Pato, our literature teacher gave us a task. The task consisted on searching on internet some questions that she copy on the black board before start reading our new book The view form the bridge.

Here are the questions and the answers:

– Important facts about Arthur Miller

•  His parents were Jewish immigrants from Poland.
•  He began writing plays when he was a student in the university of Michigan
• His writing was influence because he lived in both wars.
• He had Italian friends and co- workers
• He wrote many plays most of them were set in America

– When was it written?

The book was written  in  1955 and published on September 29th 1955.

– Historical and social context

The play was inspired by his Italian friends who told him stories about Italian immigrants who were betrayed when they tried to go illegally to USA to find a job and a better life, some of them escaped from the mob and other from the poverty WW2 had brought to Italy.

In the literature class, we have read a story called “Tyres” by Adam Thorpe. After reading it, our teacher Pato asked us to analize the Rite of Passage in the story. It was in pairs, I worked with Trinidad Porretti.  Here is our work;

1- The unattainable object of desire;

In this story, the unattainable object of desire of Raoul is the girl, Cécile Viala. He watched her pass by the road near his house, every morning and evening, and he fell in love with her, however, he was afraid of talking to her.

2- Trespassing;

We can see trespassing in this story when the narrator shaves the rubber of the Gestapo’s officer car’s tyre inner tube with a small steel file, which means he damaged the tyre. This was against his father, who told him not to interfere with the clients, less with the German’s, and less with their cars.

3- There should be a dare;

There is a dare in the story when Raoul damages the Gestapo’s car’s tyre, like trespassing, knowing that his father told him never to repair his clients cars wrong in purpose, and not to interfere with the German’s.

4- The mischief should be owned up;

The narrator doesn’t confess he was guilty for the accident, and doesn’t act in a mature way because after the death of Cécile, he never recovered, he never moved on. He never fell in love again. He spent the rest of his life lonely with his father, and on the annivesary of her death he always took her flowers, and changed them for new ones if they were too old.

5- There should be an act of attonement;

There is an act of attonement in this story because Raoul finally accepts the responsability, he accepted he was guilty for the death of Cécile. However, he doesn´t say sorry nor act in a mature way after her death.