In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Brick is a perfect example of a man who has lost hope, and who is wholeheartedly throwing himself towards the finish line of life. The play opens with a first glimpse into his character being “A tone of politely feigned interest, masking indifference, or worse, is characteristic of his speech with Margaret.” (pg 624). His only interest is in making it to the next “click” in his head that makes him peaceful.
He admits to his father, Big Daddy, that he is an alcoholic (pg 646) and he doesn’t care because everything, their talk and life, is painful. Big Daddy seizes Brick’s crutch and throws across the room to trap Brick into listening to him. Big Daddy then refuses to help Brick up or get him a drink, thereby rendering him useless (pg 647).
Brick's crutch is a symbol of his dependency on alcohol. His injured leg is clearly symbolizing a loss of power. Without his crutch, he is completely dependent on others. However, Brick depends on a different kind of crutch, alcohol, to survive. Brick drinks to escape a truth he cannot face, that he is responsible for his friend Skipper's death.
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He sums this up, stating, “… those high hurdles have gotten too high for me, now." (pg 640) This imagery of the high hurdles is representative of the unattainable past Brick strives for. Brick's past is shattered when his ideal marriage and his ideal friendship are both destroyed through Skipper with his drunken confession, breaking all the rules of the time. This admission is a stark contrast to the purity Brick clings to in their friendship, always claiming “One man has one great good true thing in his life. One great good thing which is true! – I had it with Skipper. – You are naming it dirty!” (pg 636). First with Maggie, then with Big Daddy, Brick is furious with his family for seemingly ruining the best thing in his life when Skipper already named it dirty with his drunken confession of his true feelings for
According to Frye's definition, tragic heroes bring suffering upon themselves. Willy Loman is delusional and has a skewed view on the world he lives in. Willy asserts that he is young, popular, and respected among his family and workmates. Flashbacks of past memories, which interrupt the present day flow of time, prove that Willy is not everything he used to be in his younger years. This constant misconception of time is Willy Loman's main flaw, and he is the main victim in this suffering. Willy's misunderstanding of the world around him is shown in key scenes, such as his conversation with his brother Ben in the garden near the end of the play (Miller 99). The death of Willy Loman is also a consequence of his flaw: Willy's disorganized state of mind causes him to jump into a car and crash.
All humans have their sufferings and Jack is no expectation, he has problems with drinking depression and denial. Once Ian realized this, he reassured him and tried to ease away the pain. This is shown in the book when Ian stated to Jack “It’s just that I think you should stop drinking.”(Walters 166) Ian likewise said that if Jack could stop drinkin...
First, Rudy’s family didn’t believe in him. Rudy’s background was a struggle, because his family, especially his father, didn’t expect much from him, coming from a common family in a small town. His father expected for him to get a job at a local factory after his high school graduation and follow in his footsteps. He doesn’t believe Rudy will achieve his dreams. When Rudy returns home to see his family, they mock him for ...
Have you ever felt compelled to reconcile your past uncertainties because of the desire of attaining acceptance? In Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”, Willy Loman, the protagonist, is a salesman blinded by his own delusion. This self delusion affects him and the people around him. The delusion also affects the standards of success that he created throughout his life to make sure his ambiguity is not transferred to individuals around him. These standards guide him towards his emphasised view of who he is and what he wants to achieve, causing pressure to both himself and Biff Loman, another main character. In this modern play, the differences between Biff and Willy and their dissimilar sense
Bad choices are made every day by everybody. Those bad choices could lead to consequences that are going to bother a person for a long time. Even more, that person may try various ways to correct that error. The intention is good, but things can go even worse if the effort is based on unrealistic fantasies. This effort is presented as a part of modernist ideas. Modernist writers dramatize this effort through the tragic outcomes of the characters. Three modernist pieces, A Street Car Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, The Great Gatsby, all of them sent out a message to the audience, the loss of past and how it cannot be recovered. Each piece features a character who lost hope, strived to recover the hope, and ended with a tragic outcome. A Street Car Named Desire featured Blanche; Blanche spent her whole life trying to get some attentions. Death of a Salesman featured Willy; Willy spent his whole life trying to apply the idea “Be Well Liked.” The Great Gatsby featured Jay Gatsby; Gatsby spent his whole life trying to win back Daisy. All of those characters ended with tragic outcome. Blanche was sent to asylum by her own sister. Willy committed suicide after felt humiliated by his sons. Gatsby was murdered with a gunshot planned by Tom Buchanan. Blanche, Willy, and Gatsby’s tragic fates are caused by their false beliefs about life, which are proven wrong by the contradictions between the reality and the illusion.
“Son, if you make it to Queens, our time in Canada would truly be worth it.” This phrase was brought back into my mind while reading Fitzgerald 's “The Great Gatsby.” I saw myself in Gatsby, a man with the drive to change his live. I often imagine the readers of this novel thinking “Gatsby was driven to go from rags to riches, he must be happy!” Unfortunately, drive alone cannot make a man happy, effective actions and a fulfilling goal is just as important. Gatsby died a sad man for his criminal actions and terrible goal. I may not be great, but I sure am happy!
Have you ever been in a situation where you have almost met your goal, but something in the way is preventing you from fully accomplishing it? Jay Gatsby, one of the protagonists in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, loses the love of his life, Daisy, due to years of separation and is trying to win her back. Daisy’s husband, Tom, however, won’t let her go that easy. Gatsby fights his way to get back the lover he waits so many years for. Preceding Gatsby’s risky quest, his main goal in life is to obtain a great wealth in order to impress the beautiful Daisy. He only thinks about Daisy and their life together. He will do anything to be reunited, no matter the consequences. Jay’s shadow side is revealed and anima is present throughout his journey. Gatsby appears to be an altruistic, benevolent, stately young man. Upon close scrutiny, it’s unveiled that he is malicious and selfish because he wants Daisy for himself and he is wiling to ruin a family for her. But, his anima shows how caring, romantic, and vulnerable he really is through his devotion and passion for Daisy. Gatsby is unsuccessful in completing a traditional hero’s journey, but he does create his own unique version of the archetype. In this unorthodox interpretation, Gatsby learns the repercussions of wanting what you can’t have and dishonesty throughout the course of his battle for his lover.
Miller’s use of personification and symbolism in the book shows the situational irony that surrounds Willy. This highlights the overall message of blind faith towards the American Dream. The major case of irony in the book is Willy’s blind faith in the American Dream. This belief is that if one is well-liked, they will become successful. The truth is actually completely opposite. The real belief is that if one works hard, with no regard to how well liked they are, they will be successful. This relationship is shown between Willy and his neighbor Charley. While Willy believes likability is the only way to success, Charley works hard and does not care how people think of him. Through his hard work, Charley started his own business, and is now very successful. Willy, however, ends up getti...
One’s ambition, when fueled by hope, can cause them to keep going when put in an adverse situation. When this occurs, it leaves a lasting effect on the individuals around them. In the film Shawshank Redemption by Frank Darabont, the main character Andy Dufrense experiences many hardships but perseveres through them using hope. Andy is placed in a situation that is out of his control and loses any hope he has at the beginning. Through the situations he faces, such as his encounters with the sisters, gaining funds for the library, and succeeding in his escape plan from the prison, Andy regains that hope which motivates his ambition to be free. In the film Shawshank Redemption, Darabont explores the idea that an individual’s ambition for freedom,
So often, it seems, life can seem like a "patient etherized on the table" (Eliot, 3). Be it the apparent futility of existence as a whole, or the insecurity of those single moments of doubt; life is often fleeting. I believe life is best described as a fickle beast, always elusive; always turning down some new and unexpected road. This fleeting life is what both Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby and Alfred J. Prufrock of "Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock" experience. These two men experiences move down remarkably similar paths as they quest for love and life. Yet each has sealed their shared fate in a different manner. As they head toward the seeming abyss of death, both remiss on all they wish they had done during their lives. By the time each man meets his end they both feel they have failed themselves and life as a whole.
While Lymon was in the south, the sheriff “rounded him up and put him in jail for not working.”(37). Lymon’s treatment symbolizes the unfairness that was going on in the South during the Jim Crow Era. Many African Americans, such as Lymon went north in the Great Migration to escape the discrimination of African Americans in the South. During the Jim Crow Era, “in a time of massive unemployment among all southern men,” the charge of vagrancy “was reserved almost exclusively for black men” (Bricks). The Bricks We Stand On takes place in the 1900s, which is during the Jim Crow Era where African Americans faced many struggles. This quote helps demonstrate how white people wanted to keep the social status of African Americans lower than theirs because they believed that they were better than African Americans. Characters in The Piano Lesson such as Lymon were faced with the problem of social discrimination because he was charged for vagrancy and forced to work for a white man against his own will. The social discrimination between white people and African Americans cause a lack of social progress for African
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.
Hopes, which turn out to be false are the adrenaline for the characters to keep moving on and the motivation for their actions. In “Death of a Salesman,” Willy has hope for his sons, especially Biff, to become successful businessmen like he wished for himself to become. His hope, which he finds out will almost never come true, gives motivation to give even a little more to help his sons to fulfill that life long dream of his. His hope for them was originally the hope for himself when he was young, but since he failed, it is a natural feeling to want his children to have better lives then him. This motivation, unfortunately, is the motivation to commit suicide, ignorant of the fact that it won't financially help his family. His motivation is very different from other American literature characters' motivations. It really shows that he is a sacrificial, yet somewhat ignorant, father who ...
He is quite right. Not only does Brick hide behind the liquor in the cabinet, his true crutch, but the furniture does exemplify all the modern conveniences that many p...
When Esquire magazine first published F. Scott Fitzgerald’s series of essays “The Crack-up”, “Pasting It Together” and “Handle With Care,” collectively know today as “The Crack-Up,” in the year 1936, the author was slammed with criticism by many prominent literary figures of the time. In all three essays, which share a similar tone, Fitzgerald gradually describes a “crack-up”— what he explains to be a physical breakdown characterized by lack of willingness and vitality to keep on fighting for success and a spiritual breakdown characterized by the loss of all motive and will to be generous and compassionate—he claims he prematurely suffered and suddenly realized. Fitzgerald presumes this slump as being analogous to a salt losing its flavor: