Missing the Point

I am an 11th-grade student attending the University of San Diego High School and I have recently finished reading “Death of a Salesman” in my honors American literature class. Rev. Billy Falling’s proposed prevention of aloud reading of certain literature such as this is disturbing.

This gentleman is apparently overlooking the entire significance of works by Arthur Miller and others. It is offensive that he is proposing a ban on a play he has read only one fifth of. He is missing the whole meaning, the whole greatness of this work. Perhaps if he were to sit down and read the play from cover to cover, instead of skimming 13 pages in search of profanities, his theoretical arguments might have some ground.

He is overlooking the themes portrayed in this play represented by Willy, an old man fighting to be remembered, to be a success. He is representative of all those pursuing wrong goals of wealth, success and material value. Through his death, the reader learns of the tragedy of designing one’s life around personal gain. Rev. Falling might be surprised to find that students can learn a lesson from literature of this nature. Speaking from my class experience with this play, I know that our class as a whole learned more about theme and American culture than we did about new profanities. I doubt that any student finished that play and only remembered a few “hells and damns.”

There is so much more involved here, and Falling is obviously ignoring all of it in his radical proposal. What do his objections pose to the students? They place an emphasis on the vocabulary of a work, and devalue its cultural standing.

KENNETH A. OSGOOD

Coronado