Imperfect Society Depicted in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Advancements in science throughout this century have led to tremendous advancements in industry. Advancements in industry, however, have not always led to advancements in living. For some, society has created mass wealth and enabled a standard of living unparalleled throughout history. For Willy Loman, society has created only tremendous grief and hardship, aggravated by the endless promise of the good times to come. For these reasons, Willy’s tragedy is due more to societies flaws than to the numerous flaws in his own character.
Willy Loman was host to many flaws and deficiencies ranging form suicidal tendencies to psychotic disorders. However, these shortcomings did not account for his tragic end, not by themselves anyway. Society is to blame. It was society who stripped him of his dignity, piece by piece. It was society who stripped him of his lifestyle, and his own sons who stripped him of hope.
The most obvious flaw in society is greed, the desire to get ahead of the next guy. This malady is present on a national level. It is the philosophy of business and comprises the dreams of man. Sometimes, this can drive man to great things, sometimes it can drive a man to ruin. Willy was driven to the latter. (Not his own greed for he was a simple man with simple dreams, but by the greed of others.) The developers who took away the sun and gave birth to shadows, his boss who reduced him to commission and his sons which reduced him to a failure.
The next largest flaw in society is a lack of compassion. This could be as a result of almost overwhelming greed, the main culprit being big business.
I'm always in a race with the junkyard! I just finished paying for the car and it's on it last legs. The refrigerator consumes belts like a goddam maniac. They time those things.(Act 2, page 73, lines 16-19)
Willy's belief in this statement drew him to believe that big business lacked compassion. It is because of this that he is abandoned by Biff and disowned by Happy, left babbling in a toilet. It is this flaw that allowed him to die a slow death and played the greatest role in his eventual downfall.
The third largest flaw in society (particularly American society) is the lack of a social safety net.
Willy Loman’s character is capable of making errors. He believes he is a very successful salesman and well liked. He also thinks that the company likes what he is doing. He once said, “I’m the New England man. I am vital in New England” (Miller pg. 32) Because of his false belief about his success Howard fired him. After he got fired charley offered him a job, but he refuses to accept, because he is too proud and jealous to work for Charley. His actions were wrong because at no time was a successful salesman. He is not a powerful character. Willy lives in his fantasies where he is the man. Who goes out to another place and comes out rich, he is love by everyone and admired by his family. In real life, he is lazy and does not live up to his own ideals. “As Aristotle explains, a tragic hero must be one of noble character and must fall from power and happiness.”(Www.ccd.rightchoice.org/lit115/poetics.html) but Willy neither has a noble characteristic nor does he fall from power because he does not have a position of power.
At the beginning of the play it is evident that he cannot determine the realities of life, and so he repeatedly contradicts himself to establish that his conclusion is correct and opinion accepted. These numerous contradictions demonstrate that Willy is perturbed of the possibility that negative judgements may come from others. Willy strongly believes that “personality always wins” and tells his sons that they should “be liked and (they) will never want”. In one of Willy’s flashbacks he recalls the time when his sons and him were outside cleaning their Chevy. Willy informs Biff and Happy the success of his business trips and how everyone residing in Boston adores him. He mentions that due to the admiration of people he does not even have to wait in lines. He ultimately teaches his sons that being liked by others is the way to fulfilling one’s life and removing your worries. These ideals, that one does not need to work for success, demonstrate Willy’s deluded belief of achieving a prosperous life from the admiration and acceptance of others. This ultimately proves to be a false ideology during his funeral, when an insufficient amount of people arrive. Willy constantly attempts to obtain other’s acceptance through his false tales that depict him as a strong, successful man. In the past, he attempts to lie to his wife, Linda, about the amount of wealth he has attained during his
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.
Frequently, adoptive families are struggling with issues of attachment, intimacy, and fear of abandonment (Suddeath, Kerwin, & Dugger, 2017). In fact, “Deep seated cultural beliefs in the values of kinship and maternal instinct cause us to view child relinquishment in terms of rejection and abandonment. Adoptees for which the adoption experience is a salient concern [may] tend to attribute relationship difficulties to that experience” (Feeney, Passmore, & Peterson, p. 141, 2007). Clearly, establishing a new family unit may be difficult due to unrealistic expectations, individual perceptions and social constructs (Shalay & Brownlee, 2007). As a result, adoptive families are at high risk for experiencing stress, relationship issues, and stigma
Another poor character trait in Willy was the way he had such high hopes and dreams. Willy was taken captive by the American Dream. He was so consumed with the idea of it; he never took a moment to realize that he couldn’t capture that fantasy. He was so consumed that it caused him to suffer from crippling self-delusion. In the beginning of the play, Willy was in a delirium; he couldn’t even extinguish reality from his fantasy world. “Biff is a lazy bum…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.” From Wil...
When the average American citizen today thinks about the concept of adoption, what images are typically the first that come to mind? Although different people are sure to have equally as different experiences in this field, one picture continues to remain the most commonly-accepted. This image consists of a man and a woman who cannot have children of their own, a newborn baby, and a single mother who will certainly be unable to provide for the infant due to her young age, lack of financial support, or another variety of unfortunate circumstances. Making the decision to adopt a child is without a doubt one of the best options available for couples who are unable to conceive, but by thinking of adoption as nothing more than the fallback option for childless couples, adopting a child doesn’t even come to mind for the majority of parents in the United States who already have biological children of their own. Although many people often consider adoption to be reserved only for couples who are unable to have children themselves, there are numerous reasons why the decision to adopt could be very beneficial for families with their own, biological children as well.
Throughout the play, Willy can be seen as a failure. When he looks back on all his past decisions, he can only blame himself for his failures as a father, provider, and as a salesman (Abbotson 43). Slowly, Willy unintentionally reveals to us his moral limitations that frustrates him which hold him back from achieving the good father figure and a successful business man, showing us a sense of failure (Moss 46). For instance, even though Willy wants so badly to be successful, he wants to bring back the love and respect that he has lost from his family, showing us that in the process of wanting to be successful he failed to keep his family in mind (Centola On-line). This can be shown when Willy is talking to Ben and he says, “He’ll call you a coward…and a damned fool” (Miller 100-101). Willy responds in a frightful manner because he doesn’t want his family, es...
Adoption is referred to the process of children being taken over by a provided set of parents due to their birth parents unable to care for them. Adoption is a huge responsibility. Raising a child is not only expensive but difficult especially when they’re not your offspring. Some say that adopting a child is the best thing to ever happen to a couple, but they’re also many reports of children getting abused.
Van Londen, W., F. Juffer, and H. van IJzendoorn. 2007. Attachment, cognitive, and motor development in adopted children: short-term outcomes after international adoption. Journal of Pediatric Psychology 32: 1249-1258. Oxford Journals. http://www.oxfordjournals.org (accessed October 29, 2001).
Willy Loman’s tragic flow leads him to purse the idea that reputation in society has more relevancies in life than knowledge and education to survive in the business. His grand error of wanting recognition drove him crazy and insane and lead to his tragic death. Willy’s hubris makes him feel extremely proud of what he has, when in reality he has no satisfaction with anything in his life. Willy Loman’s sons did not reach his expectations, as a father but he still continued to brag about Biff and Happy in front of Bernard. Willy Loman caused the reader to empathize with him because before his tragic death he did everything he could for his family. Empathy, Hubris , and Willy Loman’s tragic flow all lead him to his death that distend for him the beginning.
Willy lived everyday of his life trying to become successful, well-off salesman. His self-image that he portrayed to others was a lie and he was even able to deceive himself with it. He traveled around the country selling his merchandise and maybe when he was younger, he was able to sell a lot and everyone like him, but Willy was still stuck with this image in his head and it was the image he let everyone else know about. In truth, Willy was a senile salesman who was no longer able to work doing what he's done for a lifetime. When he reaches the point where he can no longer handle working, he doesn't realize it, he puts his life in danger as well a others just because he's pig-headed and doesn't understand that he has to give up on his dream. He complains about a lot of things that occur in everyday life, and usually he's the cause of the problems. When he has to pay for the repair bills on the fridge, he bitches a lot and bad mouths Charley for buying the one he should of bought. The car having to be repaired is only because he crashes it because he doesn't pay attention and/or is trying to commit suicide. Willy should have settled with what he had and made the best of things. He shouldn't have tied to compete with everyone and just made the best decision for him using intelligence and practicality. Many of Willy's problems were self-inflicted, the reason they were self-inflicted was because he wanted to live the American dream. If he had changed his standards or just have been content with his life, his life problems would have been limited in amount and proportion.
Adoption is a legal process of becoming non-biological parents of those children who have lost their parents or whose biological parents are unable to provide facilities for their care. It establishes lifelong relationship between an adoptive parent and a child. Adoptive parents are required to take all the responsibilities of child’s safety, health, education, welfare, protection and other factors that are essential for a child. Once a child is adopted, it cannot be reversed. Guarded parents cannot refuse to take further responsibility of a child they have decided to take from an orphanage or anywhere. Adopted child are provided the same rights and privileges as if they were the biological children of the guardian parents.
Adoption allows the child to get parental care by other parents if their biological parents can’t or won’t take care of them. The adoptive parents take on any responsibility that the biological parents would’ve taken on if they had decided to raise them. Some of the responsibilities are safety, healthcare, shelter, education and any other factors. Adoption gives the adoptive parents and child an opportunity to form a bond.
Many perceptions are made about adopted children,and people begin to question. Where does the adopted child receive their personalities and who is responsible for the children’s actions? Another thing that may come to one’s mind is at which age will adoption have the greatest impact and effect on a child? Thirdly, people are curious about learning if the majority of adopted children would like to meet their birth parents?
Adoption can alter various people from birth parents, to adoptive parents to siblings. But, a great deal of impact follows the adoptee themselves. Adoption can have many behavioural affects towards adopted children, whether it be long – term affects, an attachment disorder, or familial ties. Many teens face an identity crisis as they wonder who their biological parents are, their appearance, personality, and living style (Patricelli, 2007). Furthermore, adopted children may encounter self – esteem and identity problems themselves (Patricelli, 2007). Children may not understand the reason they were given up for adoption, and have questions on whether it was their fault or not. One of the most frequently asked question that itch many children’s