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Symbolism in Death of a salesman
Symbolism in Death of a salesman
Symbolism in Death of a salesman
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A Death of a Salesman In Death of a Salesman (1949) by Arthur Miller a theme throughout the play is Willy’s inability to be successful that causes him to suffer from psychosis. Miller depicts this theme through Willy who is very delusional as well as how Willy has several flashbacks.Willy Loman shows how his illusions make him a failure because he believes he is still a valuable salesman. Willy Loman believes that he is a good husband but reality he is not. Lastly another example is how Willy believes he has been a good father. Arthur Miller causes Willy to be delusional from reality. For example Willy idolizes his brother Ben because he is the man who he wants to become. Willy is not a good husband because he has an affair with a woman that …show more content…
Arthur Miller illustrates how Willy is not satisfied with traveling miles for his job as well as he wants a raise.Therefore Willy goes to see Howard so that he can get a raise also possibly change his location from New York. Willy sits down to talk to Howard which leads to Willy reminiscing about the time he had a good year “..,in 1928 I had a big year. I averaged a hundred and seventy dollars a week in commissions” (Willy 62). Arthur Miller shows in this scene how Willy starts talking about his accomplishments for the company. This shows that Willy assumes that he could still average the same amount of numbers like his young days. In reality Willy is much more older which is why he is less valuable because there is nothing unique about him. Thematically this shows that Willy is incapable of facing reality instead he resorts to his past to make him feel that he is still a good …show more content…
Biff along with Happy invite Willy to dinner with some lady friends during this scene Willy decides to use the restroom. In the restroom Willy starts having a flashback about the time he had an affair with another woman. Miller in this scene reveals how this woman he is having an affair makes Willy feel young again in addition she gives him confidence that makes him feel like a great salesman. Miller depicts in this scene how Willy tries to hide from the truth that he cheated on Linda. Willy's affair is a let-down because his sons along with his wife have devoted their lives towards him. This reveals that Willy is not happy with his reality which is why he resorts to flashback from the past. Arthur Miller uses Ben as a role model for Willy. Willy idolizes Ben because Ben is his own boss which Willy wants to be, Throughout the play Arthur Miller demonstrates how Willy believes that Ben is always right, In reality Willy is so delusional that he fails to realize that not everyone is fortunate to find diamonds and become rich. Miller shows that Ben is Willy's guidance but Willy does not understand that it takes more to become successful. Reality is not as great as it seems being a salesman has not gotten the lifestyle he wants to attain.Ben is someone who symbolizes his hopes as well as
Willy’s father, a “very great” and “wildhearted man,” made a living traveling and selling flutes, making “more in a week than a man like [Willy] could make in a lifetime” (Miller 34). Even though Willy barely knew his dad, he built him up in his head as an amazing person and role model, striving to be as “well liked” as him (Miller 34). Willy also idealizes his brother, Ben, as evidenced by his constant one-way conversations with him.... ... middle of paper ...
After Willy is questioning how he is going to make money, Happy assures him that he will be taken care of: “Pop, I told you I’m gonna retire you for life” (41). Happy has the same false confidence as his father, going as far as telling him he will retire him for life. Willy ironically does not believe him, saying, “You’ll retire me for life on seventy goddam dollars a week?” (41). This is a clear
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.
... Instead of offering him a job, Howard tells him to take “a good long rest” (Miller 89). This, of course, simply means that Willy is fired. This shows the inconsiderate quality of society, for Howard knows about Willy’s mental breakdown as he asks him if he has had one again (Miller 84). Instead of showing any pity or sympathy, he fires Willy, for there is no place left for an old and exhausted human being in a society where selling and success mean everything.
Foremost, Willy has a problem with his inability to grasp reality. As he grows older his mind is starting to slip. For example, when he talks to the woman and his brother Ben. Throughout the story, Willy dreams of talking to the woman, because the woman is a person that he was dating in when he went to Boston. He was cheating behind his wife’s back. Willy basically uses her as a scapegoat when he’s hallucinating about her. He blames all of his problems on the woman. For instance Willy says, “ Cause you do… There’s so much I want to make for.” (38) This is the evidence right here. Also he dreams about his brother Ben. Willy wishes could be more like his brother who has just passed away a couple of months previously to the story. He also wishes he didn’t have to work and could be rich like Ben. He respects Ben for not really working and making a lot of money. Another example of Willy’s hallucinations are when he says,“ How are you all?” (45) This occurs when Willy is talking with Charley and he starts thinking about Ben. Willy’s inability to grasp reality never changed throughout the story.
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...
Failure of the American Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a story about the dark side of the "American Dream. " Willy Loman's obsession with the dream directly causes his failure in life, which, in turn, leads to his eventual suicide. The pursuit of the dream also destroys the lives of Willy's family, as well. Through the Lomans, Arthur Miller attempts to create a typical American family of the time, and, in doing so, the reader can relate to the crises that the family is faced with and realize that everyone has problems.
Throughout the story, the reader follows Willy as he interacts with other characters. In every scene shown, Willy is there playing a key role in the action by either driving other characters or making decisions for the party involved. Whenever Willy isn’t present, the other characters only speak about him, such as Biff and Happy holding a conversation about their father in the attic when he is not even present. Willy is portrayed as the title character and can be seen as a protagonist. Being the title character allows Willy to be able to set events into motion during the play.
The name Willy, which we realize is short for William, is a rather silly name. However, it might suggest that Willy is willful in his denial of the lack of honest relationship with his two sons. Maybe he is willingly deluded by the fantasy of what he might have been or what his sons might have become and the mediocre reality of the way life actually is for the Loman family. Arthur Miler’s “Death of a Salesman” portrays the shattered relationships hidden inside a fallacy of grandeur that a father has with his two sons.
Ben is a figment of Willy's imagination who represents his idealistic view of prosperity. Ben is symbolic of the success of the American Dream. "when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God I was rich"(48). Ben earned his affluence without the help of an education or job. Willy is continuously misled with delusion illusions of grandeur by Ben. "What are you building? Lay your hand on it. Where is it?"(86). Ben questions the success of Willy's sales job and states that in order to be prosperous, one must physically touch it. Ben represents the success of the American Dream and functions in order to make Willy doubt the actions of hard work.
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a play that follows the troubles of a salesman named William “Willy” Loman, whose overzealous definition of true success inevitably leads to his suicide. I feel that a few of Willy’s unique characteristics contribute to his downfall, but that his unstable point of view and completely misconstrued concept of reality make the greatest contributions.
Willy believes that he is much more successful than he is in reality. The first sign of Willy’s illusion about his life occurs rather early in the play. He has the illusion that “[he’s] the New England man. [He’s] vital in New England” (14). In reality any person could have taken Willy’s position at work. This illusion leads to his downfall because as his life begins to fall apart, he lives in the illusion that he has enough money to support his family, so he does not recognize that he has to put the pieces of his reality back together. More towards the end of the play, in an outburst of anger Willy refuses to be called “a dime a dozen” and states “I am Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman” (132), as if the Loman family is a special figure in society. His unclear view of his place in society leads to his destruction; with only one view of his life, Willy believes that he is living his life to the fullest.
Willy's goal throughout life was to climb out of his social class. As a salesman, Willy was a failure and he tried desperately to make his sons never end up like him. As a result, he loses his mind and his grasp on reality. Throughout the story, Willy often has flashbacks of the conversations that he and his brother Ben once had and the author intertwines them in past and present very nicely.
Willy is a multi-faceted character which Miller has portrayed a deep problem with sociological and psychological causes and done so with disturbing reality. In another time or another place Willy might have been successful and kept his Sanity, but as he grew up, society's values changed and he was left out in the cold. His foolish pride, bad judgment and his disloyalty are also at fault for his tragic end and the fact that he did not die the death of a salesman.