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Comment on Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
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Willy Loman's Vision of America in Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller's 'The Death of a Salesman,' is about a man, Willy Loman, whose life is going downhill and coming to an end. Willy Loman was a good salesman because he cared and was honest and through his personality he sold his goods. Time has moved on, but Willy hasn't. The business world has moved ahead and the way of selling goods had changed, but Willy can't see this. Willy Loman has never come to terms with reality. His life is a dream and derives all his pleasures from the past and he always assures himself that all is well. His problem is that his role models are out of place in the modern business where heartlessness and hostility win the battle in business. Willy's character is full of pride; he doesn't really care about anything else. If he has his pride, he is happy. He has pride in his sons and pride in being independent. He's the type of person who likes to do things independently and refuses help from others; like in the play he refuses help from Charlie even when he lost his job. Willy has a lot of hope in him, he doesn't give up on anything and he will always try his best. 'Willy. I was driving along, you understand? And I was fine. I was even observing the scenery. You can imagine me looking at the scenery, on the road every week of my life. But it's so beautiful up there, Linda, the trees are so thick, and the sun is warm.' This is said by Willy right at the beginning of the play when he returns home because he 'couldn't keep his mind on it.' Willy loves his job and he feels free when he is on the open road travelling to work. I think he has realiz... ... middle of paper ... ...his mother, and she reveals that he has been trying to kill himself, and he is only happy when he hears from Biff. Willy knows he has failed in life and he knows there is not much left for him. He was a man full of pride but has realized there is nothing really to be proud of. He knows he cannot move on from the past, and only figured out one way of succeeding. At the end of the play he commits suicide by purposely crashing his car. He does this because he thinks family will benefit from his life insurance money and they can finally pay off the bills so they can be out of debt for once. This shows that Willy Loman really cared about his family and killed himself for them. This shows the real Willy Loman, he was very caring and determined and he knew there was nothing left in his life so he helped the people he loved.
life, and acting upon his responsibilities in order to follow with his heart, instead of with
At the beginning of the play it is evident that he cannot determine the realities of life, and so he repeatedly contradicts himself to establish that his conclusion is correct and opinion accepted. These numerous contradictions demonstrate that Willy is perturbed of the possibility that negative judgements may come from others. Willy strongly believes that “personality always wins” and tells his sons that they should “be liked and (they) will never want”. In one of Willy’s flashbacks he recalls the time when his sons and him were outside cleaning their Chevy. Willy informs Biff and Happy the success of his business trips and how everyone residing in Boston adores him. He mentions that due to the admiration of people he does not even have to wait in lines. He ultimately teaches his sons that being liked by others is the way to fulfilling one’s life and removing your worries. These ideals, that one does not need to work for success, demonstrate Willy’s deluded belief of achieving a prosperous life from the admiration and acceptance of others. This ultimately proves to be a false ideology during his funeral, when an insufficient amount of people arrive. Willy constantly attempts to obtain other’s acceptance through his false tales that depict him as a strong, successful man. In the past, he attempts to lie to his wife, Linda, about the amount of wealth he has attained during his
Throughout the play, Willy can be seen as a failure. When he looks back on all his past decisions, he can only blame himself for his failures as a father, provider, and as a salesman (Abbotson 43). Slowly, Willy unintentionally reveals to us his moral limitations that frustrates him which hold him back from achieving the good father figure and a successful business man, showing us a sense of failure (Moss 46). For instance, even though Willy wants so badly to be successful, he wants to bring back the love and respect that he has lost from his family, showing us that in the process of wanting to be successful he failed to keep his family in mind (Centola On-line). This can be shown when Willy is talking to Ben and he says, “He’ll call you a coward…and a damned fool” (Miller 100-101). Willy responds in a frightful manner because he doesn’t want his family, es...
...tive outlook on things, he shows his emotional strength to handle things in an adult manner.
for him to keep a great deal of pride regardless of his loss in the
In the book Death of A Salesman, author Arthur Miller shows how cruel life can be through the life of Willy Loman, the main character. His feelings of guilt, failure, and sadness result in his demise.
It is human nature for a person to desire to better understand themselves and to acquire a distinct identity. People look to what is simple and familiar when trying to gain a sense of individuality. These identifiers can be found in the jobs people perform, the relationships they share, and any other type of activity that takes place in their daily life. It is also in this search for understanding that can cause the relationships a person shares, such as with close family and friends, to be strained. Willy Loman, the leading character in the play Death of a Salesman attempts to comprehend his place in society, but at the same time he loses the one thing that is his source for identification-his family.
his future life is finally result of what he is today, he grew up to become a dedicated veteran, a
his dream, he will be able to live a life full of happiness and joy. He will experience
him to keep trying his hardest and to not let anything or anyone get in his way.
think it’s because we no longer had to worry about freedom, we filled the gap of
to share in his wealth, is undoubtedly in search of a wife. In Pride and
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.
matter how hard he has fought, once it is over, he does not look back wishing
Willy Loman’s tragic flow leads him to purse the idea that reputation in society has more relevancies in life than knowledge and education to survive in the business. His grand error of wanting recognition drove him crazy and insane and lead to his tragic death. Willy’s hubris makes him feel extremely proud of what he has, when in reality he has no satisfaction with anything in his life. Willy Loman’s sons did not reach his expectations, as a father but he still continued to brag about Biff and Happy in front of Bernard. Willy Loman caused the reader to empathize with him because before his tragic death he did everything he could for his family. Empathy, Hubris , and Willy Loman’s tragic flow all lead him to his death that distend for him the beginning.