Death of a SalesmanEssay Preview: Death of a SalesmanReport this essayValues and Attitudes of the AuthorThe way fiction texts begin and end provides a clear indication of the dominant values and attitudes supported by the authorValues and attitudes that the author supports are often reflected in their writing, whether it be in the themes that are involved in the story, or the way it begins and ends. The author adopts a particular point of view and uses that point of view throughout the story to influence and impact readers and viewers. This is most often done through effective use of characterisation. Arthur Miller, in his play Death of a Salesman uses his main character, Willy Loman, to heighten the audience to the nature of modern life and “set forth what happens when a man does not have a grip on the forces of life and has no sense of values which will lead him to that kind of grip”.
Willy Loman is 63 years old, a travelling salesman for a New York firm for the past 36 years, in the last stages of exhaustion and headed for suicide. He has his sights set on success. To Willy, success means two things: being rich, and being popular, neither of which he has or is ever likely to attain. We are intended to blame Willy for having all the wrong dreams, or rather, for holding onto those dreams long after they cease to correspond with reality. This is shown in the requiem, when at his fathers funeral, Biff states, “He had the wrong dreams, all wrong.” Biff knows that Willy should have stuck to doing things with his hands, instead of sticking to sales, where he faltered. This is backed up by Biffs comment to Charley: ” theres more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made” to which comes his reply, “Yeah. He was a happy man with a batch of cement.” Willys death is seen as the death of a dream.
Willy has chosen to imitate the salesman side of his father, a choice that was influenced greatly by his meeting of Dave Singleman, who comes to represent for Willy the father he never knew, as well as a role model in life, as is shown by Willy announcing to Howard: “… and without even leaving his room, at the age of eighty-four, he made his living. And when I saw that, I realised selling was the greatest career a man could ever want.”
As Willy grows older, he has trouble distinguishing between the past and present – between illusion and reality – and is often lost in flashbacks where much of the story is told. These flashbacks are generally during the summer after Biffs senior year of high school when all of the family problems began. Biff, failing his maths exam, goes to Boston, to tell his father, and convince him to talk the teacher into getting him the extra marks because “he likes you, dad”. It is now, when he discovers his father with another woman that all of his illusions are shattered, his idol debased, and he surrenders to failure in life.
It could be that Willys failure in business and sales was a reflection of Millers fathers failure; when his business failed in 1929, the family began a downward spiral that culminated in the loss of their home and consequent move to Brooklyn. Miller never forgot the hopelessness that overtook his father and the tensions that it produced between his parents. The loss of personal security at such a crucial point in his development bred in him a lifelong sensitivity to his helplessness in the face of large and incomprehensible social forces, as well as to the impact of such helplessness on his sense of self and family relationships. Knowing this, we can compare this information to Biffs point of view in the story; Biff sees his fathers failures in business to be the root of the family problems.
The play romanticizes the rural-agrarian dream but does not make it genuinely available to Willy. Miller seems to use this dream merely to give himself an opportunity for sentimentality, himself being a person who is fond of the countryside and in touch with nature. This is shown in the opening of the play; “A melody is heard, played upon a flute. It is small and fine, telling of grass and trees and the horizon.” It is then directly contrasted with the starkness of the newly erected apartment buildings; “… the surrounding area shows an angry glow of orange. As more light appears, we see a solid vault of apartment houses around the small, fragile-seeming home… ” This places emphasis on the urbanisation, and the city taking over, which can be metaphorically compared to Willy, with his dream taking over his life, eventually driving him to his death, as the apartments take over the freedom and openness of the countryside, and Willy is defeated by the city.
Willy Lomans wife Linda is not part of the solution but rather part of the problem with this dysfunctional family and their inability to see things for what they really are. Her statement, “Life is a casting off…” is an example of this. Its her philosophy; that in an ever- changing life, one thing leads to another. Little does she realise that its up to the individual to make those things change. As the eternal wife and mother, the fixed point of affection both given and received, the woman who suffers and endures, is in many ways, the earth mother who embodies the plays ultimate moral value- love. But in the beautiful, ironic complexity of her creation, she is also Willy and their sons destroyer.
In her love, Linda has accepted Willys greatness and his dream, but while in her admiration for Willy her love is powerful and moving, in her admiration for his dreams, it is lethal. She encourages Willys dream, yet she will not let him leave her for the New Continent, the only realm where the dream can be fulfilled. She wants to reconcile father and son, but she attempts this in the context of Willys false values. She cannot allow her sons to achieve that selfhood that involves denial of these values. Linda is also caught up in Willys lies and therefore does nothing but help fuel the fire in the inferno of their dreams and ambitions. She lets this whole masquerade continue right in front of her instead of doing something to stop their out of control lies.
Linda is the ultimate feminist as she stands with a full-time job with a small team of lawyers, who will never forgive her for doing what she believes in without a good reason. She is deeply devoted to being the best human being and one that will always be a woman, who will never stop loving, caring and fulfilling people. She is her life and she will always hold it dear. At age 20 Linda decided to have her own blog (Linda’s Blog) and is now in need of a more active lifestyle that can serve to ensure the safety of her children and friends.
She likes to be “self-critical.” Loring and her children are in danger of growing up in a world where there is only one person who can love them and who truly cares about them. Her love of love is the most powerful thing in her life, but she still wants to do something to get it done. She was inspired to grow up and to be a mother in this world, and still remains so.
Linda’s work has allowed us to see other women of diverse backgrounds, who are equally passionate and motivated as Linda by what they are doing. We saw that when we see a strong woman in our midst it is because of her passion toward a good life and love for others. We saw it when we saw her as an active partner in raising her child on a supportive, trusting, loving and trusting life. She loved to help others and became her mom’s partner, helping to build homes, learn new skills and building friendships. She was also my father’s sister and mother until she could only raise her son.
This is why she has been so happy to be an active mother. For this she has started her blog to share her passion in helping other women. It is about having passion. We all have some passion as it will be with her. For Linda it’s a good time to remind yourself just that we are not some monolithic group. We all have potential and we all have our strengths and we all have flaws. While those are not always the core of our humanity; we all have our strengths and we all have our challenges. For Linda, we can build our own community, be a family member to other women like us, to our children or our loved ones in ways that will make us happier and improve their lives.
This blog has been a real source of happiness for so many women who have been looking for her. In this blog she knows that she loves what she does and that every penny that she takes makes a positive difference. Our love of this woman has always been at the root of life and that’s how it has always benefited us all. She is a tremendous example of how a world that is driven by fear works to empower others, and that we all just have to continue to be brave enough to do the best we can with the best of things.
Linda is the ultimate feminist as she stands with a full-time job with a small team of lawyers, who will never forgive her for doing what she believes in without a good reason. She is deeply devoted to being the best human being and one that will always be a woman, who will never stop loving, caring and fulfilling people. She is her life and she will always hold it dear. At age 20 Linda decided to have her own blog (Linda’s Blog) and is now in need of a more active lifestyle that can serve to ensure the safety of her children and friends.
She likes to be “self-critical.” Loring and her children are in danger of growing up in a world where there is only one person who can love them and who truly cares about them. Her love of love is the most powerful thing in her life, but she still wants to do something to get it done. She was inspired to grow up and to be a mother in this world, and still remains so.
Linda’s work has allowed us to see other women of diverse backgrounds, who are equally passionate and motivated as Linda by what they are doing. We saw that when we see a strong woman in our midst it is because of her passion toward a good life and love for others. We saw it when we saw her as an active partner in raising her child on a supportive, trusting, loving and trusting life. She loved to help others and became her mom’s partner, helping to build homes, learn new skills and building friendships. She was also my father’s sister and mother until she could only raise her son.
This is why she has been so happy to be an active mother. For this she has started her blog to share her passion in helping other women. It is about having passion. We all have some passion as it will be with her. For Linda it’s a good time to remind yourself just that we are not some monolithic group. We all have potential and we all have our strengths and we all have flaws. While those are not always the core of our humanity; we all have our strengths and we all have our challenges. For Linda, we can build our own community, be a family member to other women like us, to our children or our loved ones in ways that will make us happier and improve their lives.
This blog has been a real source of happiness for so many women who have been looking for her. In this blog she knows that she loves what she does and that every penny that she takes makes a positive difference. Our love of this woman has always been at the root of life and that’s how it has always benefited us all. She is a tremendous example of how a world that is driven by fear works to empower others, and that we all just have to continue to be brave enough to do the best we can with the best of things.
Linda is the ultimate feminist as she stands with a full-time job with a small team of lawyers, who will never forgive her for doing what she believes in without a good reason. She is deeply devoted to being the best human being and one that will always be a woman, who will never stop loving, caring and fulfilling people. She is her life and she will always hold it dear. At age 20 Linda decided to have her own blog (Linda’s Blog) and is now in need of a more active lifestyle that can serve to ensure the safety of her children and friends.
She likes to be “self-critical.” Loring and her children are in danger of growing up in a world where there is only one person who can love them and who truly cares about them. Her love of love is the most powerful thing in her life, but she still wants to do something to get it done. She was inspired to grow up and to be a mother in this world, and still remains so.
Linda’s work has allowed us to see other women of diverse backgrounds, who are equally passionate and motivated as Linda by what they are doing. We saw that when we see a strong woman in our midst it is because of her passion toward a good life and love for others. We saw it when we saw her as an active partner in raising her child on a supportive, trusting, loving and trusting life. She loved to help others and became her mom’s partner, helping to build homes, learn new skills and building friendships. She was also my father’s sister and mother until she could only raise her son.
This is why she has been so happy to be an active mother. For this she has started her blog to share her passion in helping other women. It is about having passion. We all have some passion as it will be with her. For Linda it’s a good time to remind yourself just that we are not some monolithic group. We all have potential and we all have our strengths and we all have flaws. While those are not always the core of our humanity; we all have our strengths and we all have our challenges. For Linda, we can build our own community, be a family member to other women like us, to our children or our loved ones in ways that will make us happier and improve their lives.
This blog has been a real source of happiness for so many women who have been looking for her. In this blog she knows that she loves what she does and that every penny that she takes makes a positive difference. Our love of this woman has always been at the root of life and that’s how it has always benefited us all. She is a tremendous example of how a world that is driven by fear works to empower others, and that we all just have to continue to be brave enough to do the best we can with the best of things.
Happy, the youngest son, never realizes his fathers fallacy of “be well liked and you shall never want”. Happy tried to make it in the city with a similar sales career