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Analysis the death of a salesman as a modern tragedy
Analysis the death of a salesman as a modern tragedy
Analysis of the death of a salesman
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Capitalism in “Death of a Salesman”, is undermining to the human spirit
and human condition. In “Death of a Salesman”, money was the Loman’s biggest issue.
That’s is not to say that if he had money it would not have made things better. Willy left
home with financial problems, he came home with financial problems. To Willy it was
never enough. He never made enough, he wasn’t the man that he portrayed to be to the
children. But with Willy it was always his bills, bills, bills.
“Willy: What do we owe?
Linda: Well, on the first there’s sixteen dollars on the refrigerator-
Willy: Why sixteen?
Linda: Well, the fan belt broke, so it was a dollar eighty.
Willy: But it’s brand new.
Linda: Well, the man said that’s the way it is. Till they work themselves in, y’know.
Willy: I hope we don’t get stuck on that machine.
Linda: They got the biggest ads of any of them!
Willy: I know, it’s a fine machine. What else?
Linda: Well, There’s nine-sixty for the washing machine. And for the vacuum cleaner
there’s three and a half due on the fifteenth. Then the roof you got twenty-one dollars
remaining.
Willy: It don’t leak, does it?
Linda: No, they did a wonderful job. Then you owe Frank for the carburetor.”
QUALLS 2
Linda Loman, was the wife of Willy Loman. She never complained about money,
her biggest issue was to make sure that her husband didn’t run himself raggedy with
mental problems. She always thought that they would make it. Linda was very
assertive, and never had anything bad to say.
“Willy: You’re not worried about me, are you, sweetheart?
Biff: What’s the matter?
Happy: Listen!
Linda: You’ve got too much on the ball to worry about.
From the very beginning, we can see that Willy is unable to keep up with the competitive demands. This leads to him feeling hopeless because he is unable to support his family, which could possibly lead to them being in debt. As the story goes
support is a pathetic effort to protect his identity. Linda will never admit to herself,
The first aspect of Willy's character that affected his failure was his pride. Willy's pride caused him to in many situations make very poor and unethical decisions, that affected both himself and his family. An example of this is through the conversation between Willy and Charley “CHARLEY: ‘You want a job?’ WILLY: ‘I got a job, I told you that. [After a slight pause] What the hell are you offering me a job for?’ CHARLEY: ‘Don’t get insulted.’ WILLY: Don’t insult me.”(DOAS: pg x) Willy does not take the offer which is an obvious example of a poor decision. He makes this decision because he sees this generous whole hearted gesture as a kind of pitiful handout that his pride restricts him from taking. By not taking this handout willy puts his self pride infront of
Happy Loman has grown up to be a well-adjusted man of society. He has developed from a follower to a potentially successful businessman. Throughout his childhood, Happy always had to settle for second fiddle. Willy, his father, always seems to focus all his attention on Happy's older brother Biff. The household conversation would constantly be about how Biff is going to be a phenomenal football star, how Biff will be attending the University of Virginia and be the big man on campus, how Biff is so adulated among his friends and peers, and so on. Young Happy was always in Biff's shadow, always competing for his father's attention but failing each time. Happy would resort to such antics as laying on his back and pedaling his feet backwards to capture his father's attention but to no avail. Willy would continue to not take notice of his younger son and maintain his attention on other matters that he thought were of greater importance. Growing up under these conditions is what motivated Happy to be the man he is today.
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.
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.
the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a
Willy Loman got lost in chasing the American Dream. As a salesman in the concrete jungle, Willy had unrealistic aspirations which left him “boxed in”. He is surrounded by high rising skyscrapers which engulf not only him but his whole family. Because of this Willy has a false sense of the American Dream and in trying to achieve it, he fails. The skyscrapers and his own references to being “boxed in” serve as a metaphor for his life. He chased after riches and materialistic possessions rather than his own happiness which consequently led to his death.
What encompasses the American Dream? Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” offers a realistic, stark picture of lives overflowing with dreams wished and dreams broken; yet, there are no dreams realized here. Their dreams comprise glory and fearlessness over those which genuinely can be achieved. Although Willy, Linda, Biff and Happy, as individuals, still believe in the American Dream, it’s clear that it represents something different for each.
Magdalena: Well... Uncle Tomas: That was the way it was. We have to work for a living.
“Death of a Salesman” written by Arthur Miller in 1948 attempts to give the audience an unusual glimpse into the mind of a Willy Loman, a mercurial 60-year-old salesman, who through his endeavor to be “worth something”, finds himself struggling to endure the competitive capitalist world in which he is engulfed. Arthur Miller uses various theatrical techniques to gradually strip the protagonist down one layer at a time, each layer revealing another truth about his distorted past. By doing this, Miller succeeds in finally exposing a reasonable justification for Willy’s current state of mind. These techniques are essential to the play, as it is only through this development that Willy can realistically be driven to motives of suicide.
Death of a Salesman deals with many timeless issues. Though these issues are portrayed through the story of Willy Loman in the nineteen forties or fifties, their presence in today's world is still very prominent. The relationships in Death of a Salesman are riddled with jealousy, hope, love, dreams, hate, disappointment, and many other very human emotions.
Willy was never able to say he was a good father to his sons. He prioritized his job o...
Willy Loman is one of the most tragic heroes in American drama today. He has a problem differentiating reality from fantasy. No one has a perfect life. Everyone has conflicts that they must face sooner or later. The ways in which people deal with these personal conflicts can differ as much as the people themselves. Some insist on ignoring the problem as long as possible, while some attack the problem to get it out of the way. In the case of Willy in Arthur Miller’s, Death of a Salesman, the way he deals with his life as a general failure leads to very severe consequences. Willy never really faced his problems in fact in stead of confronting them he just escapes into the past, whether intentionally or not, to those happier childhood times where problems were scarce. He uses this escape as if it were a narcotic, and as the play progresses, we learns that it can be as dangerous as a drug, because of its ability to addict Willy, and it’s deadliness.
For most people, having their American dream come true is their main goal in life. Although it is called the American dream, almost anyone can have something like it in their life, whether it be getting a dream house with a beautiful family, or just being independent and happy living on your own. In Miller’s play Death of a Salesman all of his characters are attempting to have their dreams come true, but it just seems like it won’t happen. Willy Loman spends the play trying to realize his dream of becoming successful on mere charisma and being good at sales, while his wife Linda hopes everything will work out for the better so she can be happy for once and not worry about her husband. His sons Biff and Happy are trying to keep their father