Similarities Between Death Of A Salesman And A Raisin In The Sun

The 1950’s was known as the calm before the storm of the rebellious 1960’s and rightfully so. The 1950’s was a time of many ideals and two books that portrayed these ideals perfectly are The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. The Death of a Salesman is centered around Willy and Linda Loman and their struggles to accept that their children, Biff and Happy Loman, would not be successful. A Raisin in the Sun is centered around Walter Lee Younger and his mother Lena Lee Younger and their struggles living in a African-American poverty-riddled family surrounded by well-off American families. Through the contrasting faithful and devoted characterization of Linda Loman and independent and self-reliant

characterization of Lena Lee Younger, Miller and Hansberry portray that blind loyalty towards your loved ones can get in the way of anyone’s decision making, suggesting that fear to confront one’s loved ones’ decisions will eventually lead to the loved ones’ demise.
Miller characterizes Linda Loman as a faithful and devoted follower of Willy, her husband, to portray her fear of confronting his decisions, ultimately leading to Willy’s death. In the 1950’s, women were often expected to blindly follow their husbands and agree with their husband’s decisions, and Linda is a clear example of this. Linda and Willy are talking about Biff and she seems to agree with all his changing thoughts:
WILLY: The trouble is he’s lazy, goddammit!

LINDA: Willy, please!

…

WILLY: 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.

LINDA: Never. (Miller 16)

Willy and Linda are discussing Biff’s life, when Willy says that Biff is lazy. “Willy, please” shows how Linda does not seem to contradict his thought that Biff is lazy but is only disturbed by the fact that he would talk about their son that way. Then when Willy changes his mind and seems to believe that Biff is not lazy and is a hard worker, Linda is right by him and being the faithful wife she is, agrees with Willy immediately. Miller uses “Never” to portray how Linda changes her point of view immediately and is right there supporting Willy once again and would “Never” disagree with him. Linda is blindly devoted towards her husband and agrees with his decisions immediately, no matter the choice. This blind devotion eventually lead to Willy’s death. Later in the story, Linda is talking to Biff and Happy about finding a rubber pipe in the basement:

LINDA: There’s a little attachment on the end of it. I knew right away. And sure enough, on the bottom of the water heater there’s a new little nipple on the gas

pipe.
---- LINDA: I’m — I’m ashamed to. How can I mention it to him? 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? I don’t know what to do (Miller 60).
Miller uses “How can I insult him that way” to portray Linda’s faith towards Willy and how she is afraid to confront him on committing suicide. Linda is clearly faithful to her husband and does not want to hurt his feelings; however, this faithfulness leads to difficulty in confronting her husband. Willy is going into his basement every day and is a step closer to committing suicide every day and Linda, knowing about it, does nothing to stop him. By not confronting Willy about the rubber pipe, Willy does not see that committing suicide will hurt their family and keeps inching towards it. Also “I don’t know what to do” shows how Linda is unable to make her own decisions. Her whole life, Linda has relied on Willy to make the decisions for her family, and the first time she had to make a decision she could not consult Willy on, she was stuck and had to ask Biff for help. This fear of confronting Willy with the rubber pipe and, later in the story, hope for Biff eventually leads to Willy committing suicide. Due to Linda’s blind devotion and fear of confronting her husband, she leaves her husband to make his own decisions, one of which includes committing suicide.
Hansberry characterizes Lena Lee Younger as an independent and self-reliant mother of Walter Lee Younger, her son, to portray how making even one blind decision, such as giving Walter the insurance money, ultimately leads to Walter losing all of his family’s money. Lena was an independent women who, most of the time, made smart and unbiased decisions. When her family had received a life insurance check for ten thousand dollars, her family had many different ideas for what to do with the money, yet Lena did what she felt was right, buying a new house for her family. After Walter’s constant nagging and persuasion towards Lena, she gives in and grants Walter the money to chase his dreams, “There ain’t nothing worth holding on to, money, dreams, nothing else - if it means - if it means it’s going to destroy my boy. […] The rest you put in a checking account - with your name on it. And from now on any penny that come out of it or that go in it is for you to look after” (Hansberry 2.2). Lena (Mama) is a very level-headed women, yet she gives into her emotions for her son’s dreams. “Destroy my boy” signifies how Lena loves her son, and would do anything for him; however, giving him the money seems to be too big of a risk for her. Eventually the constant nagging and persuasion of Walter has finally affected Lena’s decision making and forced her hand into giving her son the money that he wants for his dreams without seeing who he is even working with or what it is for, thus a blind decision. Like Linda, Lena loves her family and supports them in any ventures they may take. However, they both make blind decisions out of love and for their family, even though Lena is an independent women and Linda a loyal women to her husband. This love and blind decision making leads to Walter losing all the money:
WALTER: Yessss! All of it.. . It's all gone.
...
MAMA: I seen ... him ... night after night ... come in [...] I seen him grow thin and old before he was forty [...] and you—you give it all away in a day — (She raises her arms to strike him again.) (Hansberry 2.3).
Lena trusted her son and made a blind decision, based on emotions, to support him. She gave her son the money he asked for, but Walter took the money and lost it in a bad business investment. “I seen him grow thin and old before he was forty” shows the regret that Lena has for letting Walter waste the money of her husband. Lena has a strong set of ideals, one of which included not investing in an alcohol store; however, she was not able to effectively confront Walter about the fact that she would not invest in an alcohol store, and since she invested in Walter based on her loyalty and emotions towards him, she soon came to regret it, thus losing everything her husband had worked for. Hansberry uses “She raises her arms to strike him again” to convey the idea of how Lena is frustrated over Walter’s choices and takes out her frustration by beating him. However, Lena is looking for a way to make amends for making such a blind decision and by beating her son, she is really punishing herself. If Lena had helped him in his business venture with other than just money, she may have saved him from giving away all of the family’s money. Similarly to Linda, Lena let her emotions blind her and was unable to confront his son on his business prior to giving him the money. This fear of confrontation is what led to her and her family’s economic demise. Both Lena and Linda clearly care and love for their family, yet this love and compassion is what leads them to make the wrong decisions regarding their family.
Linda and Lena clearly love their family and are willing to do anything to help them. Linda loves her husband and is loyal towards him, no matter the decisions he makes. Lena on the other hand is independent and does not rely on her family to make decisions for her. Both women, however, succuumb to the love they have for their family members and let the emotions for them blind the decisions they make regarding their family. Compassion and love for one’s family is very important and a crucial part of having chemistry between family members; however, blind compassion or blind love for one’s family members can be detrimental towards the family and can eventually lead to the demise of the family.