In “Death of a Salesman” there are many symbols that are used over the course of the play. The first symbol in the play is the stockings. For Willy the stockings have two different meanings. The stockings symbolize Willy’s unfaithfulness to his wife because when Willy was away on his business he had an affair with a woman who he gave new stockings to. The stockings also symbolize his inability to provide for his family. Linda is often mending her stockings and Willy yells at her for it. It upsets Willy because it is a reminder of how he can’t afford to buy his wife new stockings so she must continue to mend her old ones. The rubber hose symbolizes Willy’s attempts of suicide but is also another symbol of how Willy is unable to provide for his …show more content…
family. Willy apparently attempted to kill himself by connecting the rubber hose to the gas pipe and inhaling gas. The gas is a basic substance he is supposed to equip his home with to provide heat for his family. Since his attempt at suicide was unsuccessful we can assume that this means there was no gas because Willy was unable to pay the bills. The mentions of Alaska and the jungle in the play are a symbol of risk. Willy talks about how his brother Ben went to Alaska and got rich by finding diamonds. Willy sees diamonds as a symbol of tangible wealth, which is the thing he desires most to give to his family. In Act 2 just before Willy makes the decision to commit suicide he hears Ben say, “The jungle is dark but full of diamonds.” Willy is obsessed with leaving something tangible for his family. I think that these are kinetic symbols. At the end of the play the jungle symbolizes death and the diamonds begin to symbolize the $20,000 in insurance money his family is supposed to get if he dies. Willy wants desperately to be able to provide for his family and since he feels that he has failed at doing it during his life he wants to do it in his death. The garden and the seeds are also an example of this. Willy is fixated on planting the garden because he wants to be able to leave something for his family. He struggles with the fact that he cannot provide for his family and the garden he insists on planting is a way for him to provide for his family even as he is planning his own death. For Willy the seeds represent the opportunity to prove the worth of his labor, both as a salesman and a father. His desperate attempt to grow vegetables represents his shame about barely being able to put food on the table and having nothing to leave his children when he passes. The main symbol in “Fences” is the fence itself. The fence is a kinetic symbol in the play and holds different meanings for the different characters. For Rose the fence is a symbol of her love for her family and the fence is supposed to hold everyone in. Rose wants the fence to be built to keep her family together. The fence is also a symbol of the things Troy wants to keep out. In the final confrontation between Troy and Cory, Troy tells Cory when he comes back for his stuff that it will be on the other side of the fence clearly indicating that Cory is no longer welcome inside. Troy establishes the fence as a physical dividing line between him and his son; however, it symbolizes an emotional barrier as well. The fence also becomes a symbolic barrier that Troy tries to put between himself and Death. After Troy found out Alberta died in childbirth, he said, "All right . . . Mr. Death. See now . . . I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take and build me a fence around this yard. See? I'm gonna build me a fence around what belongs to me. And then I want you to stay on the other side," (2.2. 83-87). Troy knows he'll eventually lose his battle with Death but the fence has come to symbolize to Troy that he's not going down without a fight. When Troy finishes building the fence it could be a symbol of his trying to protect himself and the rest of his family. Baseball has many meanings in the play. Baseball is a symbol of missed opportunities for Troy. Troy was playing before the war so he was denied an opportunity to play in the major leagues because the teams were still segregated. Troy uses baseball as an extended metaphor through the play. When Cory does something wrong or defies him he tells him he has a strike and warns him not to strike out. When Cory makes three mistakes as judged by Troy he “strikes out” and is kicked out of the house. When Troy is talking about his confrontation with Death he says, “Death ain’t nothing but a fastball on the outside corner,” (1.1, 186). Baseball is also present in the play with the baseball bat and rag ball tied to a tree in the yard. Throughout the play both Troy and Cory are swinging at the ball on the tree. For Troy swinging at the tattered ball could symbolize his tattered dreams. Baseball is a symbol of what is tearing Troy and Cory apart. Troy won’t let Cory play football because of his experiences with baseball so I think that it is significant that the baseball bat is used as the weapon they threaten each other with when they have their big fight and Cory has to leave.. The final symbol in “Fences” is the garden and the seeds that Raynell plant.
Seeds typically symbolize growth and new beginnings. On the day of Troy’s funeral Raynell is in her garden looking to see of the seeds she had just planted grew. I think that this symbolizes a new beginning for the family since Troy passed. When Raynell complains that the seeds haven’t grown yet Rose says, "You just have to give it a chance. It'll grow," (2.5, 11). I think that this statement also reflects the family. Cory comes back to the house for Troy’s funeral for the first time since he left and finally forgives his father when he agrees to attend his funeral. The family, like the seeds, has so much potential for growth when everyone comes back together for the funeral. Through his death Troy helps to bring his family back together. In “Death of a Salesman” all of the symbols center on Willy’s inability to provide for his family. Although they all have different implications of this theme the symbols are used to support the theme throughout the story. In “Fences” the symbols are mostly about relationships between the characters. In “Death of a Salesman” the garden at the end is used as a symbol of something tangible Willy can leave for his family. In “Fences” the garden has a very different symbolic meaning. It focuses more on the possibility of new life and growth than on the items produced by the
seeds.
To begin, the flowers represent the racism and prejudice that lies within the tight community of Maycomb, Alabama. One instance of the flowers being used as symbolism is when Camellias
The similar symbols of the father figure, the "other woman," and the garden, in Death of a Salesman and Fences, are used to develop the similar themes of father-son conflicts, marital conflicts, and the need to leave one's mark of success on the world. The main difference is that while Willy plants seeds by himself to see them grow, Troy's garden is planted by Raynell, his "seed." By bringing Raynell into the world, Troy plants a seed that will grow to live out his dreams; the tragedy is that both Willy and Troy die before having a chance to see their seeds grow.
Found within the storyline, Willy implements features of a tragic hero as he shows the reversal of events in his life due to his own actions. Willy, through the downfall with his son, Biff, shows that his actions have caused a bridge between him and his son in which his son chooses to grow apart from his family. As seen at the beginning of the play, Willy represents a tragic hero as he is distressed and troubled as he comes home from another failed sales trip. Although Willy represents a tragic hero in many cases, there are also others found within Death of a Salesman that help implement the role of a profound hero. Willy’s wife, Linda, implements the heroine as she presents herself with many wise and understanding words for Willy has he faces his hardships. Throughout the story, it is seen that Linda represents herself as a put together woman for her husband but is often found distraught by her husband’s actions in which readers and audiences can empathize with
The symbolism is heavily engaged within this play, and this strength in symbolism is also displayed in “Death of a Salesman.” This is a tragic story, and not only because the Salesman obviously dies, it is simply because throughout the story the demise and sadness within a family is revealed more and more, increasing the sadness of the reader and the disappointment in which they experience throughout. Brenda Murphy agrees with this heavy use of symbolism, “There are times when the play moves on a plane of symbolism and other times when it is exactingly realistic.” This realism is essentially the entire idea of the play, though the reader experiences heavy symbolism within this realism. Many physical, inanimate objects are the center of symbolism in this play and they are very important to the development of certain characters, namely, Willy Loman. The idea of realism and symbolism being united is when an object of the story that shape the plot can stand for altered meanings, which aren’t absolutely necessary for the reader to understand to understand the story line. Furthermore, the three main symbols in “Death of a Salesman,” are first, Willy Loman’s wife’s stockings, the fountain pen, and last, also most important the rubber hose connected to the
In Death of a Salesman and Oedipus Rex, pride plays an integral part to the development of the plot. In each play, the hamartia for both Willy and Oedipus is pride, along with other minor things. Willy’s and Oedipus’ sense of self-worth seems to come from their pride, however misguided it may seem. Pride is the hamarita which connects Willy and Oedipus, in which case pride causes them to live in their past and prevents them from seeing the present, resulting in their tragic ending. For Oedipus, pride causes him to search for the truth in his hidden past, inadvertently causing him to be the instrument of his own downfall. Willy’s pride causes him to live in an unrealistic past, preventing him from seeing what he currently has instead of what he doesn’t, leading to a vain death. Lastly, the sense of pride exhibited by Willy and Oedipus and how it affects their past extends on to the ones closest to them. For Willy, his pride and past is forced onto his sons, and to some extent their mother, while for Oedipus his search for truth in the past leads to the undoing of his own wife and mother. Pride deludes the way Oedipus and Willy see their past, affecting how their current life is, leading to their tragic end. C.S. Lewis stated “A proud man is always looking down on thing...as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you” (Lewis), and so for Oedipus and Willy they are unable to see what their life as it is for pride is always causing them to look down and in the past.
Throughout the play, stockings play an important symbol. It serves as a reminder to Willy of his betrayal and infidelity to not only his wife Linda, but his children. He gave a pair of new and expensive stockings to the woman, who remains nameless. It haunts his conscience because the stockings were an intimate gift, one that he could never afford to buy for his loving and devoted wife thus he angrily takes them from her and says “I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out!” The sight of him seeing Linda fix her stockings makes him uncomfortab...
The rubber hose represents both success and failure. It is attached to the gas main in Willy’s house and provides him with the opportunity to commit suicide. Willy sees this as a way to finally do something for his family to make up for years of disappointment. He will no longer be a burden to them when he is gone, and they will remember him in a posit...
"After all the highways, and the trains, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive," (Miller, 98). This quote was spoken by the main character of the Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman: Willy Loman. This tragedy takes place in Connecticut during the late 1940s. It is the story of a salesman, Willy Loman, and his family’s struggles with the American Dream, betrayal, and abandonment. Willy Loman is a failing salesman recently demoted to commission and unable to pay his bills. He is married to a woman by the name of Linda and has two sons, Biff and Happy. Throughout this play Willy is plagued incessantly with his and his son’s inability to succeed in life. Willy believes that any “well-liked” and “personally attractive man” should be able to rise to the top of the business world. However, despite his strong attempts at raising perfect sons and being the perfect salesman, his attempts were futile. Willy’s only consistent supporter has been his wife Linda. Although Willy continually treats her unfairly and does not pay attention to her, she displays an unceasing almost obsessive loyalty towards her husband: Even when that loyalty was not returned. This family’s discord is centered on the broken relationship between Biff and Willy. This rift began after Biff failed math class senior year and found his father cheating on Linda. This confrontation marks the start of Biff’s “failures” in Willy’s eyes and Biff’s estrangement of Willy’s lofty goals for him. This estrangement is just one of many abandonments Willy suffered throughout his tragic life. These abandonments only made Willy cling faster to his desire to mold his family into the American Dream. They began with the departure of his father leaving him and...
http://www.biography.com/people/arthur-miller-9408335#awesm=oErg8SN49Mb56o Era I. Author A. Arthur Miller 1. Early Life a. Born in Harlem, New York on October 17, 1915. b.University of Michigan. c. Wrote prolifically through college and young adulthood. 2.
John Steinbeck uses symbolism to give alternate meanings to his short story “Chrysanthemums.'; A symbol is a device used to suggest more than its literary meaning. He uses these symbols to look further into the characters and their situations. The character Elisa has a garden, which is more than just a garden, and the chrysanthemums that she tends are more than just flowers. There are actions that she performs in the story, which also have other meanings.
In the play, The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller,Willy Loman, an unsuccessful business man struggling to support his family is completely out of touch with reality throughout the plot line. Many characters throughout this play and their interactions with Willy have showed the audience his true colors and what he thinks is important in life. His constant lying and overwhelming ego certainly does not portray his life in factual terms, but rather in the false reality that he has convinced himself he lives in.
The rubber hose represents both success and failure. It is attached to the gas main in Willy's house and provides him with the opportunity to commit suicide. Willy sees this as a way to finally do something for his family to make up for years of disappointment. He will no longer be a burden to them when he is gone, and they will remember him in a positive light. Yet Willy cannot even commit suicide successfully.
The radio blairs the MKTO song “American Dream”. The refrain contains one line, “So tell me whatever happened to the American Dream?”, that really causes you to wonder. In Death of a Salesman (Miller & Weales 1996) the main character Willy Loman meets his demise because of what he feels is the American Dream. Casting Crowns produced a song in 2003 called The American Dream that closely describes the American Dream of Willy Loman.
The Dying Middle Class of America due to a Lack of Economic Mobility The American Dream is the belief that through hard work and determination anyone can become successful in America. Throughout American history, the American Dream has been a key aspect to the American mentality. The American society is built on the notion that everyone has the ability to rise to the top (Jason Deparle, www.nytimes.com). Studies have shown that more so than citizens of any other country, Americans are very likely to believe in the American Dream.
A symbol that also relates to Willy's infidelity is the stockings. Because he gives the stocking that are meant for Linda to his mistress, they become a symbol of his infidelity. Every time Willy sees Linda humbly mending her old, torn stockings, he feels guilty for what he's done; therefore, the stockings are also a sign of his guilt and her humbleness. One of the largest symbols relating to family worries is the mortgage on their house. In the requiem, Linda says, "...