death of a salesman

787 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Death of a salesman comparison

Throughout the play of Death of a Salesman and short story “Two Kinds,” the parents display their desire for their children's’ success. Both pieces of writing show characters that have set specific standards towards wealth. Between “Two Kinds” and Death of a Salesman, expectations and definitions of success lead to disappointment and broken relationships.
Having similar anticipations and intentions from their children have led to disappointment in “Two Kinds” and Death of a Salesman. Jing-mei’s mother had high hopes to turn her life around after losing everything in China; especially to make her daughter famous and successful. To discover her hidden talents, the mother pursues to make Jing-mei the next Shirley Temple. When that idea failed, Jing-mei’s mother resorted to piano lessons. Her mother’s competition with Auntie Lindo only pushed Jing-mei to practice harder at piano. Jing-mei never found a chance to discover what her passion was, but she often had the burden of perfecting her mother’s expectations. The protagonist Jing-mei, follows her mother’s aspirations in a hope of success to become a prodigy. When given the chance to play in a talent show held in church, Jing-mei’s parents took the opportunity to invite all the couples from their social club. Although Jing-mei had not fully memorized the piece, her confidence made her believe with no doubt, that she really was a prodigy. However, during the performance, wrong notes began to surprise her and anxiety struck her down. By the end of the performance, Jing-mei realized she was not a musical prodigy, as even the audience gave a weak response. “My mother’s expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she had lost everything” (Tan 6). The mother’s high am...

... middle of paper ...

...nsidering he was popular and favored in high school. Due to the lack of communication between the son and father, Biff mostly sides with his mother Linda, “Stop making excuses for him! He always, always wiped the floor with you. Never had an ounce of respect for you” (Miller 39). It is difficult for Biff as well, because of the colliding dreams that he obtains, from Willy’s dreams. Rather than cherishing a family relationship, relationships are being broken apart due to different expectations and pressures of success.
The parents in Death of a Salesman and “Two Kinds” exhibit their ambition to present their children a brighter future. However, their different definitions of success bring a downfall to the children’s lives, as more burden and pressure is involved. As a result, disappointment and broken relationships were concluded from the unrealistic expectations.

Show More
Related

  • Growth In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    Within the drama, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the Lowman family is presented within the post war economy trying to achieve the American Dream. The father, Willy Lowman, represents a well-off salesman that demonstrates a persistent husband and father figure throughout the late 1940s and early 1950’s. Throughout this piece, Willy desires for his two sons, Biff and Happy, to follow in his footsteps as a salesman and to represent themselves throughout the economic decline. Throughout the storyline, Miller demonstrates the theme of success and failure, the representation of a tragic hero and the symbolism of seeds.

    Read More

  • Death of a Salesman

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    support is a pathetic effort to protect his identity. Linda will never admit to herself,

    Read More

  • King Lear and Death of a Salesman

    2158 Words  | 5 Pages

    Social pressures change as time passes, therefore it is interesting to see how these three texts whom differ by almost four hundred years perceive society and the effect this has on the protagonists; Shakespeare’s King Lear which was first performed in 1606 during the Jacobean era, presents a patriarchal society. Whilst, Arthur Miller uses the characters in ‘Death of a salesman’ to show the failure of the ‘American dream’ during the “golden era” of America in the late 40’s. The ‘American Dream’ was a set of ideals which suggested that anyone in the US could be successful through hard work, and had the potential to live a happy life. The sense of the deterioration in the equality of opportunities links to the fall in power and hierarchy in King Lear. Arudanthi Roy, however, uses her contemporary Indian novel to illustrate, using a proleptic and coalesce structure, the lives of the protagonists living in a post – colonial society. In each of these three texts there are characters who fit the stereotypes that society has instilled in them, but then there are those characters who noticeably differ from the norm; According to 19th century novelist Alfred de Musset “how glorious it is – and how painful – to be an exception.” Hence this statement can be seen as applicable to these characters, because in all three texts these characters do end up losing a lot.

    Read More

  • Two Kinds by Amy Tan

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    When her mother dies, Jing-Mei really shows how much of a dynamic character she is. She realizes that, just like the songs in the piano book, her mother and she "were they were two halves of the same song" (Tan 357).

    Read More

  • The Joy Luck Club Identity Essay

    586 Words  | 2 Pages

    Woo cleans the house herself and no longer has a housekeeper. With the money she saved, she hired Mr. Chong, an ancient piano teacher, who can barely hear and whose eyes are too dulled to tell when Jing-mei messes up. He is so genuine that Jing-mei feels guilty and picks up the basic skills, but she is so bent on not pleasing her mother that she continues to purposefully lack in her efforts. She hates the piano. She hates the fact that her mother is shaping her identity. She hates that her mother forces it upon her. She hates that it's everything she isn’t: disciplined, elegant, and most of all controlled. Jing-mei wants to be who she wants to be, and with the piano around, she only continues to be who her mother wants her to be, but she can not tell her mother this. She is supposed to play a piece called “Pleading Child” which is a “simple, moody piece that sounded more difficult than it was”. Even though she had not practiced and didn't know the piece, she played anyway. Halfway through, she began to realize how awful she was. The silence that followed her performance and her parent’s disappointed looks unfolded the undeniable truth, Jing-mei was not a piano

    Read More

  • Symbolism in Two Kinds by Amy Tan and Everyday Use by Alice Walker

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jing-Mei was forced to take piano lessons; this only further upset her as she felt that she was a constant disappointment. Her mother was mad at her on a regular basis because Jing-Mei stood up for herself and explained to her that she didn’t want to be a child prodigy.

    Read More

  • Conflicting Points of View in Two Kinds by Amy Tan

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is about a mother and daughter who have strong conflicting ideas about what it means to have a sense of self. This may be partly due to the mother growing up in China, which is a very different culture than the American culture where endless opportunities are available to anyone who wants to pursue them. Jing-mei's mother wants her daughter to be the best, a prodigy of sorts, and to have the kind of life, full of hopes and dreams that she did not have. In the beginning of the story Jing-mei liked the idea of becoming a prodigy however, the prodigy in her became impatient. "If you don't hurry up and get me out of here, I'm disappearing for good." It warned. "And then you'll always be nothing" (500). After disappointing her mother several times Jing-mei started to detest the idea of becoming a prodigy. The idea Jing-mei's mother had for her to become a prodigy was too much pressure for a small child and was something that Jing-mei was clearly not ready to be. As a result the pressure that her mother laid upon her only made Jing-mei rebel against her mother and she resisted in giving her best. Jing-mei did this because she only wanted her mother's love and acceptance for who she was not only what she could become. Furthermore, Jing-mei's point of view of being the kind of person that one can be proud of was very different from her mother's point of view.

    Read More

  • Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

    1336 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, Americans have idealized the journey towards economic success. One thing people do not realize, however, is that journey is not the same for every individual. Media often leads its viewers toward a “one size fits all” version of success that may help themselves, but will rarely help the viewers. This is seen in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Miller includes multiple instances of symbolism and personification to reveal to the reader the situational irony in Willy’s life, underlining the theme of self-deception in regard to the American Dream. This American Dream, fueled by money, is the main source of anxiety in Willy’s life. The anxiety of income is reflected today in the issue of minimum wage. James Sherk, a writer of the Tribune News Service, plots thoughtful points against raising the minimum wage. However, his use of over-exaggeration and odd comparisons leave his argument less than convincing.

    Read More

  • The American Dream Destroyed Willy Loman and the Great Gatsby

    1895 Words  | 4 Pages

    In conclusion, in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Miller’s Death of a Salesman shows how dreams can be made and destroyed. By having the American Dream dominate one’s way of life can lead to death, just like Gatsby’s and Willy’s. This was due to the lack of control over their own lives. The novels shows the ideal life that is dreamt of and how many went to the extreme extent to achieve it, if it was not met they believed that they were not worthy of living, thinking that would be the best way out. The two novels show the American dream; either to pursuit of happiness, or to pursuit of material wealth.

    Read More

  • death of a salesman

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    BANG! Your father is dead. Within a few seconds, although he attempted many times, your father dies. He gave up. All the fights, all the disrespect, and all the struggles are behind you. However, all the hope, all the passion, and all the love is still there. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the main conflict is between Willy Lowman and his son Biff. Most of their struggles are based on disrespect; however, much of the tension throughout the play is also caused by the act of giving up.

    Read More

  • Conflict And Conflicts In Two Kinds, By Amy Tan

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jing-Mei tries to live up to her mother’s expectations but feels that her mother expects more from her than she can deliver. She doesn’t understand why her mother is always trying to change her and won’t accept her for who she is. She feels pressure from her family when she is compared to her cousin Waverly and all her accomplishments. Soon the conflict grows to resentment as her mother tests her daily on academics, eventually causing Jing-Mei to give up while her mother struggles to get her attention and cooperation. Her mother avoids arguing with her daughter early in the story, continuing to encourage her to strive for fame. Her mother’s next assignment for her daughter is piano lessons. This goes along pretty well until her mother forces her to participate in a talent show. The daughter’s failure on her performance at the talent show causes embarrassment to her mother. Conflict is evident when two days later, after the talent show, she reminds her daughter that it’s time for piano practice and the daughter refuses to obey her mother. The conflict that the daughter feels boils over in an outburst of anger and resentment towards her mother for trying to make her something that she is not. Harsh words are spoken causing the mother to retreat and not speak of this event ever

    Read More

  • Mother-Daughter Struggle in Amy Tan´s Two Kinds.

    680 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story “Two Kinds” written by Amy Tan is about a Chinese-American family looking for new opportunities in California. Jing-Mei’s mother would to sit her down after dinner and read magazine articles about prodigy children and then quiz Jing-Mei to see if she could do what the prodigy child was doing. Jing-Mei was always feeling that she was not reaching her full potential in her mother’s eyes. Through Jing-Mei struggles with her mother and the piece of music the protagonist matures into the realization that she controls her own destiny and becomes stronger in her own beliefs.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between a Mother and Daughter in Two Kinds by Amy Tan

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theme seems to be about how the expectations of a parent can lead to resentment from the child when the child fails to meet those expectations. The theme is partially set in the opening paragraph with the statement, "My mother believed you could be anything you wanted to be in America" (Tan 1), and again in the second paragraph, when the mother tells the daughter, "Of course you can be prodigy, too" (Tan1). Throughout the story, the mother constantly insists on making of Jing Mei a child prodigy. In the beginning, Jing Mei is excited about the possibility. She even likens herself to Jesus saying, "I was like the Christ child lifted out of the straw manger, crying with holy indignity" (Tan 1). When Jing Mei realizes she isn’t succeeding, she loses hope and so chooses not to succeed. In this she resents her mother for constantly trying to make of her something she is not.

    Read More

  • Father-son Relationships and Conflicts in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    During most father-son relationships, there are certain times where the father wants to become more of a "player" in his son’s life than his son believes is necessary. The reasons for this are numerous and can be demonstrated in different ways. Miller is able to give an example of this behavior through the actions of Willy Loman. When Biff comes home to recollect himself, Willy perceives it as failure. Since Willy desperately wants his oldest son, Biff, to succeed in every way possible, he tries to take matters into his own hands. "I’ll get him a job selling. He could be big in no time" (16). The reason that Biff came home is to find out what he wants in life. Because Willy gets in the way, matters become more complicated. Partly due to Willy’s persistence in Biff’s life, they have conflicting ideas as to what the American dream is. Willy believes that working on the road by selling is the greatest job a man could have (81). Biff, however, feels the most inspiring job a man could have is working outdoors (22).

    Read More

  • Father And Son Relationships In Death Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    Parent and child relationships are the main point of play in many literary works. Through their relationship, the reader can understand the conflicts of the play, since the characters play different roles in each other’s lives. These people are usually connected in physical and emotional ways. They can be brothers and sisters, mothers and daughters, or fathers and sons. In “Death of A Salesman,” by Arthur Miller, the interaction between Willy Loman and his sons, Biff and Happy, allows Miller to comment on the father-son relationship and conflicts that arise from them.

    Read More

More about death of a salesman

Open Document