Comparing Truth in Death Of A Salesman and The Glass Menagerie

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Seeking Truth in Death Of A Salesman and The Glass Menagerie

Often society seeks to thwart the desire of certain people to find and/or face the truth. Examples of this are found throughut literature. Two excellent example of this are Biff Loman from 'The Death Of A Salesman' and Tom Wingfield from 'The Glass Menagerie'. At some point, they both have to face and understand the truth about their lives. Biff is faced with the lies and morals of society obsessed with the corrupt version of American Dream, especially his father, and his inability to pursue his own goals and dreams. Tom is faced with the sad reality of life in his family and the desire to escape it.

Biff Loman grew up in a family of a salesman. He had a reasonably happy childhood, and a great school career. He was good at American Football and won a football scholarship. His father, Willy Loman, was always very proud of his son and always praised him and put him above others. Unfortunately, Willy's life philosophy was ruined by the corrupted version of the American Dream. He believed that the key to happiness is money and success and the a person does not necessarily has to work hard to attain it. Biff grew up with those ideas and they influenced him a lot. But when he caught his father with another woman, the realization of the lie and corruption turned his life around. He no longer believes in his father or the dream, and lives a...

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...Bloom, Harold. Introduction. Tennessee Williams. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 1-8.

Downer, Alan S. American Drama and Its Critics. Chicago, University of Chicago Press [1965]. pp. 218-239.

Hayashi, Tetsumaro. Arthur Miller Criticism. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1969.

Levy, Eric P. "'Through Soundproof Glass': The Prison of Self Consciousness in The Glass Menagerie." Modern Drama, 36. December 1993. 529-537.

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Viking, 1965.

Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. In Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, 4th ed. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995. 1519-1568.

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