The Contrasting of America and Italy in A View from the Bridge :: English Literature

The Contrasting of America and Italy in A View from the Bridge Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge presents many different views of America, not only do you see America through the eyes of an Immigrant but also through the eyes of the regular working people, for instance the longshoremen. Within Alfieri's speech, we get our first ideas of what America was like for Eddie, Beatrice and Catherine. The speech highlights, cultural connections 'Frankie Yale himself was cut precisely in half by a machine gun on the corner of Union Street' this shows the influence and grip the Mafia had over American Culture in the 1950's. When describing the area, where Eddie and Beatrice live, he describes it as 'the slum that faces the bay' which gives the impression, of a run down area where only the poor live. He uses the simile 'the gullet of New York, swallowing the tonnage of the world.' Which gives image of a place that has boats coming from all over the world laden with cargo and more. It gives Red Hook, the image of an unsightly place, where people have to work to their limit to feed and support their families. In my opinion Eddie, Beatrice and Catherine are there to show the typical Italian American family of the 1950's. Their house is what most of the longshoremen and their families would live in. It is only a small tenement flat. In the early section of Act One, Miller contrasts the flat, to the living conditions in Sicily and Southern Italy, he voices the comparison through Eddie's response, to Beatrice's worries about needing a new table cloth and cleaning the flat, which is 'listen, they'll think this it's a millionaire's house compared to the way they live.' This is showing, why there were so many immigrants coming into America, the living conditions were so much better than in their countries, even the poorest were living like Kings in the eyes of the immigrants. Catherine, I believe is symbolising the future, because she is the one, who wants to move on with her life, and become a stenographer and work for a company. But Eddie, who still believes in the archaic ways that the man should do the working, tries to discourage her from taking the job. In a way, Catherine being offered the job is showing the 'American Way' that anyone can get a job in America, even an immigrant. But soon the conversation turns back to Beatrice's immigrant cousins and about the American Immigration Bureau. This gives the image of a country full of rules and regulations, a place where there is law and