Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
All the principle character in the play are trying to understand what is driving Willy to suicide. What is your understanding of this? Usually suicide is the last measure a human being would take when he or she sees no way out of a situation. Willy Loman, the protagonist of the drama Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, appears to be attempting suicide several times before he succeeds at the end of the play. His family does not seem to understand what is driving him into suicide until very late, as there seem to be several reasons. Behind the word success Willy Loman does not seem to see anything more than material possession. Self-fulfillment is nothing else than earning a lot of money to provide a good standard of living for one's family. This ironically is Willy's ideology, even though he is a salesman with a low salary who can barely pay the upcoming installments. Willy's view of the world is based to a large extent based on two men. His brother Ben, who made a fortune by finding diamonds in the jungle, and an old salesman called David Singleman, the salesman he aspires to become. Willy desperately tries to believe that he is a success, something he always tried to tell his sons. But of course at the age of sixty-three, near retirement, he has to realize that he cannot achieve what he was longing for. He starts going back into his past and seeing his brother Ben, who he
Creative Writing for IB Portfolio - Letter to Biff's son.
Frank Felzmann 4-10-04 English A2 SL Creative Writing for IB Portfolio Letter to Biff's son: Hi George, How are you doing at school? I'm sorry that you can't come with me back to our ranch but Graduation is right around the corner and I don't want you to mess up. You should really try to get some descent grades, cause if you don't you'll end up with a lot of problems when you're older in the long run. I had to work day and night to earn enough money to start a small ranch. I bet you're thinking right now that I'm just telling you a big lie to give you an incentive to get good grades. That is actually partly true and I want to give you an incentive but not through lies. I know that I have been quite strict with you in the past few years but you must believe me that it is just for your own good. You really don't want to end up like me after graduation. I actually never graduated, since I flunked Math. I can still remember that as if it happened yesterday. My dad taught me that all you need to get far in life is by being well liked, as he always liked to say it. I believed him and I became one of the most popular guys in high school. It didn't help me much with my grades though, it only got me many friends. After their graduation not one of them kept contact with me. It was then when I realized that it wasn't the bookworms that were the
Death of a Salesman' Act 2 Continued17) The effect of Bernard being contrasted with Biff is that it highlights how Biff hasn't succeeded
'Death of a Salesman' Act 2 Continued 7) The effect of Bernard being contrasted with Biff is that it highlights how Biff hasn't succeeded and done what Willy wanted him to do. It shows how Willy is displeased with what Biff has done with his life and shows the reader how Bernard has become the song that Willy wanted Biff to be. 8) When Willy hears of Bernard's successful lifestyle he reacts by exaggerating how successful Biff has been. He tells Bernard that Biff has been doing very big things in the West and that he's in the process of making a big deal and going into business. 9) Willy attempts to find out from Bernard why Biff didn't succeed in business and why he decided not to attend summer school to retake Maths. 20) Bernard reveals to Willy that Biff seemed to start going downhill and gave up trying after his visit to Boston to see Willy. He also says that Biff was prepared to go to summer school to retake Maths until he went to Boston. 21) Charley means that Willy doesn't understand that personality and emotional things don't matter in the business world. He doesn't realise that it doesn't matter to Howard that Willy helped to name him because if Willy can't sell goods then he is no use to the company. It shows that Willy is stuck in the past, in the days when salesmen sold their personalities and then their goods. 22) Willy tries to make himself look and feel
Race for the Junkyard - review.
Race for the Junkyard. During act one and two we see that Willy is on a quest to gain material belongings. We also see how this 'quest' leads to his destruction as a business man and a person. By the middle of act one, we know that Willy has very few possessions, although some of these are his house, car and refrigerator. Even though none of the items have been completely paid off, he is quite proud of them. Willy chose his refrigerator because it had the biggest advertisements, even though it was probably lower quality of other fridges but more expensive. Willy doesn't care what they look like nor how good they are as long as they have the biggest ads. By the time Willy has paid for his possessions he has to pay for them to be fixed because they are falling apart or breaking down from old age. Before he has paid off his fridge the fan belt has broken meaning he has to pay extra to get it repaired. He also has large bills to pay and no money to pay them with. "Odds and ends comes to around a hundred and twenty dollars by the fifteenth" Willy replies "a hundred and twenty dollars! My God, if business don't pick up, I don't know what I'm gonna do!" Before the car is paid off Willy has a negative attitude towards it "That goddam Chevrolet, they ought to prohibit the manufacture of that car!" As Willy wants expensive possessions to show off he works all day everyday
Commentary On Review - pro evolution soccer 3
Commentary On Review For our english coursework we had to write a draft review and then a final review on a film book game etc. I did mine on a football game ( Pro Evolution Soccer 3) which isn't the latest in the series but me and my friends still play on it and also know quite a lot about the game so thought it would be best to write about something i knew more about. The purpose of the review was to inform people about the positives and negatives of the game and also trying to persuade to get the game. My target audience would be obviously football fans but i would say aimed at any age from 9-19 because i know people who play on the game of all ages. I looked at other reviews of games to get a rough idea of what to talk about in the game to discuss and also layout. I didn't really use a particular layout as i felt it wasn't meant to be fancy just a simple review on a game to make it easy for people to read, although i did do paragraphs for different areas of the game. Not particulary as it would just be a page where people would see what it was about and if already purchased previous games of the series or have an interest or heard of the game through word of mouth might be interested in reading on. I think ive sounded really enthuasiastic about Pro Evolution Soccer 3 and have said even in the parts i have put as negative that it is still worth buying and are only small
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
First impressions of Biff and Happy as adults - What can you see in their adolescence that helped to form the adults they’ve become?
First Impressions of Biff and Happy as Adults. What Can You See in Their Adolescence That Helped to Form the Adults They've Become? Having already read a small proportion of Death of a Salesman it is evident to see that Willy now lives his life through his sons now, due to Willy's lack of success. However Willy longs for his sons, especially Biff, to follow in his own career path. Yet Willy has become discontented with Biff's lack of success. "Biff Loman is lost. A young man with such-personal attractiveness, gets lost." Here I feel Willy is not only reflecting on Biff's life, but his own failures in life, and becoming ever increasingly worried that Biff many end up like himself, a failure. I feel that unlike Willy and Happy, Biff feels compelled to seek the truth about himself. While his father and brother are unable to accept the miserable reality of their respective lives, Biff acknowledges his failure and eventually manages to confront it. "What the hell am I doing, playing around with horses, twenty-eight dollars a week! I'm thirty-four years old, I oughta be makin' my future." Biff is unafraid, like his father to admit when his life isn't going to plan. Biff is able to realise that his current job is no high flying job, unlike Willy who claims he is "vital in New England". Yet the reality is, is that Willy is just another cog in society. I feel that Willy
Themes in the play Death of a Salesman
Themes in the play Death of a Salesman Throughout the play the Lomans, especially Willy, cannot distinguish between reality and illusion. This is the major underlying theme throughout the play and is also a source of conflict in the play. Willy cannot see who he and his sons are. He believes that they are great men who have what it takes to be successful and beat the business world. Unfortunately, he is mistaken. In reality, Willy and his sons are not, and cannot, be successful. We can see that this is true because Willy refuses to acknowledge that he is a fine carpenter and continues to persuade himself that he is a good salesman and so continues to live a life of lies, memories and dreams. He also lapses into flashbacks and appears to relive conversations and situations he had years ago. This shows his inability to see reality. This problem of his failure to distinguish between reality and illusion helps to bring about his down fall because he believes he is "worth more dead than alive." Charlie the voice of reality tells him "A man isn't worth anything dead." Willy also has too much pride and this leads to his disillusion. Another instance of his pride showing through is that he won't work for Charley, but accepts money from him on the premise that it is a loan and he can pay him back. Willy has lived his entire life in a world of illusions. These Illusions include
What are your first impressions of Happy and Biff
What are your first impressions of Happy and Biff? (up to page 15) Before we (the audience) are actually introduced to the Loman brothers, Biff and Happy, we hear about them from their parents and we learn a little about them. We learn that an argument arose, when Willy asked Biff if "he was making any money?", this criticism evidently hit Biff hard and appears to be a sensitive subject as Willy says he became "a moody man". We also learn and Willy disapproves of Biffs' career as a farmhand, although Linda tries to defend her elder son by saying that he needs to "find himself" Willy continues to say "not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace" and concludes by labelling his son as "lazy", he sees Biff as an underachiever. There is clearly tension around the subject of what Biff is doing with his life. At this stage Willy and Linda do not mention their younger son Happy, which indicates, even at this early stage in the play that Biff is perhaps the favoured son. In terms of their relationship with their parents, Biff is the clear favourite son. In spite of Biff disappointing his father by being a farmhand and not a businessman, Willy saw big things in his future, in part due to the popularity in his youth (a quality Willy frequently juxtaposes with success); also Willy perhaps tries pushing Biff to achieve the success that he did not accomplish in
The mistress, sultry yet sophisticated, played a larger part in the play, Death of A Salesman, than most would imagine.
The mistress, sultry yet sophisticated, played a larger part in the play, Death of A Salesman, than most would imagine. While she does not make an appearance in the play, she does appear in Willy's remembered time. During his daydreams, she is referred to as "the woman". The woman in Death of A Salesman never appears in the play, but has a noteworthy presence because she affects the action, theme, and the development of other characters. As an outcome of having a mistress, Willy's fragile ego is boosted. For example, while he is on his lengthy business trips, she lavishes him attention and affirmation. Willy's last name, Loman, gives insight into the fact that many people do not see Willy as a successful man. The woman, on the other hand, does. Furthermore, she tells him that she selected him out of all the salesmen. This makes him feel quite superior to the other salesmen and gives him a higher self-esteem. In addition, she tells him that the next time he came, she would let him go directly through to see the buyers without having to wait in line. Willy had not been successful in his business trips for quite awhile so when she tells him this, it makes him feel as if he is a success. While Willy is getting a boost of self-esteem, Biff, his son, is yearning for Willy's support. Biff travels to Boston to ask his father for assistance. Instead of getting help, he finds out