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Characterization of willy loman in death of a salesman
Death of a salesman willy
Symbolism In Death Of A Salesman
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DEATH OF THE SALESMAN
INTRODUCTION
The main character in the novel is Willy loman who is facing the difficulty situation in the play. Firstly I am going to describe Willy loman and Biff loman the oldest son of Willy. Willy is the father of two sons Biff and Happy, he has a lot of potential, and he thinks the goal of life is to be well liked and gain material success. He failed to achieve the American goal. And Biff the oldest son of Willy is the character in the novel that shows any real personal growth, he cannot hold down a job. In the story at (Act 2, 105) I am going to discuss the merits of Biff observation.
The relationship between Biff and Willy is not good. Since Biff found that his father Willy was cheating to her mother he left the home. In the play The Death of a Salesman Willy Loman and Biff seems they don’t like each other. Although Willy love his son Biff. When Biff was young Willy was always there supporting Biff in everything and was very proud of him. And he was the son that Willy had attached him dreams upon. According to the statement “I am not the leader of men, Willy, and neither are you. You were anything but a hard working drummer who landed in the ash-can like all the rest of them”. Biff’s observation was that he sees his father as a failed to achieve, although he work hard to success. Willy loves Biff his oldest son since he was at school. In his mind he was thinking that Biff will become a successful man in life, but it didn’t happen’. Biff is a man who got the job but fail to keep his job. That makes Willy become frustrated. But Biff he tried to find himself. Here Biff compare his self and Willy’. Willy is the hard worker trying to achieve an American dream, and when he look at Ben his brother who achi...
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... an American dream. Because of the shortage of money and worried about his family that cause Willy to take his life he commit suicide because of love. His too much love to biff makes him to take his life. In the story we had that all this things happened because of the American dream and too much love.
Conclusion
In the play we see Willy Loman confusing his family because of his action that makes the whole family become worried of him keep asking their self about the father of the family Willy Loman. His hallucination didn’t affect the family only even the neibours are worried about him. To overall all these that cause Willy seems like is crazy it because of the American dream where everybody want to achieve the American dream in these world. That is doesn’t happened in America only even in the African continent it’s happened because of the colonial influence.
Both sons live with the same concern for Willy as Linda, especially after she explains to them that Willy’s crashes were not accidents. Biff is particularly affected by Willy’s actions as Biff discovered Willy’s affair with one of his coworkers, an action which enraged Biff and caused Biff to refuse to fix his math grade and finish high school. Additionally, Willy’s affair also caused Biff to grow distant from his father, setting the two up for many future arguments such as one in which Willy tells Biff, “stops him with: May you rot in hell if you leave this house!” (129). Not to forget that Willy’s suicide was originally meant to spite Biff as Willy believed his funeral would be grand, claiming “He’ll see what I am, Ben! He’s in for a shock, that boy!” (126)--this being a tragic twist of dramatic irony. This trauma and strife brought upon Biff leads him into a great deal of hardship, never having had a job or settled down. Willy causes Biff to believe himself a failure, and Biff is dragged into Willy’s world of suffering where Biff cannot attain success in the face of his father’s high
We are here today under unfortunate circumstances. My father, Willy Loman took his own life several days ago. We end up asking ourselves, why did you have to leave us? He was indeed an extremely stressed man between work, and family. Father had grown to be the age of 63. He was a hard working man and had accomplished many things in his life. I remember he always did everything he could for his family and we will forever be grateful. Unfortunately he could not see his accomplishments.
It surrounds the life of Willy Loman, an aging salesman whose son Biff has just returned from a work stint out in the west. As Biff’s father, Willy desires him to have a good paying job and to settle on one job, two things Biff has been struggling to do. Tensions heighten between the two characters, while the conformist son Happy and Willy’s wife Linda, an optimist to say the least, are stuck in the middle. This is when the reader is really exposed to Willy’s delusion. It is learned that Willy has been suicidal for a very long time, constantly trying to asphyxiate by inhaling gas fumes. On top of this, throughout the play there are flashback scenes of when Biff was younger, and they progress in intensity as the piece moves on. Images of the prosperous Uncle Ben haunt Willy and taunt him of his unsuccess, and scandalous scenes of his cheating affair in Boston haunt him otherwise. Eventually, Willy is fired and Biff does not acquire a job approved by his father. This all ends in the ultimatum of Willy’s suicide by car crash and Biff’s acceptance of the life he wants to live. The last audible words of the play are in a line spoken by Linda while walking away from the grave: “We’re free… we’re free...” (Miller 109). These powerful words, and from this character especially, pound the destructive nature of Willy’s dreams
Biff loses respect for his father and soon realizes what lie he has been living. Willy is in denial about his involvement with Biff’s failure in life, and when he is confronted about it by Bernard asking, “What happened in Boston, Willy? (141), Willy quickly becomes defensive, saying, “What are you trying to do, blame it on me? Don’t talk to me that way!” (141). After finding out about Biff’s reaction of burning his favorite University of Virginia shoes that symbolize Biff’s hopes and dreams for the future, Willy realizes what impact the affair had on his son. Willy’s lack of acceptance of reality affects his relationship because he never owned up or admitted he had an affair. This weighs heavy on Willy because the hate from his son will always be there. Biff loses all respect for his father and sees not only a failed business man, but in general a failed man. Throughout it all, Willy’s wife still remains supportive of him and constantly reminds him of her love for him. Despite this, Willy still yearns to have what he does not and pursues “the other woman.” It is bright as day that Willy finds some sort of comfort and validation for his affair with a woman who makes him feel wanted, yet his wife does the same thing. This guilt is always carried around with Willy which is just another contributor to the death of Willy
Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman”, primarily focuses on the flaws and failures of Willy Loman, Millers’ main character in this story. Willy’s distorted and backward views of the American Dream, paired with his inability to let go of the past lead him down a road of regret and in the end his biggest failure which was his wasted life.
As a result, Willy attempts to achieve the same level of success as Dave Singleman, but is unable to because he lacks the necessary skill that one needs regardless of one’s image.... ... middle of paper ... ... This is evident through Willy not being able to achieve his unrealistic dream, the problems Biff faces due to Willy instilling his dream into him, Willy's pride which becomes his hubris, and the illusions of his dream which escalates into his suicide.
Willy Loman: Willy believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, but he never achieves it. While he achieves a professional understanding of himself and the fundamental nature of the sales profession, Willy fails to realize his personal failure and betrayal of his soul and family through the meticulously constructed artifice of his life. He feels that Biff has let him down by not being any more successful in life than Willy himself has been. Biff has no proper job, is not married and is unable to settle down. Willy seems to feel that Biff has done the things he has done, just to spite his father. Biff and Happy, who idolize and have nothing but love for their father when they are children, but later realize how their father failed to prepare them for the real world. His insecurity does not allow him to see the mistakes he did by implementing his strong beliefs about life, behavior, future, goals
Willy and Happy are very similar people. However Biff does not agree with the way Willy and Happy handle situations, which results in several conflicts between Biff and Willy throughout much of the play. Willy describes Biff as being lost saying, “Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world a young man with such – personal attractiveness gets lost,” (Miller 16). Even though Willy believes Biff is the lost one, in reality, Willy is lost throughout most of the play (Eisinger 2). Willy does not really know himself. Willy always puts on a show for others and does not be his true self, which portrays the feeling of being lost within himself.
First, the reader should feel sorrow for Loman because he is disappointed with many aspects of his life. First, he is disappointed in his son Biff, who is suppose to be the star of the family. Each time that Willy interacts with Biff, he is always trying to tell him how great he is going to be in life. Biff never realizes this potential. During the play, Willy thinks back to when Biff was a great athlete in high school. In the scene that features the day when Biff is going to play at Ebbots? field, Willy is in a great mood. The entire family is very excited. Biff even promised his dad a touchdown. One must conclude that this game did not play out in the Loman family?s favor. If Biff played well, Willy would have mentioned it. This game is most likely the beginning of the disappointment in Biff. Willy is also even more disappointed in Biff when he fails senior math. This failing grade means that Biff can not graduate, and he also loses his scholarship to the University of Virginia. All of Willy?s hopes were put into Biff, and he fails. It goes back to the old saying "do not put all your eggs into one basket". One can conclude if tha...
The first comlication which occurs in Act I, is when the reader acknowledges that Willy put his whole life into his sons, Biff and Happy, and they turned their backs on him. Willy always believed that biff would be this great, successful businessman and it turned out that Biff is still searching to find himself, which disappoints Willy in the worst way. The conflicts between Willy and Biff are rooted very deep. It all started when Biff was younger and he had failed his math class. He traveled to Boston to visit Willy, who was on a business trip. He had told that he had let Willy down and comes to find out that Willy is with another woman. Biff leaves and never takes that math class over. Willy felt guilty about this and believes that deep inside that he is responsible for Biff's choices in life and his failure to be successful. This conflict makes Willy weak and tremendously guilty, which stays with him as a reminder.
In conclusion, the play represents the collapse of the “American Dream” for a typical lower-middle class family in Brooklyn during an economic depression. The story represents “the brutality of the system toward man” (Kroll). Willy, with his illusions of living the present with the mementos of the past represents the unwanted desire to accept reality. Therefore, he decides to commit suicide in a coward way and leave the insurance money to the family. Moreover, his wife sees the whole process of Willy’s death without interference in order to not hurt his pride. His sons, Biff and Happy, always had a constant pressure to achieve luxuries and comforts of the American Dream and due to that pressure they were unable to attain it. Willy dies believing in a dream that his family did not believe because they were seeing reality a little bite closer than him.
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)
...s personal failure and betrayal of his soul and family through the meticulously constructed artifice of his life. He cannot grasp the true personal, emotional, spiritual understanding of himself as a literal “loman” or “low man.” Willy is too driven by his own “willy”-ness or perverse “willfulness” to recognize the slanted reality that his desperate mind has forged. Still, many critics, focusing on Willy’s entrenchment in a quagmire of lies, delusions, and self-deceptions, ignore the significant accomplishment of his partial self-realization. Willy’s failure to recognize the anguished love offered to him by his family is crucial to the climax of his torturous day, and the play presents this incapacity as the real tragedy. Despite this failure, Willy makes the extreme sacrifice in his attempt to leave an inheritance that will allow Biff to fulfill the American Dream.
Most critics can agree that Biff idolizes his father and enjoys working alongside him. However, Biff finally comes to terms that he has been living a lie his entire life. Even though some critics may or may not believe that Biff Loman is the reason that Willy ends his life, one can assume that Biff plays a significant role in the life of Willy Loman.
Willy’s hubris makes him feel extremely proud of what he has, when in reality he has no satisfaction with anything in his life. Willy Loman’s sons did not reach his expectations, as a father, but he still continued to brag about Biff and Happy in front of Bernard. Willy Loman caused the reader to empathize with him because before his tragic death he did everything he could for his family. Empathy, Hubris, and Willy Loman’s tragic flow all lead him to his death that distends from the beginning. He is unable to face reality and realize that he’s not successful in life or at his job; he remains living in a world where he thinks he’s greater than everybody else because he’s a salesman.