Arthur Miller Essay, Research Paper

Arthur Miller

Inspirational is only one word to describe the writer Arthur Miller. He

was an inspiration to many through his play writing. Throughout his life he

has had success that many dream of but can not achieve. One never expects

success to happen so quickly like it happened to Arthur Miller.

Arthur Miller was born and raised in Manhattan, New York. He was

the middle child with a younger sister and an older brother. His parents

were middle class much like the average family. His father was a successful

manufacturer in ladies coats, the average businessman and his mother, a

schoolteacher. During his childhood he spent most of his time engaging in

childish activity with other children playing sports, he was the average

active child. Besides all of the activity Arthur Miller attended James

Madison High School. Miller?s average family was middle class until he hit

the age of fourteen when the depression hit his family hard. His fathers

business failed and their lives had changed from that point. The family

moved to Berkland and all of the children, including him, had to get jobs in

order to support themselves.

Arthur Miller was rejected upon his initial application to the

University of Michigan. The people at the university gathered their senses

admitting him in 1934. While attending the University of Michigan, he

studied journalism and history. He was very interested in writing. In

Miller?s junior year he entered a playwriting contest and he won the first

prize of $250. The play that he had written was called ?The Villain?. This

play was based on his family and there lives. Miller graduated from college

in 1938 with a degree in English. Miler had established an organization that

communists suspected of inflation, and it had been abolished because of that.

In 1940 Miller married his sweetheart from college, Mary Slattery, she was

a writer also. During this time Miller wrote for the Columbia Broadcasting

System (CBS). At first his script writing was not working for him so he just

continued on writing radio plays for the public which he despised doing.

Arthur Miller received his first theateratrical break in 1944 by writing, ?the

man who had all the luck?, which was staged on Broadway. This play was

written about his life. Miller had also produced on brodway November 23,

1944. After that play Miller went into debt forcing him to writing another

play called, ?Focus? which was a huge success. It was such a success that it

was written into a novel afterwards.

Arthur Miller?s first success came in 1947 with, ?All my sons?, for

which he won the New York Drama Critics Circle award. Miller won many

awards for his wonderful work. He had the opportunity to work with a film

director named Elia Kazan. She was the person that did all of the polishing

up on the play before it went out for production. This play won Drama

Critics award in 1948. His next play, Death of a Salesman, stunned

audiences with his brilliance, it was quickly a classic of the modern theater.

Arthur Miller was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1949 for ?Death of a

salesman?. He was awarded many upon many awards during his life.

Arthur Miller?s life was filled with accomplishment and success.

Miller was a huge success when, The Crucible, came to the people around

the world. The Crucible, won many awards and a classic known to many.

Although he had a rough childhood it did not stop him from his dreams. He

has come to be considered one of the greatest dramatists in the history of

American theatre and his plays, a fusion of naturalistic and expressionistic

techniques, continue to be widely produced. Overall he was a wonderful and

very successful man that is admired by many around the world.

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Bloom, Harold, Arthur Miller. Chelsea House Publishers. San Diego CA, 1992

Carson, Neil, Arthur Miller. St. Martins Press Inc. New York NY, 1988

Ram, Atma, Perspectives on Arthur Miller. South Asia Books. New York NY, 1998