Comparing Truth In Willy Loman And A Streetcar Named Desire

DeAsia Richardson

MP #1

2/28/18

Truth before anything

The play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is about a dysfunctional family determined to live the American Dream. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams is about a delusional woman and how her lies lead her to the mental institution. In Death of a Salesman and a Streetcar Named Desire examine insanity and hallucinations through Willy Loman’s and Blanche's fear of the truth and confronting it, the use of music, the light and the stockings as reappearing symbols and not to mention how the characters respond to it. The author justify that denying the truth will lead to lunacy, affecting not only you but, others as well.

Willy Loman from Death of a Salesman, fits the theme

of madness perfectly. Loman is a traveling salesman in his sixties not aware of his mental disorder. “No it’s me, it’s me. Suddenly I realize I’m going sixty miles an hour and I don’t remember the last five minutes.” (Miller 4). Willy forgets things and experiences several hallucinations throughout the play. Willy knows there’s something wrong with him but he’s in denial. He continues to lie to himself and loved ones. This denial contributes to his insanity making it difficult to distinguish the present from the past. Loman constantly crashing his vehicle suggest or indicate that he’s contemplating suicide. Willy is not only hurting himself but, the people around him as well. He has moments where he can be verbally abusive to Linda, Biff and Happy. His episodes make him aggressive and unaware that he is hurting anyone. His family is just worried sick about him and his condition is only getting worse. His denial is beginning to be too much for him and his past does not help him either. All the lies Willy told about his job and mistress are starting to unravel affecting his mental state. Sooner or later he’s going to break.
In a Streetcar named desire, Blanche Dubois is a middle aged woman who have struggled an abundance amount of pain since the death of her husband. “He’d stuck the revolver into his mouth, and fired so that the back of his head had been blown away!” (Williams 115). Blanche witness the love of her life kill himself. Seeing something so horrific is bound to mess up anyone’s head. This event in particular broke her sanity with reality. Not only was she lied to and cheated on by her gay husband but, she seen him take his own life. That type of pain can change a person forever. It interferes with a person's trust, the way they love and relationship with others. Not just anybody can recover from something like that. Dubois way of dealing with it is through denial. Lying to herself and others is her way of coping. She rather cause avoidable drama because it is better than facing the painful truth. In result, Blanche’s actions throughout the novel is because of this.
Blanche’s imagination stirs up unnecessary problems and trouble. “I don’t want realism. I want magic!” (Williams 145). Dubois is living in a fantasy world. She thinks she’s younger than Stella and that her lies are nothing but the truth. Dubois also kisses the young paper boy as if it was okay. Blanche believes it is acceptable because in her utopia she is not that much older than him. She thinks she is a young beautiful bachelorette, pure and innocent. Dubois still believes she is the person she was before her husband’s suicide. She desires to be that person again. Before the trauma, unfaithfulness and grief. Part of living in this fairyland is her way of taking back her innocence.
It is always better to tell the truth.

In A Streetcar named desire, Dubois and Mitch were casually dating based upon the lies told by Dubois. Dubois told Mitch that she was younger than Stella and lied about the reason she was visiting her. As the play continues her lies start to come to light. “I don’t tell the truth I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it.” ( Williams 145). Dubois response for all of her lies, manipulation and deceit was she tells what should be the truth and nothing else. The only truth she is interested in is her version. Later on in the play Mitch tells her that he does not care about her age or her flaws. There was no need for Dubois to deceive him. The truth would have set her free. Mitch would have accepted her despite her appearance. However, due to all the lying Mitch declares Dubois “not clean enough” to meet his mother. What is done in the dark comes to the light. This heartbreak was just the beginning of her break down. Dubois starts to lose it hearing the Varsouviana play in her head. The same song that was playing when her husband killed himself. All of the lies and cover ups her mind made up to protect herself is unraveling causing her psychotic

break.
In Death by a Salesman, displayed examples of symbolism throughout the play. The hose Willy kept moving and obsessing over represents his thoughts about suicide because he was losing his mind and couldn’t handle it anymore. The family noticed Willy’s fetish with the hose and continued to hide it. Willy’s fixation with the hose may have been his cry out for help. His family knew something was mentally off about him but they were in denial. They chose to believe everything was fine so they didn’t have to send Willy away. They just ignored his episodes and pretended like nothing was wrong. Nobody came to reality until it was too late. Willy had already taken his own life due to his sanity and his imagination. If everyone would have came to terms with the truth maybe things could have turned out differently.
In Death of a Salesman, the stockings used by Linda was one of the things that triggered Willy’s episodes.

They reminded him about the time he cheated on Linda with his mistress. “ You just killed me, Willy. You kill me. And thanks for the stockings. I love a lot of stockings.Well, good night .” (Miller 21). The saleswoman loved stockings so she set up an arrangement with Willy. If he brought her expensive stockings in exchange she would put in a good word for Willy with her boss. He tried to cover up and keep this a secret buried because he was ashamed and embarrassed. The woman played him like an instrument and in return he received nothing but guilt. This guilt followed him for the rest of his life. Willy had to live with the fact he cheated the one he loved dearly and stuck by his side through thick and thin. The reason behind the affair was to benefit Willy and his family in the long run but all it brought was chaos. His son Biff walked in on his affair obliterating their father and son bond. The stockings is a constant reminder of the affair that changed their lives

forever.
In a Streetcar named desire, Blanche has this paper lantern that dims the light in the room. The light and lantern contributes to Dubois delusion about still being young and beautiful like her sister Stella. “ Now then let me look at you. But don’t you look at me Stella, no, no, no, not till I’ve bathed and rested! And turn that over light off! Turn that off!”( Williams 11). Throughout the play Blanche constantly avoids the light as much as possible. Blanche did not want Stella to notice how much she’s aged. She wants to keep the idea alive that she is just as young and beautiful as she was before. Hiding under dimmed lights helped Blanche believe in her fantasy of still being an adolescent. It is her way of keeping this fantasy alive. Her and Mitch only go out on dates at night. The reason because of this is so he does not noticed how much older Blanche is. In the dialogue and stage directions it says Mitch removed the paper lantern from the light and she gasps. When Mitch did that Dubois was fully exposed to reality. She is not as young as she believes. Mitch would have loved her for herself not her age or looks. Her lies and denial hurt Mitch. He was falling in love with a woman he thought he knew. Mitch was looking for a wife, someone to take home to his sick mother and he thought he finally found her. In the end he just gets his hopes up and heart broken.
In both plays, the use of the stage directions contributes to the readers understanding of Willy and Blanche losing their sanity. Blanche hallucinates hearing the revolver used by her husband go off and the last song they danced to before his death. Willy hallucinates about his past interactions with people and imagines talking to his dead brother Ben. They are slowly losing their mind and chose to ignore it. Willy and Blanche’s denial is not only affecting their mental state but, also the people around them. Their mischievous past and deceit will particularly follow them causing needless pain and misery. The stage directions contribute to the symbolism of Willy and Blanche losing their lucidity. It provides the reader with imagery as if they can actually hear the Varsouviana playing or picture Willy talking to himself. All of the symbolism contributes to the authors idea of madness.
All of the manipulation, dishonesty, and denial lead Dubois and Willy down a path they could not return from. Their lies added on to their insanity making things worse rather than better. Willy’s condition got so bad to the point his dead imaginary brother persuaded him into committing suicide. Blanche lied tremendously until nobody believed her anymore and was sent to a mental hospital. Their lies and cover ups just resulted in unnecessary chaos that could have been avoided. Willy and Blanche fear of the truth caused pain to not only themselves but, the people around them. What is done in the dark comes to the light. If only Dubois and Willy had chosen to be at peace with themselves rather than live in denial the outcome could have been different. What is done in the dark comes to the light. By the end of Death of a Salesman and a Streetcar named desire, Willy and Dubois only got what was coming to them.