A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller: Cultural Identity

In A View from the Bridge, Arthur Miller represents the cultural identity of both America and Italy. He does this by focusing on a microcosm of society, which embodies the society of the 1950’s as a whole. In the drama, class, gender, ethnicity and the differing values of each culture contribute to the representation of cultural identity. The techniques Miller employs include construction of characters, symbolic actions within the drama, and major issues and conflicts.

Class
 The distinctions between the American working class people, such as the Carbone household and their friends, and the middle class, to which Alfieri belongs, are portrayed through language. Only Alfieri is properly articulate, for he is an educated person of America. Eddie’s speech is simple and colloquial, depicting the working class. He is not as articulate in English as Alfieri is. Marco, from the Italian working class, says quite little in comparison to the other characters because English is no...