Always Be Closing
Preceding the Play, David Mamet includes the phrase "Always Be Closing," and he titles it a "Practical Sales Maxim." In this essay, I will discuss how this philosophy not only applied to the sales attempts of the characters, but how it encompassed their entire approach to life.
In the first dialogue of the play, Shelly Levene is speaking to John Williamson. He tells John, "All I am saying, that your wasting leads…All that I'm saying, things get set, I know they do, you get a mindset…A guy gets a reputation…All I'm saying, put a closer on the job…wait a second, put a proven man on the job." Shelly is talking about the fact that the good leads always go to the closers. Shelly does not think this is a fair practice. He believes that everyone could be a closer if only they could get the good leads. In the end of this dialogue he misstates himself and says, "put a closer on the job." This statement, which he quickly corrects, shows that Shelly is trying to make his past achievements relevant to the present. He used to be a closer but he is not anymore. For Shelly Levene, the phrase, "Always be closing", is a reminder of what he used to be. He was on top "eight months out of twelve, for three years in a row." He was immersed in his work, and he was the best. Then his streak ended and he fell from his throne. His driving force now is the idea that he can regain his place at the top. If only he could get the good leads, which ironically he cannot, because he isn't a closer. Although it was never stated as such, I got the idea that there was a problem with his daughter. He kept referring to her, but nothing was ever established as to the role she played in his life. I believe Shelly Levene was willing to sacrifice whatever relationship he had with his daughter in order to continue his quest to be great again.
Richard Roma is in the place that Shelly Levene used to occupy. He is on top because he closes the deal. He is, now, involved in a sales promotion to win a Cadillac. He not only will win the Cadillac, he will also win the coveted Glengarry leads.
Through out the entire plot, these two characters were so absorbed in accomplishing the goals of profiting for the corporate that they did not realize the immorality and dangers that their actions bring to the rest of the society. It was to a degree where they seemed to not only sacrificed their personal lives for their work life, but their worth as people only depended on the financial number that their business is generating. Perhaps just like Skilling and Fastow, Prebble is displaying to us that we are all too entrenched in corporate culture that we are losing our worth and values as people. Surrounded by numbers and only concerns with financial profit, we are numbed by the corporate culture around us; the struggle for power within the structure of a company pulls us away from our ethical judgement and clouds the motivations of work: providing a better life for our loved ones and securing the means through which we can seek happiness and security in this society. Perhaps, when Roe was marginalized in the play and eventually lose out in the struggle for power, she won in the sense that she was able to go home and embrace her values and worth as a person once more.
Wilson, Robert N. “The Salesman and Society.” The Writer as Social Seer. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1979. 57-71. Rpt. in Willy Loman. Ed. Harold Bloom. Major Literary Characters. New York: Chelsea, 1991. 79-89.
A great deal of symbolism can be found by simply examining the name Ms. Moore. Marital status does not define her - notice the Ms. Quite frankly, the reader is not even informed if she is married or even if she has children of her own. She is a very independent woman. Not only does the prefix of Ms. Moore represent that she is independent, but her last name also shows the she wants more for the children, because, according to her, they deserve more. Her purpose is to help the children realize that there is a world outside of Harlem that they can aspire to. Although F.A.O. Schwartz is just a small part of that world, the trip here with Ms. Moore shows the children a great deal about what the outside world is like and how anyone can have that piece of the pie. Even though the children could never afford the toys, Ms. Moore brings them to the store to show them they have just as much right to be there and just as much right to live the rich life as anyone else. Sylvia, the narrator, is upset by the inequality. She is jealous of the life she can't have and is angry that Ms. Moore would expose her to these facts. Although, Sylvia would never let her know this.
Arthur Miller, author of Death of a Salesman, describes a family that exemplifies a failure of the 1940s. The Loman family ultimately falls to pieces after it is evident they cannot handle the pressure in their lives. As the Lomans continue to live their life readers see the root of their issues. Some readers say that their downfall is a result of their insecurities. Strain put on the Loman family leads to their demise; this pressure stems from high expectations, unhealthy relationships, and from societal norms.
Over time I have learned that there is truth to Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences. In reference to the Ahanbor and Sadighi (2014) “The Relationship Between Multiple Intelligences, Learning Styles and Gender” (p.177) Gardner theorized that the human population has seven intelligences, which include: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Spatial, Musical, Bodily Kinesthetic and Personal Intelligences. (Ahanbor & Sadighi, 2014, p.177-178) After reading the article it is with understanding that individuals may hold the same qualities but no individual is truly the same. For example, in a school system you are exposed to all sorts of students. Many have a multitude of abilities, some have athletic ability, musical ability and in the diverseness of language. As a teacher it is my job to learn the abilities of my students to help them reach varies levels of mastery. “The growing interest in learning styles is in recognition of the fact that learners differ in ways that need to be taken into account when teachers make decisions about course content and teaching methodology.” (Ahanbor & Sadighi, 2014,
Shark finning is the practice of slicing off the shark's fins while the shark is still alive and throwing the rest of its body back into the ocean. Sharks thrown in shallow water will fall to the ocean floor die from either bleeding to death or drowning. If the shark is thrown back in deep water they can actually implode due to rapid changes in pressure within the shark’s limp body. They can also die by starving to death, being eaten by other fish. Shark fins are used to make a soup that is considered an Asian "delicacy". The reasons that sharks should be admired and not hunted are almost endless. Despite creating easy income for third world nation’s, shark finnig is a barbaric practice that needs to end
I strongly believe that this different kind of multiple intelligences will help teachers’ in teaching and learning where it is a way of understanding the students’ better. A teacher may be capable of identifying on what the students’ actually can do well instead of what they could not do. The eight primary intelligences identified by Gardner (1883, 1999) include linguistic intelligence refers to an individual’s capacity to use language effectively through expression and communication in the written or spoken word such as poets and writers. Next, logical-mathematical intelligence refers to an individual’s ability to recognize relationships and patterns between concepts and things using numbers effectively such mathematician and economists. Then, spatial intelligence refers to the capability to perceiving and altering the visual-spatial world. Besides, spatially intelligent people are able to graphically represent their visual spatial ideas for instance artists and interior designers. Next, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence refers to the capability of using one...
Howard Gardner is the “John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Adjunct Professor of Neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine, and Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero” (Gardner bio, Multiple Intelligences and Education, MI Theory, and Project Zero). As director of Project Zero, it provided and environment that Gardner could begin the exploration of human cognition (Multiple Intelligences and Education). Project Zero colleagues have been designing assessment and the use of multiple intelligences (MI) to realize more personalized curriculum, instruction, and teaching methods; and the quality of crossing traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought in education (Gardner bio). MI theories offer tools to educators that will allow more people to master learning in an effective way and to help people “achieve their potential at the workplace, in occupations, and in the service of the wider world” (Gardner papers).
It is no secret that sharks have a bad reputation for being blood-thirsty man-killers. Sharks are known as the “killers of the sea.” Every year, on average, 10 people are killed by sharks; however, every second 3 sharks are slaughtered by humans. So who is the real “killer of the sea?” Sharks are victims to a cruel and inhumane practice known as finning. Finning is a practice that is more practiced in the pacific today but used to be practiced all around the world. Finning refers to when commercial fishermen will pull a shark onto the boat and slice off the fins. The typical target fins that are cut off the shark are the primary dorsal fin, secondary dorsal fin, the lower caudal fin, anal fin, pelvic fin, and the pectoral fins. The removal of these fins leaves the shark a slender, finless carcass. After cutting the fins off, the fisherman toss the still living shark back into the water to die a gruesome and painful death. The practice of finning sharks should be banned and enforced internationally.
...ated by her brief attendance at Rubicam’s Business College, and her even briefer encounter with Jim, the gentleman caller, cause her to retreat further into her illusory world of glass figurines. In the case of Miller’s Loman family, the tragic element is that they do not realize that the security and contentment they desire are commodities that cannot be purchased. As a result, Willy Loman does not realize that he has placed the highest value on what is no more than a myth and illusion. Willy equates success to being well-liked and personally attractive. His dreams of a better future become powerful fantasies that make it impossible for him to distinguish illusion from reality. (JANARDANAN, " Images of Loss in Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Marsha Norman's night, Mother, and Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive", 7-8)
Howard Gardner has done much research on multiple intelligences. Many teachers have taken his idea and extended it to the classroom in the form of something called learning styles. Although Gardner himself does not ascribe to the learning style extension of multiple intelligences, many teach...
The multiple intelligence theory is based on eight different intelligences which reflect a person 's intellectual ability. This model of intelligence challenges other theories such as the General Intelligence Theory created by Charles Spearman. Spearman’s theory focuses on a person 's ability to perform efficiently while being tested as well as their general cognitive capability. The MI theory differs due to the fact that it explores how test scores are not necessarily accurate representations of the amount of knowledge a person possesses because it has been demonstrated through this theory and experimental research that human beings are not necessarily less intellectually capable if they do not contain linguistic or logical-mathematical intelligences.
"SparkNotes: Death of a Salesman: important quotations Explained ." SparkNotes . N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
Both pros and cons exist when using a specific source for intelligence. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence recognizes categories that are not traditional, but some of his categories are difficult to test for, such as linguistic-verbal, logical-mathematical, spatial, kinesthetic, self-reflective, intrapersonal, musical, and naturalistic (Gardner, 1983; Santrock 2008). Sternberg’s triarchic theory considers practical life intelligence versus an academic intelligence. This system does identify what cannot be taught in a classroom, but does fall short in some core influences.
Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard, introduced his theory of multiple intelligences in 1983. Multiple intelligence’s is a theory about the brain that says human beings are born with single intelligence that cannot be changed, and is measurable by a psychologist. Gardner believes that there are eight different intelligences in humans. The eight are verbal linguistic, visual spatial, bodily kinesthetic, mathematical logic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. Understanding these intelligence’s will help us to design our classroom and curriculum in a way that will appeal to all of our students. We might also be able to curve discipline problems by reaching a student in a different way. One that will make more sense to them and more enjoyable. We can include all of the intelligences in lessons to accommodate all of the students’ different learning styles at once. By reaching each students intelligence we can assume that a student will perform better which, could mean students retaining more important information. A students learning style can also help lead them into a more appropriate career direction. As a teacher you can also learn your own personal learning style or intelligence to help improve the way you learn and teach.