People have dreams and aspiration that they fight to achieve. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun the characters of Biff and Walter, Jr., are fighting to achieve there dreams by any means necessary. Their families support them in their endeavors to become a successful businessman. I believe that the characters of Biff and Walter, Jr., are both character who are struggling to achieve their dreams and provide a better life for their family.
In Arthur Miller’s Death of a salesman the play is based on one man trying to reach the a personal dream while unknowingly hurting his family. During Willy Loman’s life he caused his family to be damaged by living a life that he could no longer fulfill. His sons Biff and Happy realized what their father is going through and are their for him in his time of need. Willy traveled around the east coast selling merchandise but as he grew older he lost his ability to travel. Willy tried to force his dream on to his sons Biff and Happy after he realizes that he can no longer cut it for his traveling job. He risks his life and is eventually fired after a lifetime of hard work. Willy subconsciously decided that he need to create a future for his children. His realization that he can not fulfil his dream crush him and he starts to complain about
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But they were both able to understand that people must sometimes put aside the dreams for the better cause. The death of Willy shows Biff what can happen if you get obsessed with your dream. Likewise the lose of the money from the death of Walter, Sr., shows Walter, Jr., what will happen. Both of them finally understand in the end that life is not about money, power and possessions, but about family and friends. Family and friends will be there in your times of need and in your times of success, and will always love
Have you ever worked long and hard on a project, only to realize that it was effort wasted and the project was totally meaningless in the end? That is just what occurred in the play The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Willy Loman, the protagonist, spent decades in mind numbing work, only to discover that he had “built his life on shifting sand” (Nicholas). Through the course of his journey, Willy kept on the straight and narrow highway, which he thought would bring success and happiness. He often contemplated when he would draw his last breath and if he should. Willy begins to realize the futility of his journey when his son Biff Loman returned from college after he had flunked out. Willy had a prevailing hope that his son would amount to something, that he would be successful and become someone great. The cold and brutal reality was that both Biff and Willy were still living in the past. It takes until the final scenes in the play, for Biff to finally comprehend what his dad wanted for him; which was for him to go get a job in business instead of chasing his senseless dreams of being a rancher in Texas. It is in those final moments that Biff steps
Biff is one of the main characters in the play "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller. Biff is Willy's and Linda's son. He was the star of the football team and had scholarships to 3 college's, but he flunked math and couldn't graduate, so he tried to work at many different jobs, and failed at each. Finally, he decided to head out west, and work on farms.
Never had an ounce of respect for you” (Miller 39). It is difficult for Biff as well, because of the colliding dreams that he obtains, from Willy’s dreams. Rather than cherishing a family relationship, relationships are being broken apart due to different expectations and pressures of success. The parents in Death of a Salesman and “Two Kinds” exhibit their ambition to present their children a brighter future.
Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry are known as two of the greatest African American writers during the 1950s. Facing racial discrimination, both projected this into their work. Black empowerment is a commonality between their pieces. In Harlem, these authors meet and became best friends. Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” is based on answering the question from Hughes’ “Dream deferred.” Hansberry’s play answers what happens to dreams deferred through her characters as Mama pushes away her dreams for her family, Walter’s dream of a liquor store is crushed, and Beneatha does not want to become a doctor. In her play, “A Raisin in the Sun,” Lorraine uses Beneatha, Walter, and Mama to show the negative consequences that occur when a dream is deferred.
In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is a salesman who has worked his entire life away and in looking back upon his life he feels that he has not made any overall achievements to be proud of. In his older age he struggles with internal and external conflicts in regards to his own personal choices and trying to make sure that his sons make good live’s to support themselves with. Willy’s wife is a woman who is overly understanding and loving when it comes to her husband; and even though he treats her disrespectfully in most instances she is undoubtedly devoted to him. She continues to believe in his work and abilities even when he no longer has the capability to see his own actions through. Miller shows in his play that as Willy fights to make successful live’s for his children and family he is only separating them farther and leading himself to suicide, because of their overall difference in views upon life and his own self doubt.
In his final scene, Willy decides to end his life with the idea that Biff will then be wealthy enough from his death insurance money to finally be as successful as Willy had always hoped him to be. Although many interpret the ending of the play to be a tragedy, there is still optimism after Willy dies. Biff and Happy’s reactions to their father’s death is where the last bit of optimism lies in the play. Although Biff and Happy have two different outlooks on their father’s life, they each take what they need in order to find happiness and success in their futures. Biff knows that he does not want to chase the dream that his father did, he takes his father’s suicide as a lesson that a job like his and the pressures that come along with such a demanding occupation are too much for him to handle.
Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman follows protagonist Willy Loman in his search to better his and his family’s lives. Throughout Willy Loman’s career, his mind starts to wear down, causing predicaments between his wife, two sons and close friends. Willy’s descent into insanity is slowly but surely is taking its toll on him, his job and his family. They cannot understand why the man they have trusted for support all these years is suddenly losing his mind. Along with his slope into insanity, Willy’s actions become more aggressive and odd as the play goes on. Despite Willy and Biff’s “family feud”, his two sons Happy and Biff truly worry about their father’s transformation, Happy saying: “He just wants you to make good, that’s all. I wanted to talk to you about dad for a long time, Biff. Something’s – happening to him. He – talks to himself” (Miller 21). Willy, as a father, cares about his children but he wishes they would do better. He believes Biff should have been an athlete. According to Harrington, “Even figuratively, Willy is haunted, and particularly in Biff’s failure to achieve success as a sports figure” (108). This haunting is part of what led to Willy’s slow plunge into madness. As Willy’s career in sales fails, he also fails, even failing his family. Heyen adds: “He didn’t have anything of real value to give to his family, or if he did, he didn’t know what it was” (48). His debilitating flashbacks and delusional hallucinations with Uncle Ben cement his horrifying realizations that he has let down his family. Willy Loman blames the economy for his downfall in his career. In one of his more extreme outbursts he exclaims, “There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country! Population is getting out of control. ...
Through a series of events, Biff gradually comes to a realization of what is necessary for success. First, we are shown a part of his childhood where Biff is told that "the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead." This idea appears in direct contrast to Bernard, one of Biff's childhood friends, who works and studies hard. Biff decides that Bernard will not succeed because he is "only liked, not well-liked," and being well-liked is the cornerstone of success. Nonetheless, later in the play we see that Bernard has become very successful, underscoring one of the messages in the play, that success is not just a result of popularity. Second, we are shown a scene in Boston soon after Biff has just failed math for the year. He discovers his "heroic" father having an affair. Biff comes to the painful realization that his father's values, his views, and everything that Biff had made the foundation of his life, are all completely "fake" and "phony." Unfortunately, he has nothing with which to replace it. Lastly, Biff decides to leave to try and find himself, but an argument develops between Biff and Willy. Biff begins to see himself as like his father, "nothing," just an average man trying to make a living, and quite possibly failing. Biff's earlier image of his father's greatness has crumbled entirely, leaving a lost young man trying to find his way. Biff realized that he now needs to find his own values in life. He has finally tasted reality and now must dive head first into the pot, without any real preparation.
In brief, it is apparent that Willy’s own actions led to not only his own demise, but his children’s as well. The salesman tragically misinterpreted the American Dream for only the superficial qualities of beauty, likeability and prosperity. Perhaps if Willy had been more focused on the truth of a person’s character, rather than purely physical aspects, his family’s struggles and his own suicide could have been avoided. On the whole, Arthur Miller’s play is evidence that the search for any dream or goal is not as easy and the end result may seem. The only way to realize the objective without any despair is the opposite of Willy Loman’s methods: genuineness, perseverance and humility.
In the play, The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller,Willy Loman, an unsuccessful business man struggling to support his family is completely out of touch with reality throughout the plot line. Many characters throughout this play and their interactions with Willy have showed the audience his true colors and what he thinks is important in life. His constant lying and overwhelming ego certainly does not portray his life in factual terms, but rather in the false reality that he has convinced himself he lives in.
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller concerns itself with the fall of a simple man perpetually in a steadfast state regarding his own failure in a success-driven society. The protagonist of the play, Willy Loman, will follow a tragic trajectory that will eventually lead to his suicide. Arthur Miller's tragic play is an accurate portrayal of the typical American myth that sustains an extreme craving for success and a belief in the illusion of the American dream, a dream attainable only by a handful of people. Having chosen a career in sales Willy Loman constantly aspires to become 'great'. Nevertheless, Willy is a poor aging salesman that considers himself to be a failure when comparing himself to his successful father and brother, but he is incapable of consciously admitting it. Consequently, Willy will measure his level of success with the level of success attained by his offspring, particularly his eldest son Biff. Their difficult relationship contribute to the play's main plot. Willy unfolds his deluded perception and recollection of the events as the audience gradually witnesses the tragic downfall of a man shadowed by a mental illness that has already began to take it's toll on his mind and personality.
Arthur Miller, A play writer in the twentieth century, wrote a play entitled Death of a salesman that won him the Pulitzer Price just a year after its release. In the play Miller expresses the life of a 60 year old salesman that undergoes through lack of success in his life and sees the same thing happening ,to his two grown sons now in their mid-thirties, as the American dream faded away being replaced by capitalism in the late 1940s. The play starts of by introducing Willy Loman, the protagonist, and tells the story of the final twenty four hours in Willy’s life all the way to his death and funeral. Between that time laps the audience is able to see Willies past thanks to his constant daydreams, along with his sons past and wife and their current situation all the way to Willies suicide. Willy kills himself in order to get achieve his dream of being successful and having a lot of money the way Willy in vision his death to be just like the death of a salesman in which everyone across the nation would attend his funeral. Unfortunately for Willy his dream died along with him as no one attended his funeral but his family and friends or “Friend” in this case considering that Willy only had one remaining friend the rest had died or believed that he had selfishly killed himself. Throughout Millers vivid play writing and expressive thoughts he is able to capture the audience attention and convey the message that People are so often scared of reality that they hide from it by living I the past. In death of a salesman Willy Loman decides to neglect reality by living in his past ultimately leading to his death due to lack of success and failure.
The play, Death of a Salesman, is a tragic drama about an aging salesman who tries to do all he can to support his family and make them lead successful lives. The struggling salesman, Willy Loman has two sons, Biff and Happy, whom he tries to drive towards success. Willy believes that being well liked and making a good and lasting impression are the keys to success and tries to teach this philosophy to his two sons. Biff, being the favorite son of Willy, has worked as a manual laborer and Willy believes that Biff can do so much more with his life. While Biff is happy, he does not meet Willy’s criteria for success. Biff is unable to fulfill Willy’s dream because Willy’s idea of success is not a life Biff wants to pursue.
represents that even when individuals go through conflict either internally or externally the first step to getting better is understanding the problem and moving on from there. Biff and Happy Loman are brothers in the play, The Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller. They are two very contrasting characters; the two brothers both deal with conflict in an entirely different manner, which leads to a completely different end result for each character. When two characters start out with the same perspective, you can clearly identify the differences between them as the characters adapt and revise who they were.
In Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman the character Biff, the son of Willy and Linda Loman, and the character Bernard, the child of the Loman’s neighbors Charley and his wife, are considered to be foil characters to each other. Biff, the golden boy of the Loman family, and the one that had everything in high school, grows up to be a failure and a disappointment to his family. Bernard, the nerd friend of the Loman boys, and the one who dreamed he had what Biff had in high school, grows up to be a successful lawyer and makes his family proud.