Crumbling Dreams in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
analytical Essay
622 words
Crumbling Dreams in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a play best summed up in its title, it is just that, the death of a salesman. This death is not necessarily the physical end to a human life, but the crumbling end to the dreams of Willie Loman, the play's main character.
The three main parts to Willie's world are his job, his family, and his image as seen by the rest of the world. Although these parts are interwoven and interrelated, they are best divided and given separate analysis.
The first part of Willie's world is his job. Willie is a salesman for a large company in New York. Willie's self-image and much of his self-worth are based in his job. In his own mind he is still as he used to be, well known and well respected among the clientele in the New England area. Things have changed though and the people Willie once knew in the business are no longer there and he no longer has the connections he once had. His inability to cope with and adapt to this changing business has caused, among other things, a loss in pay. Willie has lost his competitive edge, and with it his feeling of self worth and identity.
The second part of Willie's world is his family, more specifically his son, Biff. Biff is the firstborn and favorite son of Willie. Willie has high expectations of, and transfers his dreams, as so many fathers do, onto Biff. Biff can not live up to the expectations of his father and has dreams of his own which cause Willie to see him as a loafer, a shiftless bum with no desire to succeed. Although Willie's dreams are not realized in Biff, his son's respect is still important. This respect is lost when Biff catches his father in an affair with a young lady. Even though this is not talked about (Biff never told anyone, not even his mother) it still creates tension and causes Biff to lose the respect he once held for Willie.
Willie's main philosophy in life is "Be liked and you will never want" and this is the cause of the problems in the third part of Willie's life, his image. Image is everything to Willie. In his past he was a well liked, well known, respected man who turned his image into his success, but his image has changed.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes arthur miller's death of a salesman as the crumbling end to the dreams of willie loman, the main character in the play.
- Analyzes how willie's self-image and identity are based on his job. the people he once knew in the business are no longer there and his inability to adapt to this changing business has caused, among other things, a loss in pay.
- Analyzes how willie's firstborn son, biff, has high expectations of, and transfers his dreams, as many fathers do, onto him. his respect is lost when he catches his father in an affair.
- Analyzes how willie's philosophy in life is "be liked and you will never want" and this is the cause of the problems in the third part of his life, his image.
- Analyzes how willie's problems, loss of self-respect, and respect from others cause him to go mad. he sinks into a manic/depressive state and loses touch with reality.
- Explains that death of a salesman is the loss and destruction of one man's dreams, which leads to suicide.
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- Analyzes how arthur miller utilizes the title "death of a salesman" to predict willy loman's death and failure, and how his dreams died alongside with him.
- Analyzes how miller utilizes the title to show how willy loman's failure caused insecurity and self doubt in himself.
- Analyzes how even mr.loman's brother ben knew that he wasn't living the life of his dreams.
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- Analyzes how willy loman's insecurity and self-doubt hurt him and made him a failure. dreams are one of the hardest accomplishments to achieve in life today, but they are also easy to slip away by little mistakes.
- Analyzes how biff's son told him that he should just throw away his dream, knowing that it would never happen. he didn't know how to tell his father but just by saying it in astraightforward manner.
- Analyzes how biff was a hopeless dreamer as well as his father mr.loman, but he didn't want to be like him.
- Analyzes how willy loman killed his dreams by taking the wrong path in the story and also with his insecurity and self- doubt.
- Analyzes how arthur miller used the title "death of a salesman" to depict willy loman's death and failure, but also foretell how he was an insecure and self- doubted person.
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- Analyzes willy loman's successful misunderstandingdeath of a salesman by arthur miller. he is enthralled by his own ambitions and is incapable of accepting the changes around him.
- Analyzes how willy believes that the key to success is being well liked. he is so confident in this ideology that he tells his kids, "...the man who creates a personal interest, is the man that gets ahead."
- Analyzes how willy's father and brother were symbols of success to him. he didn't consider the amount of money being a salesman would get him, only that it would make him popular.
- Analyzes how willy goes through life with the wrong impression of how to be successful, so he has difficulties when things don't go as planned.
- Analyzes how the play ends willy's misunderstandings when his son, biff, tells him everything he needs to hear.
- Analyzes how willy loman in death of a salesman tries to follow the american dream with skewed views of success. he lives his life lying to himself and others, not necessarily on purpose, but because he knows no other way.
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how miller illustrates the disintegration of the american dream through the character of willy loman.
- Analyzes how willy didn't discipline the boys enough to know what's right and wrong. he became even happier and proud for biff whenever he attempted to get into the business world.
- Analyzes how willy's personal happiness seems to be in the hands of biff whenever linda stated, "biff, his life is in your hands".
- Analyzes how miller illustrates the survival of the american dream through the character of biff loman.
- Analyzes how miller shows the audience that the american dream isn't about reaching from rags to riches but finding happiness in life. willy's envy for popularity relates to egocentric desires that occur in today’s time.
- Explains that the term "american dream" was first used by james truslow adams in his book, "the epic of america."
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