AVFB quotations
Act 1
1- “justice is very important here”
2- “there were many here who were justly shot by unjust men”
3- “now we settle for half and I like it better”
4- “sat powerless as I, and watched it run its bloody course”
5- “this one’s name was Eddie Carbon
6- “you like it?”
7- “I think it’s too short, ain’t it?”
8- “you’re walkin’ wavy”/ “and with them new high heels on the sidewalk-
clack,clack,clack. The heads are turnin’ like windmills”
9- “you are a baby”
10-“I didn’t even buy a new tablecloth; I was gonna wash the walls...”
11-“you got too big a heart”
12-“it’s an honour B”
13-“you’re an angel! God will bless you”
14-“I want you to be with different people… maybe a lawyer’s office
someplace in New York”
15-“Look you gotta get used to it, she’s no baby no more”
16-“ like Vinny Bolzano… he snitched to the Immigration”
17-“you can quicker get a million dollars that was stolen than a word that you
gave away”.
18-“he’s practically blond !”
19-“he’s a square-built peasant of thirty two, suspicious, tender and quiet-
voiced”
20-“they eat the sunshine”
21-“my wife-I want to send right away maybe twenty dollars”
22-“ me? Yes forever! I want to an American”
23-“ leave him finish, it’s terrific !”
24-“what’s the high heels for Garbo?”
25-“his face puffed with trouble”
26-“he gives me the heeby-jeebies”
26-“paper doll they’re callin him, canary.”
27-“Marco goes around like a man”
28-“when am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie?”
29-“he’s a regular bull”
30-“I would like to go to Broadway .. I would like to walk with her once where
the theatres are and the opera”
31-“he don’t respect you”/”he’s only bowing to his passport”
32-“you’re not a baby any more”/”he’s not your father”
33-“it just seems wrong if he’s against it”
34-“he looks so sad and it hurts me”
35- “she is at the edge of tears as though a familiar world had shattered”
36-“his eyes were like tunnels, my first thought was that he committed a
crime”
37-“there’s too much love for the daughter, there is too much love for the
niece”/ “let her go. That’s my advice”
38-“I worked like a dog twenty years so a punk could have her”/ “because I
made a promise”
39-“I could see every step coming, step after step, like a dark figure walking
down a hall toward a certain door.. I was so powerless to stop it”
40-“I’m lonesome”/ “she understands everything”/ “the women wait, Eddie.
Most. Most. Very few surprises”
41-“that’s why the water front is no place for him. I mean like me-I can’t cook,
I can’t sing, I can’t make dresses, so I’m on the water front”
42-“raised the chair like a weapon over Eddie’s head.. Eddie’s grin vanishes”
Act 2
43-“I want you to be my wife, and I want to be a citizen”/ “I’m not a beggar”/
“you think I’d carry on my back the rest of my life a woman I didn’t love just to
be an American?”
44- “he’s mad all the time and nasty”/ “I think I have to get out of here, Eddie”
45-“have respect for her”/ “she’ll be my wife”
46- “Let go, ya hear me! I’ll kill you! Leggo of him”
47-“you won’t have a friend in the world, Eddie!”
48- “that one! I accuse that one”/ “he killed my children”/ “in my country he
would be a dead man” / “ The law? all the law is not in a book”
49- “ He’s a rat! He belongs in the sewer”
50- “ I want my name! Marco’s got my name”
51- “you want something else, Eddie, and you can never have her!”
52- “ Eddie, I never meant to do nothing bad to you”
53- “ My B!”
54- “ better to settle for half, it must be!”
Points relevant to Miller’s life
1- Miller witnessed the lives and hardships of these dockworkers and
immigrants first hand as he used to work as a longshoreman for a while.
2- The play is based on a story Miller heard about a longshoreman who
reported two relatives to the authorities because one of them was in a
relationship with his niece.
3- Miller was called up to name anyone he suspected of being communist.
Although others gave names, Miller refused to betray his friends and so he
was punished: he was blacklisted, wasn’t allowed to work (law and justice/
honour).
Coursework guiding points:
The answer should include the following parts:
1- Language: comment on the language used by characters (hostile,
aggressive, decisive, humourous, revealing conflict, confrontational,
reflecting a light atmosphere, working class, less education, Red Hook
dialect, well-educated, reasonable, logic…)
2- Structure : the play is divided into 2 acts where act one presents the
characters and conflict, builds up to the chair lifting scene then act two
runs in quicker pace leading to the “bloody course”. Alfirei’s appearance
divides the acts into clear scenes (he appears six times) before scenes of
dramatic importance.
3- Form: the play is a modern drama where Miller intended it to be a
modern Greek tragedy with various characteristics of the Greek drama:
Eddie: tragic hero with flaw in character leading to his demise. He is the
author of his own downfall. He is the protagonist of the play. He
undergoes hamartia (change of intentions when he rats on the
submarines because of jealousy).
Alfirei: the chorus who comments on important scenes and foreshadow
new ones. Not an active character.
Bloody course: where the play ends tragically with Eddie’s death on
Marco’s hand.
Conflict: where the audience see internal conflict (within a character),
verbal conflict (aggressive language) and physical conflict (the boxing
scene, killing Eddie), conflict between law and justice.
4- In the answer mind the following:
Introduction: presenting the topic of the question, writer’s name, name
of the play, general comment on the writer’s life or incidents related to
the question. Comment on the structure of the play.
Main body: several paragraphs where you argue for the point of view
using PEE (point, evidence, explanation). Add your subtext
(understanding of the event and how it affects the reader and the
events following). Compare and contrast characters in their traits and
actions, using relevant quotations. Comment on use of language of
characters.
Conclusion: wrapping up of the argument and posing the point of view
or personal engagement.
5- Plagiarism: resort to your own words as far as possible using
paraphrasing so as not to be penalized for copying from other sources.
6- Word limit: is not a must, you won’t be penalized for exceeding it, yet,
the info added should be quite relevant to the question of the
coursework.
7- Personal engagement: is integral to the answer of the coursework
question. Express your opinion, feeling of sympathy or a new viewpoint
you gained from the study of the play.
