Casey Anthony Not Guilty in Slaying of Daughter

I chose to follow Lizette Alvarez, a very skilled writer of the New York Times. I found one article, "Casey Anthony Not Guilty in Slaying of Daughter" particularly interesting. Not necessarily the information, but more of the writing style of the author is what stuck my interest. Alvarez used very little slang; at least none stuck out to me, and she made this report very formal; yet concise. I did notice; however, a syntax pattern of excessive compound-complex sentences. Nearly every sentence was written the same. There were very few simple sentences. The biased stand also stood out to me. Just the title alone, "Casey Anthony Not Guilty in Slaying of Daughter" makes me feel like the article will be about the wrong outcome for the alleged, Casey Anthony, by Alvarez's choice of slaying. I must admit though, the title is what reeled me into reading it. At one point in Alvarez's article, I felt she tried to sway the readers against the jurors. She states how the jurors had little difficulty reaching a verdict, and that might have been due to their sequestered stay for six weeks. The structure of Alvarez's article was a split between descriptive and narrative. I also noticed that there was no climax in the article. It was all simply down to the point; solely the facts and details. The honest effectiveness this author had on me with this particular article is that it was well-written and interesting, but nothing spectacular or extraordinary.

Another major theme is recognizing past from present with sanity and disorder. Willy would lose himself in the past when the present was too difficult to accept. The worse reality becomes, the more Willy creates an alternative reality. Willy's memories distracted him from the reality.

DENIAL

One of the largest themes in death of a salesman is denial. All members in the Loman family are living in denial or are allowing others to live in denial; for example, Linda. Both of Willy's sons adopt his habit of denying reality. Linda is the only one who recognizes the family is living in denial but simply goes along with it.

Willy finally achieves some type of success because he knows biff loves him. Although Biff says "there will be no pity for you, you hear it? No pity!" (II.14) Willy is certain he can make Biff love him even more by his death and leaving him with the insurance money. By the end of tbe play; however, Willy contradicted his own intentions. Instead of being the well-liked, respected man he aspired to be, his unimpressive funeral with lack of people demonstrates his fail. Willy believed his suicide would resolve all disorder when in reality that was not in the least what happened.

CRAZY

Willy openly discusses his plan to commit suicide. Willy thinks it's his only way out. He will make amends to Linda for betraying her by leaving her financially stable. He cannot admit his unfaithfulnessm so leaving her with money is his way to alleviate the guilt. He also feels that Biff will respect him for sacrificing his life. Willy is entirely insane.

It was the scene that began in a hotel room when Biff learns of his father's affair that led to the entire mood and explanation of the current situation. It was during this scene when Biff loses all respect for Willy. He no longer felt motivated to attend summer school or graduate; since he would have only done that to please his father. Now that Biff realizes that his father is not perfect, in fact, a traitor, he is incapable of achieving success because he no longer has faith in his father of himself.

By Scene 9, we see just how unreasonable Willy and Happy both are. Biff is the only mature, sane one. He doesn't deny the truth. He lives in reality. It's unfair that his life turned out this certain way because of his father and the way he raised him. Biff begs Happy to help Willy, but Happy just refuses, blames Biff for Willy's condition, and leaves without paying the tab. Willy is completely mentally collapsing. He knows that all is lost--both his job and Biff's chance of success--so he resorts to the past to escape the present. He feels that the only way to regain order in the present is by making sense of the past. Its very difficult as a reader to determine what is happening in the present and what's in the past.

All of Willy's family including Linda, Biff and Happy are aware of Willy's problem. When Willy learns of Biff's new attempt to start a new business and gain success, he gets excited again. Biff and everyone else; however, realize that this peace and order in the house is only temporary. We also learn that Linda is not oblivious to Willy's disorder, but that she is just choosing to play along with it and act like nothing is wrong. Biff, being the mature one, refuses to do that and removes the hose in which Willy had attempted suicide before with.

Willy is again exhibiting strange behavior by hallucinations. Willy refuses to acknowledge that certain opportunities no longer exist. He is re-creating his life by imagining what could have been. In Act I, Scene 9; however, we really understand Willy's insecurities and necessity of approval and recognition from everyone. He is constantly trying to prove to other that he is successful, as a salesman and a father. He denies the truth that he is actually a failure.

Guilt over Affairs

Through the mix of present and past events, the audience can see Willy's guilt over his affair. Whenever he is in Linda's presence, the guilt and reminder of his affair comes out. Willy likes to believe he is a respected, successful salesman, but the reality of his betrayal to Linda wont leave his mind. Willy shifts all his anger and guilty from his infidelity to Biff.