People have dreams and aspiration that they fight to achieve. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun the characters of Biff and Walter, Jr., are fighting to achieve there dreams by any means necessary. Their families support them in their endeavors to become a successful businessman. I believe that the characters of Biff and Walter, Jr., are both character who are struggling to achieve their dreams and provide a better life for their family.
In Arthur Miller’s Death of a salesman the play is based on one man trying to reach the a personal dream while unknowingly hurting his family. During Willy Loman’s life he caused his family to be damaged by living a life that he could no longer fulfill. His sons Biff and Happy realized what their father is going through and are their for him in his time of need. Willy traveled around the east coast selling merchandise but as he grew older he lost his ability to travel. Willy tried to force his dream on to his sons Biff and Happy after he realizes that he can no longer cut it for his traveling job. He risks his life and is eventually fired after a lifetime of hard work. Willy subconsciously decided that he need to create a future for his children. His realization that he can not fulfil his dream crush him and he starts to complain about
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everything, to try to ignore reality. He complains about the refrigerator and the car, then he ask Charlie for money because he is too ashamed to tell his family that he is out of a job. Unable to see any way out of this he comes to the conclusion that the only way to give his sons the dream he has is to give them money. He purposely crashes the car killing himself so that his life insurance of 20,000 dollars will support his family.That extreme action ultimately jeopardise the future dreams of both. If Willy could understand his place in life now he could of changed and tried to be content with his current life. This was not possible due to the fact that his sons Biff and Happy no longer had the dream of their father. Biff and Happy idolized their father in their childhood and looked up to him as a great role model. There father told them stories that he was the best salesman on the east coast making them think he was a great man, only to be disappointed in the end, shown in his funeral. As Biff grew up his father had told him “a salesman has to dream it comes with the territory”. ( Miller 48) After the death of Willy, Biff realizes that his dream is not his father but his own of becoming a ranch owner. He wants to move out west with his brother happy and start a new life in the natural world where no one knows him. Biff also understood that his father died so that he could get a head start on his dream and hopefully not fall into the trap like Willy Loman did. In Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun the death of Walter, Sr., makes Walter, Jr., the man of the house and is faced with great tasks ahead. Walter, jr., too has a dream of his own. He is constantly fighting poverty and racism that stopped his father’s dream. He now must persevere these challenges to get to his dream. Walter want to rise above his life of poverty, live the good life, to be respected and provide the best life for his family. His dream is to open up a liquor store with some business partners believing this is the chance they need to get ahead. He is unsatisfied with his current life and is trying everything for his dream. Unfortunately, he allows his dream to cloud his judgement creating conflict between himself and most members of the younger family. He Said to Moma “you butchered up a dream of mine you who is always talking about your children’s dreams”.(Hansberry 75) Mama then feels guilty and offers 3000 dollars for him to put in the bank for when his dream is possible. Without hesitation he give 3000 dollars of his money and the other 3500 dollar of Beneatha money for her dream. Being too hasty to achieve his dream he gets scammed and loses all of his money therefore destroying his dream and that of Beneatha. Feeling guilty he decided to take the bribe for the down payment of the new house to repay Beneatha. A last moment realization that the house is bettering his life and that of his families he is able to put aside his selfish dreams. By putting aside his dream he does the better thing and helps his family to better their living conditions and life. He understands now that money and property is nothing compared to your family. He shows this to his son so that his son does not make the same mistake he did. Throught this struggle the younger family grows closer together and Walter, jr., is able to change before his dreams destroy him like it did Willy loman in Death of a Salesman. Biff and Walter, Jr., are similar character who both have dreams of making a better life for themselves and their families.
But they were both able to understand that people must sometimes put aside the dreams for the better cause. The death of Willy shows Biff what can happen if you get obsessed with your dream. Likewise the lose of the money from the death of Walter, Sr., shows Walter, Jr., what will happen. Both of them finally understand in the end that life is not about money, power and possessions, but about family and friends. Family and friends will be there in your times of need and in your times of success, and will always love
you.
The play, “Death of a Salesman” written by Arthur Miller, presents Willy Loman, as a salesman, who fails to earn a living and slowly loses his mind. Willy continuously seeks the past to find out where he went wrong. During his years in life, Willy wanted his two sons, Biff and Happy to become someone they’re not; Willy wanted them to become a salesman like him. However, because of his obsession in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, he created a life full of lies for himself and his sons. In the end because of “his misconception of himself as someone capable of greatness” leads to his downfall and the end of his life (Death of a Salesman).”
Through a series of events, Biff gradually comes to a realization of what is necessary for success. First, we are shown a part of his childhood where Biff is told that "the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead." This idea appears in direct contrast to Bernard, one of Biff's childhood friends, who works and studies hard. Biff decides that Bernard will not succeed because he is "only liked, not well-liked," and being well-liked is the cornerstone of success. Nonetheless, later in the play we see that Bernard has become very successful, underscoring one of the messages in the play, that success is not just a result of popularity. Second, we are shown a scene in Boston soon after Biff has just failed math for the year. He discovers his "heroic" father having an affair. Biff comes to the painful realization that his father's values, his views, and everything that Biff had made the foundation of his life, are all completely "fake" and "phony." Unfortunately, he has nothing with which to replace it. Lastly, Biff decides to leave to try and find himself, but an argument develops between Biff and Willy. Biff begins to see himself as like his father, "nothing," just an average man trying to make a living, and quite possibly failing. Biff's earlier image of his father's greatness has crumbled entirely, leaving a lost young man trying to find his way. Biff realized that he now needs to find his own values in life. He has finally tasted reality and now must dive head first into the pot, without any real preparation.
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller concerns itself with the fall of a simple man perpetually in a steadfast state regarding his own failure in a success-driven society. The protagonist of the play, Willy Loman, will follow a tragic trajectory that will eventually lead to his suicide. Arthur Miller's tragic play is an accurate portrayal of the typical American myth that sustains an extreme craving for success and a belief in the illusion of the American dream, a dream attainable only by a handful of people. Having chosen a career in sales Willy Loman constantly aspires to become 'great'. Nevertheless, Willy is a poor aging salesman that considers himself to be a failure when comparing himself to his successful father and brother, but he is incapable of consciously admitting it. Consequently, Willy will measure his level of success with the level of success attained by his offspring, particularly his eldest son Biff. Their difficult relationship contribute to the play's main plot. Willy unfolds his deluded perception and recollection of the events as the audience gradually witnesses the tragic downfall of a man shadowed by a mental illness that has already began to take it's toll on his mind and personality.
In his final scene, Willy decides to end his life with the idea that Biff will then be wealthy enough from his death insurance money to finally be as successful as Willy had always hoped him to be. Although many interpret the ending of the play to be a tragedy, there is still optimism after Willy dies. Biff and Happy’s reactions to their father’s death is where the last bit of optimism lies in the play. Although Biff and Happy have two different outlooks on their father’s life, they each take what they need in order to find happiness and success in their futures. Biff knows that he does not want to chase the dream that his father did, he takes his father’s suicide as a lesson that a job like his and the pressures that come along with such a demanding occupation are too much for him to handle.
Biff is an interesting character. He seems to adore his father, but he really doesn't. He finds out that his father has an affaire, and he looses all respect for him. He ends up forgetting everything Willy said, and steals something from every job that makes him loose it. He wants to change his father, and will do this by shockingly awakening him to the reality that something is wrong with him, and Biff tries to get his father to stop trying to kill himself. He wants his father to love him like he loves his father, but he will not, because of his mood swings, ...
The play “Death of the Salesman” by Arthur Miller, introduced the dramatic story of Willy Loman, a salesman who has reached the end of the road. Willy Loman is a washed-up salesman who is facing hard times. In “Death of a Salesmen,” Willy Loman has been deluding himself over the years to the point he cannot understand what is wrong with him. This leads to the problems with is sons, wife, and career; it ultimately is what ends his life. I believed that the character of Willy 's delusion caused him to fall. While there were many contributing factors to Willy 's demise, his failure to cope with such circumstances and to become trapped in his own delusion is what tears Willy apart from himself and his family. Rather than facing the reality, Willy
Arthur Miller, A play writer in the twentieth century, wrote a play entitled Death of a salesman that won him the Pulitzer Price just a year after its release. In the play Miller expresses the life of a 60 year old salesman that undergoes through lack of success in his life and sees the same thing happening ,to his two grown sons now in their mid-thirties, as the American dream faded away being replaced by capitalism in the late 1940s. The play starts of by introducing Willy Loman, the protagonist, and tells the story of the final twenty four hours in Willy’s life all the way to his death and funeral. Between that time laps the audience is able to see Willies past thanks to his constant daydreams, along with his sons past and wife and their current situation all the way to Willies suicide. Willy kills himself in order to get achieve his dream of being successful and having a lot of money the way Willy in vision his death to be just like the death of a salesman in which everyone across the nation would attend his funeral. Unfortunately for Willy his dream died along with him as no one attended his funeral but his family and friends or “Friend” in this case considering that Willy only had one remaining friend the rest had died or believed that he had selfishly killed himself. Throughout Millers vivid play writing and expressive thoughts he is able to capture the audience attention and convey the message that People are so often scared of reality that they hide from it by living I the past. In death of a salesman Willy Loman decides to neglect reality by living in his past ultimately leading to his death due to lack of success and failure.
...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.
Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry are known as two of the greatest African American writers during the 1950s. Facing racial discrimination, both projected this into their work. Black empowerment is a commonality between their pieces. In Harlem, these authors meet and became best friends. Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” is based on answering the question from Hughes’ “Dream deferred.” Hansberry’s play answers what happens to dreams deferred through her characters as Mama pushes away her dreams for her family, Walter’s dream of a liquor store is crushed, and Beneatha does not want to become a doctor. In her play, “A Raisin in the Sun,” Lorraine uses Beneatha, Walter, and Mama to show the negative consequences that occur when a dream is deferred.
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a story about the dark side of the "American Dream". Willy Loman's obsession with the dream directly causes his failure in life, which, in turn, leads to his eventual suicide. The pursuit of the dream also destroys the lives of Willy's family, as well. Through the Lomans, Arthur Miller attempts to create a typical American family of the time, and, in doing so, the reader can relate to the crises that the family is faced with and realize that everyone has problems.
Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman follows protagonist Willy Loman in his search to better his and his family’s lives. Throughout Willy Loman’s career, his mind starts to wear down, causing predicaments between his wife, two sons and close friends. Willy’s descent into insanity is slowly but surely is taking its toll on him, his job and his family. They cannot understand why the man they have trusted for support all these years is suddenly losing his mind. Along with his slope into insanity, Willy’s actions become more aggressive and odd as the play goes on. Despite Willy and Biff’s “family feud”, his two sons Happy and Biff truly worry about their father’s transformation, Happy saying: “He just wants you to make good, that’s all. I wanted to talk to you about dad for a long time, Biff. Something’s – happening to him. He – talks to himself” (Miller 21). Willy, as a father, cares about his children but he wishes they would do better. He believes Biff should have been an athlete. According to Harrington, “Even figuratively, Willy is haunted, and particularly in Biff’s failure to achieve success as a sports figure” (108). This haunting is part of what led to Willy’s slow plunge into madness. As Willy’s career in sales fails, he also fails, even failing his family. Heyen adds: “He didn’t have anything of real value to give to his family, or if he did, he didn’t know what it was” (48). His debilitating flashbacks and delusional hallucinations with Uncle Ben cement his horrifying realizations that he has let down his family. Willy Loman blames the economy for his downfall in his career. In one of his more extreme outbursts he exclaims, “There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country! Population is getting out of control. ...
In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is a salesman who has worked his entire life away and in looking back upon his life he feels that he has not made any overall achievements to be proud of. In his older age he struggles with internal and external conflicts in regards to his own personal choices and trying to make sure that his sons make good live’s to support themselves with. Willy’s wife is a woman who is overly understanding and loving when it comes to her husband; and even though he treats her disrespectfully in most instances she is undoubtedly devoted to him. She continues to believe in his work and abilities even when he no longer has the capability to see his own actions through. Miller shows in his play that as Willy fights to make successful live’s for his children and family he is only separating them farther and leading himself to suicide, because of their overall difference in views upon life and his own self doubt.
represents that even when individuals go through conflict either internally or externally the first step to getting better is understanding the problem and moving on from there. Biff and Happy Loman are brothers in the play, The Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller. They are two very contrasting characters; the two brothers both deal with conflict in an entirely different manner, which leads to a completely different end result for each character. When two characters start out with the same perspective, you can clearly identify the differences between them as the characters adapt and revise who they were.
Biff grows up the complete opposite of what his family, mainly his father, wanted. He was the golden boy of his family that was never told no. He was taught to live his life by the principal that “’the man who makes an
In conclusion, Biff will not follow in Willy’s footsteps due to the fact that he has no motivation or desire to go into the business world. Willy dies thinking that his life was a success because of the money he is leaving for his son whereas it is not, at least in the way he thinks. Biff breaks free from Willy’s false dream and tells Happy: “He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong... He never knew who he was” (111). Happy does end up taking the money to start a business and while that was not Willy’s main aim; it is something rather than nothing.