Ellipsis - dashes - punctuation - oh my! - An essay on the use of dashes in Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman.

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Jolene Kui

September 6, 2002

Ellipsis – dashes – punctuation – oh my!

An essay on the use of dashes in Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman

The dash is a handy device, informal and essentially playful,

telling you that you're about to take off on a different tack

but still in some way connected with the present

course — only you have to remember that the dash is there,

and either put a second dash at the end of the notion to let

the reader know that he's back on course,

or else end the sentence, as here, with a period.

__ Lewis Thomas

How does a writer – a good writer – convey epiphanies exactly so that it’s grammatically appropriate for – eureka! – a dash is used – placed just so – to convey, establish – a mood, feeling, tone – a character feels – whilst saying a line, monologue – even an exclamation – wherein characters experience a lot of feeling and – dominance is implied when a line is ended by a dash – interruption in short – by another character – allowing the reader to see – feel – the personality – traits, characteristics – of a character subtlety.  This simple line – the dash – is a many faceted gem – a treasure – that can be used to highlight many ideas – key terms – certain events jump off the page because of the use of a dash – rather than an ellipsis – causes a noticeable break – a sharp break – unlike that of an ellipsis – which immediately gives off the impression of abruptness – just as it appears visually – a sharp-edged line in the center of a line that breaks the fluidity of words – just as the dash in a sentence breaks the flow of thought or conversation.  Dashes – menial as they are – give substance to a pause, break – charging it with emotion and meaning – no number of words could do the same.

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        Although dashes may seem like a punctuation mark so rarely used, it is an integral tool in writing conversations.  The dash represents a discontinuation of an intended statement – a visual representation of the abruptly derailed trail of a train of thought - allows the writer to interrupt characters – as is normal in an average conversation – like most of Linda and Willy’s conversations.  Linda’s lines are often ended by a dash – interrupted by another speaker – subtlety informing the reader of Linda’s subservient personality.   The dashes imply the abruptness of Willy’s interruptions – thereby insinuating ...

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