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Characterization of willy loman in death of a salesman
Significance of the title of the death of a salesman
Characterization of willy loman in death of a salesman
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“The Jungle is dark but full of diamonds,willy.”(Miller 134). Willy Loman is the main character in the novel “Death Of A Salesman’ and Mr.Loman was the type of person that would always focus on the simple things. Instead of looking for new opportunities and for a better change everything went downhill for Mr.Loman. For that reason, Arthur Miller utilizes the title “Death Of A Salesman” not just to predict Willy Loman’s death and failure, but also how Mr.Loman’s dreams died alongside with him. Showing that one little mistake can make a big change in your life. Miller utilizes the title to show how Willy Loman’s failure caused insecurity and self doubt in himself. Willy Loman’s failure was something that he caused because he started all the …show more content…
Once Mr.Loman lost his job he doubted himself more and began to make bad decisions also had took a wrong turn in his life that just made things worse for him. Mr.lomans insecurity and self-doubt was what hurt him and willy feared failure so much that he ended up becoming a failure. Willy Loman was a “Lo-man” below everyone instead of getting back up from his failure and try to change his actions. Dreams are one of the hardest accomplishments to achieve in life today, But they are also very easy to slip away by little mistakes. Mr.Loman’s dream had formed out to fail on him because he took the wrong path to his dream. Even his son Biff had told him that he should just throw away his dream because he knew he would never achieve it. As Biff states in the story” Will you let me go for christ sake! Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something Happens.” (Miller 133). Biff didn’t know how to tell his father but just by saying it into a straightforward manner. Because maybe that was only way Mr.Loman would understand that …show more content…
Biff didn’t want to end up like his father laying in the ash waiting for a new beginning. But it would be hard for Mr.Loman to start again because it is hard to find new things since it is impossible for a new beginning. Jen Kim is from Sussex Publishers stating that “Dreams don’t just die by themselves we kill them. thankfully we can also bring them back to life.” Mr.Loman killed his dreams by taking the wrong path in the story and also with his insecurity and self- doubt he had in himself. Willy Loman could of had a better life, but one little mistake ended up messing up his whole dreams. All in all, Arthur Miller utilized the power of the title “Death Of A Salesman” not just to envision Willy Loman’s death and failure. But also foretell how Mr.Loman was an insecure and self- doubted person, which had led him into making the inaccurate decisions and taking the wrong path in the story. For not taking the right path Mr.Lomans dreams were going down the drain along with himself. Dreams don’t get crushed by themselves. We kill them for making the bad decisions in life and we just defeat ourselves instead of changing and living life
On simply the business side of things, Willy Loman is a tragic figure. He spent thirty-four years in the same firm building his career, yet in the end, he is sent on the road when he would be much better off on the floor. When he confronts his boss, Howard, Willy is at first
...nsidering he was popular and favored in high school. Due to the lack of communication between the son and father, Biff mostly sides with his mother Linda, “Stop making excuses for him! He always, always wiped the floor with you. Never had an ounce of respect for you” (Miller 39). It is difficult for Biff as well, because of the colliding dreams that he obtains, from Willy’s dreams. Rather than cherishing a family relationship, relationships are being broken apart due to different expectations and pressures of success.
Willy Loman was a man who gradually destroyed himself with false hopes and beliefs. Throughout his entire life Willy believed that he would die a rich and successful man. It was inevitable for him to come crumbling down after years of disillusions. We can look at Willy’s life by examining some of his character traits that brought him down.
Throughout the play Biff experiences urgencies to steal and as an effect this demonstrated how high school Biff and adult Biff did not mature into a responsible, grown adult. Biff continued to steal due to the fact that he did not receive discipline into social rules by Willy and expected not to listen them. It tragically displays how Willys role as a father ushered Biff to turn into a failure in his life. Rather than Willy discipling Biff for his stealing, he encouraged him and praised his spirit for it. As a teenager, Biff accepted his father's conception and developed into an unsuccessful grown man confused and living with his parents. In the end, he ultimately fails himself and his father's expectations of him.
Willy Loman’s character is capable of making errors. He believes he is a very successful salesman and well liked. He also thinks that the company likes what he is doing. He once said, “I’m the New England man. I am vital in New England” (Miller pg. 32) Because of his false belief about his success Howard fired him. After he got fired charley offered him a job, but he refuses to accept, because he is too proud and jealous to work for Charley. His actions were wrong because at no time was a successful salesman. He is not a powerful character. Willy lives in his fantasies where he is the man. Who goes out to another place and comes out rich, he is love by everyone and admired by his family. In real life, he is lazy and does not live up to his own ideals. “As Aristotle explains, a tragic hero must be one of noble character and must fall from power and happiness.”(Www.ccd.rightchoice.org/lit115/poetics.html) but Willy neither has a noble characteristic nor does he fall from power because he does not have a position of power.
Willy Loman is both the protagonist and the antagonist, gaining sympathy from the reader only to lose it moments later. He is his own worst enemy, causing his life to be much harder than it needs to be. If only Willy had realized his faults and accepted life as it is, perhaps the reader would have been his sympathizer the entire play.
Willy Loman is a self-conscious man who has hopes of obtaining the “American Dream”, but never reaches the pinnacle. This “American Dream” being his clouded view that success comes easily, and you do not have to work for it. Willy is expecting things to be handed to him in this great land of opportunity, but that is not the case. When his lofty expectations of the “good life” are never met, he slowly spirals into a state of insanity. Loman is very concerned with his image, which drives him, but also betrays him as he collapses under the weight of his own judgment.
Biff, the favorite son is characterized to have the most potential in the family. While his father and brother are unable to accept their failures, Biff is able to learn from the mistakes made by his family. He is able to redeem himself, or so he thinks. He has looked up to his father his whole life even though he understands that his father has wrong idea about selling. When Biff finds his father with another woman his senior year, he suddenly concludes the truth behind everything his father has been doing.
Willy Loman does not seem like a prideful man at the beginning of his sad tale. In
“I’ve always made a point of not wasting my life,” he says, “But all I’ve done is waste it.” Near the beginning of the play when Biff is talking to Happy in their room, he tells him that he’d rather be outside with no shirt on his back, working with his hands. He then offers Happy to come with him to the West to start a ranch together—since Happy had been agreeing with him about preferring to work physically, outside in the open air. However, Happy begins talking about showing other people that “they’re made of something,” and becomes wrapped up in prestige over happiness. Biff honestly wants to go after something he legitimately enjoys, and therefore has a glimpse of what perhaps the American Dream truly means, and how one goes about the pursuit of happiness—rather than the pursuit of money. With his statements early in the story, he clearly is beginning to understand how to live a fulfilling life for his personal desires, needs, and passions. Biff also reveals that he fathoms that life is something which can be wasted, and since he always “made a point of not wasting [it],” he evidently knew that he should seize his opportunities when he could—which perhaps may have partly led to his more whimsical lifestyle in which he had a difficult time finding roots and a job he truly enjoyed, because he abandoned his own passions due to personal, familial, and societal expectations, yet simultaneously attempted to a degree to chase after what sincerely cherished in life, causing him to develop into a drifter, becoming uncertain of even his own
is to be successful. When Biff figures out for himself that his father is fooling him and himself he got hurt
...before something happens?” (Miller 133). Biff is getting frustrated with Willy because he is trying to turn his son into somebody that he does not want to be. Willy’s tragedy is due to the fact that the truth for him is far fetched, since he is always seeing life in a flashback, which leads to his demise.
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.
though he accepts his father as a fake later in life, Biff tries over and
goes on to say that Biff is doing all of this out of spite, and not because