Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Youth and challenges of peer pressure
Youth and challenges of peer pressure
Effects of peer pressure amongst the youths
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Youth and challenges of peer pressure
Linda Lo-life Peer pressure in this day and age has reached new heights, we see kids starting to smoke cigarettes, doing drugs, and drinking alcohol sooner than we ever thought possible. Our peers should be there to help us be successful, not enable us into doing self-destructive things. Our friends and even our family are just in disguise. On the outside they act like they are just trying to help you be successful, but on the inside, they are really trying to enable you into doing what they want you to do. By twisting your thoughts, views, actions, and opinions to fit what they believe is right, they enable you into becoming almost the same person as they are. In the Pulitzer-Prize-winning play, Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, Linda Loman is seen as an enabler who causes dysfunctional tendencies in the Loman household. On numerous occasions throughout the play, Linda is deceitful and does not face the reality of the situation at hand. She makes excuses for Willy in an effort to not belittle him and hurt his, already deteriorating, mental state, acts clueless towards things that she knows Willy is doing, or has done, behind her back, and does not tell Willy that she is worried about him. All Linda …show more content…
As previously stated, this shows that Linda is ignoring reality when it comes to her husband’s mental state. In addition to this, Jeffers says that Linda, “knows that the insurance company has ruled that Willy’s car hasn’t crashed by accident, not to mention the fact that she discovers that he’s planning to commit suicide”. This clearly shows that Willy is definitely a threat to himself, yet Linda ultimately does nothing whatsoever to prevent him from killing himself. Even though Linda knows that Willy is a flight risk, again she enables Willy when, “she burdens her sons with this knowledge, not her
Linda’s enabling is obvious when she helps Willy with suicidal thoughts. Willy tries to suck carbon monoxide through a tube, and instead of telling him to stop, Linda just lets him do it. She enables him because although she is not outright letting him do it, she is allowing him to continue to hurt himself and his family. For example, Linda states, “’Every day 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?’” (Miller 60). Linda is scared of insulting Willy rather than protecting him, which clearly shows that she enables him to be this terrible, sad person. Critic Gavin Cologne-Brooks adds to the proof of Linda’s enabling by saying, “Family and
To start with, in the play Linda makes many excuses for Willy. For example, Willy says, “I suddenly couldn’t drive anymore. The car kept going off onto the shoulder ya know?” Linda replied, “Maybe it’s your glasses” (Miller 22). By making these kinds of excuses, it’s almost like Linda is ignoring the problems Willy has with his head. Also, Willy says, “I suddenly couldn’t drive anymore.” Linda replied, “Oh, maybe it was the steering again” (Miller 27). Willy doesn’t make excuses for himself, its Linda who acts like nothing is wrong. Willy is living half in the past and half in the present. In the play, Willy says, “It took me nearly four hours from Yonkers.” Linda replied, “Well, you’ll just have to take a rest” (Miller 27). By making all of these excuses, it shows that Linda refuses to believe that Willy has problems, and she tries brushing it off like it’s no big deal. She knows there are problems, but she is unwilling to face them.
Willy Loman is not the only victim of his tragic flaw. The rest of the Loman family is also affected by Willy's problem. Willy's wife, Linda, is the only one who supports and understands Willy's tragic flaw completely. Linda supports every far-fetched claim her husband makes. She is even described as having “infinite patience” whenever she is conversing with Willy (Miller 99). Willy's two sons, Biff and Happy, are also affected by his flaw. Happy, when in the company of two ladies, claims that Willy is not even his father, and “just a guy” (Miller 91). Later in the play, Biff decides that he does not want to be in his father's life anymore. Biff's problems are simply too much for Willy to handle with his current state of being, even though Willy needs Biff in his life. After both internal and external conflict, Biff reveals to Willy that Willy had been lied to for a number of years, and that the life he lives is essentially a lie (Miller 104).
This also show that Linda loved her husband more than anything, she would do anything to protect his pride including not telling Willy that she knows he had been trying to commit suicide. Everything Linda di is to protect Willy pride and face, and not letting any of her son
He seems to believe that the best way to be the “man” in the relationship is to be the dominant one and to put her down all the time. “I won’t have you mending stockings in the house! Now throw them out!” Willy feels guilty about Linda mending stockings when he bought the woman he’s having an affair with a new pair. He transfers this guilt into being horrible to her, which isn’t very fair. He seems to believe that this is a way to assert his masculinity, and it could possibly resonate from the way that his father treated women before he left. This is similar to Othello; when Othello believes that Desdemona is having an affair he slaps her in front of everyone, thinking that it is a way to assert his masculinity to the public. Willy also refers to Linda as “kid” a lot, which could be a playful nickname but it also could be a way of him putting her down and making her seem immature. It is an excuse to dismiss her. It also suggests that he thinks he is more mature than Linda, whereas the audience know this not to be the case as Willy is losing it a little and can act incredibly childishly. In treating Linda like this, it also drives Willy and Biff further apart than ever. He doesn’t approve of the way Linda is treated, especially since he knows how much she puts up with from her husband. In being so uncertain of his masculinity Willy can be horrible, which makes him unlikeable and drives him apart from
One negative influence in Willy's life is the inability of his friends to confront him about his problems. It is Willy's wife that causes him the most harm. In her vain attempt to protect Willy, she actually allows his eventual death. The first sign of her negligence comes in one of Willy's flashbacks. Willy brags, "I did five hundred gross in Providence and seven hundred gross in Boston"(35). But as Linda begins calculating his commission, the value rapidly diminishes to "roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip"(35). Linda sees what is going on but does not confront him. A very similar situation occurs later in their life when she finds out that Willy is no longer on salary, but borrows money every week from Charley. Again she will not confront him. By not confronting Willy in either of these instances, Linda allows him to sink further into his false reality. But Linda makes an even worse mistake that allows for Willy's suicide. She acknowledges his suicidal tendencies when she says, "He's been trying to kill himself"(58). She tells the boys that she has found the rubber hose in the basement, but she still will not confront Willy. Another character who is unable to be straight with Willy is Willy's boss Howard Wagner. Howard allows Willy to keep his job, but does not pay him. If he had just fired him right out it would of forced Willy to find a new job. By stringing him along, Howard allows Willy to maintain his fantasy world unchallenged. These are examples of the most negative influences in Willy's life simply because they have the ability to help but choose not to.
Willy Loman is a sixty-one years old who has been taken off salary, put on straight commission and eventually fired from the Wagner Company because he is no longer effective. In the story he is portrait as a tragic figure that’s largely to blame for his own downfall. He puts his wife Linda into the position where she is totally dependent on him. Because Willy has an incorrigible inability to tell the truth, even to himself, and an unreasonable mode of thinking, he justifies his death by saying that his sacrifice will save his sons, particularly Biff; he believes that the insurance money they collect will be a tangible remembrance of him.
Linda Loman is the enabler of the Loman family, and also uses self- deception to escape her life mentally. Linda never spoke up to Willy, and did nothing but feed his unrealistic dreams. Linda lived a life of “what ifs” with Willy. They both did the bare minimum in every aspect of their life, which is why
Willy’s lack of self-worth translates into the deep state of depression that eventually causes him to attempt to take his own life. His wife, Linda has become aware of this, even warning her own children. She discusses with her sons about Willy’s attempted suicide, showing them a rubber hose she found behind the fuse box in the basement; she believes it was used by Mr. Loman in an effort to try and asphyxiate himself. Also, there is evidence that Willy’s car accidents are inevitably not “accidents” at
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a tragic play about an aging and struggling salesman, Willy Loman, and his family’s misguided perception of success. In Willy’s mind, being well-liked is more important than anything else, and is the means to achieving success. He teaches this flawed idea to his sons, Biff and Happy, and is faithfully supported by his wife Linda. Linda sympathizes with Willy’s situation, knowing that his time as an important salesman has passed. Biff and Happy hold their father to impossibly high standards, and he tries his best to live up to them.
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is the story of a man much like Miller's father, a salesman, "whose misguided notions of success result in disillusionment" (Draper 2360). The suppression of the main character, Willy Loman's, true nature is a result of his pursuit of a completely misguided dream. The fraudulent and miserable existence this generates is accentuated by the father-son relationship he shares with his son Biff.
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 constantly battles with living in the past. Throughout the entire play, he seems to wander off into his confused mind. After Willy returns home early from a business trip, Linda, his wife, and he converse about their son Biff as follows:
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman examines outside influences on the individual. These influences include society as a whole, the family as a societal unit and beliefs which the individual thinks he should espouse. In order to understand Willy Loman and the struggles with which he is dealing, the society in which he exists must first be understood. He is relying upon a slightly different set of values and motivations than everyone else seems to be, and this sets him apart. A prime example of the rest of society is Willy’s brother, Ben.
(Page 137) throughout the play we see Linda constantly follows what her husband says and believes anything that he says no matter how ridiculous what he says could be, Linda knows that she has to believe it or she will get yelled at and maybe even hit. Even when the reality of this whole story is so ridiculous this is what happened I don’t think any man should treat a woman and never mind a women your own wife like this. In the Lomans household there are many problems that occur Willy starts to face the facts that his family knows about what’s going and he refuses to be an honest man. This is right about the time that biff walks in and he hides his mistress in the bathroom Willy was more concerned with keeping her hidden in there than actually caring and listening to what biff is saying about how he flunked math and can only graduate if he goes to summer school and that’s all his day wants from him, but he saw the mistress come out of the bathroom “he goes dad who is she” and of course he lies saying she someone who she isn’t tells her she from next door and her bathroom is broken. After biffs sees this he does not care for his dad at all anymore and he wants nothing to do with him because he lies and lies to biff and the rest of the family. Then the family goes out to eat and Linda knows nothing at this point like she always does and acts like nothing is going wrong to impress her husband in front of his work colleges and biff gets up and leaves in