Willy Loman Answers

Identify and describe two conflicts in the story. Explain how the protagonist responds throughout the story and what his or her response reveals about him or her. Write in complete sentences.

Give a 5-6 sentence summary of the book from beginning to end. Paragraph 2 – Tell who the main character is and describe what they’re like. Think about how the character has changed through the novel, and describe a situation from the beginning of the book that really shows who this character was. Describe the situation in detail – tell the who, what, when, where, why, and how.

The lives of the Loman’s from beginning to end seems troubling, the play is centered on trying to be successful or trying to be happy, and the sacrifice which must be made of one to achieve the other. The environment that these characters live in encourages them to pursue the American dream, which can be said to devalue happiness through the pursuit of material success. Death of A Salesman written by Arthur Miller has several themes that run through the play, one of the most obvious is the constant striving for success. Willy Loman put his family through endless torture because of his search for a successful life. Willy, Biff, and Happy are chasing the American dream instead of examining themselves

The American Dream is what many people strive for. What makes The Dream impossible for some is a hamartia, or a fatal flaw. Willy Loman, from Death of a Salesman, is a common man trying to achieve The American Dream. This aspiration compounded with a fatal flaw is what makes him an apt subject for tragedy in the highest sense. This fatal flaw is his incapacity to make proper life decisions. The poor decisions Willy makes spiral his life into a rut that ultimately claims his life, leaving his family with nothing. Similarly, the unnamed main character (who, for simplification, will be referred to as Gary) from Weird Al Yankovic’s “Trapped in the Drive-Thru,” as the name suggests, also finds himself in a rut that ultimately leaves him worse

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”.

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

This is what Willy has been trying to emulate his entire life. Willy's need to feel well-liked is so strong that he often makes up lies about his popularity and success. At times, Willy even believes these lies himself. At one point in the play, Willy tells his family of how well-liked he is in all of his towns and how vital he is to New England. Later, however, he tells Linda that no one remembers him and that the people laugh at him behind his back. As this demonstrates, Willy's need to feel well-liked also causes him to become intensely paranoid. When his son, Biff, for example, is trying to explain why he cannot become successful, Willy believes that Biff is just trying to spite him. Unfortunately, Willy never realizes that his values are flawed. As Biff points out at the end of the play, "he had the wrong dreams."

Jose J. Guzman Dr. Brenda Cornell ENGL 1302 2 December 2014 Death of a Salesman Ever had a dream shattered? Well those jagged edges can hurt quite a bit for a long time. In the story of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller we find a man who has to confront failure amidst a success driven American society. This tragedy ends in the suicide of the main protagonist Willy Loman.

Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman is a constant struggle between achieving success at the cost of happiness. Willy Loman is a salesman in the late 1940’s who has dedicated his life to achieving the American dream. In the later years of his life, Willy discovers that he has deceived himself into believing he was a successful business man, in which he never was. In addition to Willie’s revelation, his health begins to fail and his past begins to intertwine with the present.

In the Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses conversations between characters to reveal the tragic nature of the protagonist, Willy Loman. Throughout the entire play, the hallucinations that Willy has clarify the deeper meaning and importance of key events in the play, the conversations between Linda and her sons about Willy’s deteriorating mental state, in addition to the overall deeper meaning behind the euphemisms and surface level conversations. Arthur Miller uses these key pieces of conversation to show the tragic truth that the small beauties in life aren't appreciated until they are lost. Hallucinations are pivotal in Arthur Miller's writing due to the fact that this allows him to put a sub-plot in the play itself and add backstory without adding an excess amount of dialogue. Willy Loman has multiple lapses in reality throughout the play in which he hallucinates about other moments in his past that infiltrate his filter on reality.

In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the playwright focuses on the theme of failure in a success oriented society. Willy Lowman, a failed salesman, is the central character. Willy’s downfall is caused by his belief in the propaganda of a society that only has room for winners. The significance of this theme, still very relevant today, is heightened by Miller's skilful use of a range of key techniques, including setting, characterization and symbolism.

Willy’s perseverance to direct Biff into success has resulted to Biff’s desperate acts to earn praise from his father. However, Biff’s dishonest acts of stealing are often justified by Willy through disregard and excuse, even expressing that the “Coach will probably congratulate [Biff] for [his] initiative”. Instead of correcting his mistakes, Willy continuously expresses his belief of Biff’s predetermined success as a result of being attractive and well-liked. These acts effectively exemplifies Biff’s adherence to self-deception as he imagines himself as an important figure in other people’s lives. It can be seen that his belief of being destined for success prevents him from allowing himself recognize the destruction it brings. As a result, Biff has allowed how Willy views him become how he perceives himself. This self-deception has not only affected the actions in his childhood but as well as his decisions when finding his role in the workplace. As stated above, Willy’s consistent beliefs of his son’s predestined success results to Biff’s immense confidence in himself. However, this confidence have provided him a false perception of himself as he struggle to keep a stable job and even faces imprisonment. It can be seen that Biff’s lack of self-perception and compliance to ideals of Willy has only allowed him to restrain and prevent him from recognizing the difference between illusion and reality resulting in the lack of his

Although Willy makes mistakes he still has memorable moments with his son Biff. Every time Willy is distress, or becomes unhappy, he starts to remember amazing memories of his son. Biff is talented at football and has many colleges offering him scholarships, which makes Willy a proud father and has reverence for his son. Consequently, Biff’s accomplishments increases Willy’s craving for the American Dream, and as a result, he becomes lost in Biff’s glory, which causes Willy to become blind to reality.

The play Death of a Salesman greatly portrays a specific ideology in regards to values, dreams, goals, and success in our consumer-driven society. It helps showcase the American dream that society tends to strive for even in the early 1900’s (the play is set in the 1940’s). That dream of being a successful business person or vendor. As well as the theory that image and physical attributes are most important to gaining fruition. Willy Loman plays a man in his sixties who has strived for this American dream for over 30 years but realistically has failed miserably on his goal in life – a wealthy salesman like his idol Dave Singleman (a fellow who could make a fortune selling without even leaving his hotel room). He spends his entire life in

Death of The American Dream The American Dream began to arise in the early 19th century as many immigrants came to America in hopes of creating a better life. The American Dream was originally sought to have the ability to obtain a high standard of living. High standard living in the 19th century would include being a homeowner, and having access to higher education.