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Death of salesman's character
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Unit 3 Lesson 9 Short Answers 1.) In 15-20 sentences, identify the overarching theme in Miller’s play and why you feel this is the most important of all the themes present in “Death of a Salesman.” The overarching theme in Miller’s play is living the American dream. Willy believes he is the best salesman. That he is well known all over New England. Which would mean he was living the American dream. Willy tells the boys, “I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. ‘Willy Loman is here!’ That’s all they have to know, and I go right through” (Miller, 2121). Even though he does not make a lot of money and people do not show up at his funeral. Linda asked, “Why didn’t anyone come? But where are all the people he knew?” (Miller, 2174). …show more content…
Willy feels that it is important to find evidence to prove that he is successful to others. One example is when Biff tells his Dad, “I’m takin’ one play for Pop. You watch me, Pop, and when I take off my helmet, that means I’m breakin’ out. Then you watch me crash through the line!” Then Willy tells Biff, “Oh, wait’ll tell this in Boston!” (Miller, 2120). Like he has to prove to the people in Boston how much of a successful father he is. Willy wants his sons to also be successful and better than anyone else. Willy tells his sons, “That’s just what I mean. Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him” (Miller, 2121). The ironic thing about this is Bernard ended up as a very successful lawyer. Happy and Biff struggle between what they truly need and what Willy has told them they …show more content…
They play’s attitude seems against it. There are numerous signs of failure throughout the play. Failure goes against this theme. Willy was trying to live the dream, but he died not being well know or rich. Bernard, according to Willy and his sons, was not a “well liked” person; but had the most success out of all of them. Charley tells Willy, “How do you like this kid? Gonna argue a case I front of the Supreme Court” (Miller, 2152). Ben’s luck of finding the diamonds by complete accident; and Willy’s hardworking unsuccessfully life. Willy’s failure to impress his boss, Howard, enough to change his position. Howard did not appreciate Willy enough to allow him to stop being a roadman. Willy wanted to start selling in the store; instead he got
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
"Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller Analysis of Major Characters." . Staten Island Technical High, 5 May 2010. Web. 7 May 2014. .
Although, his narcissism exhibits the common issue with American capitalism-it leads to greediness, unhappiness, and anger. This yearning for success can also cause an obsession with appearance and the self, which is a main focus in Willy Loman’s life. He says that to get somewhere, it is good to be “built like (an) Adonis,” which he tells his sons. At one point in his life, he felt he never had to ask for anything, and that when he walked in a room, he got what he wanted because “‘Willy Loman is here!’” Eventually, Willy ages and lacks the flair that he once had, and is left with unimpressive salesman skills. Due to America’s obsession with appearance, old-age is a plague to American society. The superficiality causes those to enjoy charisma over passion. This leads to arrogance, a common American worker to be. Willy Loman is a mirror being held up to the faces of American worker-bees. He avoided risks, and continued living a monotonous, easy life. Miller is attempting to say, monotony is a dangerous habit America has. This play intends to steer readers into a direction of following their own path, rather than following the norm; the norm is nothing new, and fails to reach anything
In the play, Willy apprises his boys that it is very important to be well liked and have a good reputation with people because that would create success for them. Evidently, that was not the case in their lives though. As they progressed out of high school, the boy’s lives became stagnant and failure followed them because they did not put work into being successful. They did not have a reliable financial income and they were not content with their lives. They were taught that
He has worked for decades traveling all over New England selling goods for a firm and seems to think that because he is well liked (which really isn't all that true), he is successful. He wishes that his sons too could be like him while they know that they will never be decent businessmen. This is a source of major conflict between the brothers, Biff and Hap, and Willy. Linda, Willy's wife, is very naive and thinks that her husband is just an innocent confused old man and faithfully loves him. She can not stand to see her sons argue against their father even though they often are right.
Willy Loman is a firm believer in the "American Dream:" the notion that any man can rise from humble beginnings to greatness. His particular slant on this ideal is that a man succeeds by selling his charisma, that to be well liked is the most important asset a man can have. He made a living at this for 30 years, but as he enters the reclining years of his life, people have stopped smiling back and he can no longer sell the firm's goods to support himself. His ambition was one of greatness, to work hard and to be a member of the firm; and if he could not succeed in this respect, that he should at least be well-liked and be able to sell until the day of his death: When his friends would flock from all over the country to pay their respects.
Bigsby, C. W. E. “Death of a Salesman.” Arthur Miller: A Critical Study. New York: Cambridge UP, 2005. 100-123.
Murray, Edward. “The Thematic Structure in Death of a Salesman.” Readings on Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman. San Diego: Greenhaven Press Inc., 1999.
Like countless characters in a play, Willy struggles to find who he is. Willy’s expectations for his sons and The Woman become too high for him to handle. Under the pressure to succeed in business, the appearance of things is always more important than the reality, including Willy’s death. The internal and external conflicts aid in developing the character Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
Theme of Success in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman One of the important themes in Death of a Salesman is the nature of success. Many people believe that success is about making a lot of money. They say that with money comes happiness. However, this may not always be true. In other words, success is defined as the accomplishment of something that was desired.
Willy Loman stands in, so to speak, for every American male who defined himself as a man, husband and father with respect to his success in the workplace and his capacity for grabbing a share of the material American dream. Willy Loman is a man who has deluded himself and has judged himself more harshly than his wife or his son. His tragedy is that he comes to an understanding of this delusion too late to make any changes in his life. Whether or not we as readers or as members of the audience agree with his judgment is irrelevant. It is Willy's own failure that is important in this play.
Willy was fixed on his dream that he was going to be successful someday, and that he was very well liked and that it would pay off one day. The dramatic and somewhat depressing ending however, suggests differently. Killing himself to pay off the future success of his sons, only for no one to show up to his funeral shows how his whole life was some sort of illusion to what he had dreamed to be, dying at the hands of his tragic flaws. The purpose of Miller’s modern tragedy was so that the audience would be able to relate to, seeing Willy as a property of all men instead of someone of nobility such as a king or prince or God. In the post-war times when the play was written, it was easier to relate to someone average, or even below average, than someone as strong as a
Symbolism in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, is wrought with symbolism from the opening scene. Many symbols illustrate the themes of success and failure. They include the apartment buildings, the rubber hose, Willy’s brother Ben, the tape recorder, and the seeds for the garden. These symbols represent Willy’s attempts to be successful and his impending failure.
Bernard was a dorky nobody who worshipped Biff when they were growing up. But now Bernard is a successful lawyer with a family, in contrast to Biff (1011). Willy cannot understand how Bernard ended up where he while his son “. . . laid down and died . . .” (1011) (1013). In Willy’s memory of the past, the audience can see how Willy encouraged Biff to cheat on tests with Bernard’s help (980). However, Willy evades the truth that lies in his ill-considered encouragement ensuing Biff’s doomed fate. Willy instead fixates on the time Biff played football in Ebbets Field, but the only thing he remembers was the crowd cheering “Loman, Loman, Loman” (997). This demonstrates that it was not his son Willy was rooting for as much as the reflected glory that came with the celebrity of the moment. Again, this shows how Willy actually praised the gratification of success rather than the actual hard work that makes a successful
As a father, Willy only wants the best for his sons. He wants his sons to do better than what he has done with his life and achieve more success. Willy 's dreams for his sons are a source of tension and anxiety for Biff and Happy. Their desire to please their father clashes with what is deemed moral and the right way to act. Willy 's dreams for his sons are seen as added pressure for them to succeed within life. In order to fulfill their father 's wishes, they develop a mindset that they must do whatever it takes for them to succeed. Happy is trying to move up the ranks within the company he works for and in order to please Willy, he acts as if the only way to advance is by neglecting any sort of boundaries. When Happy is discussing his competitiveness