‘The pursuit of individuality and distinctiveness ultimately leads to conformity and deep feelings of failure.’ Good Morning/Afternoon, and welcome to this literary seminar at Hunters Hill High. My name is Obi Williams and I have prepared a speech on the Human Condition, its relevance in Post WW2, and how it is presented through Post WW2 literature. This time was a period of immense social transformation, as during the war, unemployment had ended and the economy had greatly expanded which meant the end of the war brought with it; higher employment levels among women, a greater search for wealth, and a more every-man-for-himself type of society. This change led to a shifting of values for the majority of the population, a shift where …show more content…
Willy’s ‘hopefulness’ is displayed when he is exclaiming to Linda that he ‘Sold over $500 gross in providence and $700 gross in Boston’ even though he is lying, and only really made not even half that, this reveals that Willy’s heart is set on achieving success worthy of the American Dream standards. His hopefulness however is cut short when Linda tells him how much they owe to others, to which Willy replies ‘A hundred and twenty dollars! My God! If business don’t pick up I don’t know what I’m gonna do!” This exposes that, while Willy’s mind is aiming for the epitome of the American Dream, his real life situation falls very short of that. Holden Caulfield and Willy Loman each struggle with their identity between two classes of society, indecisively aiming for one and unwillingly fitting into another, leading to a perception of themselves as failures. Conforming is neither a good nor bad element of life, merely a result of pursuing individuality and distinctiveness. ‘The Cather in the Rye’ presents this through Holden Caulfield, and the mental turmoil he experiences as a result of his non-intentional conformation. Throughout the novel, Holden attempts to distinguish himself from all the ‘phonies’ he so ever-presently witnesses around him. When Holden purchases the red hunting hat, a reoccurring motif of his individuality and hunt for himself, and states ‘I shoot people in this hat’ despite being an obvious
Holden Caulfield is the narrator and main character of the book. While not much is detailed about his physical appearance besides the fact he wears a red hunting hat, the interest many have found within the books comes from his emotional state. Holden is seemingly unstable psychologically and often critiques every aspect of a person such as being "phony." I felt these traits were well described by this quote on page 22 (“Up home we wear a hat like that to shoot deer in, for Chrissake,” he said. “That’s a deer shooting hat.”
In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman’s life seems to be slowly deteriorating. It is clear that Willy’s predicament is of his own doing, and that his own foolish pride and ignorance lead to his downfall. Willy’s self-destruction involved the uniting of several aspects of his life and his lack of grasping reality in each, consisting of, his relationship with his wife, his relationship and manner in which he brought up his children, Biff and Happy, and lastly his inability to productively earn a living and in doing so, failure to achieve his “American Dream”.
Similar to Gatsby, Willy Loman from Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, bases his "American Dream" on the idea that public acceptance would bring him wealth. Willy believes that appearing well liked makes him successful. Willy has based his life on the idea that if you are "well liked, you will never want" (Miller 33). Moreover, he believes his sons' appearance will make them successful because they are "both built like Adonises" (33). Furthermore, Willy's obsession with money leads him to equate the value of an individual with their financial worth. Willy idealized his older brother Ben because "he is rich" (41). Willy, reflecting on his own worth, concludes "you end up worth more dead than alive" (98). Finally, Willy thinks that being a popular and successful businessman will win him the love of his wife and children. Willy lies to his family, by telling his sons "[if there is] one thing boys: I have friends"(31). He also exaggerates terribly by telling his wife he sold "five hundred gross in Providence and seven hundred gross in Boston" (35). In his final imagined discussion with his brother Ben, Willy concludes that by taking his own life he will finance his son's business venture, and "[Biff will] worship me for it" (135).
A common idea presented in literature is the issue of the freedom of the individual in the constant pressures of society. In the play “Death of a Salesman” by,
Finally, Willy failed greatly at achieving the American Dream. People have come to the United States hoping for a life of happiness and success, at the same time, hoping to take pride in what they do and enjoy it. Willy did not achieve the American Dream. He had no pride in what he did, although he hid these emotions. I believe he was so embarrassed because he could not make a single sale or earn a single dollar that he began borrowing fifty dollars a week from Charley, and then pretended it was his salary. He lied to his family and to himself. He did not allow himself to do what he truly wanted to do because he believed that it was more remarkable to be supposedly successful. He therefore failed miserably at the true American Dream, exchanging it for an unattainable fantasy.
Willy Loman is a senile salesman who lives a dull life with a depleting career. He has an estranged relationship with his family and believes in the American Dream of effortless success and affluence, but in no way accomplishes it. Feeling like the aim of life is to be favored by others and gaining a materialistic fortune, Willy lives in a world of delusion where
In the novel, Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, one of the most significant symbols is the main character, Holden Caulfield, red hunting hat. His hat represents his protection from the world, adulthood, and his different characteristics. He often will not wear it in front of other people because it alienates him from the normal crowd. Holden recognizes that he is different from people; yet, he tries to cover that up, usually using his red hunting hat. Throughout the novel, Holden’s hat hides his unique perspectives and helps him to feel protected from both the world and adulthood.
Willy foolishly pursues the wrong dream and constantly lives in an unreal world blinded from reality. Despite his dream Willy constantly attempts to live in an artificial world and claims “If old Wagner was alive I’d be in charge of New York by now” (Miller 14). As a result, Willy often ignores his troubles and denies any financial trouble when he says “business is bad, it’s murderous. But not for me of course” (Miller 51). Another false segment of Willy’s dream includes the success of his two sons Happy and Biff. Biff was a high school football star who never cared about academics and now that he needs a job says “screw the business world” (Miller 61). Ironically, Willy suggests that Biff go west an “be a carpenter, or a cowboy, enjoy yourself!”, an idea that perhaps Willy should have pursued. Constantly advising his boys of the importance of being well liked, Willy fails to stress academics as an important part of life (Miller 40). Furthermore, Willy dies an unexpected death that reveals important causes of the failure to achieve the American dream. At the funeral Linda cries “I made the last payment on the house today... and there’ll be nobody home” to say that she misses Willy but in essence his death freed the Lomans from debt and the hopes and expectations Willy placed on his family (Miller 139). Very few people attend
“May I never wake up from the American dream.” Carrie Latet describes the most sought after dream: the dream of a house surrounded by a white picket fence, the dream people work their entire lives for, the dream people fight wars for: the American dream. However, America’s rise to industrialism in the 19th and 20th centuries replaced this dream with the desire to get rich fast. This change led people to believe that it is possible, common even, to obtain wealth rapidly; yet this is not the case. Sometimes, when an individual is unable to acquire such extreme wealth, he create a sense of false reality for himself, his common sense is blurred, and he sees opportunities where there are none. Characters Walter Lee Younger and Willy Loman are
As a salesman, Willy shows he perceives himself highly when talking to Linda about his job: “I’m the New England man. I’m vital in New England” (14). One can also see Willy’s inflated sense of self-worth when he talks to his children about his job: “They know me, boys, they know me up and down New England... I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England, and the cops protect it like their own” (31). However, even though he is extremely confident about his value as a salesman to his family, the reality of Willy’s reputation at his job is almost completely opposite: “I’m fat. I’m very—foolish to look at... they do laugh at me” (37). Although he essentially brags to his family about his expertise in business, Willy acknowledges the reality that his career is much less successful than he expects it to be. In fact, the inner turmoil inside of Willy from his unrealistic expectation of himself of being a fantastic salesman leads Willy to become mentally unhealthy, and eventually results in Willy committing suicide when he believes that he doesn’t have any self-worth anymore. Willy’s previous inflated self-worth is demonstrated yet again at his funeral, when no one shows up even though Willy thought he had a lot of friends from his job: “Why didn’t anybody come...
The success attained by Willy?s role models, his father, Dave Singleman, and Ben, is what he envisions to be the American Dream. He only visualizes the end product, being successful, and not the process they may have gone through to achieve that success. Willy?s father sold flutes and made that his living. In an encounter with his thoughts of the past, Willy listens to Ben, his brother, who refers to their father by saying, "Great Inventor, Father. With one gadget he made more in a week than a man like you could make in a lifetime" (49). Willy assumes that by being a salesman, like his father was, he is automatically guaranteed success, and that it wasn?t something that he would have to work for. Material success, such as money, luxury, and wealth, and popularity are his goals and his definition of success. On the other hand, self-fulfillment and happiness through hard work is not. By only focusing on the outer appearance of the American Dream, Willy ignores the
As though to recreate the connection in life, literature often shows the relationship between past events and a character’s present actions and values. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy is haunted by memories of his older brother, father, and salesman Dave Singleman. Willy’s character and values are constantly influenced by the memory of the three men, compounding upon his deliria throughout the play. Willy considers these men the epitome of success, thus explaining his dependency on all three. Miller’s view on society, men, and the success of the American Dream are portrayed through Willy’s interactions with the men. The American Dream is synonymous with the phrase “the world is your oyster,” but Miller uses Death of a Salesman to criticize the American Dream through Willy Loman and his interplay between the past and present.
Willy’s obsession with success leads to the start of him living in his own fantasy world. He lives in the past, for there was hope for him then, but now he is completely subject to failure. Willy’s demise could have been avoided had he changed his dream, and had he not conformed to society. In the end his dream did not pay off, and he ultimately fell victim to the American Dream, and the deceitful ideals of freedom that factored into the
Through Ben, Miller’s play suggests that one must be ruthless, sometimes even wild, in order to achieve success. This very dynamic approach towards the American Dream is what makes Willy Loman envious of his brother’s success and machismo. The contrast between a passive approach and dynamic ambition towards the realization of the American Dream is the cause of rift in a brother relationship between Willy and Ben.
Willy believes in the myth of log cabin to president, which he transforms into a myth of philandering two-bit salesman to big business executive. As we can see from Willy’s actions, he doesn’t seem to rely on hard work very much. In actuality, it is the lack of hard work that attracted Willy to become a salesman in the first place. In a conversation with Howard, his boss, Willy speaks of an eighty-four year old man he’d met when he was young. “...he’d drummed merchandise in thirty-one states,” said Willy. “And... he’d go up to his room...put on his green velvet slippers...and pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without even leaving his room, at the age of eighty-four, he made his living. And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want.” Willy finds this man’s life so appealing, that he decides to follow in his footsteps, thinking that perhaps he could just as easily become as wealthy and as respected.