Linda Loman
As time grows, a spouse becomes a soul mate, best friend, and lover all in one. No one will ever show their dedication and love for you like your significant other and that’s what Arthur Miller addresses in the play Death of a Salesman. Linda Loman is the wife of Willy Loman, a man that treats her wrong but she still stands by his side. Linda is a vital character because she never has a low personality, she chooses her husband over her children she’s strong when her husband passes away and she the voice of the playwright.
Linda Loman has been noticing her husband has been down in the dumps but still attempts to keep him motivated. Usually when someone treats a person bad they simply remove themselves from the situation but Linda didn’t. Linda has “developed an iron repression of her exceptions to Willy’s behavior – she more than loves him, she admires him, as though his mercurial nature, his temper, his massive dreams and little cruelties, served her only as sharp reminders of the turbulent longings within him”(1070). Throughout the play Willy constantly disrespects and ignores Linda but she has become immune to it:
LINDA. Willy, dear, I got a new kind of American-type cheese today. It’s whipped.
WILLY. Why did you get American when I like Swiss?
LINDA. I just thought you’d like a change –
WILLY. I don’t want a change! I want Swiss cheese. Why am I always being contradicted?
LINDA (with a covering laugh). I thought it would be a surprise. (1071)
In the dialogue she keeps a positive attitude and brushes it off even he gets angry and becomes rude. Women are emotional creatures. Their feelings get hurt if they take something in the wrong context and Linda shows her strength by “[using] a covering laugh [and having] infin...
... middle of paper ...
...ngs are hurt because of her son’s actions. The playwright used Linda to show her anger as a mother and a wife. To give life and hope to the play, her major dialogues are to comfort her husband, support and put her children in their place and that’s important because the mood when it came to Willy, Biff and Happy was always negative.
To show her dedication and how much she cared about her husband, Linda showed strength in every situation she dealt with. She is a vital character because she never has a low personality regardless of everything she deals with, she chooses her husband over her children, she’s strong for everyone when her husband passes away and shes the main voice for the play.
Works Cited
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Rpt. In The Bedford Introduction to Drama.
6th ed. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston. Bedford/St.Martin’s 2009. 1069-1106.
Willy Loman is not the only victim of his tragic flaw. The rest of the Loman family is also affected by Willy's problem. Willy's wife, Linda, is the only one who supports and understands Willy's tragic flaw completely. Linda supports every far-fetched claim her husband makes. She is even described as having “infinite patience” whenever she is conversing with Willy (Miller 99). Willy's two sons, Biff and Happy, are also affected by his flaw. Happy, when in the company of two ladies, claims that Willy is not even his father, and “just a guy” (Miller 91). Later in the play, Biff decides that he does not want to be in his father's life anymore. Biff's problems are simply too much for Willy to handle with his current state of being, even though Willy needs Biff in his life. After both internal and external conflict, Biff reveals to Willy that Willy had been lied to for a number of years, and that the life he lives is essentially a lie (Miller 104).
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
This also show that Linda loved her husband more than anything, she would do anything to protect his pride including not telling Willy that she knows he had been trying to commit suicide. Everything Linda di is to protect Willy pride and face, and not letting any of her son
the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a
Death of Salesman by Arthur Miller The Requiem seems to simply conclude the play at the funeral and let us see the other character's view of events with some retrospect. However, with closer scrutiny, we see that old issues and resentments. are still very prevalent in the U.S. The Requiem can be split into two halves.
Another person that suffered from Willy’s obsession with the American Dream was Linda, Willy’s wife. To illustrate, “Linda: He’s dying Biff… that saved him,” (Miller 41). At this point, Linda is trying to explain to her sons that Willy has been trying to commit suicide. She recounts the details on Willy’s car accidents and she talked to a woman who said Willy wasn’t going fast, didn’t skid, and then deliberately smashed into the railing on the side of the road. Linda is obviously disgusted with her son's actions and distraught by Willy’s intentions therefore, she is sharing what is happening with Willy in hope that they will treat Willy with more appreciation. Also, Biff is vigilant when Linda talks about the woman and it throws her off guard.
Linda will go to any lengths to protect her husband and even tries to protect him when it comes to how their boys see Willy. It seems like she still
Relations between fathers and the younger generation have been and continue to be an important theme for various literary genres (King Lear, Shakespeare; Fathers and Sons, Turgenev). For many famous writers the significance of fathers’ influence on their children forms a subject of particular interest. . In the play, Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller shows in a very striking manner that the father's influence can be either positive or fatal. The dispiriting story of the three generations of the Lomans family contrasts with the happy account of the life of their neighbors, Charley and his son Bernard.
Many articles explain that Linda Loman is the cause of dysfunction in the Loman House. One article read, “Linda believes that if her sons become successful then Willy’s fragile psyche will heal itself” ("Linda Loman: The Wife in "Death of a Salesman"). She thinks that Willy ...
on him, but the boys aren't willing to help Willy out when he needs them.
Throughout the play Death of a Salesman the main character, Willy Loman, struggles to find a medium between his family and career life. Such an occurrence is common throughout history, and one only needs to look at celebrities to see that such a statement is accurate as more often than naught, the pursuit of wealth and a tight family unit don’t often correlate well together. Perhaps this is a matter of balancing one’s personal life, and one’s career. Yet few have managed to succeed in maintaining both on equal level, as one is valued above the other. This may not be seen as a drastic problem, for most people, as they are happy with their income rates and family relationships, and thus doesn’t see a need to change to improve either one. Some might even argue that it’s the normal thing, and that the other side is not affected by the amount of time that they prioritize with either their family or work. In fact, most might say, that in focusing more on one aspect, be it their job or their family, the other simply balances out. However, this tends to be more noticeable in families that prioritize their relationships above their career, as they see their wealth as something that
A logical fallacy can be defined as a “flawed argument” (Kirszner and Mandell 84). It can be considered, “ a writer who inadvertently uses logical fallacies is not thinking clearly or logically…” (Kirszner and Mandell 84). In the play, Death of a Salesman, there is an assortment of situations exemplifying different kinds of logical fallacies. Cognitive distortions are also present in this play. Some of the characters in Death of a Salesman have thoughts that seem to be slightly unclear. These distortions sometimes result when people “…think in extremes…” (“Cognitive Distortions”).
Theme of Success in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman One of the important themes in Death of a Salesman is the nature of success. Many people believe that success is about making a lot of money. They say that with money comes happiness. However, this may not always be true. In other words, success is defined as the accomplishment of something that was desired.
The play Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, is about an average salesman living in Brooklyn, New York in the 1940’s named Willy Loman. Willy firmly believes in the American dream and is living his life aspiring to gain the wealth and materials associated with those of higher status in society. This American dream tears apart his family and the end result is his own demise. Glengarry Glen Ross, by David Mamet, has a plot similar to Death of a Salesman in that it is about salesmen and it shows the effects of capitalism on people and society. A difference between the two, however, is that Glengarry Glen Ross includes a group of salesmen working a firm who are trying to win a sales contest in which the first prize is a Cadillac, the second price is a set of steak knives, and the remaining salesmen will be fired. The main difference in the plays is that Death of a Salesman is decidedly a modern play and Glengarry Glen Ross is a postmodern response to Death of a Salesman.
A tragic hero brings his own demise upon himself due to a crippling character flaw. Willy Loman from “Death of a Salesman”