In the tragic American play “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller. Willy Loman, the protagonist, is a salesman who is becoming more elderly and tired. He has been in the same position at his company for 30 years and has now been reassigned to a traveling job with only the pay of commission, not salary. He is struggling financially and the traveling from Brooklyn to New England is taking a toll on him at his old age. His wife, Linda, asks him to ask for an increase in pay or a desk job so he does not have to travel at his old age. When Willy asks his boss Howard for a salary and a desk job Howard, his boss (who was once the son of Willy’s old boss), Howard says there is not spot for Willy at a desk job and that “business is business”. Willy, in an effort to persuade Howard, begins telling a story about David Singleman, the salesman who inspired Willy to go into the career of sales and is idolized by Willy because he was well known. Willy’s growing desperation in begging his boss for a desk job gives the passage a mood of some urgency, yet, in the passage, Willy maintains his calm as he tries to persuade Howard into helping him.
WILLY: And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. ‘Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people? Do you know? when he died— and by the way he died the death of a salesman, in his in his green velvet slippers in the smoker of New York, New Haven and Hartford, going into Boston— when he died, hundreds of salesman and buyers were at his funeral. Things were sad on a lotta trains for months after th...
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... moral dream of America’s founders. America was also trying to portray an image of capitalist superiority with a cheery image of and American society where everyone was happy and well-feed and living the American Dream, while in reality, people were suffering financially, racial turmoil was occurring, and social class were becoming more obvious. Today, we still see Americans who hold the materialistic values that were held in Miller’s time, however the numbers are much fewer. Some American today still posses the same materialistic values as Willy Loman, however, more common among present-day Americans, is the need to be “well-liked”. Many Americans, like Willy, are still unhappy and insecure about their financial situation.
. Works Cited
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman: Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem. New York: Penguin, 1998. Print.
One of the themes used in this play by Arthur Miller is the American Dream of success, fame, and wealth. Furthermore, traditionally, the American Dream should be achieved “through thrift and hard work (Warshauer).” However, due to industrialization during the nineteenth and twentieth century, the American Dream of success, fame, and wealth through hard work was replaced by easy or quick success. The people of America no longer cared ...
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8th ed.Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford, 2008. 1908-1972. Print.
Gioia, Dana, and X.J. Kennedy. "Death of a Salesman" Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, Compact Edition, Interactive Edition. 5th ed. New York: Pearson; Longman Publishing, 2007. 1212-1280. Print.
... Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin, 1996. Print. The. Sherk, James.
Miller, Arthur. “Death of a Salesman”. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. Dana Gioia and X.J. Kennedy.10th Ed. New York: Pearson, 2007.
Eisinger, Chester E. "Critical Readings: Focus on Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman: The Wrong Dreams." Critical Insights: Death of a Salesman (2010): 93-105.
A white picket fence surrounds the tangible icons of the American Dreams in the middle 1900's: a mortgage, an automobile, a kitchen appliance paid for on the monthly - installment - plan, and a silver trophy representative of high school football triumph. A pathetic tale examining the consequences of man's harmartias, Arthur Miller's "Death of A Salesman" satisfies many, but not all, of the essential elements of a tragedy. Reality peels away the thin layers of Willy Loman's American Dream; a dream built on a lifetime of poor choices and false values.
This paper will be an analytical, interpretive essay about Death of a Salesman (1949), the most profound work by author and playwright Arthur Miller (1915-2005). Death of a Salesman received the Pulitzer Prize for drama, the year of its creation and has been reproduced over seven-hundred times. This analysis will concentrate on Willy Loman the central character of the play but also on the play as a whole. It will show that Arthur Miller’s critiques of American society still hold true to this day. That he was not just making a statement about the corporate social structure failing those that served it, or about how the American Dream in which those agencies perpetuate was dying. He was stating that the American Dream had never existed at all.
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman; Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem. New York: Viking, 1949. Print.
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. ...
"Death of a Salesman By Arthur Miller ." Goodreads . N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
To begin, Willy’s methods of searching for likeability are erroneous. He believes that the superficiality of attractiveness goes hand in hand with being well liked. Willy’s downfall started with his impression of Dave Singleman, an 84 year old salesman. According to Willy, he had “…the greatest career a man could want.” Sure this man was liked in cities around the world, but Willy’s altered perception of the American dream masked the realities of his life. Willy failed to see that instead of being retired at 84, Dave Singleman was unwed, still working, and in the end “dies the death of a salesman”; alone and without love. Believing in this dream, ultimately leads Willy to his hubris; too proud to be anything but a salesman. Throughout the play, Charlie often asks Willy, “You want a job?” Instead of escaping his reality of unpaid bills and unhappiness, Willy’s shallow values lead him to refuse the switch from him attractive job, to that of a carpent...
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Seventh Edition. X.J. Kennedy, and Dana Gioia. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1999. 1636-1707.
Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman”, primarily focuses on the flaws and failures of Willy Loman, Millers’ main character in this story. Willy’s distorted and backward views of the American Dream, paired with his inability to let go of the past lead him down a road of regret and in the end his biggest failure which was his wasted life.
Willy Loman is a firm believer in the "American Dream:" the notion that any man can rise from humble beginnings to greatness. His particular slant on this ideal is that a man succeeds by selling his charisma, that to be well liked is the most important asset a man can have. He made a living at this for 30 years, but as he enters the reclining years of his life, people have stopped smiling back and he can no longer sell the firm's goods to support himself. His ambition was one of greatness, to work hard and to be a member of the firm; and if he could not succeed in this respect, that he should at least be well-liked and be able to sell until the day of his death: When his friends would flock from all over the country to pay their respects.