...carefully describe each significant location to the reader. Miller’s first description portrays Brooklyn, the setting of the Loman household with a gentle flute melody playing in the background, ‘it is small and fine, telling of grass and trees and the horizon’. The house is described as being ‘small and fragile-seeming’ with ‘towering angular shapes behind it, surrounding it on all sides’. This detailed description conveys to the reader that there is a sense of claustrophobia and inferiority, suggesting that this house is out of place in the daunting city. The opening location of Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ serves as a foil to ‘Death of a Salesman’, as it outlines the beauty of the Salinas River in rural California. There are however some links between the two introductions; the Salinas River is described as ‘twinkling over the yellow sands in the moonlight’, which directly opposes the description of Brooklyn ‘an angry glow of orange’ in scene one of ‘Death of a Salesman’. Rural California seems to be a very still and peaceful place where wildlife such as rabbits, raccoons and deer are able to thrive amongst ‘sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool’. Steinbeck then describes the Gabilan Mountains surrounding the valley, ‘strong and rocky’ which relate directly back to the ominous skyscrapers looming over the Loman household. Whereas Of...
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...accurately puts into words what every person thinks, feels, or worries about, but often has trouble expressing. Arthur Miller portrays Willy’s problems with family life, the society, and himself in Death of a Salesman. Many of Arthur Miller’s plays reflect or are a product of events in his life; he believed that American society needed to be made over; and for this reason, many of his earlier plays showed sympathetic portrayals and compassionate characterizations of his characters. Death of a Salesman is a play relating to the events leading to the downfall of Willy Loman, an aging salesman who is at one time wealthy, but is now approaching the end of his usefulness (poet, 1997). Miller uses symbolism to expand on the conflicts within the Loman family. Happy and Biff, Willy’s two sons, represent two sides of Willy’s ever-conflicting personality. Happy, who often receives his consolation of unsuccessfulness through women, represents Willy’s more materialistic side. Biff, who is more capable of genuine humanity, represents the kinder and more realistic Willy; he favors Biff over Happy. This plays a big part in fueling the conflict between the two. Because Willy favors Biff, he wants more than anything for Biff to...
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...Willy Loman acquires that may be viewed astraits of a small man rather than a Tragic hero, such as his poor backgroundand unsuccessful career opposingly he might present the downfall of a tragichero based purely on the fact that he is slowly “dying” as Linda states. Aristotle’s belief is that in order for a tragic hero toexperience his downfall the character must make an error of judgement(hamartia). Willy Loman is a man of many faulty judgements, the main error ofjudgement being his strong belief in the American Dream. He didn’t make realityhis point of focus and allowed himself to be drifted into a world of imaginingswhich puts not only him in danger buthis family too, this is represented clearly through his driving. Rather thanfocusing on driving he has “strange thoughts” and “stares off into the scenery”this results in him ‘crashing the car’. His belief in the American Dream isfurther developed through his admiration for his brother Ben, he doesn’t admirehis brothers character or success he admires Ben’s quickly gained wealth. Willystops at nothing to explain how Ben went “into a jungle” and “made a fortune”,this may explain why he is constantly “observing the scenery…the thick trees”. One other major faulty judgement Willy Loman commits is howhe has an affair with a mystery woman when he is a married man. We see him showthis woman a lot more affection than he shows Linda “he pulls her…kisses herroughly” and he also treats this lady with more respect than he shows Linda, ashe...
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...for real companionship and support. Due to Mrs. Wright’s lack of support she was driven to confide and seek friendship in a small bird. She began singing to the bird and cause tension between John Wright and herself. Mr. Wright was known to neglect his wife and stop her from singing. She was driven to the point of murdering her husband because of his neglect and the ever absent support system. To show her lack of support Gladspell implements that other characters within the play even realize she needs a support system. Mrs. Hale: “I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be–for women. I tell you, it’s queer, Mrs. Peters. We live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same things–it’s all just a different kind of the same thing.” To continue with the theme of no support system, Arthur Miller, the author of “Death of a Salesman”, Linda Loman is depicted...
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...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 already knows how the Loman brothers abandon their father in the pub, he insists that “he had a great time with us”(124). The integrity of a person capable of lying to himself and his family is not to be trusted; therefore Happy does not possess this important entrepreneurial trait. On the other hand, the honesty of Biff is also questionable. Even though at the end of the play he decides to...
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...In the play, Linda Loman is a kind and caring wife of Willy. She is a type of character where she refuses to see beyond Willy’s lies and protect him instead. I think that Linda tries to understand Willy but at times she doesn’t get the big picture of Willy’s life. She doesn’t know about his finances, job, or his affair with another woman. In the play, at times I would say Linda is a submissive wife and mother. Linda is somewhat like a submissive wife because she doesn’t know why she defends her husband’s behavior even when he lashes out at her. For example, in the play, Willy and Biff get into a fight and Linda tries to defend both sides but Willy tells Linda to shut up and doesn’t let her talk. I think that Linda lets Willy yell at her that way because she has always been treated like this by Willy. Another thing that lets the reader know that Linda is a caring mother is that she expresses concern over Biffs’ poor grades in math. She also wants to make Biff change and be a better person by not trying to be aggressive around Willy and to not have a tendency to steal from others. For example, unlike Willy when Biff steals a football from the school’s locker room, Willy tells Biff to go return it. However, Willy gives in and tells Biff to keep it to practice and that the football coach won’t mind. When I think of if Linda has a realistic view of her sons, I see that it is not realistic. Linda wants her sons to do well in school and give attention to their father. However, Biff...
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...DEATH OF A SALESMAN Study Guide for Teachers World-Class Theatre in the Heart of Vermont 703 Main Stre e t , W eston, V T 05161 www.westonplayhouse.o rg The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company The 2010 WPTC Teacher’s Workshop and the School Matinee and Touring Production is made possible in part by grants from: The Bay and Paul Foundations Mountain Room Foundation National Endowment for the Arts The Shubert Foundation The Vermont Country Store and The Orton Family Vermont Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities With additional contributions from: Black River Produce Berkshire Bank Clark’s Quality Foods Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation Ezra Jack Keats Foundation Okemo Mountain Resort Thrifty Attic …and an ever growing family of individuals who believe in the impact that the performing arts can have on its community. This Teachers Study Guide was compiled and edited by Rena Murman. Credit and thanks to the following theatres for materials used or referenced from study guides created for Death of a Salesman: Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis, MN; Kennedy Center, Washington, DC; Lyric Theatre, London; Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh; Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT. © 2010 Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational and cultural institution. WPTC Performance Guides may be duplicated at no charge for educational purposes only. They may not be sold or used in other publications without the express written consent...
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...November 10, 2012 English P5 Death of a Salesman Essay Like Father Like Son In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, Miller reveals what happens when a dream, especially the American dream, dies, as seen through the life of Willy Loman, a pathetic, self-deluded salesman. The play follows the family through painful conflicts, significant issues such as national values, and the price of blind fate while working toward the ‘American Dream’. The major problem woven into the plot discusses how Willy, insufficiently, attempts to be able to die ‘the death of a salesman’, both wealthy and comfortable. In this play, the American character is criticized because the play emphasizes how children are a result of their parents modeling by including examples such as how Biff and Happy, the unsuccessful children, believe that lying, cheating, and stealing are tolerable because of the example Willy set for them. Furthermore, through Willy’s shallow contemptuous personality, the reader clearly sees that he finds lying, cheating and stealing acceptable. This shows not only in his actions and words, but also through his sons who imitate his values. As Happy, Biff, and Willy are conversing, Biff mentions that he practices with a new football. When Biff is asked where it came from, he simply says, “Well, I borrowed it from the locker room” (Miller 29). This statement combines both lying and stealing, because as Biff tries to cover the fact that he stole the ball. Willy does nothing...
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...Thomas Mr. Fielder CP English 11 16 March 2015 Being a Loving Wife Being married is not just about the love but its about the bond, connections, being able to put up with all the drama that you and your spouse have. Death of a Salesman and Fences have two things in common the things that Linda Loman and Rose Maxson go through with their husbands. They both are brave, strong and caring women. In Fences, Rosa is a 1950’s-era housewife, she cooks, cleans, and stand by her man when he can be a jerk sometimes. Rosa don’t let Troy walk all over her, when she learns about troy affair she tells him off by says “ You always talking about what you give.. and what you don’t have to give. But you take too. You take.. and don’t even know nobody’s giving!” (Act 2 Scene 1 pg 71). Yeah she agrees to help raise Raynell, but the mother dies in childbirth, Troy begs her to raise the baby as her own she tells him “ I’ll take care of your baby for you.. cause.. she innocent.. and you can’t visit the sins of the father upon the child. A motherless child had got a hard time.. From right now this child got a mother. But you a womanless man. (Act 2 Scene 3 pg 79). In Death of a Salesman, Linda is a Willy’s doting wife. her mission is to protect Willy’s emotions and dreams. She doesn’t know the full picture, from his finances, to his job, to his mistress. She is clueless, thats why she defends her husband’s behavior even when he lashes out on her but no one can argue, she is one loyal female...
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...man, man’s inescapable problem is himself-what he would like to be, what he is, what he is not, and yet what he must live and die with.” –John Mason Brown (Brown 207) The Two Sides of America and Willy Loman America is a madman. America became a man who fell off his rocker and is free to roam the earth to disturb the minds of those who inhabit it. The American dream is often considered a fantasy by those who criticize it. Capitalism sometimes may not be all that it is cracked up to be when you get down in the dirt and start building. Even when you begin to believe you are moving forward you can be eternally unsure of the direction you are moving. At this point, the race to the top can drive you crazy. In Arthur Miller’s play A Death of a Salesman, the central character Willy Loman embodies the American dream and he is certainly mad. In the story, Willy works as a growing salesman who is getting older and tiring from travelling for work for small returns. His hard work goes unrewarded as each paycheck goes right into the house which always needs to be serviced and mended. This house as it gets to be paid off after 25 years finally becomes owned by the family who ironically may soon not live in the house together. Willy’s family consists of his humble and caring wife, Linda, and his two handsome and able-bodied sons Happy and Biff. The story centers around the external conflict of Willy pushing Biff to be what he wants him to be and Biff’s internal conflict of what it is he would...
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...particular, the opportunity to own one's land. But land 'ran out' and so cities developed and massive variations arose in wealth, which meant that this 'American Dream' changed from being a potential reality, into being a dream, like the name implies. Most of Miller's plays are directly or indirectly about the American Dream, because ultimately this dream wasn't going to succeed as lots of people wished. Death of a Salesman written in 1949, is a moving destruction of the whole myth. To be hard working, honest and have ambition were the ways of the American Dream. This lead to success, wealth and in due time - power. But this dream for everyone developed, and encouraged greed, selfish behavior, pride and rivalry between one another. Willy Loman was 'caught-up' in this American Dream. It causes business to develop in the world. Capitalism and also the profit motive and competitive instinct, makes Willy have a weakness in his personality. This weakness was caused by a combination of business pressures. Willy wants to prove himself through successes a salesman, but as he fails, his own life destroys him. 'I'm the...
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...Father/Son Relationships The Nineteen-Forties was a very patriarchal era. The father was the head of the house and his life’s works were passed down to his sons. A strong relationship between a man and his sons was crucial to maintaining a healthy household. Once the relationship began to deteriorate, the entire family unraveled. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman displays how the relationship between Willy and his two sons creates the downfall of the Loman family. The relationship is constantly changing throughout the story. Biff and Happy idolize and have nothing but love for their father when they are children, but when they grow up they realize how their father failed to prepare them for the real world. Willy Loman is portrayed as an un-fit father. Willy never really had a father when he was growing up. He lost his father when he was very young. Because Willy was deprived of affection as a child, he smothers his sons with love and oppresses them with the nakedness of his hopes for their success. (Carson pg. 92) His older brother Ben stepped in and served as a substitute father. (Carson pg. 90) As a result of not having a true father figure in his childhood, Willy struggled with fatherhood because had no example to base his parenting on. When Ben passed away, Willy lost his last connection to his father. (Carson pg. 91) Willy’s lack of a real father has left him as an insecure person. He has been trying his whole life to compensate for his loss. Willy...
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...the city scenes. Whenever the action of the play is in the present, the characters act as if the imaginary walls are real and they enter and exit rooms only through doors. But when the action is in a memory, the characters step through the walls and onto the forestage. Willy Loman, a sixty-year-old traveling salesman, enters his home late at night with two large sample cases. His wife, Linda, hears him coming up the stairs to their bedroom. She seems worried that something has happened, that he has wrecked the car again, or that he's ill, but Willy assures her that he is fine, just tired. Sitting on the bed with her, he explains that he came home because he was having trouble staying on the road while he drove, and he is unsure of what caused his distraction. It could've been the coffee he had at a roadside diner or the way he opened the windshield of the car and the scenery and sunshine just washed over him. Whatever it was, it kept taking his mind of the road, and he'd veer onto the shoulder before he knew what was happening. He was so spooked that he drove ten miles an hour all the way home, and now he's tired and grumpy because he's going to miss his morning meeting in Portland, Rhode Island. Linda urges him to talk to his boss about working in the New York area so that he doesn't have to travel...
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...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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...hallucinations mix into the past illusions. This mans name is Willy Loman, he has two children and a wife Linda. His wife is very supportive to Willy, she trys her best to make him feel good about life. His sons Biff and Hap are very different people, Hap is more like his father, when Biff wants to be more of a outdoors man. Biff a confused man he is stuck between doing what he loves, or following his fathers footsteps and be a miserable old man. He wants his father to be proud of him, Happy: ''he's not mocking you, he-'' Biff: '' Everything I say there's a twist of mockery on his face. I can't get near him.'' Biff has a hard time telling his father what he wants to do in his life, he just wants to do what he loves, Biff: ''when all you really desire is to be outdoors, with your shirt off. And always to have to get ahead of the next fella. And still that's how you build a future.'' Biff has a hard time finding a steady job that he enjoys, ''I stole myself out of every good job since high school!'' He feels he can't keep a job because his father fills him with such ''hot air'' that he can't stand taking orders from anybody. Linda is a sweat old lady married to Willy, Willy's problem scares her but she won't confront it. She encourages Willy and his ideas, Willy: '' You wait, kid, before it's all over were gonna get a place out in the country, and I'll raise some vegetables, a couple of chickens...'' Linda: '' You'll do it yet, dear.' Willy:''Gee whiz! That's really somethin...
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