Death of a Traveling Salesman
In the short story, “Death Of A Traveling Salesman,” R. J. Bowman is a successful salesman with the intention to get home after being sick and in the hospital. He faces many obstacles along the way. Even though R. J. Bowman knows that there is something missing in his life he has no desire to try and bring it into his life. He realizes he is only a salesman and that is all he will ever be. There are symbols in the story that show a shadow over Bowman’s life. Darkness is the most significant that occurs throughout the story, and light is also a significant part of the story. Mr. Bowman likes to cover up his true feelings by ignoring them or literally covering them up. Through the symbolism of darkness and light, Eudora Welty shows the reality of the loveless void in R. J. Bowman’s life.
From the beginning of the story the darkness of Bowman’s situation reflects the emptiness of his past and the bleakness of his future. Bowman is a salesman who is just getting out of the hospital recovering from an illness. An illness that is causes him to forget the way to Beulah. Driving down the road “…Bowman stuck his head out of the dusty car to stare up the road…” (204), this is the first sign of dark symbolism. There is a dusty residue on his car and he is trying to see out of his window, the window of life. There is something in his life that is cloudy, or there is something missing in his life. He is standing at the beginning of his life looking down a dirt path that only has one route, which is striving to be the best salesman he can be, and nothing more.
Bowman’s life has two parts to it, half of his life is happy and the other half is full of darkness and sadness. After his car goe...
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...for business. He covered his heart as he has done all his life, he has covered up the darkness so no one else could see it, and so no one could try and help him. He did not want to be loved he wanted to be a salesman and a salesman only.
Welty uses symbolism such as darkness and light to show R. J. Bowman’s struggles of loneliness that he notices while he is sick and lost. He finds that he is a salesman that can never love nor be loved. By covering his heart in the end of the story the reader discovers that he will never be loved, and he dies an unloved salesman. He dies with half of his life in darkness and the other half lighted. He dies a half happy, half sad salesman.
Bibliography:
Work Cited
Welty, E. “Death Of A Traveling Salesman.” Selected Short Stories of Eudora Welty. Ed. Katherine Anne Porter. Random House, Inc ed, 1992. 204-222.
The first two lines of the poem set the mood of fear and gloom which is constant throughout the remainder of the poem. The word choice of "black" to describe the speaker's face can convey several messages (502). The most obvious meaning ...
In the short story “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter and “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin both authors make a strong connection between lightness and darkness as symbols throughout the story. Dark and Light can represent two opposing forces, whether good and evil or love and hate. In both stories light is used to show calmness and positive elements while darkness is used to show personal problems and negative elements. In “Sonny’s Blues” the narrator discovers his brother getting arrested for selling and using heroin. The lightness and darkness in this story is used to show the transition from Sonny’s childhood to his adulthood. In “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” the lightness and darkness is used to show the stages in Granny’s life. Both authors use these symbols as transitions in the characters life.
Within Death of a Salesman, there are many themes, motifs and symbolism shown to help readers and audiences alike understand the writing. Arthur Miller implemented these developmental characteristics through showing the theme of success and failure, features of a tragic hero and the germination within characters. Through Millers writing, it is shown that the American Dream does not always end in a happy
support is a pathetic effort to protect his identity. Linda will never admit to herself,
The opening paragraph of the story contains a metaphorical passage: "I stared at it in the swinging light of the subway car, and in the faces and bodies of the people, and in my own face, trapped in the darkness which roared outside"(349). This reference is significant because it is a contrast to the dismal society that the narrator and his brother Sonny live in. The darkness is the portrayal of the community of Harlem that is trapped, in their surroundings by physical, economic, and social barriers. The obvious nature of darkness has overcome the occupants of the Harlem community. The narrator, an algebra teacher, observes a depressing similarity between his students and his brother, Sonny. This is true because the narrator is fearful for his students falling into a life of crime and drugs, as did his brother. The narrator notes that the cruel realities of the streets have taken away the possible light from the lives of his brother and his students. The narrator makes an insightful connection between the darkness that Sonny faced and the darkness that the young boys are presently facing. This is illustrated in the following quote:
For example, in the beginning of the story, Young Goodman Brown is leaving his wife Faith at sunset to go on a journey that cannot wait. The images of a sunset and of the approaching nighttime illustrate the fear of the unknown. Goodman Brown must travel through the darkness before he reaches the light of knowledge just as the prisoners in Allegory of the Cave must travel from the dark cave in order to reach the light. As the story continues, Hawthorne uses the image of a “dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest” to heighten the fear of the unknown. Goodman Brown has left the comfort of the cave of confusion and is beginning to discover the imperfections of the world and of its people.
“We blew out the candle….” The first thing that is apparent about this quote is the use of we. The word we is used throughout the book in place of I. This is directly related to the society in the novel that completely takes away individualism. The citizens of the setting do not have names and are not allowed to choose their jobs, friends, or even spouses. The character says “There is nothing left around us” which is directly related to the main character feeling alone. He feels like he is the only person who questions life and knows that it was not meant to be this way. Also, this quote sets a dark setting which then gives the reader an ominous feeling that is present throughout the novel. This also is related to the dark and dismal lives that everyone lives during this time. Finally, the main character describes his surroundings as a prison, or that it gives a prison-like feel. This also is related to how he feels different and trapped in this way of life. He knows there is much more to the life he leads and feels trapped and does not know what he can do to change it.
...become anything he dreamed about becoming in his life he thought he should move on.
Gioia, Dana, and X.J. Kennedy. "Death of a Salesman" Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, Compact Edition, Interactive Edition. 5th ed. New York: Pearson; Longman Publishing, 2007. 1212-1280. Print.
Miller, Arthur. “Death of a Salesman”. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. Dana Gioia and X.J. Kennedy.10th Ed. New York: Pearson, 2007.
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Seventh Edition. X.J. Kennedy, and Dana Gioia. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1999. 1636-1707.
...ated by her brief attendance at Rubicam’s Business College, and her even briefer encounter with Jim, the gentleman caller, cause her to retreat further into her illusory world of glass figurines. In the case of Miller’s Loman family, the tragic element is that they do not realize that the security and contentment they desire are commodities that cannot be purchased. As a result, Willy Loman does not realize that he has placed the highest value on what is no more than a myth and illusion. Willy equates success to being well-liked and personally attractive. His dreams of a better future become powerful fantasies that make it impossible for him to distinguish illusion from reality. (JANARDANAN, " Images of Loss in Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Marsha Norman's night, Mother, and Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive", 7-8)
Arthur Miller's, "Death of a Salesman," shows the development and structure that leads up to the suicide of a tragic hero, Willy Loman. The author describes how an American dreamer can lose his self-worth by many negative situations that occur throughout his life. The structure and complications are essential because it describes how a man can lose his way when depression takes over.
Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman is wrought with symbolism from the opening scene. Many symbols illustrate the themes of success and failure. They include the apartment buildings, the rubber hose, Willy’s brother Ben, the tape recorder, and the seeds for the garden. These symbols represent Willy’s attempts to be successful and his impending failure.
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller highlights the result of an unfulfilling life through Willy Loman’s pursuit of an unrealistic American Dream and the effects it creates on himself as well as his family. This story has many strong examples which prove the psychoanalytic theory by Sigmund Freud and his concept of the human