...As a parent, the greatest joy is seeing their children succeed in everything they couldn’t. The impact a parent has their child’s character is almost as important as the genes that make up their being. Positive influence, as well as negative influence, can affect a boys whole attitude towards life which will be noticeable in their ability to do hard work, interact socially, and even the way he thinks as he walks the path into manhood. In Arthur Miller’s 1949 play “Death of a Salesman”, the main character and father Willy Loman refuses to accept the fact that what he thinks to be the key to success in the business world has sculpted his two sons, Hap and Biff, into a pair of liars and thieves. Charley says something to Willy that pretty much sums up his whole life; he asks him, "When the hell are you going to grow up?" (Miller 1256) Willy spends his entire life in an illusion. He sees himself as a great man that is popular and successful. Willy behaves like a child. Willy is like a reckless kid with high ideals and high hopes. Children always have high hopes for their future. Willy dreams of moving to Alaska where he could work with his hands and be a real man which adds to his many fantasy “what if” moments saying that if he would have just done “A” instead of “B”, he would be a rich and successful business man like everyone else (Miller 1258). Willy truly believes that to be a success in the world all you need is to be physically superior and to be liked by everyone...
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...When it comes to the subject of success, and how to obtain it, it is almost impossible to find an agreement on how people feel like you can achieve such a thing. We see a prime example of this debate in Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller. In this play, the characters Happy, Willy and Biff all struggle with the challenge of obtaining success. Though the three share the belief that the approval of others control success, they contrast in their belief on how important others approval is in relation to other characteristics of being successful; because Biff understands that hard work is a more effective in achieving success than popularity, he is the most likely to succeed and have a satisfied life. The first character we are familiarized with is Willy, who is also Biff and Happy’s father. Willy is a firm believer that when it comes to obtaining success, “personality always wins the day” (Miller, 1868) over hard work. In the play, the reader is shown examples of Willy raising his sons to follow this type of belief. When Biff and Happy were children, Willy often taught his unworkable success lessons, one example is when he tells his sons “be liked and you will never want” (Miller, 1853). Alice Griffin writes that Willy has an “inability to distinguish between the dream of success and the reality of the world...
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...Through the ages, there have been many different views on what makes a tragic hero. The archetype for a tragic hero has been set by Aristotle, from his rendition we learn that a tragic hero must “be better than we are”, born of nobility. Someone who is superior to the average person in some way, but at the same time, must evoke pity in the eyes of the audience. Arthur Miller, however, opposes Aristotle’s views saying that the common man can indeed be a tragic hero. The character must be willing to lay down his life to secure his sense of personal dignity. Furthermore, in act 2 of the play, the author reveals to the audience the reason behind Willy’s failure and guilt. It is also this section of the play that Willy is fired from his job, after this incident it is shown that Willy’s flaw as a tragic hero is his excessive pride because after being fired his longtime friend, Charley, who runs his own sales company, extended to him a job offer. But Willy refuses to take it saying that his sons are working on a big business deal and that he didn’t need the job offer. “I offered you a job. You can make fifty dollars a week…” but Willy replies “what’s the matter with you? I’ve got a job.” This shows that even under the direst of circumstances that Willy is too stubborn to take a job offer from one of the only friends he has got in life. At the end of the play, as a way to reassure himself that he wants to commit suicide he manifests his older brother Ben to act as conscience for what...
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...In the Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman not only ruins his life but also affects people closest to him by escaping to a virtual world. The effects that the older generation has on the younger one is also seen in the book. Because of Willy’s deception, the lies he has been telling himself, but most importantly his sons causes them to view the world in a wrong way. A habit that is shown throughout the book was Willy’s tendency to slip into his dream world whenever things are not going as he likes. Another important deception that Willy has which affect his sons is his altered view of the American Dream, in which being well-liked and and attractive will bring ultimate success. In the end, Willy is the one who is hit the hardest by the destruction of his well built dream work. When Willy was growing up he met a successful salesman named Dave Singleman, whom was able to become well liked even though he worked from his hotel room. After learning how much success Dave was able to achieve, he believed that this was the American Dream and the future of America. Looking back, he keeps telling himself that he should have chosen to follow his brother Ben to Alaska. His belief that it was his poor decision which is the cause of his misfortunes is skewed. He realizes that the American Dream is not working out for him, but chooses to ignore the signs and keep struggling as a salesman. This internal struggle Willy experiences is seen clearly as he first mentioned how great his car was, but...
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...Literary Analysis of Death of a Salesman By definition, an entrepreneur is a person who organizes and manages any enterprise usually with considerable initiative and risk. Although different entrepreneurs have different accomplishments, they all have some personality traits in common. In The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Biff and Happy do not have the integrity, willingness to learn, and commitment to a venture required for entrepreneurs. Alexander Becker, a distinguished business journalist, wrote in his article that “Your business depends on your integrity while your integrity depends on delivering what you promise.” It is important that Integrity is embedded within the entrepreneur and his business that customers can easily distinguish it and are easily drawn to it. However, this essential trait of an entrepreneur is not seen in either of the Loman brother. Happy has great capacity for self-delusion; being only an assistant to the assistant buyer, he constantly brags to his family that he is the assistant buyer at his store. When Biff tries to free him from this self-delusion by saying that “you’re one of the two assistants to the assistant, aren’t you?”(Miller 131), the statement “Well, I’m practically…” (Miller 131) indicates that he is still attempt to cover up the exposed truth. In another occasion, he tries to lie to Linda that Wille had a great dinner with them by saying that “Boy, what a night you gave me!”(Miller 124) Even though he is aware that Linda...
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...Andrew Fishman American Prison Willy Loman, the main character in Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, wants to live the American dream. He is consumed with his own misguided beliefs regarding success, which causes his life to be similar what Wyoming Senator Craig L. Thomas said about the American Dream: “You stuff Someone into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.” Willy’s obsession with the American Dream, believing that being well liked equates with success, keeps both he and his sons in a state of emotional immaturity. These beliefs causes the American Dream to be a prison. The Loman family’s American Dream becomes their prison, constructed of deception and false pride. They cannot escape their immature behavior of manipulating, lying, and bragging, never realizing that this behavior prevents them from success. The Loman Family is so caught up on the American Dream that they give up happiness for the business world, they do this even though the do not like to be in business. Throughout the book Willy is so concentrated on teaching his kids the American Dream that he and his kids fails to recognize their aspirations which causes them to continually be stuck in their American Dream prison. As Willy and Happy are locked up in the prison Biff realizes that he is not a business guy and that allows him to be happy. Willy is too stuck in the idea of the American Dream and the narrow minded approach of success to do what he wants. One example of this...
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...Fatherhood: Does the past effect the present? Did the lack of a father negatively affect Willy’s character? (Bradford,1) Willy Loman’s father left his family and was out of his childhood when Wily was only 3 years eleven months old. As a result Willy was a failure of a father to his sons. By not having his father in his life, Willy did not know or learn how to be a good father to Biff and Happy. In the play, Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, the main character Willy is a husband, father, friend, business partner and salesman. Willy is not very good at any aspects of his life, particularly parenthood. The factors in which Willy fails at parenting are numerous including, not making his family number one priority, not disciplining his sons, encouraging bad behaviours, not admitting his faults and lying. Firstly, with Willy not making his family his number one priority, he does this by constantly putting work before them. Willy has never been there for his sons, as he is travelling every week to visit customers, and he never really had the chance to get to know, and show his love for his sons. Willy does not have the father-son relationship with his children that most fathers desire to have. Willy’s love for his eldest son Biff, is based solely on Biffs achievements as a football player. Biff has been offered '...scholarships to three universities...' (Miller 20), and when he fails math, and because of poor grades does not qualify for the university...
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...rthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman addresses loss of identity and a man’s inability to accept change within himself and society. The play is a montage of memories, dreams, confrontations, and arguments, all of which make up the last 24 hours of Willy Loman’s life. The play concludes with Willy’s suicide and subsequent funeral. Miller uses the Loman family—Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy—to construct a self-perpetuating cycle of denial, contradiction, and order versus disorder. Willy had an affair over 15 years earlier than the real time within the play, and Miller focuses on the affair and its aftermath to reveal how individuals can be defined by a single event and their subsequent attempts to disguise or eradicate the event. For example,...
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...Still rubbing the sleepiness in my eyes, I unlocked the front door of the tavern I owned. Even though it was still early in the day, I was sure there would be some early birds traveling to here. After all, this was surprisingly the only tavern in the town. If those travelers wanted to take a break, this place is the only option for them. I plopped on the chair, and winced when I hear it creak. I have got to talk to the nearest carpenter or something, because this little rocker chair is going to snap one day. As I looked at the stocks I had, I realized that I was low on beer again. Guess I’ll have to contact my brewer again, since he makes the best beer, ale, and wine in town. Good thing he’s my best bud since we were five, cause his prices go up the roof. Word around town is that someone went broke trying to get a sip of it. After around 1 hour, I hear a, “Ding!” There goes the bell I hanged up for customers to alert me when they come. I grab the rope on my desk to tie their horse to the gates, take my hat off the hook, and prepare my fake smile when they came. When I walked around my tavern, I could smell them before I saw them. Smokers again. It might seem weird that a tavern owner hates the smell of cigars, but I never liked the smell of it when I was little and first had a whiff of it. Anyways, the first family of the day is a family of four, a father and mother, and a small girl. The other one was the uncle I’m assuming. Judging by the mother and daughter’s dress, the...
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...Building Castles in the Air: An Attempt at Living in Them Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman is a fast paced drama. In this play, he manages to bring out the elements of the American Dream. Miller illustrates the materialism shrouding the American dream. The effects of the American Dream may not be as profound in the present as they were in the time after the World War II. Today, the United States of America has the option of criticism and an in-depth self-analysis that saves people from the post-war tensions and immense contradictions. At the time of the setting of the play, there was a lot of denial, and this saw the rise of the ilk of artists and writers who fought for self-realization and created an awareness of the importance of “self.” Miller’s play, The Death of a Salesman, set in the post-war period, 1949, exemplifies the necessity to see the American as a myth because it does not have the capacity to encompass the innate human weakness such as doubt and insecurities and also economic changes. He illustrates this through his character Willy Loman who held the American dream as his unshakable tenet and his faith in it resulted in his tragic death....
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...Requiem for an American Dream: Benjamin Loman’s Role in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1951) is a subversive parable that subtly makes use of its characters to castigate the collective societal delusion of the American Dream. While protagonist Willy Loman’s character arc is traditionally read as a direct allegory of the decay of the American Dream, the role of Benjamin Loman is tragically undervalued in this respect. In order to illustrate a twisted ambition rooted deeply in materialism and blind aspiration, the vaguely successful Benjamin serves a necessary but controversial beacon. The very status of Uncle Ben as a unique character is wholly complex at its core. He is at once Willy’s brother, a romanticized memory, and an extended facet of Willy’s own personality, all while never truly existing within the scope of the play. Benjamin’s real and imagined affirmations falsely guide Willy on the path to downfall. The increasing ambiguity of...
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...A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF ARTHUR MILLER'S LIFE AND WORKS [This chronology has been compiled and crosschecked against a number of sources, however, a special acknowledgement should be made to the thorough "Literary Chronology" and appendices printed in The Theater Essays of Arthur Miller, eds. Robert A. Martin and Steven R. Centola.] 1915 Arthur Aster Miller was born on October 17th in New York City; family lives at 45 West 110th Street. 1920-28 Attends Public School #24 in Harlem. 1923 Sees first play--a melodrama at the Schubert Theater. 1928 Bar-mitzvah at the Avenue M temple. Father's business struggling and family move to Brooklyn. Attends James Madison HIgh School. 1930 Reassigned to the newly built Abraham Lincoln High School. Plays on football team. 1931 Delivery boy for local bakery before school, and works for father's business over summer vacation. 1933 Graduates from Abraham Lincoln High School. Registers for night school at City College, but quits after two weeks. 1933-34 Clerked in an auto-parts warehouse, where he was the only Jew employed and had his first real, personal experiences of American anti-semitism. 1934 Enters University of Michigan in the Fall to study journalism. Reporter and night editor on student paper, The Michigan Daily. 1936 Writes No Villain in six days and receives Hopwood Award in Drama. Transfers to an English major. 1937 Takes playwrighting class with Professor Kenneth T. Rowe. Rewrite of No Villain, titled, They Too Arise...
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...Narcissism and the American Dream in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman Narcissism och den amerikanska drömmen i Arthur Millers en handelsresandes död. Fredrik Artan Faculty of Arts and Education Subject: English Points:15.0 Supervisor: Magnus Ullén Examiner: Anna Swärdh 2014-06-18 Serial number Abstract This essay focuses on the theme of the American Dream in relation to narcissism in Miller’s Death of a salesman. The purpose is to demonstrate that a close reading of the main protagonist, Willy Loman, suggests that his notion of success in relation to the American Dream can be regarded as narcissistic. This essay will examine this by first observing how Willy´s notion of success is represented in the play, then look at how his understanding of it can be viewed from a narcissistic standpoint. The results I have found in my analysis show that there is a connection between Willy’s understanding of success and his narcissistic behavior. He displays traits such as grandiosity, arrogance, need of specialness and denial of emotions. His relationship with other characters reveals his lack of empathy, manipulation and exploitation of others as well as his need of superiority and fear of inferiority. The conclusion is that Willy and his notion of success could be considered as narcissistic. Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................1 The American...
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...tragedy have evolved since the time of the Greeks. Recently, in the 20th century, Arthur Miller published an essay that gives a modern definition of what a tragedy is and lists the properties and characteristics that a play must contain to actually be considered a tragedy. Miller states that a play is recognized as a tragedy when it presents a character that is willing to “lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing–his sense of personal dignity.” This character is trying to find his “‘rightful’ position in society,” but is eventually destroyed by shame that is caused by what is perceived as unfair treatment. Therefore, according to Miller, tragedy is the consequence of a man’s need to evaluate himself fairly (Miller “Tragedy”). The three dramas being evaluated, The Tragedy of Othello, Oedipus Rex, and Death of a Salesman, all fit this definition of a tragedy to some degree. The degree to which the parameters of dramatic tragedy are fulfilled in each play increases from The Tragedy of Othello to Oedipus Rex to Death of a Salesman. Out of the plays being analyzed, The Tragedy of Othello is the least tragic of the three. Othello, as a character, is a tragic hero that does actually give his own life in order to secure his sense of personal dignity (Shakespeare 1542). Othello feels that, despite the influence of Iago, he himself caused Desdemona's death as well as much of the other damage and tragedy that has occurred, and the only way to redeem his dignity is by...
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...Whether you need to write a book review, a piece of literary criticism, or an essay about an author's life and works, you will find writing samples in our Novels section to use for reference and from which to gather ideas. You'll encounter writing that addresses beloved, classic literature as well as modern, controversial novels. Find expository writing that discusses the life of Nathaniel Hawthorne and his chilling novel, "The Scarlet Letter." How is "the scarlet letter" in the story more than just the letter itself? What statement was Hawthorne making about the puritan beliefs of his ancestors? Read about Hemingway's life and how it compares with the lives of his protagonists. What were Hemingway's attitudes towards war as discerned through novels like "All Quiet On the Western Front" and "A Farewell to Arms." Discover essays that examine the symbolism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." What did Conrad mean by the phrase "heart of darkness"? What does "The Great Gatsby" have to say about the American Dream? Is its picture of life in the 1920's a favorable one? How does F. Scott Fitzgerald's personal life tie into the plot and tone of this novel? Find essays that discuss Arthur Miller's intent for his "Death of a Salesman." How does the fact that "Death of a Salesman" is a play and not simple prose impact the effectiveness of the tale it tells? Find writing examples here that illuminate Edith Wharton's theme of failed marriages and confining social conventions as evidenced...
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