Sample #1: Page one of a high school analytic research paper
(No title page required by teacher.)
Monica DeMasi
Mrs. Kane
A. P. English
27 March 1995
The Role of Ben in Death of a Salesman
In his psychological masterpiece
Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller explores the Loman family's distinctly
different visions of success as embodied by Willie, his wife Linda, and
his two sons. However, it is Ben, Willy's brother, a character who
only appears as a figment of Willy Loman's imagination, who ironically
provides insight into the mind of this modern tragic hero. As Magill
notes, the "Ben fantasies suggest another level of the play. They
help define a man whose world is crumbling. Visions and memories
out of the past cross and recross the present for Willy" (1365).
The character of Ben in the play functions as an embodiment of Willy's
materialistic fantasies as well as a foil to his failures.
The major function
of the character of Ben is to allow the reader to see into the mind of
Willy Loman. Although only imagined, all of Ben's actions and words
display the materialistic success-driven aspect of Willy's personality,
or, as one critic put it, “the fantasy of success through the ruthless
Darwinian spirit . . ." (Hoeveler 78). Another
critic defines Ben in this way:
-
Ben is distinctly less 'real' than the other characters in the play. .
. . He is not so much a person as the embodiment of Willy's desire
for escape and success. Ben always appears at exactly the moment
Willy thinks of him which is not true of the other characters in the memory
scenes. The figure of Ben, then, represents not Ben as he actually
was, so much as his image has been warped in the mind of the remembered,
Willy. (Parker 99)
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When all else fails, Willy conjures up the image of his brother, Ben, who
"represents an earlier get-rich-quick version of the success myth"
(Magill 1365). Since Willy believes that being well liked
is the key to success -- "personality always wins the day" (Miller
65) -- Ben's embodiment of the virile pioneer spirit with his "you
can fight for a fortune" (85), clearly demonstrates the contrast
between them and the lure that Ben holds for Willy.
Things to Notice:
1. Note the placement of the student’s last name and page number
1/2" below the top of the page. Note the
placement of the student’s name, teacher’s
name, course, and date.
2. The entire selection is double-spaced. There is no extra
spacing anywhere in the research paper.
3. Note the spacing of the long direct quote, the lack of quotation
marks, and the placement of the period after the
last word of the long direct quote.
4. Note that the last in-text citation does not include the author’s
name. It is not needed here because this quote is
also from the play by Miller. The rule
of thumb is that back-to-back quotes or paraphrases from the same source
within the same paragraph only need the author’s
name the first time.