Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman In the play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman has fallen victim to the American Dream. "Willy Loman has Fallen under the spell of the success dream". This dream is to ultimately gain business success; and in order to gain this success, Willy believed one must be well liked. Willy states, "it's not what you say, it's how you say it-because personality always wins the day." Willy strongly believed in this dream and passed it on to his sons; Willy wished his hopes and dreams for success onto his sons. Unfortunately, this theory did not work well in his life. As youngsters, his sons took to heart this advise, but as the play progresses, we see the downfall this advise has upon Willy and his son Biff. This false message is clearly shown in Willy's values in the raising of his son Biff. Biff is physically strong, the captain of his football team, and handsome. With this in mind, Willy believes that Biff does not have to work hard in his studies. Willy believes that Biff has the potential for advancement due to his popularity in school. Willy states, "A star like that, magnificent, can never really fade away." However, as a result, Biff fails Math and does not graduate high school. Willy presents this false dream to his son by emphasizing the idea of being popular. Willy states, "be popular and you will not want." In turn, his son becomes a victim because he
Death of a Salesman - review.
Arthur Millers' Death of a salesman, set in the 1950's is about a salesman called Willy who has worked all his life to earn a living and to make a success of himself, but ends up a failure. One of the most important scenes is where Willy goes to visit Howard his Boss. Willy has gone to Howard to ask him if he can have a $65 salary because Willy gets paid on commission and he is not doing very well in the business world. Willy believed very much in The American Dream. The meaning of The American Dream is that anyone who is starting from scratch with determination, enthusiasm and personality can make a huge success of their life and become very wealthy. Willy's idol was a man called Dave Singleman. He was an 84-year-old salesman, who even at that age was still working. He was very rich and successful; he was also well liked. Dave Singleman achieved The American Dream, and he inspired Willy. Willy followed Dave's career, to become a salesman. Willy thought that being a salesman was the best job, and when I saw that, I realised that selling was the greatest career a man could want." Willy lived and died by The American Dream, however to Biff, Willy had "all the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong." This was true, Willy was not a success, because he had to go and ask Howard for a salary. Willy had gone to see Howard for a few reasons but importantly to ask him for a 65$
Drama - Devised Performance.
GCSE Drama Coursework Devised Performance Our GCSE devised play centres around the theme of 'something to hide'. As a stimuli we were given the song 'Luka' by Suzanne Vega which is about a woman who is abused by her partner but tries to hide it from the outside world. We also studied the play 'Death of a Salesman' written by Arthur Miller, a dramatist who wrote with a social conscience. Many of his plays such as 'The Crucible' (about the witch hunts in Salem in the 17th century as a comparison to the McCarthy 'witch' hunts in America in the 1950s), 'All My Sons' (concerning a family in turmoil due to a secret held by the father from the Second World War) and 'Death of a Salesman' (which explores the destructive reality behind the concept of a failed American Dream) are concerned with real people and social issues. 'Focus', his novel, is about anti-Semitism and many of his dramatic works focus on the idea of 'something to hide', or the truth of a past sin being uncovered. In 'Death of a Salesman' the concealed lie is the fact that Willy Loman, the main protagonist of the play, has had an affair in the past and this has had a devastating effect on his domestic life - his favourite son, Biff, found out about Willy's cheating and the family unit, a major part of the American Dream, has over the years broken down. Biff accuses his father of being a "phoney fake". In each
performance measurement
This essay explains the meaning of performance measures, importance of performance measurement in organizations within the public and private sector. Performance measurement is the process of quantifying the efficiency and effectiveness of action. It is the periodic measurement of progress toward explicit short and long run objectives and the reporting of the results to the decision makers in an attempt to improve program performance (Neely et al, 1995). Global competition and technological developments have combined forces to destabilize the environment, resulting in many threats as well as opportunities. To prosper in this environment companies have to be innovative, fast, effective and efficient to give these changes a chance to succeed, management has to develop a set of effective performance measurement that will guide and monitor the progress of the company. By finding out what has actually been happening, managers can determine with considerably certainty which direction the company heading towards. Performance management systems should help employees understand their responsibilities and how their day-to-day work contributes toward meeting their agency's strategic goals as well as providing a mechanism for giving employees candid, specific feedback on how well they are meeting their rater's expectations. The development of an effective measurement system is a
Death of the Salesman - Discuss the importance of the scene in which Howard fires Willy.
Death of the Salesman! Essay title: Discuss the importance of the scene in which Howard fires Willy. 'Death of the salesman' was written by Arthur Miller and was first published in 1949. The Times described it as ' "The first play that questioned the American consumer dream." ' The play is about the story of a man named Willy Loman who is a failed and elderly salesman; we see what subsequently be the last few days of his life. Even though the play is set around the last days of his life, we can see through flash backs, the acts and memories he has of his life. He re-lives this as if it was real. This play has a underlying theme running all the way through; this is the fact that Willy is too stubborn and unwilling to accept that the fact that he and his sons are failures in the business world. Willy says; " I am not a dine a dozen! I am Willy Loman, go to Filenes's, go to the Hub, go to Slattery's, Bosta, Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens." Willy starts of as a 'normal' salesman but he slowly starts to degenerate into a gibbering wreck. We are told at the beginning that, "His exhaustion is apparent". He believes the American dream that anyone can be successful as it's the land of opportunity and land of the free. Also that if you're well liked you can be very successful. Willy lives in New York as he has moved their after
'The American Dream' - Death of a Salesman.
Death of a Salesman GCSE Coursework, By, Alessandro Moro 'The American Dream' Death of a Salesman is centred on Willy Loman who is a 63 years old salesman and has a wife named Linda and two sons, Biff and Happy. Arthur Miller creates the Loman family so that everyone in a way could relate to someone in the family in one-way or another. Many people in the late 1940's and the 1950's had lived through a very miserable depression, and it was during this time that the American Society and economy was changing as it was becoming more and more advanced technologically. Times were changing and the 'good old days' such as the travelling salesman and were being withered away. The American Society was changing in a way that people were becoming more and more competitive and people would try to get to the top by any means. It became a desire for many Americans and was what they strived for their whole life. The American Dream is based mainly on wealth and materialism. The sense of freedom is what people are striving for. Freedom from bills and debt is what Willy Loman is striving for in Death of a Salesman. The American Dream is seen as a perfect life, which consists of a house with a perfect family; a husband, wife, two children, all living happily and comfortably without any troubles. But very few Americans achieve that goal in their
Show How Miller reveals to us in the play People who cannot face or Accept Reality.
Show How Miller reveals to us in the play People who cannot face or Accept Reality. 'Death of A Salesman' is a play set in New York during the 1940's. The protagonist of Miller's play is a man called Willy Loman who begins to have problems and eventually kills himself both mentally and physically. Willy is just one of the characters in 'Death of a Salesman' who cannot face or accept reality. Within the play other characters cannot as a direct result of Willy, these characters are his Wife, Linda, and son, Happy. All of the other characters manage to face reality but slowly watch Willy's decent into madness. Linda and Happy, however, begin to face reality as Willy no longer can. Willy Loman believes that he is a brilliant salesman but is seen by the people around him, and the audience, as an ordinary man. This is the first example of Willy not been able to face or accept reality. "'In 1928 I had a big year. I averaged a hundred and seventy dollars a week in commissions." "Now, Willy, you never averaged" "I averaged a hundred and seventy dollars a week in the year of 1928!"' This is taken from Willy's conversation with Howard, his boss, about moving to a job in New York. Willy clearly believes that he is a good salesman and managed a high average in 1928. This is an example of him been unable to face reality because as Howard points out, he never has averaged commission
Death of a Salesman - plot summary
Death of a salesman Willy a sixty something year old successful man, or that is what he thinks. Willy starts of as a 'normal' salesman but he slowly starts to degenerate into a gibbering wreck. We are told, "his exhaustion is apparent" Willy lives in New York as he has moved their after rejecting the offer to go to Alaska, instead he became a New York salesman, to follow the 'American dream' So he had hoped he could go into New York with nothing and leave 'rich' This formed part of the 'phoney American dream' Biff is an unemployed, thirty-four year old failure, but that is not what his father Willy thinks. Willy feels very proud of biff, and that he has achieved a lot in his life. But really he has achieved very little. Biff also lacks self-assurance because of the uncertainty about his father's attitude towards him, and his doubts about his own life and future. As Biff says "Why does dad mock me all the time?" Linda is very caring for Willy and "she more than loves him" and she is very loyal and supportive of him. She doesn't understand what is going on between Willy and Biff and why there is tension, Happy is like Willy and he is lost in his own life, but he cannot come to face towards defeat. He is very attention seeking "I'm gonna get married, Mom. I wanted to tell you" but this is not the truth and he is just trying to get attention. He also was incapable of
Death of a salesman - Willy Loman.
Death of a Salesman Task One: Willy Loman Willy Loman is a very complicated character, to say he is a 'hero' would be too sudden to say. After reading the first act, I have concluded that I don't believe he is a 'hero' as he is believed to be. He tends to be very self absorbed and a pessimistic man in the beginning. He lives a dream that involves only him and Biff (his son). He doesn't appreciate or pay attention to Happy (his other son) and Linda (his wife). I think he is a failure as a person, although I believe he was a very strong and caring man in his past. But after reading the first act and connecting my thoughts, I came to the conclusion that he is a very troubled man who seeks help desperately and he's very lonely without Biff being there anymore. Since he is very lonely he began to live out his past, which to him was sort-of dream like. He had the perfect son, who was attractive, athletic and thought to be a successful man in the future, as Willy believed he was when he was younger as well. His dreams have always involved money; he thought money brought happiness. This is where I believe Willy wanted to live the "American Dream", where you get happiness out of wealth. He believed so much in the "American Dream", he thought his life was almost like it in the past, and he wanted it back desperately. In act one, page 46, Linda is speaking to Biff and Happy
Examine the presentation of Linda in this part of the play.Extract -Page 38, Linda: No. You can't just come to see me Page 41, Linda: Shallowness of the water that saved him.
Examine the presentation of Linda in this part of the play. Extract -Page 38, Linda: No. You can't just come to see me Page 41, Linda: Shallowness of the water that saved him. When we first meet Linda, she appears to be a 'jovial' woman; content with her husband and accepting of his faults and behaviour. She is described as a doting, loving wife with little confidence and self esteem, which she requires to follow through with her own ambitions. Yet, she is adequately happy to live through Willy. It is this first impression that makes Linda's behaviour in the given extract so shocking, but touching. She is standing up for herself, having her voice heard on Willy's behalf, as if she is in debt to him because she has lived her life through him. She is acting completely out of character and is very open. This is the complete opposite to what we expect from Linda; normally a very quiet, caring, withdrawn woman. At this point, she is still showing total devotion to Willy, acting out and opening up for his sake. She is extremely loyal to him throughout the extract, even though he has wronged her in the past and failed to provide the American Dream for them both. This indicates a very focused, mentally strong and capable woman, acting with total altruism. It is obvious from Linda's unexpected outburst and attitude that she is desperately worried for Willy because of his state of