The Coward Revealed in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the main character, Willy Loman, is a struggling salesman. Willy Loman is a complex character who confuses illusion with reality. In a way, Willy has two personalities in this play. The one we see in the present action is a tired man in his sixties. The other Willy is the one we see in flashbacks. He is young and confident.
In Act Two, Scene Fourteen, Willy’s son Biff tells him that he loves him. Willy can tell that Biff is not just saying this out of pity because Biff is sobbing. In a flashback, Willy speaks to his dead brother Ben. Ben keeps saying "Time, William, Time", reminding him that suicide is closing in. Ben also tells Willy that he should come to the jungle. In this scene, the jungle represents opportunities for success. The reason that Ben tells Willy to come to the jungle, is that when in the jungle, Willy can get the diamonds. The diamonds represent the insurance money that the family will get from Willy’s accident. Therefore, Ben is saying that the only way Willy can get twenty thousand dollars in insurance money is to kill himself, or symbolically Ben is saying that the only way to get the diamonds is to enter the jungle. Willy also talks to Ben how great Biff would do with all of that money.
Willy thinks one more time about Biff and how he was a great football player. This shows that Willy still thinks of Biff as a football hero, which is one of the reasons Willy thinks Biff is so magnificent. As Willy is finishing up his thoughts, his wife, Linda, is calling him to come up to bed. After this happens, the sound of a speeding car is heard driving off into the night. In the same scene, Willy’s wife Linda has come to make a peace with their two sons, Biff and Happy. Linda also suspects that Willy may kill himself. She made a big mistake by leaving the disturbed Willy alone. The rubber tubing that Linda found on the heater foreshadows Willy’s suicide. Linda doesn’t want Willy to kill himself, but believes that she cannot interfere with his business.
I believe that Willy’s suicide was an escape from shame. He couldn’t keep living his life as a lie.
Education is a huge topic of controversy, society is always trying to reform what we know as education today. Right now, the first 12 years of education are entirely free for students directly, but in the end are paid for by the taxpayers of the town. The question is, why should only grades k-12 be free why not a college education too? On the other hand, there are some exceptions to free schooling at the k-12 levels. The most prominent being, Private schooling, most towns in the United States have at least one if not many private schools. They require a certain amount in tuition for each of its students every year. An example of this, in my town Salem, NH one of the most known private catholic schools is St. Joseph 's. I had a good friend a few years back
I’m convinced that much learning has occurred in this course, both on your part and on mine. So I’m most interested in your telling me what you have learned, rather than asking questions on this exam that require you to demonstrate your learning. So, look back over the course and compose a page each on what you have learned about each of these course objectives.
At the beginning of the play it is evident that he cannot determine the realities of life, and so he repeatedly contradicts himself to establish that his conclusion is correct and opinion accepted. These numerous contradictions demonstrate that Willy is perturbed of the possibility that negative judgements may come from others. Willy strongly believes that “personality always wins” and tells his sons that they should “be liked and (they) will never want”. In one of Willy’s flashbacks he recalls the time when his sons and him were outside cleaning their Chevy. Willy informs Biff and Happy the success of his business trips and how everyone residing in Boston adores him. He mentions that due to the admiration of people he does not even have to wait in lines. He ultimately teaches his sons that being liked by others is the way to fulfilling one’s life and removing your worries. These ideals, that one does not need to work for success, demonstrate Willy’s deluded belief of achieving a prosperous life from the admiration and acceptance of others. This ultimately proves to be a false ideology during his funeral, when an insufficient amount of people arrive. Willy constantly attempts to obtain other’s acceptance through his false tales that depict him as a strong, successful man. In the past, he attempts to lie to his wife, Linda, about the amount of wealth he has attained during his
Death of a Salesman is a play about a man named Willy Loman who is an aging sales man that has difficulty remembering events, as well as distinguishing the present from his memories. Willy has always tried to live up to the “American Dream,” but unfortunately has failed miserably as a salesman and a father. Willy still having high hopes of the dream tries to live his life through his oldest son Biff, who has turned out to be just as big as a failure. Biff uncovers the truth behind his father’s lies and Willy being tormented by his failures starts to spiral downward. The thoughts of having failed as a salesman and father finally lead Willy to take his own life. In order to understand a play like this one you need to use a strategy in approaching it. One valid approach to any type of literature is to experience, interpret, and evaluate it.
To start, Gender is constructed by society and therefore, it is constantly changing over time (Lorber, 2003). Gender is something that is acted out in each person’s everyday life or the routines of everyday activities. Gender is mostly carried out with simply thinking about the actions of specific genders. Gender roles are often expected soon after a child is born—a girl according to the gender roles, should wear pink and a baby boy should wear blue. Comments are often made before a child can even cognitively understand the idea of gender, such as, “he is going to be such a strong little boy,” or “she is going to be such a princess”. These ideas lead to socially-constructed gender and why men and women behave the way that they do.
In the book Death of A Salesman, author Arthur Miller shows how cruel life can be through the life of Willy Loman, the main character. His feelings of guilt, failure, and sadness result in his demise.
It has definitely been a huge impact in my development. A little after I had turned 2 years old my parents decided to leave Mexico to give my brother and I a better future. My dad had already been living here for many years, but my mom had wanted to stay behind. I experienced having to learn a new language when I started school, since at home my parents only spoke Spanish. In school I was picked on for being different, so I learned to accept everyone and not pick on anyone because they were not like me, it made me more open minded. My parents have always worked hard and I was taught to do the same, I have had a job since I was 13. I realized the huge sacrifices my parents made and how much they left behind when they left that tiny town in Mexico. My parents did not go to college, so they have always pushed me to do good in school, so I always try my best. I definitely think growing up as a Latina definitely played a huge role in my
Discuss the idea(s) developed by Arthur Miller, in the text Death of a Salesman about the role that self-preservation plays when individuals respond to competing demands.
All around the world society has created an ideological perspective for the basis of gender roles. Gender and sex are often times misused and believed to be interchangeable. This is not the case. There are two broad generalization of sexes; female and male, yet there is a vast number of gender roles that each sex should more or less abide by. The routinely cycle of socially acceptable behaviors and practices is what forms the framework of femininity and masculinity. The assigned sex categories given at birth have little to do with the roles that a person takes on. Biological differences within females and males should not be used to construe stereotypes or discriminate within different groups. Social variables such as playing with dolls or
Throughout Gendered Worlds sociologists argue that gender and sex are socially constructed as opposed to being innate. The authors present evidence in regards to history, biology, and contemporary viewpoints using day-to-day examples. Although alternative viewpoints may argue that through biological perspectives, gender and sex are innate characteristics through deeper examination it can be determined that gender and sex are truly socially constructed.
When considering gender and sex, a layman’s idea of these terms might be very different than a sociologist’s. There is an important distinction: sex, in terms of being “male” or “female,” is purely the physical biological characteristic differences – primarily anatomical differences. (There are also rare cases of “intersexual” individuals as outlined in the Navarro article, “When Gender Isn’t a Given”.) Gender, on the other hand, is an often misconstrued concept that is commonly mistaken as synonymous with sex. A non-sociologist might surmise the following, “men act masculine and women act feminine, therefore, it must follow that gender is inherent to sex,” however, this is not necessarily the case.
Willy is a multi-faceted character which Miller has portrayed a deep problem with sociological and psychological causes and done so with disturbing reality. In another time or another place Willy might have been successful and kept his Sanity, but as he grew up, society's values changed and he was left out in the cold. His foolish pride, bad judgment and his disloyalty are also at fault for his tragic end and the fact that he did not die the death of a salesman.
Willy's search to find his mistakes of his life failed because, even though he found out what happened to Biff, he did not search for the right thing: his identity. Willy found out that his affair made Biff envision his father as a fake and phony, but he did not realize that a salesman was not the right job for him. When Willy died, no one came to his funeral (Act II. Scene I). This just showed that Willy was not the man he thought he was. He thought he was a great salesman with an unlimited amount of friends, but, when he died, no one was at his funeral but his family (Act II. Scene I). It showed that Willy was just a simple craftsman, who only needed attention and love from his family, and did not need fame or to be well-known ("Arthur Miller and Others," 311-314)
When one hears the word “gender” it is typically assumed to be referring to the biological sex of that individual. However, gender is not a static concept in our world anymore. The traditional spheres of what is masculinity and femininity have become increasingly muddled as our society progresses socially and becomes more accepting. Along with this, however, social processes continue to take place to enforce what we believe a man and a woman should be, in an attempt to force people to fit into what we see as being a man and a woman.
Because Elizabeth frequently visits her friend Charlotte, who lives with Darcy's aunt, she sees Darcy often. Darcy beings to ask Elizabeth to marry him, but each time she refuses. She's angry at him for breaking up Jane and Bingley's love affair, and because she was led to believe he stole George Wickham's inheritance. Darcy admitted to interfering with her sisters' relationship, but denies any involvement with Wickham and his inheritence. He claims Wickham is not what he appears to be, but actually is a dishonest.