Death of a Salesman: Wordfields 1

a value	ein Wert
moral values	moralische Werte
he has no sense of values	er hat keine sittlichen Maßstäbe
to have a sense of right and wrong	ein Wertebewußtsein haben
to be guilty of a moral fault	eines moralischen Fehlers schuldig sein
to imbue s.o. with values	j-mdem Werte ans Herz legen
to inculcate values in s.o.	j-m Werte einimpfen
to impress s.th. upon s.o.	j-mdem etwas einschärfen
to set great store by s.th.	großen Wert auf etw. legen
good and evil	gut und böse
success and popularity	Erfolg und Beliebtheit
to be popular with s.o.	bei j-mdem beliebt sein
making one’s way in life	seinen Weg in der Welt machen
to make s.th. of oneself	etw. aus sich machen
to make (some) money	(etwas) Geld verdienen
to achieve success	Erfolg erlangen
to find oneself / to sort oneself out	sich finden
to work one’s way up	sich hocharbeiten
to get ahead (of s.o. else)	vorwärtskommen
to devote one’s life to (doing s.th.)	sein Leben einer Sache widmen
to fend for oneself / to support oneself	für sich selbst sorgen
Self-doubt	Selbstzweifel
to express self-doubt about one’s abilities	Selbstzweifel über seine Fähigkeiten äußern
despair	Verzweiflung
to despair of politicians	an Politikern verzweifeln
involuntary reminiscences	unfreiwillige Erinnerungen
to live in a world of one’s own	in einer eigenen Welt leben
unfulfilled dreams / ambitions / hopes	unerfüllte Träume / Ambitionen / Hoffnungen
a lack of self-awareness	ein Mangel an Selbsterkenntnis (bzw. Selbstbewußtsein im Sinne von Selbsterkenntnis)

LK Englisch         Second Examination  

1. Textvorlage:  fiktional

2. Fundstelle:   Death of a Salesman, p. 54, l. 3 - p. 58, l.14, Klett

3. Wortzahl:   ca. 700

4. Titel:   ‘Asking the Boss A Favour’ (or ‘The Howard Scene’)

 Verfasser:   Arthur Miller

5. Anmerkungen:  s. Text

6. Arbeitsanweisungen:

1. Situate the scene in the overall structure of the play and write a short summary of it. (25%)

2. Make a careful analysis of the conversation between Willy and Howard, including the way they behave. (The following questions provide some clues to things you might want to look at (but you may also include other points of interest!):

- How does Howard react when Willy enters the office? What does that tell us about Willy?

- Why does Willy appear to warm to the idea of recording programmes?

- When Willy says that he does not want to travel any longer, how does Howard respond?

- Why does Willy start to talk about his decision not to go to Alaska and about Dave Singleman? Is he convincing?) (30%)

3. Briefly describe the personality ethic embodied by Willy Loman. You may quote from the entire play to provide evidence. (15%)

4. Arthur Miller seems to suggest that our society, and especially the business world, share the personality ethic. According to him, the play aims to destroy the ‘bullshit’ of capitalism, ‘that pseudo life that thought to touch the clouds by standing on top of a refrigerator’. How do you feel about capitalism and the effects it has on people’s personality? (i.e. do you agree or disagree with Miller and why?, etc.) (30%)

7. Hilfsmittel: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

8. Zusätzliche Anmerkungen: