Yep. I did it. I killed Willy Loman. Now if you have ever read Death of a Salesman you are probably thinking that, no, he committed suicide, and I must be just as delusional as Willy to think that I had some hand in his death. (If you haven’t read the play, I promise, I didn’t really spoil anything for you. It is called Death of a Salesman after all.) Not only did I kill Willy Loman, but I didn’t even give him the dignity of a quick and painless execution. The death was slow and painful. It took weeks, in fact. How did I manage to murder this iconic character? I tried to teach him to sixteen year olds.
This is actually the second year that I’ve attempted to teach Death of a Salesman. It didn’t go well last year either, but I figured it was a first attempt, and this year I could try it again. I would have a new group of students, a new batch of tactics, and I would figure out a way to make my students connect with and appreciate this fine American classic. I would use all my resources and creativity, and they would get it, by God!
A girl can dream, right?
I tried every angle. I tried focusing on dysfunctional families, complicated father/son relationships, success, dreams, trying to fit society’s mold…if there was a theme in there I thought my kids could relate to, I tried it. What did I get?
*crickets*
“Wait a minute. Is he, like, crazy, or something?”
In my desperation, I went to books and the Internet, looking for someone who could give me tips. I did find one book in which the author bragged of his overwhelming success with teaching this difficult play. His approach was football. In fact, his unit was actually about football. The kids read articles about football, they discussed football, the final essay was about football, and somewhere in there they read Death of a Salesman.
Death of a Salesman is not about football.
It would be like teaching Huckleberry Finn as a unit about log rafts. As teachers we search for elements to which our students will relate, but you have to draw a line somewhere. However, now that I think about it, was I doing my students a better service?
At this point I’m resigned to the fact that this is a play that requires a little maturity. Sixteen-year-olds of today are going to have a difficult time relating to a failed, aging salesman of the 1940’s who is losing his touch with reality. These students have not experienced the cold cruelty of the business world, and have not quite reached the point where they fully realize that their parents are simply human, common and flawed, and not the superheroes (or supervillans) of their childhood. The themes in this play are still few years ahead of them.
So Willy, I’m sorry, I did my best. I will now allow you to rest in peace. Next year I will switch back to The Crucible. Nothing like some vindictive teenagers, religious hysteria and hangings to get your students involved in a play, right?
