Similarities Between Death Of A Salesman And A Raisin In The Sun

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The 1950’s was known as the calm before the storm of the rebellious 1960’s and rightfully so. The 1950’s was a time of many ideals and two books that portrayed these ideals perfectly are The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. The Death of a Salesman is centered around Willy and Linda Loman and their struggles to accept that their children, Biff and Happy Loman, would not be successful. A Raisin in the Sun is centered around Walter Lee Younger and his mother Lena Lee Younger and their struggles living in a African-American poverty-riddled family surrounded by well-off American families. Through the contrasting faithful and devoted characterization of Linda Loman and independent and self-reliant …show more content…

LINDA: Willy, please!
…
WILLY: Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world a young man with such — personal attractiveness, gets lost. And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff — he’s not lazy.
LINDA: Never. (Miller 16)
Willy and Linda are discussing Biff’s life, when Willy says that Biff is lazy. “Willy, please” shows how Linda does not seem to contradict his thought that Biff is lazy but is only disturbed by the fact that he would talk about their son that way. Then when Willy changes his mind and seems to believe that Biff is not lazy and is a hard worker, Linda is right by him and being the faithful wife she is, agrees with Willy immediately. Miller uses “Never” to portray how Linda changes her point of view immediately and is right there supporting Willy once again and would “Never” disagree with him. Linda is blindly devoted towards her husband and agrees with his decisions immediately, no matter the choice. This blind devotion eventually lead to Willy’s death. Later in the story, Linda is talking to Biff and Happy about finding a rubber pipe in the basement:
LINDA: There’s a little attachment on the end of it. I knew right away. And sure enough, on the bottom of the water heater there’s a new little nipple on the gas

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