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In what way does the death of a salesman challenge our usual notion of tragedy
In what way does the death of a salesman challenge our usual notion of tragedy
Theme of suffering in death of a salesman
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The author and journalist Arthur Koestler once said “Nothing is more sad than the death of an illusion.” In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the main character Willy Loman’s illusion of his life led to the suffering of others due to the fact that he would not accept that he was not as successful as he believed. Biff, Willy’s son lived in his father illusion and when he realized it was all an illusion he was frustrated and fought with Willy. Biff wanted to do the activities he enjoyed and couldn’t because of his father. Happy, Willy’s other son becomes incredibly similar to his father, never leaving his illusion of how flawless his life was. In addition to this Willy’s wife Linda was constantly trying to please Willy keeping him in his illusion even though she knew they were struggling for money.Through the play Willy Loman has an obsession with the American Dream, which causes the suffering of both his sons Biff and Happy and his wife Linda, which increases the tragic vision of the play as a whole. Willy Loman’s first son Biff is the son he taught his ideals, which affected Biff and caused him to live in the illusion for a little while until he realized he …show more content…
Willy had affected his family with the obsession of the American Dream and this has caused suffering in his family. Each family member responded differently to Willy, however he caused them all suffering. Linda lived in fear of Willy committing suicide, Biff believed he was unsuccessful most of his life, and Happy was always looking for approval which he never received. Willy’s interactions with his family affected how they felt and inadvertently because of him they all suffered. Without Willy’s obsession with the American Dream they all could have lived happier lives and if that doesn’t make one wonder how slightly twisting an ideal can ruin one's life what
In the onset of the play, Willy told Linda that you “work a lifetime to pay of a house. You finally own it, and there is nobody to live in it” (Cohn 56). This quote shows how Willy strives his whole life to make a home for his family and by the time he sees the realization of that one dream, his family has drifted apart and he is alone with his haunting thoughts and his ghosts. Willy has such high expectations for himself and his sons, and when they all failed to accomplish their dreams, they were unable to accept each other for what they truly were. Willy raised Biff with the idea that success depends on whether or not a person can sell himself and not how smart a person is. Biff’s tragic flaw is his acceptance of Willy’s values and not creating any of his own. When Biff realizes his father is a fake, he becomes a lost individual and he does not speak to his father for 14 years. In Willy’s family it is always Biff who receives recognition, however, Happy strives for attention too...
Success: Accomplishing Your Dream Completing the "American Dream" is a controversial issue. The American Dream can be defined as having a nice car, maybe two or three of them, having a beautiful, healthy family, making an impact on the world, or even just having extra spending money when the bills are paid. In the play "Death Of A Salesman," by Arthur Miller, the "American Dream" deals with prosperity, status, and being immortalized.
Willy Loman is a 60 year old senile salesman who desperately wants to be a successful salesman; however, his ideas about the ways in which one goes about achieving this are very much misguided, just as his morals are. He believes that popularity and good looks are the key to achieving the American dream, rather than hard work and dedication. He not only lives his entire life by this code, but instills his delusional beliefs in his two sons Biff and Happy. As a result, his sons experience similar failures in their adult lives. Willy led a life of illusion, lies and regret which not only ruined his life, but gad a negative impact on the lives of family as well.
In brief, it is apparent that Willy’s own actions led to not only his own demise, but his children’s as well. The salesman tragically misinterpreted the American Dream for only the superficial qualities of beauty, likeability and prosperity. Perhaps if Willy had been more focused on the truth of a person’s character, rather than purely physical aspects, his family’s struggles and his own suicide could have been avoided. On the whole, Arthur Miller’s play is evidence that the search for any dream or goal is not as easy and the end result may seem. The only way to realize the objective without any despair is the opposite of Willy Loman’s methods: genuineness, perseverance and humility.
An American dream is a dream that can only be achieved by passion and hard work towards your goals. People are chasing their dreams of better future for themselves and their children. The author Arthur Miller in Death of a Salesman has displayed a struggle of a common man to achieve the American dream. Willy Loman the protagonist of the play has spent his whole life in chasing the American dream. He was a successful salesman who has got old and unable to travel for his work, and no one at work gives him importance anymore. He is unhappy with his sons Happy and Biff because both of them are not successful in their lives. Moreover, Biff and Happy are also not happy with their father Willy because they don’t want to live a life that Willy wants them to live. The heated discussions of Willy and his older son Biff affect the family and the family starts to fall apart. However, Willy is unable to achieve the American dream and does not want to face the reality that his decisions for himself and his family have lead him to be a failure in the society. In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the protagonist Willy Loman spends his whole life to achieve the American Dream by his own perception and denies facing the reality, just like nowadays people are selling themselves and attempting to find success in life.
The only way to become a truly happy person is to surround yourself with the things that make you happy. Setting logical goals and pursuing dreams is going to lead to a successful life. In the play, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy use self-deception as a means to mentally escape the reality of their lives. Biff is the only character who becomes self-aware by the end of the play. He realizes that his whole life has been a lie and that Willy’s standards for Biff’s achievements in life are simply unreachable. Happy is too caught up in himself throughout the play to realize that his father is in need of an escape from his dysfunctional life. Willy has lived his whole life setting these goals for himself that he simply can’t attain. Happy makes it known at the end of the play that he is planning to follow in his father’s footsteps. This foreshadows the downfall of Happy’s life to come. Linda is constantly reassuring Willy that the decisions he has made are the right choices. She finds out about his possible suicide attempts and she refuses to seek help for him. She constantly tells his that he is doing great when in reality his career is going nowhere and his relationship with his sons gets worse as the days go on. Willy was a man who claimed to have a good sense of pride. He believes that he thrived in his times of struggle. He lost the battle for his life and ended his life due to the constant disappointments and failures that he had to live with every day. Willy refused to see the truth in his life and continued to feed off the lies. He got so caught up in his lies that he lost what the truth really was.
In Arthur Miller’s Death of A Salesman and Edward Albee’s The American Dream, Willy Lowman and Mommy possess the trait of superficiality. Their priorities are to look good and be liked, and this contributes to their misguided paths to reach success. This attribute is one of many societal criticisms pointed out by both authors. Arthur Miller criticizes society for perceiving success as being liked and having good looks. He illustrates society’s perception through Willy, who thinks the keys to success are being popular and attractive. Willy transmits this philosophy to his sons by ignoring their education and personal growth and setting an example that popularity is most important. Edward Albee criticizes society for the same thing. He points out the wrong priorities in life such as emphasizing good looks and the wish to be liked at the expense of deeper ethics and morals. Through Mommy’s incident with the hat, which showed she wanted to be liked, and her problems with her own son’s physical and mental faults, which showed she cared too much for good looks, Albee shows how society is misguided in its methods to achieve success.
Willy’s death was ironic due to all the of consequences that he faced each point of his life; however, he wanted to leave money behind by his $20,000 insurance policy for his family to prove he finally made success in life. After Willy death, Biff realized his true beliefs and changes his life’s path to the right direction. Happy on other hand, followed his father’s footsteps and aimed to become successful as a businessman. I believed that Willy’s character lead himself to his failures and miseries with his wife, his two sons, and his career. What Willy pictured in his mind of himself was not completed by his wrong ambition of being successful. “We’re free and clear. We’re free…. We’re free” (Death of the Salesman, Requiem. lines 66-67). Willy’s wife and sons were not a bit disappointed or saddened by the news of their father. Willy’s death defined a symbol of a new beginning for his family. Throughout my research I discovered all Willy wanted to be was a devoted husband, a father that his sons can be proud of, and a successful salesman; however Willy was unsuccessful in not completely to fulfill his dreams so his death brought him and his family a break from the
The line between reality and illusion is often blurred in Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman. Whether it is incorporated in the content or the actual structure, this struggle between recognizing reality from illusion turns into a strong theme; it eventually leads to the downfall of Willy and his family. Willy is incapable of recognizing who he is, and cannot realize that he, as well as his sons, is not capable of being successful in the business world. Happy and Biff both go through some battle between reality and illusion that cause a collapse in some part of their lives. The line between Willy’s flashbacks and current time also send him into turmoil when he cannot distinguish between the two.
Willy's goal throughout life was to climb out of his social class. As a salesman, Willy was a failure and he tried desperately to make his sons never end up like him. As a result, he loses his mind and his grasp on reality. Throughout the story, Willy often has flashbacks of the conversations that he and his brother Ben once had and the author intertwines them in past and present very nicely.
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a story about the dark side of the "American Dream". Willy Loman's obsession with the dream directly causes his failure in life, which, in turn, leads to his eventual suicide. The pursuit of the dream also destroys the lives of Willy's family, as well. Through the Lomans, Arthur Miller attempts to create a typical American family of the time, and, in doing so, the reader can relate to the crises that the family is faced with and realize that everyone has problems.
Willy recounts the events vividly, due to his madness, that question his morality and worth. His two sons, Biff and Happy, both in their 30’s, mirror their father’s split persona. Biff is filled with regrets and low self esteem, while Happy is overloaded with idealistic beliefs which causes him to exaggerate and lie. Biff is the most close to the downfall of Willy than anyone else. Although Willy believes he has taught Biff “the way to be successful,... he did nothing but rationalize and condone harmful activities.”(Feinberg) Willy does not fully realize the harm he has done to his family. However, through his confusion between reality and illusion, he revisits his mistakes, Biff had a chance to rebuild a future, but after he caught his father having an affair Biff rejected the opportunities out of spite. Because of this Willy subconsciously blames himself for his son’s failed career and life overall. It weighs down on Willy and causes him to be defensive on the littlest of doubts presented on his and his son’s character. Willy is proven to be desperate to be “well liked”, prideful, yet disappointed in himself. Ultimately, this affects his family’s philosophy and output in society. Linda becomes defensive when it comes to judgement against Willy, Happy tries to compensate of living in his brother’s shadow with women and extravagant lies, and Biff becomes a kleptomaniac “bum”. Willy knows he has lead a both an unsuccessful personal and professional life and thus leading him to be sucked in his madness and suicidal
Willy lived everyday of his life trying to become successful, well-off salesman. His self-image that he portrayed to others was a lie and he was even able to deceive himself with it. He traveled around the country selling his merchandise and maybe when he was younger, he was able to sell a lot and everyone like him, but Willy was still stuck with this image in his head and it was the image he let everyone else know about. In truth, Willy was a senile salesman who was no longer able to work doing what he's done for a lifetime. When he reaches the point where he can no longer handle working, he doesn't realize it, he puts his life in danger as well a others just because he's pig-headed and doesn't understand that he has to give up on his dream. He complains about a lot of things that occur in everyday life, and usually he's the cause of the problems. When he has to pay for the repair bills on the fridge, he bitches a lot and bad mouths Charley for buying the one he should of bought. The car having to be repaired is only because he crashes it because he doesn't pay attention and/or is trying to commit suicide. Willy should have settled with what he had and made the best of things. He shouldn't have tied to compete with everyone and just made the best decision for him using intelligence and practicality. Many of Willy's problems were self-inflicted, the reason they were self-inflicted was because he wanted to live the American dream. If he had changed his standards or just have been content with his life, his life problems would have been limited in amount and proportion.
Willy's most prominent illusion is that success is dependant upon popularity and personal attractiveness. Willy builds his entire life around this idea and teaches it to his children. When Willy was young, he had met a man named Dave Singleman who was so well-liked that he was able to make a living simply by staying in his hotel room and telephoning buyers. When Dave Singleman died, buyers and salesmen from all over the country came to his funeral. This is what Willy has been trying to emulate his entire life. Willy's need to feel well-liked is so strong that he often makes up lies about his popularity and success. At times, Willy even believes these lies himself. At one point in the play, Willy tells his family of how well-liked he is in all of his towns and how vital he is to New England. Later, however, he tells Linda that no one remembers him and that the people laugh at him behind his back. As this demonstrates, Willy's need to feel well-liked also causes him to become intensely paranoid. When his son, Biff, for example, is trying to explain why he cannot become successful, Willy believes that Biff is just trying to spite him. Unfortunately, Willy never realizes that his values are flawed. As Biff points out at the end of the play, "he had the wrong dreams."
In today’s society the term “American Dream” is perceived as being successful and usually that’s associated with being rich or financially sound. People follow this idea their entire life and usually never stop to think if they are happy on this road to success. Most will live through thick and thin with this idealization of the “American Dream” usually leading to unhappiness, depression and even suicide. The individual is confused by society’s portrayal of the individuals who have supposedly reached the nirvana of the “American Dream”. In the play “Death of a Salesman” Willy thinks that if a person has the right personality and he is well liked it’s easy to achieve success rather than hard work and innovation. This is seen when Willy is only concerned how Biff’s class mates reacted to his joke of the teachers lisp. Willy’s dream of success for his son Biff who was very well liked in High School never actually became anything. Biff turned into a drifter and a ranch worker. In the play “Seize the Day” Tommy who is financially unstable also pursues the idea of getting to the “American Dream” and becoming wealthy. He foolishly invests his last seven hundred dollars and eventually loses it leaving him broke and out of work. In both plays following the American Dream is followed in different characters and in both the characters are far away from it leaving them broke and forgotten by almost everyone.