Traveling Salesman Essays

  • Gothic Elements in A Curtain of Green and Death of a Traveling Salesman

    680 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gothic Elements in A Curtain of Green and  Death of a Traveling Salesman In fiction, Gothicism is defined as a style that emphasizes the grotesque, mysterious, and desolate. Eudora Welty makes frequent use of the grotesque in her work, often pairing it with elements of mystery, as in "Keela, The Outcast Indian Maiden." However, she usually deals with desolation as a separate element, as in "Death of A Traveling Salesman," in which the focus is placed on the lonely, fruitless existence of R.J.

  • Gregor's Obsession with Money Exposed in Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    even before his change in physical form. Just after his metamorphosis, Gregor makes an important observation on his job as a traveling salesman: "Oh God," he thought, "what a grueling job I've picked! Day in, day out - on the road. The upset of doing business is much worse than the actual business in the home office, and, besides, I've got the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or

  • Analysis of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Metamorphosis": The story of a traveling salesman who, shortly after returning home, awakens one day to discover that he has literally changed into a gargantuan insect incapable of communication. Upon the initial scanning of this story a reader might think this is the plain and simple case, but on further examination will find that this is not what the story is about at all. Although focusing on and told from Gregor's point of view and what is happening to him, don't be fooled though, this is

  • Gimpel

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gimpel In the short stories ‘Gimpel the Fool” and “Death of a Traveling Salesman” we meet two characters that are vastly different and yet very similar. One is Gimpel, a naïve Jew living in Russia that is the joke of the town, Frampol. The other is R.J. Bowman, a traveling salesman, who is judgmental and rather suspicious about most things. Bowman in the story is very sick and has had a car accident where he needs to retrieve his car from a ditch and receives help from a couple that lives in

  • Free Essays on Kafka's Metamorphosis: Metamorphosis of Gregor Samsa

    584 Words  | 2 Pages

    family, and the cruelty that his family displays. The novel opens with Gregor in his monstrous state, late for work. He infers that his job as a traveling salesman is very consequential, yet he is growing tired and frustrated, “The upset of doing business is much worse than the actual business in the home office, and, besides, I’ve got the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate

  • Death of a Traveling Salesman

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death of a Traveling Salesman In the short story, “Death Of A Traveling Salesman,” R. J. Bowman is a successful salesman with the intention to get home after being sick and in the hospital. He faces many obstacles along the way. Even though R. J. Bowman knows that there is something missing in his life he has no desire to try and bring it into his life. He realizes he is only a salesman and that is all he will ever be. There are symbols in the story that show a shadow over Bowman’s life

  • Life of Eudora Welty

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    process began as she started using experience from her job as material for short stories. Welty knew that she was starting something new and she Salahuddin 2 did not expect success to come without a struggle. In June 1936 her story “Death of a Traveling Salesman” was published in the Journal Manuscript. Within the next two years her work had appeared in prestigious publication as Atlantic Monthly and the Southern Review. Many readers liked her collection of short stories in “A Curtain of Green” and

  • Marxist Perspective on Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

    1813 Words  | 4 Pages

    economic classes. Within the first few pages of the novella, we as readers quickly discover Gregor's role as the proletariat in the story. He is forced to labor as a traveling salesman, trying to support his family and pay off his father's debt from a failed business venture. While lying in bed, he comments on his life as a traveling salesman, "Day in, day out--on the road... I've got t... ... middle of paper ... .... Although the exact story told in Kafka's The Metamorphosis could not occur outside

  • Sister Carrie

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    factory, she did not like the hard work and considered the other women who worked there to be common. When winter arrived, Carrie got sick and stayed home from work which caused her to lose her job. On the train to Chicago, Carrie had met a traveling salesman, Charlie H. Drouet. She is impressed by the way he talks and dresses. When they meet again, Drouet is aware of her beauty and innocence and he hopes to charm and seduce her. He "lends" Carrie money to buy nice winter clothes, treats her to fine

  • Essay on Metamorphosis of the Family in Kafka's Metamorphosis

    1860 Words  | 4 Pages

    Samsa's reality changes insignificantly in spite of his drastic physical changes. Gregor's life before the metamorphosis was limited to working and caring for his family. As a traveling salesman, Gregor worked long, hard hours that left little time to experience "life." He reflects on his life acknowledging the "plague of traveling: the anxieties of changing trains, the irregular, inferior meals, the ever changing faces, never to be seen again, people with whom one has no chance to be friendly" (Kafka

  • Gregor Traveling Salesman

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    1. By Kafka making Gregor a traveling salesman it emphasizes the separation of Gregor from his family. Many people associate traveling salesmen with being annoying and somewhat pushy, always hoping that when you do not answer the door bell they leave your house. This highlights how most people overlook Gregor because of his occupation, for he is just a pesky salesman, this mentality begins to translate over into Gregor’s daily life, for he begins to realize how little the people around him respect

  • Summary of Metamorphosis

    3379 Words  | 7 Pages

    Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find that he has been inexplicably transformed into a giant insect. He has also slept late. His parents and his sister Grete try to rouse him so he can make it to his dreary job as a traveling salesman. The family depends on him for its livelihood. Gregor, however, is now a bug. When a clerk from his company comes to demand an explanation for his absence, Gregor makes a great effort to open the bedroom door and show himself. This sends the terrified clerk tearing

  • The Metamorphosis

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    sentences to show how the idea of being a dream is chimerical. His room is still a “regular human room.” In his room are lines of fabric samples, because he is a traveling salesman. Gregor had a picture hanging on his desk. It “showed a lady done up in a fur hat and a fur boa.” This picture, and the mention of him being a traveling salesman, show the extravagance of his family, while he is a common worker. The weather is overcast, a symbol of Gregor’s despair. He looks out the window, in search

  • Neil Simon

    1507 Words  | 4 Pages

    appreciate his writings, and he has been awarded numerous times to prove it. It is quite clear Neil Simon holds a place of importance in the world of dramatic arts. Born and raised in the Bronx NYC, Marvin Neil Simon was the second son of a traveling salesman. His mother Mamie, was largely responsible for the upbringing of the children due to this circumstance. His childhood household was quite unstable due to the absence of his father, and he has not truly escaped from this lifestyle. At age 28

  • character plot death of a sales men

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    Willy Loman is the main character and protagonist of the play. He has been a traveling salesman, the lowest of positions, for the Wagner Company for thirty-four years. Never very successful in sales, Willy has earned a meager income and owns little. His refrigerator, his car, and his house are all old - used up and falling apart, much like Willy. Willy, however, is unable to face the truth about himself. He kids himself into believing that he is well liked by his customers in the New England territory

  • Exploration of Alienation

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alienation throughout the metamorphosis is conveyed to the reader time and time again through instances and circumstances subjected upon Gregor. Right from the start we get a sense of this situation as we explore Gregor’s job stasis. He is a traveling salesman. The major problem with this occupation is the fact that he is constantly moving and seeing new faces, making it virtually impossible for him to form lasting relationships (Kafka, 4). Landsberg observes that “This little experience occurs over

  • Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

    1139 Words  | 3 Pages

    “What has happened to me? he thought.”(Kafka, 495) This quote is from the narrator in Kafka’s tale; The Metamorphosis, when Gregor Samsa wakes up and finds himself turned into a giant insect, and it was apparently not a dream. Gregor was a traveling salesman, he hated his job, but he was forced to stay in that business in order to pay his father’s debts to his boss, and maintain a comfortable lifestyle to his family. Kafka presents the metamorphosis event in an interesting way, when it seemed that

  • Adolf Eichmann

    1609 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jew" by classmates. After failing to complete his engineering studies, Eichmann had various jobs including working as a laborer in his father's small mining company, working in sales for an electrical construction company and also worked as a traveling salesman for an American oil company. In 1932 at age 26 he joined the growing Austrian Nazi Party at the suggestion of his friend Ernst Kaltenbrunner. Eichmann then became a member of the SS and in 1934 served as an SS corporal at Dachau concentration

  • A Comparison of Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman and and Torvald Helmer of A Doll's House

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    of A Salesman and Torvald Helmer of A Doll's House In the stories "Death of A Salesman," and "A Doll's House," there are many similarities.  I went on to pick one character from each story whom's similarity interested me the most.  The characters I picked were Willy Loman from "Death of A Salesman," and Torvald Helmer of "A Doll's House."  I picked these characters because of their motivation to make it to become successful. Willy Loman, a sixty-year-old traveling salesman, is having

  • The Character of Uncle Ben in Death of a Salesman

    2556 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Character of Uncle Ben in Death of a Salesman The character of Ben in Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman serves a complex dramatic function.  He is Willy Loman's real brother, the idealized memory of that brother, and an aspect of Willy's own personality, and these distinct functions are sometimes simultaneous.  Through his aggressive actions and vibrant speech, the audience is given a strong contrast to Willy's self-doubt and self-contradiction.  In addition, the encounters between Ben