Technology is the use of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially if it will further specific industries and the economy (Merriam-Webster). The play, “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, focuses a great deal on how the sales industry has changed throughout history and Miller uses technology to articulate this idea. In the play, Willy Loman is an unsuccessful salesman that lies constantly (both to himself and to others) and he has deluded himself into thinking that nothing is wrong with his life. The use of technology in the play articulates how distant Willy is from reality. The reality of the play is that technology advances businesses and that is an idea that Willy is unable to get behind. Willy is stuck in the past and he believes wholeheartedly …show more content…
Willy represents the idea that he is a victim of technology. He is shocked by what technology can do. Willy is insecure about his job because the sales industry has changed a lot since it had started. This shows how he inept he is at keeping up with his job. He refuses to accept the idea that the world is changing and he is constantly lying to himself and to others. The use of technology in the play signals Willy’s distance from reality – and this distance is his biggest flaw as a salesman. Willy Loman is stuck in the past because he believes that he is destined to live the “American Dream.” The basic idea of the “American Dream” is that America is the "dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” (Adams 214). However this idea has unfortunately evolved to a more materialistic and superficial notion; which is what Willy wants for his life. As long as he is well liked by the public and
Willy Loman was a failure as a family man who never achieved the American Dream. His life is an example of a true downfall, which affects all of those close to him. By living in an illusion, Willy guaranteed that he would be unable to achieve all that he thought he should. As a result, his death is the final confirmation of his failed life. Truly, success could never be achieved in his life, even if he had made plenty of sales. By giving up his dreams and true desires, Willy Loman died long before he crashed his car, and that led him to become every bit the failure that he will
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
Willy Loman is a troubled and misguided man - a salesman and a dreamer with an extreme preoccupation with his own definition of success. Willy feels that physical impact is greater than the elements of his self-defined success. However, it is apparent that Willy Loman is no successful man, even by the audience's standards. He is still a travelling salesman in his sixties with no stable location or occupation, but clings on to his dreams and ideals. He compares his sons with Bernard, using him as a gauge of success. Nonetheless, he stays in the belief that his sons are better than Bernard. Willy recollects the neighbourhood years ago, and reminisces working for Frank Wagner, although he was also in the same condition then as now. He feels that the older Wagner appreciated him more, yet it was himself who voted Howard in. Arthur Miller presents Willy as a man with great bravado but little energy left to support it. He is always tired and has dementia, contradicting himself in his conversations and showing some memory loss, living in his world of illusions and delusions. He argues with Biff, both men without knowing why. The two sons of Willy display the physical appearance of adulthood, but their talk and attitude displays immaturity. Billy finds that he is a failure because of his lack of `success', while Happy thinks he is unfulfilled because he lacks failure.
Willy Loman’s search for identity is an attempt to be the man according to the backward frontier tradition: the role a man is the supporter and that of the wife is one who keeps the home. His failure to achieve that dream fed his madness. Willy pursues his narrowed perception of the American Dream. He is emblematic of the failing modern American; he embodies the issues of those whom are consumed with dream over reality—taking shortcuts and failing to ad hear to personal sacrifice is what’s wrong with society, for we are manacled to the wrong values. Willy values intangible characteristics, such as personality and appearance over actual achievements and talent. He believes that
Due to the fantasy world that Willy lived in, mostly caused by the American Dream, he pursued his career in sales. Based on the success of Dave Singleman, his mentor. His bad career choice caused most of his dissatisfaction with life. His sales career simply conflicted with his natural abilities and talents. I believe that he knew he should have been working in a different field, but his obsession with the American Dream would not allow him to realize that. When Willy dreamt of working with his hands he was the happiest. “Yeah. He was a happy man with a batch of cement. He was so wonderful with his hands. He had all the wrong dreams All, all, wrong.” According to the idea of the America Dream, manual labor did not comply. Sadly enough, Willy measured his self worth by the standards of the American Dream.
Willy Loman 's American dream, was to become a well-known and loved salesman. Unfortunately, his life was built upon lies and exaggerations in order to escape the pain staking the truth. Willie would have flash backs from his better days at work and with his
Willy Loman believes in the “American Dream,” which is the belief that anyone can be lifted from humble beginnings to greatness. His belief on this idea is that a man can reach success by selling his
Throughout the whole play the only thing Willy Loman would act upon being his need to fulfill what he thought the “American Dream” was in society. He based his whole life around the concept that being successful only comes if you’re well liked by everyone: (Quote). In a way that is true, due to the fact that people who are well liked tended to have it easier in life. Willy wants to influence his family’s lives with his strong belief. Therefore,
Willy Loman has many traits of a young child. He never really lives outside of his own unrealistic world. When children are young, they think they are able to achieve whatever their imaginations believe. Willy has the same idea as this throughout his whole life. He never lets go of that dream even though he knows its not the smart decision. He knows he would be more successful as a tradesman working with his manly hands but he refuses to follow the wiser choice. Mainly because he is searching for that American Dream that society proclaims to be the best.
To begin with, Loman experiences two particular memories of his brother Ben that affect his present. In both moments, Ben is depicted as a successful man. Ben tells Willy’s boys that, “when I was seventeen I walked into jungle and when I was twenty-one I walked out. and by God I was rich!” It is evident that Willy admires and envies his brother’s prosperity and wealth. In Willy’s mind, he is defined by how much money he makes and how capable he is of providing for his family. The memory of his brother going to Africa leaves Willy feeling ashamed, regretful, and inadequate because of his brother’s subsequent financial success. His
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
Willy thinks, as most children do, that he is more important than he actually is. At various times throughout the story, he brags about himself, calling himself a great salesman. He says that he is known everywhere. In daydreaming of
The tape recorder also reflects Willy's inability to learn new technologies and adapt to society. Willy is an old-fashioned guy who made no attempt to change or evolve. He cannot even figure out how to turn off the tape recorder when he is left alone with it. Instead, he panics and calls for Howard to come help him. Not only is Willy afraid of new technology, but also he honestly believes that the old ways are best. Even when it becomes obvious to everyone else that his outdated sales tactics aren't working, he still believes in them. Once again, Willy's inability to change with the times leaves him unhappy and unsuccessful.
Willy is offered help by his friend Charley, a successful Business man, Willies all time friend and only friends he has left, when Charley offers Willy a job, yet willy full of pride and envious of Charley rejects it yet does not rejects it but continues to borrow money from him. This is due to Willies flaw in his desire of being higher in society than anyone else.Willy cannot let go of the past and continuously refers to 1928, when his career was at its peak. His withdrawal into the past is a defense mechanism as he refuses to come to terms with his failure as a salesman. His illusions of grandeur lead to fierce exaggerations of himself. He tells Biff to "Go to Filene's go to the Hub, go to Slattery's, Boston. Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens! Big shot!" (Miller, 62). He refuses to realize his personal failures and falsely believes that he is successful. Memories of a happier past Willy losing a grip on reality and on time escapes into the past. Despite his desperate searching through his past, The deep probing of dreams and memories in Death of A Salesman where quite important in illustrating Miller's point. Willy is a man stuck in the past reminiscing about times when things where good fabrication of those times really were as good as he imagines them to be? Like his inflated dreams of the future, the past may well be embellished by Willy's wild imagination. It seems
Throughout my teenage years, I admired Willy. But once that all changed, I was never able to look at him the same way. Even then, Willy Loman lived in the fantasy world, one of which we found ourselves trying to dig out of. In his mind, he was capable of greatness, and that the greatness