Willy Loman Vs Death Of A Salesman

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”.

San Joaquin Delta College presented Arthur Miller 's Death of A Salesman on Sunday the twenty-second of March at 2 o 'clock in the afternoon. This play is about a young man and his father coming to terms with the past and their futures. Willy Loman, an old salesman, is dealing with both financial and health difficulties. He is put under even more pressure when his unsuccessful son, Biff, returns home. Actor, director, and sound designer, Harvey T. Jordan, played the role of Willy in this production. His directing, acting, and sound effects allowed me to grasp the despaired nature of Willy Loman 's character. The theme of this story is respect and the nature of success. Willy wished that when he is dead, his death would be mourned far and wide. Hoping to have the reputation of a famous salesman; in other words he wants to die “The Death of a Salesman”. After Willie heard about a well-liked salesman, one that is known in all the cities he visits and that can make sales just by picking up the phone, Willie thinks that this job is easy, but he soon discovers the stress a truly dedicated salesman must go through.

The Fences written by August Wilson and Death of a Salesman was written by Arthur Miller are two plays that can be considered different in terms of their plot. Both plays have two very different cultural backgrounds. The background affects each protagonist therefore differently. However, there are also similarities beyond the plot. Despite the different backgrounds of each protagonist or main characters, they are both trying to achieve their dreams. They both fail ironically in similar ways .Willy Loman in the death of a salesman and Troy Maxson are both hardworking men trying very hard to help their families . They strive very hard to be successful, yet they die in the end feeling they did not earn the respect they deserved.

Arthur Miller's The Death of a Salesman is a play about Willy Loman, who is a salesman in America that struggles in many ways. Internal conflict arises when Willy is in search for a job but is being denied a job in New York. Throughout the entire play Arthur Miller shows that Willy‘s problems begin to reveal themselves due to being rejected a job in New York. Willy begins to muse over his so called perfect life, and envisages all of the problems he has went through during his lifetime. Arthur Miller then uses conflict, irony, and flashbacks in order to achieve the theme of portrayal.

"WILLY: That's just what I mean, Bernard can get the best marks in school, y'understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y'understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him. That's why I thank Almighty God you're both built like Adonises. Because the men who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. You take me for instance, I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. 'Willy Loman is here!' That's all they have to know, and I go right through" (p. 33).

I want them to know the kind of stock they spring from.” (48). This is ironic, because Willy doesn’t remember his father aside from his beard and his flute, so he would not know if his father would be someone to admire. Even though Willy does not have a job, he wants so badly to continue being a salesman that he still drives out to Boston and other cities, deluding his faithful wife, Linda Loman, and in part, himself, to think that he is going on important selling missions. Willy lies so convincingly that, when Ben proposes the idea of going to Alaska, a shocked Linda exclaims, “You’re well liked, and the boys love you, and someday – why, old man Wagner told him just the other day that if he keeps it up he’ll be a member of the firm . . .” (85). Linda is clearly oblivious to the fact that Willy is crestfallen and miserable. Willy even tries to prove to himself that he is happy, but the only true reason he remains a salesman is to gain the money he believes accompanies the job. Throughout Willy’s struggle, Charley, a FOIL to Willy, is constantly at Willy’s side helping him. Charley is Willy’s crutch, his reality check, and basically his only friend. While Willy fights to keep his family afloat, Charley has a steady job; while Willy manages his children’s lives, Charley leaves his only son, Bernard, to find his own path; while Willy loses his grip on reality, Charley has a firm grasp and a level head. Charley is the true example of the hard working, happy

The Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller. A book about an old man whose occupation is a salesman. The story takes place in Brooklyn Manhattan, in a nice quite neighborhood and the main protagonists is named Willy Loman. Willy Loman main goal in life was to succeed and make a name for himself but since he didn’t achieve it, he passed on that dream to his two sons. From Willy Loman point of view his second son did make a named out of himself but for his first son, that dream of success didn’t happened. Biff Loman is his name. The Long Journey into Night written by Eugene O’Neill. A book about a family whose learning or trying to deal with these obstacles they have in they’re life. Theirs a certain character in that book whose named

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

Arthur Miller, A play writer in the twentieth century, wrote a play entitled Death of a salesman that won him the Pulitzer Price just a year after its release. In the play Miller expresses the life of a 60 year old salesman that undergoes through lack of success in his life and sees the same thing happening ,to his two grown sons now in their mid-thirties, as the American dream faded away being replaced by capitalism in the late 1940s. The play starts of by introducing Willy Loman, the protagonist, and tells the story of the final twenty four hours in Willy’s life all the way to his death and funeral. Between that time laps the audience is able to see Willies past thanks to his constant daydreams, along with his sons past and wife and

The relationship can easily come off as him having consistent admiration, believing that his sons’ looks and popularity will allow them to succeed to the point of becoming almost godlike. WILLY: That’s just what I mean, Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him. That’s why I thank Almighty God you’re both built like Adonises. Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. You take me, for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. "Willy Loman is here!" That’s all they have to know and I go right through. Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman; Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem. New York: Viking, 1949.33. Print. Willy has convinced himself that he and his family are exceedingly important and admired when in fact, they are extremely irrelevant. Willy ignores the fact that some men become successful through their own hard work and dedication, or by being born with a silver spoon. Whenever someone who Willy considers unattractive actually becomes more successful than him, he proceeded to deny them of their credit, claiming that they aren’t really successful or going to last long in the business world, and if their level of success becomes too great, he nitpicks at everything they say or do, to justify why he still considers them unpopular. Willy’s standby logic is that if someone is not well liked, they can never get far in

Death of a Salesman unwinds post-war America. After the war, prosperity has increased. The 1950s, were still a time where men not only provided for their families, but to also supplied the luxuries that came along with working class men. Willy Loman bought into the idea of being glorified and worshipped. He lived for the positive preservation of his family name. Willy Loman’s downfall was trying to be “The Man” and not “A Man”.

It gets obvious that next to becoming successful, Willy also longs to be regarded by other people, he wants to be known and popular, he does not want to lead the life of a nobody. However, it is not enough for him to be liked; Willy wants to be “well liked”. Charley realizes this strong need of Willy to be respected and liked by everybody, but when being asked why everybody has to like him; Willy knows no answer to this (Miller 104). In my eyes, Willy’s need to be liked shows that he has many self-doubts. He does not want anybody to think that he might not be the successful salesperson he pretends to be. For that reason, he always longs for reassurance that other people – mostly people who have success, like Charley and Bernard – are not well liked either. (Miller 30, 33). To sum it up, Willy presumes ”[…] a brash personality, a ready smile, a fast joke, and a glittering appearance - as the key to fame and fortune […]” (Nelson 105). Does Willy fail because of society or does society let him fail?

"Death of a Salesman" by the author Arthur Miller revolves around one family and the troubles they are facing due to growing older and becoming senile. Willy Loman was born on May 13, 1889, and in 1949 when the story is set, he was 60, this is during post-WW1 America, this was a different time with different social cues and norms that will be evident throughout the story. Willy’s ambition is to take part in "the American dream" and strike it rich by the sweat of his own brow. The kind of success Willy is looking for is not merely being able to provide for his family but having people know who he was what he was about and what a great character he had. Once Willy starts lacking the success he is used to he becomes disconnected with the world and this is when his senile tendencies start to show these things hint at a deeper medical problem; things like having flashbacks to when he was happy and satisfied with his performance and the still unsquandered potential of his progeny.

Willy believes that in order to be a successful salesman one must be “well-liked”. This belief and his inflated ego cause him to act arrogant and even leads him to turn down several opportunities to improve his life. For example, when the Loman’s neighbor Bernard comes to inform Willy’s son Biff that he needs to seek help in his studies, Willy acts extremely arrogant, saying, “What an anemic!” (Miller 33). Willy goes on to tell his two sons that while Bernard may receive better grades in school, he will never be as successful as the boys because he does not have the personality and social skills to succeed in the professional world.