Willy Loman as Coward in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Everybody feels the penetrating presence of fear throughout life. However, people’s reactions to this fear separate the brave souls from the cowards. Mark Twain once said, "Courage is resistance to fear; mastery of fear, not absence of fear" (Twain 6). In Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman fears rejection by his son, Biff, and the business world. His fears master him, creating in him a fantasy world of life as it was eighteen years ago. Willy’s avoidance of reality and his suicide show his cowardice. However, the emphasis he puts on financial success prevents him from realizing the consequences that his suicide would create.
Willy’s refusal to face reality and accept responsibility shows that he is a coward. According to Gordon Hitchens, Willy "broke the first commandment of American business . . . [which is] to be a success" (Hitchens 81). He not only fails as a businessman, but also as a father. He feels especially let down by the bitter state of his relationship with his son, Biff. Nevertheless, instead of facing his dilemmas, Willy cowardly escapes to a fantasy world in which he relives happier times. Furthermore, Biff’s animosity toward his father stems from his discovery of Willy’s affair. When he was eighteen, Biff visited his father in Boston and found him with a female companion. After receiving this shock, Biff’s ambition and confidence, formerly supported by his father, dwindles. Bernard, Biff’s boyhood friend, notices this change and eventually asks Willy what happened in Boston to cause it. Willy becomes defensive and angry. He asks Bernard, "If a boy lays down is that my fault?" (Miller 1257). He refuses to accept responsibility...
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...illy fails to master his fears. He allows money and financial success to control his actions. By doing this, he widens the rift between him and Biff. Willy’s dishonesty and denial also add to the tense situation in the Loman household. Willy’s fears of rejection and failure do not make him a coward. His reaction to these anxieties merits him the label coward. The belief that his actions are for the good of the family does not reconcile the lack of courage that he shows.
Works Cited
Hitchens, Gordon. Attention Must be Paid: A Study of Social Value in Four Plays by Arthur Miller. Columbia University. 82-104.
Miller, Arthur. "Death of a Salesman." Discovering Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays. Ed. Hans P. Guth and Gabriele L. Rico. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997. 1209-1283.
Twain, Mark. Readings from the Voyageur Outward Bound School. 48.
In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the conflicts that formulate between Biff and Willy Loman build up to the death of Willy. Biff’s delusional perception of being liked in the world leads to a successful life which was an idea brought onto him by his father, Biff’s discovery of his father's affair, and Biff’s lack of business success all accumulate to the heavy conflicting relationship between Biff and his father, Willy. These contribute immensely to the idea that personal dreams and desire to reach success in life can negatively impact life with personal relationships, which causes people to lose sight of what is important. This ultimately leads to the Willy committing suicide from the build up of problems with his son.
Willy Loman’s false pride leads him to believe that he has been successful as a father. He remembers how he was once looked up by his children, especially by his son Biff. However, Willy fails to realize that the relationship he once had with his son Biff has been broken, due to the fact that Biff caught Willy in an affair he was having with another girl; Biff was heartbroken to fin...
Many dilemmas throughout the recent decades are repercussions of an individual's foibles. Arthur Miller represents this problem in society within the actions of Willy Loman in his modern play Death of a Salesman. In this controversial play, Willy is a despicable hero who imposes his false value system upon his family and himself because of his own rueful nature, which is akin to an everyman. This personality was described by Arthur Miller himself who "Believe[s] that the common man is as apt a subject for a tragedy in its highest sense as kings were" (Tragedy 1).
The key to increasing revenue for Nike branch is to make the product as cheaply as possible and keeping the cost of transporting low. Then sell the brand to countries
One problem Willy has is that he does not take responsibility for his actions; this problem only gets worse because of his lies. Biff looks up to Willy, so when he finds out that Willy has an affair in Boston, Biff is petrified. Biff realizes his hero, dad, the one he wants to impress, is a phony and a liar. Willy destroys Biff's dream of playing football by saying he does not have to study for the math regents, he also Willy telling Bernard to give Biff the answers. When Biff fails the regents, he does not want to retake the test because he is so disgusted with his hero and does not want to succeed. Not only did Willy destroy Biff's dream, he also broke his vows and refused to admit it. Biff is a failure, in Willy's eye, in most part due to Willy and what happened in Boston. Willy refuses to take responsibility for what he did, so he lies about Biff. Willy tells Bernard that Biff has been doing great things out west, but decided to come back home to work on a "big deal". Willy knows that Biff is a bum who has not amounted to anything, but he refuses to take responsibility for what happened in Boston, so he changes the story of Biff's success. Throughout Willy's life he continued to lie. It might have stopped if Linda did not act the way as she did. Linda is afraid to confront Willy, so she goes along with his outlandish lies.
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.
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Although it is never actually said verbatim, it is obvious that Willy has some kind of mental problem that needs attention. Yet even in his own home, he can't get any help because his family can't bring it upon themselves to help him. This instance depicts the way society would rather "let someone else handle it" than take action and go against what is popular. This example is probably the saddest and most heartbreaking part of the play. A final instance of Willy Loman's alienation is the way he excludes himself from society.
Arthur Miller's, "Death of a Salesman," shows the development and structure that leads up to the suicide of a tragic hero, Willy Loman. The author describes how an American dreamer can lose his self-worth by many negative situations that occur throughout his life. The structure and complications are essential because it describes how a man can lose his way when depression takes over.
"Death of a Salesman By Arthur Miller ." Goodreads . N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
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.
The creators of Nike Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman began in 1964, they used be name Blue Ribbon Sports. Little be known an athlete and track coach at University of Oregon would be on their way to create one of the most well known athletic brands today. At first, they began as an athletic Japanese shoe supplier and then eventually became what we know now as Nike. To this day they are the main supplier of athletic clothing, shoes, accessories today! Nike is one of the top sponsors for athletes, to name a few Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant are all phenomenal basketball players. Although Nike continues to revolutionize athletic wear and staying as number one on the leader board, such achievement wasn’t always there
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Phil Knight was a track runner. He was very talented at what he did. He went to school in oregon in 1955. Also he was a middle distance track runner. He was very good at running track. During his track running time he was assigned a project about a business and that’s kinda how nike began.