Essay Comparing Cat On A Hot Tin Roof And Death Of A Salesman

While the play primarily focuses on Willy’s dream, Death of a Salesman also observes Biff and his American Dream, which may be construed as the “right” one. Compared to his father’s, Biff’s dream is a simple one: own a ranch and labor in the countryside close to nature, happy and content. And yet as his father increasingly pressures him to pursue a dream more aligned to his own, Biff experiences an identity crisis of sorts, desperately seeking to please Willy by taking a job in business but always failing in his efforts. Eventually, he realizes that he cannot be his father, and, at Willy’s funeral, contrasts his earlier statement regarding Willy’s state of mind with one regarding his own person: “I know who I am, kid” (Miller 111). Though at the start of the play it was Willy who thought Biff lost, it is now the reverse. Willy, with his aspirations for renown and major success, found himself perpetually adrift in the world, struggling to make ends meet and maintain his family ties. And yet while Willy suffered at the hands of his American Dream, Biff prospered (although not monetarily) in his “proper” American Dream, experiencing true contentment in his craft. While Willy faced constant confusion and an almost bipolar personality disorder owing to his erroneous endeavors, Biff’s main insecurities and difficulties were those brought on by his father’s notion of success. In other words, Willy’s American Dream caused nothing but suffering for him and those he loved, while Biff’s American Dream would have allowed him peace of mind had it not been for his

You wouldn’t think about how when turning a play into a movie and making a slight change can affect the overall message of the plot. Often at times lines can be changed from the play once it is made into a movie sometimes even the whole scene or the morals of an actor may differ. It can be easier to relate to a character when your understanding of their ways or you feel you have been in a comparable situation nevertheless you may be able to relate easier than you think. These differences from a film verses a book can completely change or enhance how you feel towards different people that are in the play and movie. All these aspects can be seen and understood in Cat on A Hot Tin Roof and these play a part for me when both comparing and differentiating the play

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.

Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams are each widely considered to be two of the most illustrious and groundbreaking modern American playwrights, and their signature work -- Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire – respectively, are also their most tragic pieces. Miller’s Death of a Salesman is, ultimately, a play focusing on the tragic consequences of Willy Loman’s unwavering belief in the American dream and its associated progress and success, where he is tragically too human, believing the values that matter in family are equally important in the world of business. Similarly, Blanche DuBois in Tennessee William’s Streetcar feigns her appearance and refuses move on from her past life of luxury, holding onto and creating new desires

The struggles Willy and Troy face in achieving success call into question the legitimacy of the American dream. The American Dream perpetuates the notion that all people in America, regardless of their background, can achieve success. The two patriarchs, Willy and Troy, have very different and contorted philosophies regarding this dream; both spark fury and imminent failure when it comes to communicating that dream to their families.

Miller uses Death of a Salesman to shed light on the American Dream “for the sham it is” claims Raine. Willy has bought into this

Willy’s biggest issue with his son is that he let him down by not being any more successful than him. He feels like Biff is failing on purpose just to make him look bad. Although, he has no decent job and is single; Biff has become disoriented about life. Earlier in the play Biff tells Happy, “I tell ya Hap, I don't know what the future is. I don't know - what I'm supposed to want” (Miller266). Biff once looked up to his father as a role model, but lost all faith in him once finding out that he was having an affair. Ever since he has rejected Willy’s commitment of being a husband and also a father. To add to his ruins are Willy’s ideas of how Biff should get ahead in life. Willy taught Biff that popularity was the right way to get to the top, rather than hard-work and dedication. Trying to live by his dad’s standards caused Biff to fail high school and become unable to put forth the effort to become

Both Death of a Salesman, and The Glass Menagerie have many things in common. They are both great plays, and both concern dysfunctional families. But there is a deeper similarity to these great literary works. The similarity between the parents. Due to Willy Loman and Amanda Wingfield's lack of coping skills, as well as their inability to let go or accept their past, their children are ill-equipped to deal with the future.

Willy chooses to exaggerate his success in front of his family and even his boss in Act 2, but when he is contradicted “Now, Willy, you never averaged...” he still continues on with his façade thus further emphasizing his delusional nature. He teaches his children that they should be “liked and you will never want,” which implies that for Willy popularity is more important as it is this that will deem how prosperous one is in business as that man “is the man who gets ahead.” This contradicts the initial ideals of the American dream where you work hard in order to achieve success, and hence could be used by Miller to indicate how futile the concept was as well as how it lead to people conceiving inconceivable dreams - “He had the wrong dreams” as mentioned by Biff in the requiem.

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

Thank you for tuning into Good Views, I have been invited here today to discuss and analyse Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman and Jenji Kohan’s television program, Weeds. We will examine the comparative nature of these two texts in regards to the American Dream, whilst considering a variety of literary and visual techniques amongst both the play and the television program. Weeds is a black comedy television show which follows the life of Nancy Botwin, a widow, who resides in a fictional suburb of Los Angeles named, Agrestic. In the series, pilot episode, it explains that Nancy’s husband, Judah died suddenly of a heart attack which leaves Nancy to provide for her two sons, Silas and Shane. To maintain her materialistic and privileged

The American Dream has the connotation that all people in America, regardless of where they begin, can achieve success. The two patriarchs have very different and contorted perceptions of this dream and both spark fury and imminent failure when it comes to communicating that dream to their families. For instance, Willy firmly believes “The wonder of this country is that a man can end with diamonds here on the basis of being liked” (Wilson 62). Willy believes that success, or the American dream, can be achieved through connections and personal attractiveness, such as his mistaken belief that the businessman Bill Oliver will give his son, Biff, a large loan simply because he encouraged Biff once when he was in high school. Willy urges Biff to focus on being a football star rather than getting good grades, which eventually costs him a scholarship.

Published in 1949, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a tragic commentary on the hollowness and futility of the American Dream. This paper will explore Willy’s obsession with achieving material wealth and prosperity and how his yearning for the American Dream ultimately caused him to deny reality and lead the breakup of his family. Ultimately, Miller’s message is not that the American Dream is by necessity a harmful social construct, but simply that it has been misinterpreted and perverted to rob individuals of their autonomy and create inevitable dissatisfaction.

This idea is also clearly represented in modern times due to the fact that the nation is once more in a recession and every one wants the shiny new car or the huge lavish house. Miller senses this and uses Willy as an example of one of the many who fail to reach the American Dream and never will. Miller also challenges society to reflect upon how it interprets success, as Abbotson points out:

Willy believes that wealth is the key to your happiness, and the extent of your wealth is exposed by the amount of materialistic items one has. Miller explains Willy’s thoughts in Timebends, “The publicity apparatus tells Willy that if he works hard like Edison, that if he perseveres like Goodrich, that, if he is “well-liked” like Dave Singleman, then he will rise like Charley and become rich and powerful.” Willy’s thought process is foolish, and his belief that failure cannot be tolerated in his family causes him to lie about his success. This is evident when Biff says “We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house! [130]” The American Dream is to blame for imprinting wealth is all you need to be happy, into Willy’s mind.