Arthur Laurents West Side Story

319 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Tonight west side story analyse

Arthur Laurents was born to a middle-class Jewish family on July 14, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. He wrote a history of leftist, gender and gay politics after World War 2. He was famous for the musicals and plays he wrote, including Anastasia, Gypsy and his most famous West Side Story. West Side story is a musical about two gangs in the city of Manhattan, The Sharks (a group of recently immigrated Puerto Ricans, lead by Bernardo) and The Jets (lead by Riff), who are constantly fighting for turf and running into trouble with the police who undoubtedly favor The Jets. But problems arise when a former member of The Jets falls in love with a sister of the leader from the opposing gang. The musical starts when The Jets challenge The Sharks to a

Show More
Related

  • Arthur Miller's The Crucible

    1468 Words  | 3 Pages

    Context: This part of the text is included at the beginning of the drama, telling the audience about Salem and its people. The author explains how a theocracy would lead to a tragedy like the Salem witch-hunts. This is the initial setting and is based on the principle that some people should be included and some excluded from society, according to their religious beliefs and their actions. This is basically the idea that religious passion, taken to extremes, results in tragedy. Miller is saying that even today extremes end up bad- communism, like strict puritans, was restrictive and extreme. It only made people suffer.

    Read More

  • Courage In The Crucible by Arthur Miller

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    likelihood of victory is small.” It is a person’s mental or moral strength to resist extreme

    Read More

  • Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust

    2642 Words  | 6 Pages

    Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust is said by many to be the best novel to be written about Hollywood. When we immediately think of Hollywood, we think of a glamorous story, in the picturesque setting of Los Angeles, full of characters with abundance of talent living the much sought after American dream. This is perhaps what sets West’s novel apart from the rest. The story is full of characters that have a vague impression of the difference in reality and fantasy in life. The characters are submerged in their lives in Hollywood, with what seems to be a false reality on how the world works. The untalented would-be actors, withering vaudeville performers and prostitutes place a certain grotesque over the novel from the beginning, and in a world of certain fantasy and chaos like this, violence is bound to come to the fore as a theme in many different forms. The protagonist of the story, Tod Hackett, is different to the rest of the characters in the novel. Tom is a talented artist, but still has a good view of reality by times, so Tom can act part as an observer in the novel. Tom however has been sucked in to the fantasy world also life has become somewhat submerged in the fantasy world.

    Read More

  • Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

    1336 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, Americans have idealized the journey towards economic success. One thing people do not realize, however, is that journey is not the same for every individual. Media often leads its viewers toward a “one size fits all” version of success that may help themselves, but will rarely help the viewers. This is seen in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Miller includes multiple instances of symbolism and personification to reveal to the reader the situational irony in Willy’s life, underlining the theme of self-deception in regard to the American Dream. This American Dream, fueled by money, is the main source of anxiety in Willy’s life. The anxiety of income is reflected today in the issue of minimum wage. James Sherk, a writer of the Tribune News Service, plots thoughtful points against raising the minimum wage. However, his use of over-exaggeration and odd comparisons leave his argument less than convincing.

    Read More

  • A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller

    2027 Words  | 5 Pages

    The story 'A View From The Bridge', is set in the 1940's in Red hook

    Read More

  • Arthur Miller's The Crucible

    764 Words  | 2 Pages

    The devil is defined as being a spirit or power of evil. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, numerous citizens of Salem Village are prosecuted and convicted for having made contact with the devil. While historically, the Salem Witch Trials were an effect of greed and vengeance and are said to be false, the devil was indeed present in the town of Salem; he takes the shape of a young girl named Abigail Williams. Abigail depicts her evil spirit and coalition with the devil though her deception of anyone willing to listen, her irrational behavior, and her immoral actions, which directly defy the Puritan church.

    Read More

  • A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller

    1805 Words  | 4 Pages

    his family and how he is perceived in the public by his friends. He is

    Read More

  • Arthur Miller

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    Arthur Miller, in his plays, deals with the injustice of society's moral values and the characters who are vulnerable to its cruelty. A good majority of these plays were very successful and earned numerous awards. According to Brooks Atkinson, a critic for the New York Times, Miller's play Death of a Salesman was successful because the play "is so simple in style and so inevitable in theme that it scarcely seems like a thing that has been written and acted. For Mr. Miller has looked with compassion into the hearts of some ordinary Americans and quietly transferred their hopes and anguish to the theater" (Babusci 1261). This play, in 1949, received the Pulitzer Prize, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Antoinette Perry Award, the Donaldson Award, and the Theater Club Award (A Brief Chronology of Arthur Miller's Life and Works, http://www.ibiblio.org/...). Miller has said that he could not have written The Crucible at any other time for it is said that a play cannot be successful unless it speaks to its own time; hence McCarthyism was widespread when this play was written. Everyone was afraid of Communists, just like everyone was afraid of witches during The Crucible. This play won the Antoinette Perry Award and the Donaldson Award (Bloom, Modern Critical Interpretations: Arthur Miller's The Crucible 55). His play All My Sons was concerned with a man, Joe Keller, selling defective cylinder heads to the Air Force during World War II, causing the death of twenty-one pilots, one of whom was his elder son. The play focuses around this act and the consequences that arise from it. The play won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. All of Miller's plays focus on one central idea, this idea being ...

    Read More

  • Social Issues In West Side Story

    469 Words  | 1 Pages

    The musicals that were produced around that time period were meant to be strictly for entertainment, for the most part. It was a very brave move for the creative team of this musical to tackle themes like racism, violence, and death. The risk definitely paid off, because even today West Side Story still remains a very popular musical. The main message that this show is trying to convey to the audience is that it shouldn’t take a horrible tragedy to finally unite people. Just because someone may not look the same way you do, or act the same way, or share your same belief system, that doesn’t mean you have to be fearful of them. Instead we should try our hardest to embrace the fact that this world would be a very boring place without a little diversity, and it’s ok to celebrate the things that make us

    Read More

  • What Is The Purpose Of The Berlin Films By Isherwood

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    Title The Berlin Stories written by Christopher Isherwood captures both the charming and repellent life of Berlin during the 1930’s. Isherwood uses the descriptive technique of narrating the story through the focal depth of a camera. He captures fleeting and evocative images of his surrounding environment and tries to mold his brain into an internal visual recorder. Isherwood uses the camera as a metaphor to portray his neutral stance as an author and the distance he creates between self and other.

    Read More

  • Arthur Miller's The Crucible

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    Persecution has been a round for sometime and can be traced historically from the time of Jesus to the present time. Early Christians were persecuted for their faith in the hands of the Jews. Many Christians have been persecuted in history for their allegiance to Christ and forced to denounce Christ and others have been persecuted for failing to follow the laws of the land. The act of persecution is on the basis of religion, gender, race, differing beliefs and sex orientation. Persecution is a cruel and inhumane act that should not be supported since people are tortured to death. In the crucible, people were persecuted because of alleged witchcraft.

    Read More

  • "Romeo and Juliet" and "West Side Story": A Thematic Comparison

    1190 Words  | 3 Pages

    In West Side Story, the premise is quite similar. The two rival gangs are the Jets- the Americans, and the Sharks- the Puerto Ricans. The Jets hate the sharks because they feel as if they are encroaching on their territory when they walk the streets of New York as easily as the Jets. The Jets and the Sharks have been in a constant state of uproar since the Puerto Ricans first started moving to America and the gangs were formed.... ...

    Read More

  • Who Is John Steinbeck's The Trial Of Arthur Miller?

    336 Words  | 1 Pages

    Ironically, in the land of the free, one’s rights can be compromised if Congress feels there is any “clear and present danger.” In his essay, “The Trial of Arthur Miller”, John Steinbeck defends Arthur Miller, while criticizing the actions of Congress and the House of Un-American Activities Committee using various historical comparisons. In the 1950’s, when the threat of communism was spreading throughout the U.S., Congress charged Arthur Miller for refusing to state the names of people associated with communism, as they claimed he was hindering their investigation. Steinbeck, a famous writer in his own right, praised Miller for protecting the lives of innocent individuals under the unjust pressure of the government: “I do not know what I would

    Read More

  • A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller as a Tragedy

    2833 Words  | 6 Pages

    A view from the Bridge was written by Arthur Miller in 1955 and set in

    Read More

  • A View From The Bridge Essay-Arthur Miller

    3097 Words  | 7 Pages

    A View From The Bridge Essay-Arthur Miller “A View From The Bridge” is a story with many themes and aspects such as love, The American Dream, Justice, Law and Family Honour. The story “A View From The Bridge” is about an Italian American community living in Red Hook, New York. The Italian American community in Red Hook are mainly all immigrants living in the country unlawfully. I will briefly describe the play. Alfieri, an Italian-American lawyer in his fifties, enters the stage and sits in his office.

    Read More

More about Arthur Laurents West Side Story

Open Document