Literary Analysis: Death of a Salesman Essay. "After all the highways, and the trains, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive," (Miller, 98). This quote was spoken by the main character of the Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman: Willy Loman. This tragedy takes place in Jun 02, · Analysis of the Ending of " Death of a Salesman " The play " Death of a Salesman " shows the final demise of Willy Loman, a sixty- year-old salesman in the America of the 's, who has deluded himself all his life about being a big success in the business world To an unusual degree, The Death of a Salesman interweaves past and present action. Willy Loman, the play’s protagonist, repeatedly revisits old memories, sometimes even conflating them with the present moment. But these memories are not the sentimental, slightly
Death of a Salesman: Drama Analysis Essay - SummaryStory
Willy Loman is a salesman and he has worked for the same company for many years. When the story begins, he has come home from a sales trip that was not as successful as he wished for it to be. He is in need of a different job but he does not want to do something different with his life although his family and next door neighbor encourage him to do something different.
He is never able to relate to his family because of his fantasies of being someone else in a different place and time. Willy spends most of his time yelling at Biff about being death of a salesman analysis essay better son or talking to the ghost of Ben.
Willy begins to have a daydream about his sons getting along very well and about how he as their father joins into the conversation. Willy never really talks to his boys as he does in his fantasy.
At the beginning of the story Willy is talking to his wife and trying to convince her of the lovely time he had in New York and how it was a very successful trip; he eventually tells her the truth. He states that it did not go well because he is not good at sales and because the people he works for do death of a salesman analysis essay like him. This seems to be a recurring theme in the story for Willy because he feels that he is also unloved by his family SparkNotes, His wife tries to console him because she is afraid for him and what he might do.
Willy goes in and out of his daydreams throughout the play. Willy is a very troubled man. He gets agitated at one point and he wishes he had gone to Alaska with Ben so that the two of them would be wealthy. Ben had gone to Africa and discovered a diamond mind that created some wealth for him until he died. For Willy, this would have been the height of his success. Willy does not think highly of Charley and he is jealous because Charley is successful and has always been success; Willy has not.
Willy wants Biff to make something of his life since Willy never had the opportunity to do something with his. He has always had high hopes for Biff and never lets him forget this fact. Biff feels that Willy puts too much stress on him and is always criticizing, death of a salesman analysis essay. For some reason Willy sees this collapse as a sign from his son that he likes him.
The reader does not know why Willy takes this outburst from a son as testimony that he loves him but this is his immediate reaction. Perhaps he is feeling this way because it is the first time that Biff has shown him physical contact of any kind. Happy and Linda attest to the fact that Biff does not only like his father but he loves him Johanssen, The reader never knows whether Biff really does love is father but it is curious.
Willy finds that the best thing he can do for his son now is to commit suicide; in this way his son will have the money he needs through the insurance money to get the ranch. It is important to note that it is quite possible that Biff would not have received the money because most life insurance policies will not pay when the policy holder commits suicide.
This is very apparent to the reader but the family does not seem to understand this fact. This may be an indication that Biff really did love his father but it shown through the play that Willy cannot return the love. It seems that Willy is incapable of loving his family and they are not sure how to react towards him. At one point, Willy admits to having an affair but this probably means that it was easier to care a little about a stranger than it is to care about his family.
In the SparkNotes commentary it states that he is incapable of love which prevents him from reaching out to his family. Biff is able to see through is father in ways that the rest of the family cannot and he realizes that what his father really needed then and now is compassion. Willy could not accept his failings but Death of a salesman analysis essay could accept them because he understood his own failings and was able to accept them.
Because of this Biff is able to show Willy compassion. Johannson, David. Masterplots II. Juvenile and Young Adult Literature Series, Supplement.
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Death of a Salesman Analysis
, time: 15:01Death of a Salesman: A+ Student Essay | SparkNotes
This is not an example of the work produced by our Essay Writing Service. “Death of a Salesman” is about a dysfunctional family that has difficulty with their sixty year old father. Willy Loman is a salesman and he has worked for the same company for many years. When the story begins, he has come home from a sales trip that was not as successful as he wished for it to be Death of a Salesman Analysis Essay Words 9 Pages Many works of literature have the theme of a failed American Dream, which is the basic idea that no matter what social class an individual may be, they still have an equal ability to achieve prosperity and a good life for their family; however, there has been much debate over whether or not the American dream is still obtainable in modern society Oct 05, · Essay on Analysis Of The Death Of A Salesman The Death of a Salesman is a play which presents the severe conflicts facing the family of Willy and Linda Loman. It is to some extent argued to depict the strong attacks raised against the American capitalist system which is characterized by ruthlessness, hostile business policies, tenacity on monies and social status as a way of proving
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