After a tragic death of a loved one, many family members and friends begin to question why their loved one was taken away from them. In the play, Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman ultimately ends his life and his wife Linda, is in utter shock as to why her successful husband committed suicide. While visiting Willy’s grave, Linda utters the words “I made the last payment on the house today. Today dear. And there’ll be nobody home. We’re free and clear. We’re free. We’re free… we’re free…”. There are multiple reasons why Linda’s words are significant to the play. In the opening Act 1 Scene 1 of the play, Willy and Linda Loman are discussing matters in their family home. Willy returned home from an exhausting day at work and is concerned as he is starting not to remember certain events. Linda reassures her husband that he is simply suffering from being fatigue. The relationship between Willy and Linda is soon established as Willy takes Linda for granted. Throughout majority of the play Willy criticizes Linda’s opinions and thoughts. During the Requiem, Linda speaks the last words in the play saying that they are free of any financial debts. It …show more content…
For being a business man, around many people who were thought to be friends, she expected more people to pay their respects. She then implies to her sons that the customers he sold to in the past blamed Willy for his own death but her sons reassure her that this is not true. They then begin to think back about how much happier Willy was when working on the house. Biff says “There’s more of him in the front stoop than in all the sales he’s ever made.”(Miller138). This is significant to the words Linda states in the requiem because she begins to think and reminisce on the times she didn’t get to have with Willy because he was always working. It is a nice way to show that although many others weren’t fond of Willy, his wife and sons still thought highly of
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).”
"Linda Loman: The Wife in "Death of a Salesman".”. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. .
In the play The Death of a Salesman, there are many important quote said by the characters. One of the quote said by Linda when she talked with her sons that described her husband Willy. “I don't say he's a great man. Willie Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper.
Willy's Tragic Flaw and the Effect it Has Upon his Sons in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
...s personal failure and betrayal of his soul and family through the meticulously constructed artifice of his life. He cannot grasp the true personal, emotional, spiritual understanding of himself as a literal “loman” or “low man.” Willy is too driven by his own “willy”-ness or perverse “willfulness” to recognize the slanted reality that his desperate mind has forged. Still, many critics, focusing on Willy’s entrenchment in a quagmire of lies, delusions, and self-deceptions, ignore the significant accomplishment of his partial self-realization. Willy’s failure to recognize the anguished love offered to him by his family is crucial to the climax of his torturous day, and the play presents this incapacity as the real tragedy. Despite this failure, Willy makes the extreme sacrifice in his attempt to leave an inheritance that will allow Biff to fulfill the American Dream.
"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...
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
... himself (130). And while it difficult to find redemptive aspects for Willy, his death can be viewed as a sacrifice for his sons. Linda ends the play by repeating “We’re free… we’re free” which can be interpreted to mean that by Willy’s death the family is freed from Willy’s suffocating dreams (139). Willy has been likened to Jesus in various criticisms of the play because of this sacrifice for those he loved. Jesus’ death was the atonement that demonstrated God’s grace for us, and Willy’s death demonstrated his love for his sons, no matter how disillusioned Willy may have been.
She takes care of the men, and when she tries to do something good, like saving money by mending socks, she is yelled at, ”I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out” (Miller 39). Linda is only there to listen to the men and do their bidding, offering comfort to them, “You’re my foundation and my support, Linda” (Miller 18), but never to herself until the end of the play, “Biff lifts her to her feet and moves out up right with her in his arms. Linda sobs quietly” (Miller 139). The general idea of this time for women is that they are after their husbands, that their needs should be met last. Linda is the ideal mother and wife, putting her family before her, but in this she lacked the ability to take care of herself and her mental health, which was most likely very damaged by Willy trying and eventually succeeding to kill himself, “Forgive me dear. I can't cry. I don't know what it is, but I can’t cry” (Miller
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
Another person that suffered from Willy’s obsession with the American Dream was Linda, Willy’s wife. To illustrate, “Linda: He’s dying Biff… that saved him,” (Miller 41). At this point, Linda is trying to explain to her sons that Willy has been trying to commit suicide. She recounts the details on Willy’s car accidents and she talked to a woman who said Willy wasn’t going fast, didn’t skid, and then deliberately smashed into the railing on the side of the road. Linda is obviously disgusted with her son's actions and distraught by Willy’s intentions therefore, she is sharing what is happening with Willy in hope that they will treat Willy with more appreciation. Also, Biff is vigilant when Linda talks about the woman and it throws her off guard.
It is human nature for a person to desire to better understand themselves and to acquire a distinct identity. People look to what is simple and familiar when trying to gain a sense of individuality. These identifiers can be found in the jobs people perform, the relationships they share, and any other type of activity that takes place in their daily life. It is also in this search for understanding that can cause the relationships a person shares, such as with close family and friends, to be strained. Willy Loman, the leading character in the play Death of a Salesman attempts to comprehend his place in society, but at the same time he loses the one thing that is his source for identification-his family.
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.
His two sons rarely visit the house even though Willy is clearly lacking endearment. Even when they try to spend quality time by inviting Willy to dinner, they end up ditching him for two women while leaving Willy all alone. Happy and Biff’s support and attention could have been substantial in the recovery of Willy’s loneliness and suicidal state. Later in the play, Linda admits, “I’m ashamed to… everyday I go down and take away that little rubber pipe. But, when he comes home, I put it back where it was. How can I insult him that way? I don’t know what to do” (Miller 59-60). Linda’s lacking support is evident when Linda discovers Willy is attempting suicide. This is because Linda is faced with a sign of self-harm but does not do anything to stop it. She instead blames her sons while not helping to resolve the issue herself. Linda could have avoided Willy’s suicide by communicating to Willy that he should not kill himself, by getting medicine, or by getting help from a doctor. In the book “Death Studies” by doctor Mohammad H. Afzali, “[a]s a supplementary aim, the frequency of suicide attempt predicted… when there is [actions] of
Willy's search to find his mistakes of his life failed because, even though he found out what happened to Biff, he did not search for the right thing: his identity. Willy found out that his affair made Biff envision his father as a fake and phony, but he did not realize that a salesman was not the right job for him. When Willy died, no one came to his funeral (Act II. Scene I). This just showed that Willy was not the man he thought he was. He thought he was a great salesman with an unlimited amount of friends, but, when he died, no one was at his funeral but his family (Act II. Scene I). It showed that Willy was just a simple craftsman, who only needed attention and love from his family, and did not need fame or to be well-known ("Arthur Miller and Others," 311-314)