Willy Loman Compare And Contrast Essay

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In “Death of Salesman” by Arthur Miller, Willy creates illusion and reconcile memories from the past when he feels a failure about his life and his sons, customizing facts and memories to fit his ideal world of successful as a salesman and father. In the other hand, Leonard from “Memento” by Christopher Nolan can hold his memories for only few minutes so he makes a lot of notes and tattoos on his body to remember his purpose of living, which is to revenge for his wife. Both characters however lie to themselves to convince them that what they do is best for themselves and their family, demonstrating they do not have ability to accept the truth and the reality and incapable to separate the present from the past. Willy Loman projects himself as …show more content…

Since he cannot make new memories, he believes the fact than memory. “Memories can be distorted. They’re irrelevant if you have the facts.” He teaches himself that he remembers everything up to the incident when his wife is raped and he has to get revenge for his wife who he believes she is killed by a man who raped her. However, as Teddy tells him, Leonard “make up [his] own truth”. Leonard himself killed his wife when his wife tested if he was faking by asking him for constant insulin. However since it is not bearable to admit the fact that he killed his wife, he decides to change the past as he wants them to be. “I have to believe that my actions still have meaning”. He needs something to live for because he has nothing but the fact that his wife is dead if he loses his revenge conspiracy. Therefore he keeps to make puzzle that he will not be able to solve forever, which is to kill men who “murdered” his wife. To deal with their confusion between the reality and fantasy, Willy kills himself at the end of the play believing he can demonstrate the popularity as a salesman and winning Biff’s respect while Leonard lets himself forget the truth Teddy have told him and decides to kill Teddy as his new Jone G. he is looking for. However Willy trapped in endless cycle Their inability to accept the truth make them difficult to differentiate between the reality and the

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