A common question to ask when we first meet someone (aside from "Where are you from?") is "What do you do?" We tend to make quick assumptions about a person based on his or her profession: doctors get a lot of respect, and street sweepers very little. (Too bad, as both benefit society.)

    One of the most common modern professions is that of the salesman (or "salesperson," in politically correct language). True, there have been various vendors for centuries: shopkeepers, peddlers, and so on. But the "traveling salesman" seems to have appeared in the 20th century, and was often considered a shady character, heir to the "snake-oil salesman" of the 19th.

    Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman," then, coming at mid-century, struck a chord with the American public, receiving both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award for Best Play (on Broadway) in 1949.

    The play tells the plight of poor, beleaguered Willy Loman, who struggles with his family in the intervals between increasingly unsuccessful sales trips. Willie is what has come to be called a "road warrior," one who makes his living "on the road"--but he's not a very good one.

    He is conflicted about his own mediocrity, and so he has put his hope in his two sons, especially high-school football star Biff, who flunked mathematics and never went to college. Biff, like Willie, dreams of better things, but at last has to accept that he, also like his father, just isn't that great:

    "Pop! I'm a dime a dozen, and so are you!" he says. And then, "I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you. You were never anything but a hard-working [salesman] who landed in the ash can like all the rest of them! I'm one dollar an hour, Willy! … A buck an hour! Do you gather my meaning? I'm not bringing home any prizes any more, and you're going to stop waiting for me to bring them home!"

    It's all too much for Willy, who seems to accept what Biff says, but then sneaks out after everyone goes to bed.

    The next scene is titled "Requiem": It is Willy's funeral.

    Vocabulary: Which word above means:

    1. state of being ordinary or barely acceptable

    2. the middle of a hundred-year period

    3. spaces, gaps

    4. full of contradictory emotions

    5. service for the dead

    6. not trustworthy

    7. surrounded by troubles

    8. easily had, therefore, not special

    9. was familiar or created an emotional response

    10. garbage can

    ANSWERS: 1. mediocrity 2. mid-century 3. intervals 4. conflicted 5. requiem 6. shady 7. beleaguered 8. a dime a dozen 9. struck a chord 10. ash can