The Dictionary Salesman Clarice Rebecca R. Ramos 1. Setting The play sets in the evening at a man’s house. 2. Characters Man:
A man in the middle of his adulthood who does not know how to read and write, has relatives nearby
Mary:
The wife of the man, also illiterate.
Child:
Selling a dictionary for $5 and exerting effort to convince the family to buy one.
Daughter:
Child of Mary and the man.
Dirtman:
Selling a bag of dirt
3. Theme: The script hints a comedic approach to a realist plot revolving around poverty, illiteracy, and materialism. 4. Plot: INTRODUCTION: The one act play begins with a child knocking on the door of a man’s house. The man opened the door and after initially doubting his health and cleanliness, allows him to go inside the house. The child sells him a dictionary—a book with words and their meanings. RISING CONFLICT: Clueless on what a dictionary is, the man asks him if his book has a story to which the child answered there is none. He then calls his wife, Mary, and tells her that a child is selling them a book without a story. The daughter comes in, overhearing their conversation about ‘stories.’ Her first thought was that the book the boy was selling has a story and she is very eager to find out what it is. The boy explains that his book does not have a story. Rather, it is filled with words and their meanings. He says that its purpose is to give meaning to words one does not know. He gives the word assistance as an example. The boy shows the family how to look it up in the dictionary using the Alphabet which the family is not familiar with. He says that the alphabet is a series of letters such as “a”, “s”, “q”, and “t.” He confuses the family as he says that the meaning of “assistance” is “help” to which they asked if why they can’t simply use the word “help.”
CLIMAX: He gave a scenario wherein suppose the family was to write a letter about their sick aunt and send them to their relatives who live in Ireland to which the family argued that they do not know how to write, nor do they have a sick Aunt. All their family lives nearby and even if they were to send a letter, they had no mail system and their relatives also do not know how to read. The man exclaims that suppose all the boy’s given scenarios were true, then his book would be useful. The boy gives another scenario wherein the man would write a letter to the duke expressing his troubles about the Tax System. The man agrees that he is not happy with the tax system and that he would like to send the duke a “Q”. His wife agrees and would also like to send the Duke a “Q”. The boy exclaims that they can’t do just send a “Q” to which the woman misunderstands as gender discrimination. The boy says that you can’t just send the letter “Q” because the Duke would not understand their intent. The family is now confused with the give scenario. The man acclaims that boy should just sell his book to the duke. DENOUMA: At that moment, a man knocks on the door. He sells the family dirt to which the father sees useful for him so he buys a bag. The child acclaims: “You’re buying dirt?! I’m trying to sell words and meanings. This could really help you!” The man gets the book and places beneath the shorter foot of the table. CONCLUSION: The book is bought for $5 but is used for a different purpose. 5. Analysis The value of a material object to us is not necessarily its market value, nor is it imposed by someone else’s valuation of the same object. Our appreciation of our material possessions are representative of our social status—the rich typically will not value water as high as a thirsty, hungry poor child in Africa. Similarly, food is more valuable than designer shoes for a poor hungry woman. The Dictionary Salesman tells us to understand that the things we give importance to may not be the same things that other people will care about. In the case of the play, the child values knowledge and information as necessary crux for power and influence—something that the family does not value given their illiteracy. In sum, the play problematizes issues of valuation, materialism, objectification, and social stratification and does so creatively.
