Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Thornton Wilder's Our Town

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Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Thornton Wilder's Our Town

In the road of life, the right path may not always be where the road signs lead. The road to self-discovery is found by following one’s heart and mind and to wherever they may lead them. Within the plays Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, and Our Town by Thornton Wilder, parallel pathways and contrary connections can be established between the characters coinciding in both. In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is the portrait of a sixty year old man reflecting upon his past, one of lies and hopelessness. Upon coming about his past, he finally and fatally, discovers himself at the end of his life. Mr. Webb from Our Town plays the figure of an editor of Grover’s Corner Sentinel and loving father of Emily. Early in the play, he displays knowledge over his own self-discovery, which he hopes to tell others. The self-discovered Mr. Webb raised Emily coherently as a woman who in the end recognized the value of life. Married to George Gibbs, her life was very much comparable to Linda Loman, married to Willy Loman. Linda Loman was a woman dedicated to the needs of her spouse, but also therefore blind to the real needs that Willy desired. In the end, she still was left wondering why or what had gone wrong. Interlocked by protruding parallel traits of progressive self-awareness, these characters promoted the two plays to a higher level of understanding.

The similar philosophies of life residing in both Willy Loman and Mr. Webb are present in both plays as they progress. Their strong belief in themselves gives them the ability to influence others by giving them advice. The advice which Mr. Webb provided to George was “start out early by showing who’s boss” (Wilder IIi 58). The confidence to tell a strong willed son-in-law shows his aptitude in his belief. Similarly, Willy was often dictating the actions of people around him. Usually his interferences would be contradictory to what others had in mind such as “No, you finish first” (Miller 1.3). His constant dictations most often cause contradictory with his dictations! At first, Willy referred to Biff as “a lazy bum” (Miller 1.2), but then later called him “such a hard worker” (Miller 1.2). This exhibits Willy’s faith in his ideas, but shows a confusion within those ideas. Mr. Webb also inherits the same weakness that Willy has. Descri...

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...ceive what the meaning of life is. Both Linda and Emily had many similar points through their pathway to discovery, but in the end, one was left wondering, and one was left wanting.

So in conclusion, the road to self-discovery was an achievement that not all could reach. The open-mindness and ability to try new things opened the door for Emily and Mr. Webb to the perception of the meaning of life. They learned their self-discovery lessons because there was no one to restrain them. In a word, they were luckier than that of Willy and Linda because their road to discovery was easier and shorter. But Willy and Linda were not unlucky. There were many open opportunities that they could have seen their wrongs and what was right. Yet they were unable to because their character, one of stubbornness and blindness, did not allow them to see these open windows. The window which opportunity lies is always open, our minds must be trained in order to perceive it and gain deliverance from this existence.

Work Cited

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. www.public.iastate.edu/~spires/Concord/death.html.

Wilder, Thorton. Our Town. New York, New York: Perennial Library, 1975.

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