormous fire, and between the fire
and the prisoners is a raised walkway, along which puppets of various animals, plants, and other things are
moved. The puppets cast shadows on the wall, and the prisoners watch these shadows. There are also
echoes off the wall from the noise produced from the walkway.

Socrates asks if it isn't reasonable that the prisoners would take the shadows to be real things and the
echoes to be real sounds, not just reflections of reality, since they are all they had ever seen? Wouldn't they
praise as clever whoever could best guess which shadow would come next, as someone who understood
the nature of the world? And wouldn't the whole of their society depend on the shadows on the wall?

[edit] Release from the cave

Socrates next introduces something new to this scenario. Suppose that a prisoner is freed and permitted to
stand up (Socrates does not specify how). If someone were to show him the things that had cast the
shadows, he would not recognize them for what they were and could not name them; he would believe the
shadows on the wall to be more real than what he sees.

Suppose further, Socrates says, that the man were compelled to look at the fire: wouldn't he be struck blind
and try to turn his gaze back toward the shadows, as toward what he can see clearly and hold to be real?
What if someone forcibly dragged such a man upward, out of the cave: wouldn't the man be angry at the
one doing this to him? And if dragged all the way out into the sunlight, wouldn't he be distressed and unable
to see "even one of the things now said to be true," viz. the shadows on the wall (516a)?

After some time on the surface, however, Socrates suggests that the freed prisoner would acclimate. He
would see more and more things around him, until he could look upon the sun. He would understand that
the sun is the "source of the seasons and the years, and is the steward of all things in the visible place, and
is in a certain way the cause of all those things he and his companions had been seeing" (516b–c). (See
also Plato's metaphor of the sun, which occurs near the end of The Republic, Book VI)[3]

[edit] Return to the cave

Socrates next asks Glaucon to consider the condition of this man. Wouldn't he remember his first home,
what passed for wisdom there, and his fellow prisoners, and consider himself happy and they, pitiable? And
wouldn't he disdain whatever honors, praises, and prizes were awarded there to the ones who guessed best
which shadows followed which? Moreover, were he to return there, wouldn't he be rather bad at their game,
no longer being accustomed to the darkness? "Wouldn't it be said of him that he went up and came back
with his eyes corrupted, and that it's not even worth trying to go up? And if they were somehow able to get
their hands on and kill the man who attempts to release and lead up, wouldn't they kill him?" (517a)

Death of a Salesman
ARTHUR MILLER

Plot Overview

AS A FLUTE MELODY PLAYS, Willy Loman returns to his home in Brooklyn one night, exhausted
from a failed sales trip. His wife, Linda, tries to persuade him to ask his boss, Howard
Wagner, to let him work in New York so that he won't have to travel. Willy says that he will
talk to Howard the next day. Willy complains that Biff, his older son who has come back
home to visit, has yet to make something of himself. Linda scolds Willy for being so critical,
and Willy goes to the kitchen for a snack.

As Willy talks to himself in the kitchen, Biff and his younger brother, Happy, who is also
visiting, reminisce about their adolescence and discuss their father's babbling, which often
includes criticism of Biff's failure to live up to Willy's expectations. As Biff and Happy,
dissatisfied with their lives, fantasize about buying a ranch out West, Willy becomes
immersed in a daydream. He praises his sons, now younger, who are washing his car. The
young Biff, a high school football star, and the young Happy appear. They interact
affectionately with their father, who has just returned from a business trip. Willy confides in
Biff and Happy that he is going to open his own business one day, bigger than that owned by
his neighbor, Charley. Charley's son, Bernard, enters looking for Biff, who must study for
math class in order to avoid failing. Willy points out to his sons that although Bernard is
smart, he is not “well liked,” which will hurt him in the long run.

A younger Linda enters, and the boys leave to do some chores. Willy boasts of a
phenomenally successful sales trip, but Linda coaxes him into revealing that his trip was
actually only meagerly successful. Willy complains that he soon won't be able to make all of
the payments on their appliances and car. He complains that people don't like him and that
he's not good at his job. As Linda consoles him, he hears the laughter of his mistress. He
approaches The Woman, who is still laughing, and engages in another reminiscent
daydream. Willy and The Woman flirt, and she thanks him for giving him stockings.

The Woman disappears, and Willy fades back into his prior daydream, in the kitchen. Linda,
now mending stockings, reassures him. He scolds her mending and orders her to throw the
stockings out. Bernard bursts in, again looking for Biff. Linda reminds Willy that Biff has to
return a football that he stole, and she adds that Biff is too rough with the neighborhood
girls. Willy hears The Woman laugh and explodes at Bernard and Linda. Both leave, and
though the daydream ends, Willy continues to mutter to himself. The older Happy comes
downstairs and tries to quiet Willy. Agitated, Willy shouts his regret about not going to
Alaska with his brother, Ben, who eventually found a diamond mine in Africa and became
rich. Charley, having heard the commotion, enters. Happy goes off to bed, and Willy and
Charley begin to play cards. Charley offers Willy a job, but Willy, insulted, refuses it. As they
argue, Willy imagines that Ben enters. Willy accidentally calls Charley Ben. Ben inspects
Willy's house and tells him that he has to catch a train soon to look at properties in Alaska. As
Willy talks to Ben about the prospect of going to Alaska, Charley, seeing no one there, gets
confused and questions Willy. Willy yells at Charley, who leaves. The younger Linda enters
and Ben meets her. Willy asks Ben impatiently about his life. Ben recounts his travels and
talks about their father. As Ben is about to leave, Willy daydreams further, and Charley and
Bernard rush in to tell him that Biff and Happy are stealing lumber. Although Ben eventually
leaves, Willy continues to talk to him.

Back in the present, the older Linda enters to find Willy outside. Biff and Happy come
downstairs and discuss Willy's condition with their mother. Linda scolds Biff for judging
Willy harshly. Biff tells her that he knows Willy is a fake, but he refuses to elaborate. Linda
mentions that Willy has tried to commit suicide. Happy grows angry and rebukes Biff for his
failure in the business world. Willy enters and yells at Biff. Happy intervenes and eventually
proposes that he and Biff go into the sporting goods business together. Willy immediately
brightens and gives Biff a host of tips about asking for a loan from one of Biff's old
employers, Bill Oliver. After more arguing and reconciliation, everyone finally goes to bed.

Act II opens with Willy enjoying the breakfast that Linda has made for him. Willy ponders
the bright-seeming future before getting angry again about his expensive appliances. Linda
informs Willy that Biff and Happy are taking him out to dinner that night. Excited, Willy
announces that he is going to make Howard Wagner give him a New York job. The phone
rings, and Linda chats with Biff, reminding him to be nice to his father at the restaurant that
night.

As the lights fade on Linda, they come up on Howard playing with a wire recorder in his
office. Willy tries to broach the subject of working in New York, but Howard interrupts him
and makes him listen to his kids and wife on the wire recorder. When Willy finally gets a
word in, Howard rejects his plea. Willy launches into a lengthy recalling of how a legendary
salesman named Dave Singleman inspired him to go into sales. Howard leaves and Willy gets
angry. Howard soon re-enters and tells Willy to take some time off. Howard leaves and Ben
enters, inviting Willy to join him in Alaska. The younger Linda enters and reminds Willy of
his sons and job. The young Biff enters, and Willy praises Biff's prospects and the fact that he
is well liked.
Ben leaves and Bernard rushes in, eagerly awaiting Biff's big football game. Willy speaks
optimistically to Biff about the game. Charley enters and teases Willy about the game. As
Willy chases Charley off, the lights rise on a different part of the stage. Willy continues yelling
from offstage, and Jenny, Charley's secretary, asks a grown-up Bernard to quiet him down.
Willy enters and prattles on about a “very big deal” that Biff is working on. Daunted by
Bernard's success (he mentions to Willy that he is going to Washington to fight a case), Willy
asks Bernard why Biff turned out to be such a failure. Bernard asks Willy what happened in
Boston that made Biff decide not to go to summer school. Willy defensively tells Bernard not
to blame him.

Charley enters and sees Bernard off. When Willy asks for more money than Charley usually
loans him, Charley again offers Willy a job. Willy again refuses and eventually tells Charley
that he was fired. Charley scolds Willy for always needing to be liked and angrily gives him
the money. Calling Charley his only friend, Willy exits on the verge of tears.

At Frank's Chop House, Happy helps Stanley, a waiter, prepare a table. They ogle and chat up
a girl, Miss Forsythe, who enters the restaurant. Biff enters, and Happy introduces him to
Miss Forsythe, continuing to flirt with her. Miss Forsythe, a call girl, leaves to telephone
another call girl (at Happy's request), and Biff spills out that he waited six hours for Bill
Oliver and Oliver didn't even recognize him. Upset at his father's unrelenting misconception
that he, Biff, was a salesman for Oliver, Biff plans to relieve Willy of his illusions. Willy
enters, and Biff tries gently, at first, to tell him what happened at Oliver's office. Willy blurts
out that he was fired. Stunned, Biff again tries to let Willy down easily. Happy cuts in with
remarks suggesting Biff's success, and Willy eagerly awaits the good news.

Biff finally explodes at Willy for being unwilling to listen. The young Bernard runs in
shouting for Linda, and Biff, Happy, and Willy start to argue. As Biff explains what
happened, their conversation recedes into the background. The young Bernard tells Linda
that Biff failed math. The restaurant conversation comes back into focus and Willy criticizes
Biff for failing math. Willy then hears the voice of the hotel operator in Boston and shouts
that he is not in his room. Biff scrambles to quiet Willy and claims that Oliver is talking to his
partner about giving Biff the money. Willy's renewed interest and probing questions irk Biff
more, and he screams at Willy. Willy hears The Woman laugh and he shouts back at Biff,
hitting him and staggering. Miss Forsythe enters with another call girl, Letta. Biff helps Willy
to the washroom and, finding Happy flirting with the girls, argues with him about Willy. Biff
storms out, and Happy follows with the girls.

Willy and The Woman enter, dressing themselves and flirting. The door knocks and Willy
hurries The Woman into the bathroom. Willy answers the door; the young Biff enters and
tells Willy that he failed math. Willy tries to usher him out of the room, but Biff imitates his
math teacher's lisp, which elicits laughter from Willy and The Woman. Willy tries to cover up
his indiscretion, but Biff refuses to believe his stories and storms out, dejected, calling Willy a
“phony little fake.” Back in the restaurant, Stanley helps Willy up. Willy asks him where he
can find a seed store. Stanley gives him directions to one, and Willy hurries off.

The light comes up on the Loman kitchen, where Happy enters looking for Willy. He moves
into the living room and sees Linda. Biff comes inside and Linda scolds the boys and slaps
away the flowers in Happy's hand. She yells at them for abandoning Willy. Happy attempts to
appease her, but Biff goes in search of Willy. He finds Willy planting seeds in the garden with
a flashlight. Willy is consulting Ben about a $20,000 proposition. Biff approaches him to say
goodbye and tries to bring him inside. Willy moves into the house, followed by Biff, and
becomes angry again about Biff's failure. Happy tries to calm Biff, but Biff and Willy erupt in
fury at each other. Biff starts to sob, which touches Willy. Everyone goes to bed except Willy,
who renews his conversation with Ben, elated at how great Biff will be with $20,000 of
insurance money. Linda soon calls out for Willy but gets no response. Biff and Happy listen
as well. They hear Willy's car speed away.

In the requiem, Linda and Happy stand in shock after Willy's poorly attended funeral. Biff
states that Willy had the wrong dreams. Charley defends Willy as a victim of his profession.
Ready to leave, Biff invites Happy to go back out West with him. Happy declares that he will
stick it out in New York to validate Willy's death. Linda asks Willy for forgiveness for being
unable to cry. She begins to sob, repeating “We're free. . . .” All exit, and the flute melody is
heard as the curtain falls.

Death of a Salesman
ARTHUR MILLER

Character List

Willy Loman - An insecure, self-deluded traveling salesman. Willy believes wholeheartedly

in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, but he never achieves it. Nor do his sons
fulfill his hope that they will succeed where he has failed. When Willy's illusions begin to fail
under the pressing realities of his life, his mental health begins to unravel. The overwhelming
tensions caused by this disparity, as well as those caused by the societal imperatives that
drive Willy, form the essential conflict of Death of a Salesman.
Willy Loman (In-Depth Analysis)

Biff Loman - Willy's thirty-four-year-old elder son. Biff led a charmed life in high school as
a football star with scholarship prospects, good male friends, and fawning female admirers.
He failed math, however, and did not have enough credits to graduate. Since then, his
kleptomania has gotten him fired from every job that he has held. Biff represents Willy's
vulnerable, poetic, tragic side. He cannot ignore his instincts, which tell him to abandon
Willy's paralyzing dreams and move out West to work with his hands. He ultimately fails to
reconcile his life with Willy's expectations of him.
Biff Loman (In-Depth Analysis)

Linda Loman - Willy's loyal, loving wife. Linda suffers through Willy's grandiose dreams
and self-delusions. Occasionally, she seems to be taken in by Willy's self-deluded hopes for
future glory and success, but at other times, she seems far more realistic and less fragile than
her husband. She has nurtured the family through all of Willy's misguided attempts at
success, and her emotional strength and perseverance support Willy until his collapse.

Happy Loman - Willy's thirty-two-year-old younger son. Happy has lived in Biff's shadow
all of his life, but he compensates by nurturing his relentless sex drive and professional
ambition. Happy represents Willy's sense of self-importance, ambition, and blind servitude
to societal expectations. Although he works as an assistant to an assistant buyer in a
department store, Happy presents himself as supremely important. Additionally, he practices
bad business ethics and sleeps with the girlfriends of his superiors.
Happy Loman (In-Depth Analysis)

Charley - Willy's next-door neighbor. Charley owns a successful business and his son,
Bernard, is a wealthy, important lawyer. Willy is jealous of Charley's success. Charley gives
Willy money to pay his bills, and Willy reveals at one point, choking back tears, that Charley
is his only friend.

Bernard - Bernard is Charley's son and an important, successful lawyer. Although Willy
used to mock Bernard for studying hard, Bernard always loved Willy's sons dearly and
regarded Biff as a hero. Bernard's success is difficult for Willy to accept because his own sons'
lives do not measure up.

Ben - Willy's wealthy older brother. Ben has recently died and appears only in Willy's
“daydreams.” Willy regards Ben as a symbol of the success that he so desperately craves for
himself and his sons.

The Woman - Willy's mistress when Happy and Biff were in high school. The Woman's
attention and admiration boost Willy's fragile ego. When Biff catches Willy in his hotel room
with The Woman, he loses faith in his father, and his dream of passing math and going to
college dies.

Howard Wagner - Willy's boss. Howard inherited the company from his father, whom
Willy regarded as “a masterful man” and “a prince.” Though much younger than Willy,
Howard treats Willy with condescension and eventually fires him, despite Willy's wounded
assertions that he named Howard at his birth.

Stanley - A waiter at Frank's Chop House. Stanley and Happy seem to be friends, or at least
acquaintances, and they banter about and ogle Miss Forsythe together before Biff and Willy
arrive at the restaurant.

Miss Forsythe and Letta - Two young women whom Happy and Biff meet at Frank's
Chop House. It seems likely that Miss Forsythe and Letta are prostitutes, judging from
Happy's repeated comments about their moral character and the fact that they are “on call.”

Jenny - Charley's secretary.

Brave New World
ALDOUS HUXLEY

Plot Overview

THE NOVEL OPENS in the Central London Hatching and Conditioning Centre, where the Director
of the Hatchery and one of his assistants, Henry Foster, are giving a tour to a group of boys.
The boys learn about the Bokanovsky and Podsnap Processes that allow the Hatchery to
produce thousands of nearly identical human embryos. During the gestation period the
embryos travel in bottles along a conveyor belt through a factorylike building, and are
conditioned to belong to one of five castes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, or Epsilon. The Alpha
embryos are destined to become the leaders and thinkers of the World State. Each of the
succeeding castes is conditioned to be slightly less physically and intellectually impressive.
The Epsilons, stunted and stupefied by oxygen deprivation and chemical treatments, are
destined to perform menial labor. Lenina Crowne, an employee at the factory, describes to
the boys how she vaccinates embryos destined for tropical climates.

The Director then leads the boys to the Nursery, where they observe a group of Delta infants
being reprogrammed to dislike books and flowers. The Director explains that this
conditioning helps to make Deltas docile and eager consumers. He then tells the boys about
the “hypnopaedic” (sleep-teaching) methods used to teach children the morals of the World
State. In a room where older children are napping, a whispering voice is heard repeating a
lesson in “Elementary Class Consciousness.”

Outside, the Director shows the boys hundreds of naked children engaged in sexual play and
games like “Centrifugal Bumble-puppy.” Mustapha Mond, one of the ten World Controllers,
introduces himself to the boys and begins to explain the history of the World State, focusing
on the State's successful efforts to remove strong emotions, desires, and human relationships
from society. Meanwhile, inside the Hatchery, Lenina chats in the bathroom with Fanny
Crowne about her relationship with Henry Foster. Fanny chides Lenina for going out with
Henry almost exclusively for four months, and Lenina admits she is attracted to the strange,
somewhat funny-looking Bernard Marx. In another part of the Hatchery, Bernard is enraged
when he overhears a conversation between Henry and the Assistant Predestinator about
“having” Lenina.

After work, Lenina tells Bernard that she would be happy to accompany him on the trip to
the Savage Reservation in New Mexico to which he had invited her. Bernard, overjoyed but
embarrassed, flies a helicopter to meet a friend of his, Helmholtz Watson. He and Helmholtz
discuss their dissatisfaction with the World State. Bernard is primarily disgruntled because
he is too small and weak for his caste; Helmholtz is unhappy because he is too intelligent for
his job writing hypnopaedic phrases. In the next few days, Bernard asks his superior, the
Director, for permission to visit the Reservation. The Director launches into a story about a
visit to the Reservation he had made with a woman twenty years earlier. During a storm, he
tells Bernard, the woman was lost and never recovered. Finally, he gives Bernard the permit,
and Bernard and Lenina depart for the Reservation, where they get another permit from the
Warden. Before heading into the Reservation, Bernard calls Helmholtz and learns that the
Director has grown weary of what he sees as Bernard's difficult and unsocial behavior and is
planning to exile Bernard to Iceland when he returns. Bernard is angry and distraught, but
decides to head into the Reservation anyway.

On the Reservation, Lenina and Bernard are shocked to see its aged and ill residents; no one
in the World State has visible signs of aging. They witness a religious ritual in which a young
man is whipped, and find it abhorrent. After the ritual they meet John, a fair-skinned young
man who is isolated from the rest of the village. John tells Bernard about his childhood as the
son of a woman named Linda who was rescued by the villagers some twenty years ago.
Bernard realizes that Linda is almost certainly the woman mentioned by the Director.
Talking to John, he learns that Linda was ostracized because of her willingness to sleep with
all the men in the village, and that as a result John was raised in isolation from the rest of the
village. John explains that he learned to read using a book called The Chemical and
Bacteriological Conditioning of the Embryo and The Complete Works of Shakespeare, the
latter given to Linda by one of her lovers, Popé. John tells Bernard that he is eager to see the
“Other Place”—the “brave new world” that his mother has told him so much about. Bernard
invites him to return to the World State with him. John agrees but insists that Linda be
allowed to come as well.

While Lenina, disgusted with the Reservation, takes enough soma to knock her out for
eighteen hours, Bernard flies to Santa Fe where he calls Mustapha Mond and receives
permission to bring John and Linda back to the World State. Meanwhile, John breaks into
the house where Lenina is lying intoxicated and unconscious, and barely suppresses his
desire to touch her. Bernard, Lenina, John, and Linda fly to the World State, where the
Director is waiting to exile Bernard in front of his Alpha coworkers. But Bernard turns the
tables by introducing John and Linda. The shame of being a “father”—the very word makes
the onlookers laugh nervously—causes the Director to resign, leaving Bernard free to remain
in London.

John becomes a hit with London society because of his strange life led on the Reservation.
But while touring the factories and schools of the World State, John becomes increasingly
disturbed by the society that he sees. His sexual attraction to Lenina remains, but he desires
more than simple lust, and he finds himself terribly confused. In the process, he also
confuses Lenina, who wonders why John does not wish to have sex with her. As the
discoverer and guardian of the “Savage,” Bernard also becomes popular. He quickly takes
advantage of his new status, sleeping with many women and hosting dinner parties with
important guests, most of whom dislike Bernard but are willing to placate him if it means
they get to meet John. One night John refuses to meet the guests, including the Arch-
Community Songster, and Bernard's social standing plummets.

After Bernard introduces them, John and Helmholtz quickly take to each other. John reads
Helmholtz parts of Romeo and Juliet, but Helmholtz cannot keep himself from laughing at a
serious passage about love, marriage, and parents—ideas that are ridiculous, almost
scatological in World State culture.
Fueled by his strange behavior, Lenina becomes obsessed with John, refusing Henry's
invitation to see a feely. She takes soma and visits John at Bernard's apartment, where she
hopes to seduce him. But John responds to her advances with curses, blows, and lines from
Shakespeare. She retreats to the bathroom while he fields a phone call in which he learns that
Linda, who has been on permanent soma-holiday since her return, is about to die. At the
Hospital for the Dying he watches her die while a group of lower-caste boys receiving their
“death conditioning” wonder why she is so unattractive. The boys are simply curious, but
John becomes enraged. After Linda dies, John meets a group of Delta clones who are
receiving their soma ration. He tries to convince them to revolt, throwing the soma out the
window, and a riot results. Bernard and Helmholtz, hearing of the riot, rush to the scene and
come to John's aid. After the riot is calmed by police with soma vapor, John, Helmholtz, and
Bernard are arrested and brought to the office of Mustapha Mond.

John and Mond debate the value of the World State's policies, John arguing that they
dehumanize the residents of the World State and Mond arguing that stability and happiness
are more important than humanity. Mond explains that social stability has required the
sacrifice of art, science, and religion. John protests that, without these things, human life is
not worth living. Bernard reacts wildly when Mond says that he and Helmholtz will be exiled
to distant islands, and he is carried from the room. Helmholtz accepts the exile readily,
thinking it will give him a chance to write, and soon follows Bernard out of the room. John
and Mond continue their conversation. They discuss religion and the use of soma to control
negative emotions and social harmony.

John bids Helmholtz and Bernard good-bye. Refused the option of following them to the
islands by Mond, he retreats to a lighthouse in the countryside where he gardens and
attempts to purify himself by self-flagellation. Curious World State citizens soon catch him in
the act, and reporters descend on the lighthouse to film news reports and a feely. After the
feely, hordes of people descend on the lighthouse and demand that John whip himself.
Lenina comes and approaches John with her arms open. John reacts by brandishing his whip
and screaming “Kill it! Kill it!” The intensity of the scene causes an orgy in which John takes
part. The next morning he wakes up and, overcome with anger and sadness at his submission
to World State society, hangs himself.

Brave New World

ALDOUS HUXLEY

Character List

John - The son of the Director and Linda, John is the only major character to have grown
up outside of the World State. The consummate outsider, he has spent his life alienated from
his village on the New Mexico Savage Reservation, and he finds himself similarly unable to fit
in to World State society. His entire worldview is based on his knowledge of Shakespeare's
plays, which he can quote with great facility.
John (In-Depth Analysis)
Bernard Marx - An Alpha male who fails to fit in because of his inferior physical stature.
He holds unorthodox beliefs about sexual relationships, sports, and community events. His
insecurity about his size and status makes him discontented with the World State. Bernard's
surname recalls Karl Marx, the nineteenth-century German author best known for writing
Capital, a monumental critique of capitalist society. Unlike his famous namesake, Bernard's
discontent stems from his frustrated desire to fit into his own society, rather than from a
systematic or philosophical criticism of it. When threatened, Bernard can be petty and cruel.
Bernard Marx (In-Depth Analysis)

Helmholtz Watson - An Alpha lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering,

Helmholtz is a prime example of his caste, but feels that his work is empty and meaningless
and would like to use his writing abilities for something more meaningful. He and Bernard
are friends because they find common ground in their discontent with the World State, but
Helmholtz's criticisms of the World State are more philosophical and intellectual than
Bernard's more petty complaints. As a result, Helmholtz often finds Bernard's boastfulness
and cowardice tedious.
Helmholtz Watson (In-Depth Analysis)

Lenina Crowne - A vaccination worker at the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning
Centre. She is an object of desire for a number of major and minor characters, including
Bernard Marx and John. Her behavior is sometimes intriguingly unorthodox, which makes
her attractive to the reader. For example, she defies her culture's conventions by dating one
man exclusively for several months, she is attracted to Bernard—the misfit—and she develops
a violent passion for John the Savage. Ultimately, her values are those of a conventional
World State citizen: her primary means of relating to other people is through sex, and she is
unable to share Bernard's disaffection or to comprehend John's alternate system of values.

Mustapha Mond - The Resident World Controller of Western Europe, one of only ten
World Controllers. He was once an ambitious, young scientist performing illicit research.
When his work was discovered, he was given the choice of going into exile or training to
become a World Controller. He chose to give up science, and now he censors scientific
discoveries and exiles people for unorthodox beliefs. He also keeps a collection of forbidden
literature in his safe, including Shakespeare and religious writings. The name Mond means
“world,” and Mond is indeed the most powerful character in the world of this novel.
Mustapha Mond (In-Depth Analysis)

Fanny Crowne - Lenina Crowne's friend (they have the same last name because only about
ten thousand last names are in use in the World State). Fanny's role is mainly to voice the
conventional values of her caste and society. Specifically, she warns Lenina that she should
have more men in her life because it looks bad to concentrate on one man for too long.
Henry Foster - One of Lenina's many lovers, he is a perfectly conventional Alpha male,
casually discussing Lenina's body with his coworkers. His success with Lenina, and his casual
attitude about it, infuriate the jealous Bernard.

Linda - John's mother, and a Beta. While visiting the New Mexico Savage Reservation, she
became pregnant with the Director's son. During a storm, she got lost, suffered a head injury
and was left behind. A group of Indians found her and brought her to their village. Linda
could not get an abortion on the Reservation, and she was too ashamed to return to the
World State with a baby. Her World State–conditioned promiscuity makes her a social
outcast. She is desperate to return to the World State and to soma.

The Director - The Director administrates the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning
Centre. He is a threatening figure, with the power to exile Bernard to Iceland. But he is
secretly vulnerable because he fathered a child (John), a scandalous and obscene act in the
World State.

The Arch-Community-Songster - The Arch-Community-Songster is the secular, shallow

equivalent of an archbishop in the World State society.

Popé - Popé was Linda's lover on the New Mexico Savage Reservation. He gave Linda a copy
of The Complete Works of Shakespeare.

The Warden - The Warden is the talkative chief administrator for the New Mexico Savage
Reservation. He is an Alpha.