Death Of A Salesman Rhetorical Analysis

His preoccupation with success has made him “ ...[lie] to both himself and to others out of a desire to believe that he is a success” (Brockett, 98). Willy dreams of being successful and leaving behind the legacy of a great businessman, but this unhealthy obsession actually causes the demise of his mental state and lack of success in fulfilling his dream. Right before he dies, Biff, Willy’s son, talks about “...what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been” (Miller, 81). Willy finally realizes that Biff has been trying to achieve actual happiness with his own life. Willy has always believed financial success is tied to happiness, but Biff finally breaks through to him that he could have been happy this whole time if he would have focused on his family life instead of his work. Willy becomes aware that he has been the only thing stopping his success because he has developed this illusion about his life, instead of accepting the reality of his failure in his business and his family.

Author Miller's Death of a Salesman is plain and simply a call for everyday American's to wake up and take a glimpse at the reality that could befall them, with the wrong ideals. It is not difficult to decipher the type of character Willy Loman is, nor is the play analytically or rhetorically written, for that very reason. Aside from the plain text Miller further goes on to evoke a call to action to his audience through his saturation of symbolism. Everyday items, such as gardening seeds, stockings, sneakers and a rubber hose that would normally mean nothing, become symbols that further the development of Willy Loman's character, and provide us with knowledge of his past, his present, and his impending downfall in the near future.

This is shown when Willy asks Bernard, Charley’s son, his secret to success, he attempts to follow Ben in his search for diamonds and his negative outlook on life. When Willy visits Charley’s office he sees Bernard, a successful lawyer and asks him, “What-what’s the secret?... How- how did you? Why didn’t he ever catch on?” (Miller 71). This quote indicates that Willy is not satisfied that Biff has found a career he likes, being a farmhand. Willy wants more from Biff, he wants his son to be known and successful, to pursue the American Dream like Willy does. However, he does not realize that Biff does not want to live the American Dream, he just wants to pursue a career he is passionate about. Moreover, Willy wants Biff to have twenty thousand dollars, this is indicated by the quote “Can you imagine that magnificence with twenty thousand dollars in his pocket?” (Miller 108), while talking to Ben, his brother about finding diamonds. This illustrates, that Willy does not understand that Biff has no interest in being rich, he chooses to do something that he is passionate about without concerning himself with the salary. Willy forces the American Dream onto Biff since he could not find success in it. Ultimately, Willy chooses to see the negative in

Neither Biff nor Willy took education seriously and they brushed Bernard away when he bothered him about studying. Willy, instead of encouraging his son to study, tells both his sons that they will be more successful than Bernard because he is “liked” but not “well-liked” (Act 1). Willy says “Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, you are going to be five times ahead of him (Act 1). Willy’s ignorance stems from his desire to get rich quick like his brother Ben and presumably his father.

During the catastrophic play, Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, Miller tries to explain his understanding of humans through a quote by Linda Loman. This quote suggests that unsuccessful and not-so-great fathers still deserve to be treated as if they are well liked and preposterous. On the night of Willy’s return from work, he goes on one of his delirious walks outside. Biff comes downstairs curious as to where his father has gone. Shortly after, Biff criticizes his father and their mother —Linda— quickly defends him like she has many times before by stating, “The man who never worked a day but for your benefit?

Human emotions are something that we seldom find a way to express clearly: from simple hand gestures, to a disgusted face. To understand his novel more thoroughly, Arthur Miller uses the most understandable method of comprehension, music, to express the emotions of the characters in his play, "Death of a Salesman". The characters, Willy, Linda, Biff, Happy, and Ben, have a certain style of music and instruments portraying them to show the reader what type of emotional person they are.

Willy refutes this as he believes Biff possesses the qualities to achieve the wealth that he has not achieved. Biff and Happy chat about their future plans. Biff knows that his father “thought the world of him” (185). Willy desires the best for his sons and attempts to inflict his ideas of his version of success upon them. The author uses idioms to create a deeper understanding of Willy’s character.

I sat up in the dining room chair staring at the battered fridge jammed into the corner of the kitchen. It wouldn’t last more than a few weeks in that condition. Another addition to the long list of things we needed repaired. As I played with the ear of my white mug of chamomile tea, I couldn’t help but wonder what my poor husband Willy was going through. While he didn’t realize it, I knew his work was driving him mad. It upset me to see the man I love in such an erratic state. I took a sip of tea and a deep breath. It was a stressful time; soon enough Willy would be laid off and we would have to find another way to earn money.

“Death of a Salesman” written by Arthur Miller in 1948 attempts to give the audience an unusual glimpse into the mind of a Willy Loman, a mercurial 60-year-old salesman, who through his endeavor to be “worth something”, finds himself struggling to endure the competitive capitalist world in which he is engulfed. Arthur Miller uses various theatrical techniques to gradually strip the protagonist down one layer at a time, each layer revealing another truth about his distorted past. By doing this, Miller succeeds in finally exposing a reasonable justification for Willy’s current state of mind. These techniques are essential to the play, as it is only through this development that Willy can realistically be driven to motives of suicide.

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is based in post-World War II America where a man named Willy Loman has the hopes and dreams of becoming a well-esteemed, successful salesman. However, throughout the play, it becomes evident his pride and delusion interfere with this dream and having the model family. The playwright uses symbolism and several forms of irony throughout the play to deepen the plot and intensify the conflict, as well as further illustrate the characters.

Willy was a vindictive father who tried to seem successful despite working in a dead-end job despite having the availability to work a different job under his friend, Charley. This source of conflict among the family generated conflict between father and son because of the ideas presented by Willy. He thought Biff needs a stationary job to be successful and earn money this job Willy thought of for Biff was meant to help him and the family pay off bills, own the house, etc. This ideal vision of Willy’s is in deep contrast to his current state of financial struggles. Because of Willy’s current state of being unsettled and lacking a stable career, he was attempting to coerce Biff to get a job as a salesman. This was contradictory to the desires of Biff and in addition to the family’s low-income household, caused trepidation and anger in their household. The meaning of the work emphasizes family issues and this duration of economic hindrances causes more pain and adversities. The significance of the failed American dream presented by Willy shows the detriment that follows and how this damage can cause impairment onto his

Ben, Willy’s older brother, believes that his American dream was that he started out with little, and ended up being very successful. It is ironic, because Ben brags that he came out of the African jungle a rich man, so he did not necessarily achieve the American dream, since his wealth began in Africa. Although Ben is not alive anymore, he frequently appears in Willy’s dream and can be considered as a symbol of the success that Willy desires. Another character who struggles with trying to pursue the American Dream is Happy, Willy’s youngest son. Happy possesses many of the same traits as Willy and lives the lie of the American Dream. Happy shows many signs of delusion, even believing that he is in a higher position in his store than he really is. Another character, Biff, the oldest son, also struggles with the idea of the American Dream. Biff’s main struggle throughout the play is between pleasing his father or pleasing himself. Willy wants Biff to inherit his world of sales, but Biff finds himself happier outdoors and is a farmhand. At the end of the day, Biff realizes that his happiness is more important than being rich and achieving the American dream. He returns to the farm where he makes less than $35 a week and does manual labor. Biff can also be considered a relatable character because he redefined his version of the American dream.

All Willy really wants is to be a part of his son’s lives and, Miller shows this by the example of when in the play Biff comes home to recollect himself, Willy seems to think this as a failure because he would rather see his eldest son be likely more successful rather than his youngest, Happy. Hereafter, Willy tries to take matter into his own hands, ‘I’ll get him a job selling, he could be big in no time’, he says to Linda (1215). Partially due to Willy’s consistency in Biff’s life conflicts start to erupt more partially to do with the fact being that they had different ideas of what the ‘American Dream” really is. With Biff believing that the most inspiring job to a man is working outdoors, his father disregarded by saying that working on the road selling was the greatest job a man could possibly have (1276).

Bernard relies on his mental capacity rather than his popularity like Biff. Willy Loman thinks of Bernard as nothing but a worm, he can achieve nothing because his personality isn’t as great as Biff’s. “There’s nothing the matter with him! You want him to be a worm like Bernard? He’s got personality…” (Salesman p.2142) Ironically Bernard becomes much more successful than Biff. Arthur Miller uses Bernard to the differences in he and Biff. Both Bernard and Biff are given similar opportunities but only Bernard takes advantage of his. Bernard avoids the pitfalls of the American dream and succeeds in creating his own by remaining realistic. Even as a high school student Bernard understands the importance of Willy passing his math class and even tries to help him cheat to pass. Unlike Biff and his father, Willy, Bernard understands the severity of the situation and that the high school does not have to pass Biff just because he’s good at football. Bernard even tires to explain to Willy “Just because he printed University of Virginia on his sneakers doesn’t mean they’ve got to graduate him, Uncle Willy!” (Salesman p. 2120) These realistic views are the reason Bernard is successful. He has a firm grip on life, he doesn’t lie to himself and he accepts reality. Bernard’s American dream becomes a reality when he becomes a lawyer with a big case to present in front of the supreme

Willy believes education is not important for his son's future. Although Biff is failing his math course and Bernard is passing Willy still accepts the fact that his son will achieve success. Being handsome, popular, and excellent in sports adds to this belief. Willy does not realize that an individual must work hard to accomplish success. He also feels he is higher in status than Bernard's father Charley because "Charley is not-liked. He's liked, but he's not-well liked." (1257) Even though he feels this way he is also jealous of Charley's business success. Willy felt too proud to even accept a paying job from Charley after his boss, Howard Wagner, fired him. The audience can see Willy's definition of success defined in the conversation he holds with Charley in Act II: