1. In "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," the 1st episode of Season 1, Don Draper says the following during a meeting with the Lucky Strike's executives:
"Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car [...] It's freedom from fear. It's a billboard on the side of the road that screams with reassurance that whatever you are doing is okay. You are okay."
Considering that not only does Don Draper lead a double life but he also is an impostor who is living someone else's life, what kind of social commentary is Mad Men making in this scene? In other words, what is the show saying about individuality and authenticity in a society that is ruled by marketing and advertising?
2. In "The Hobo Code," the 8th episode of Season 1, Bertram Cooper makes a reference to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and suggests that certain similarities between himself and Don Draper are described in that book: "You are a productive and reasonable man and in the end completely self-interested. It's strength. We are different, unsentimental about all the people who depend on our hard work." Based on the two episodes you watched and what you know about Don's character, would you agree with Cooper's assessment?
3. In that same 8th episode, what do you think is the significance of the scene in which the young Dick Whitman talks with the stranger who comes to his house and finds out about the hobo code? How can you relate Dick's discovery of the gatepost mark that indicates a dishonest man lives in that house with the preceding scene, in which Don wakes up his son to tell him "I will never lie to you"? What's the significance of Dick being declared an "honorary bum" by the man? That man has no home, do you think Don does?