The American Dream

Gone WrongBy: Brittany Roman

Ben Mezrich Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took

Vegas for Millions

Born 1969 in Princeton, New Jersey Graduated Harvard with magna cum laude (very great honors) Authored 12 books w/ more than 1 million copies in 9 languages Newest book is Sex on the Moon (12th book) Co-hosted The World Series of Blackjack on cable TV Represented Massachusetts in the Sexiest Bachelor in America pageant Currently 41 years old Lives in Boston with his wife, Tonya, a fashion designer, and their 1-year-old

son

Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman

Born Oct. 17, 1915 in NYC College football injury prevented him from serving in WWII Studied at University of Michigan

o The Arthur Miller Theatre was established there Married photographer Ingeborg Morath The Arthur Miller society Won many awards for his plays The Crucible is another one of his famous plays One of the most influential American playwrights of 20th century Died Feb. 10, 2005

Cormac McCarthy The Road

Born in Rhode Island on July 20, 1933 3rd of six children Originally named Charles (after his father), but renamed himself

Cormac (after Irish King) Raised Roman Catholic and went to Catholic High School Went to University of Tennessee Majored in liberal arts His favorite novel is Melville’s Moby Dick

Cormac McCarthy Society Still Living

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions Mezrich’s first non-fiction work

#1 National Bestseller

Spent 63 weeks on New York Times

Bestseller List

2 million copies in 15 languages

Major motion picture 21

Mezrich got to experience the card counting

life with the MIT students

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for MillionsMain Characters Kevin Lewis (Jeff Ma) Jason Fisher (Mike Aponte) Micky Rosa (Bill Kaplan, JP Massar, & John Chang) (Also, Martinez, Michael, Brianna, Brian, Dylan and Jill Taylor – Spotters, Gorillas, & Big

Players)Events Kevin 1st finds out that Fisher and Martinez count cards Kevin is recruited and begins counting cards as the Big Player The casino almost catches the card counters, and Micky reveals his past to the MIT

students Fisher convinces everyone to split from Micky Rosa to make more money Kevin almost gets caught counting cards in several casinos in the US and in the Caribbean Kevin’s house is robbedThemes Duty/Responsibility vs. Desire Reality vs. Fantasy Acceptability of Society Quit While You’re Ahead

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions

Dogs Playing Poker: C. M. Coolidge

Death of a Salesman

1949 play

Earned Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for

Best Play

Premiered on Broadway in Feb. 1949, ran 742

performances, has been revived on Broadway 4

times

First American play to be directed by an American

(Arthur Miller) in Beijing

During the last 55 years, has been published and

produced all over the world

Play continues to stun and move audiences just

like in 1949

Death of a Salesman

Main Characters Willy Loman – an insecure, self-deluded traveling salesman Biff Loman – Willy’s 34-year-old elder son Happy Loman – Willy’s 32-year-old younger son Linda Loman – Willy’s loyal, loving wife Charley – Willy’s next door neighbor; he owns a successful business and his son, Bernard, is a

successful lawyerEvents Willy explains to Biff his idea of achieving the American Dream Willy gets fired Biff and Happy go to dinner with Willy Linda tells Biff and Happy about the rubber hose she found Willy commits suicide Willy’s funeralThemes The American Dream Abandonment Betrayal

Death of a Salesman

One of the Covers of Death of a Salesman The Final Theme Song in the Play

The Road

2006 novel by Cormac McCarthy Post-apocalyptic tale of a journey of a father and son

over period of several months across a landscape destroyed by an unnamed disaster that has destroyed civilization and most life on Earth

Awarded 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006

Made into movie in 2009 starring Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee and directed by John Hillcoat

Regarded as an environmental book Has received numerous reviews and honors since its

release Average score of 90 out of 100, based on 100 reviews Critics deem it “heartbreaking”, “haunting”, and

“emotionally shattering”

The Road

Main Characters The man – the boy’s father whose age is not given; most of the story is seen through the

man’s perspective The boy – the man’s young son; the boy calls the man “Papa”Events The beginning where the boy and man are in the woods (the boy asleep) and we find

out that it is a post-apocalyptic world Road agents find the man and the boy and almost kill the boy They find supplies and shelter in a secret underground safehouse The boy sees the baby from the pregnant woman and 3 men skewered over a fire They reach the shore The man dies, but the boy is taken in by another family that is still aliveThemes Destruction Survival Isolation Death

The Road

The End of the World: John MartinOil Painting on Canvas (1851-1853)

The American Dream Gone WrongBringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions

o The card counters try to rely only on card counting as a way to support themselves; however, it is the hard work that comes with having a job that allows one to achieve the American Dream, not gambling and luck.

Death of a Salesmano Willy’s view of the American Dream as having to only be a “well-liked” person and

popular is distorted, and causes him to fail at achieving the American Dream.

The Roado Some kind of war for a fight for power or money is what the reader can assume

happened since the story begins in a post-apocalyptic world most likely due to some kind of nuclear explosion.

o Although the countries probably intended for the outcome to only be one country (countries) to be more powerful than another country (countries), the devastating reality of Earth and all of civilization and people being destroyed occurred.

o This demonstrates the failed American Dream.

Works Cited "About - Ben Mezrich." The Official Site of Ben Mezrich. Killdisco Design, 2010. Web. 17 May

2012. <http://www.benmezrich.com/about/>. Bob, Minzesheimer. "Ben Mezrich." USA Today n.d.: MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 16 May

2012. Galvin, Rachel. "Arthur Miller Biography." National Endowment for the Humanities. 2001. Web. 17

May 2012. <http://www.neh.gov/about/awards/jefferson-lecture/arthur-miller-biography>. "Arthur Miller Society." The Arthur Miller Society Official Web Site. 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 17 May

2012. <http://www.ibiblio.org/miller/>. "Cormac McCarthy: A Biography." CormacMcCarthy.com The Official Web Site of the Cormac

McCarthy Society. Marty Priola and CormacMcCarthy.com, 2012. Web. 17 May 2012. http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/

"Death of a Salesman." Www.district87.org. Guthrie Theatre and Best Buy Children's Foundation, Aug.-Sept. 2004. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://www.district87.org/staff/rileym/juniorlit/deathsalesman/salesman.pdf>.

"Google Images." Google Images. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://images.google.com/>. (image of Ben Mezrich, image of Arthur Miller, image of Cormac McCarthy, image of Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions book cover, image of painting of Dogs Playing Poker by C. M. Coolidge, image of Death of a Salesman play cover, image of one of the play covers of Death of a Salesman, image of The Road book cover, image of painting of The End of the World by John Martin).

YouTube. YouTube. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/>. (video of Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions movie trailer, video of the final theme song in Death of a Salesman, video of The Road movie trailer).