Death of a Salesman.
Death of a Salesman During the 1940s, American society became increasingly consumerist and more competitive than ever before. Arthur Miller's play 'Death of a Salesman' questions the values upon which this society is based and the way in which these contribute to the destruction of a man such as Willy Loman. He is very critical of a society which he seems to see as being destructive in many ways. The idea of the 'American Dream' made people believe that any man living in America could, with personality and dedication, become very successful. Miller has launched a somewhat scathing attack on the very notion of this dream. He highlights the many flaws within it; how such an idea can mislead good men like Willy, who devotes his entire life to being successful. The emphasis on being an owner of goods, the competitive nature of society, the callousness of the business world, the American Dream and the way in which success is measured are all criticised in 'Death of a Salesman'. Miller criticises the general way of the business world. Howard, the young boss of Willy's company, represents the ruthless and impersonal nature of capitalistic enterprise. When Willy goes to ask Howard if he can be transferred to a job in New York, Howard refuses to help him even though Willy has been working for the company for a long time and
Consider the importance of time in "Death of a Salesman"
Consider the importance of time in "Death of a Salesman" In this essay, I hope to analyse Millars use of time and how he represents it in the play "Death of a Salesman." The first thing to realise when looking at this play is how Millar conveys the thought that everything you do in the past has a consequence in the future. The way Millar does this is to squash 10 years of the Loman family's life into the space of 24 hours using flashbacks and memories. In this essay I will be looking more closely at how he does this and what effect it has on the story. In the play, we see the Lomans as a family who have been left in the past and therefore not succeeded in the present. This is shown by the changing scenery and people around them. The Loman's house used to be an average suburb house surrounded by others like it, when we see it in the present though; it is dwarfed by the new tower blocks which suffocate. Willies friends also advance in life where he fails to, Howard for instance has become head of the company whilst Willy has stayed in the same job for years, and he could even be seen as going backwards by the way that he is only paid with commission nowadays. Biff as well has also failed to make anything substantial while the "boffin" Bernard has become a high flyer in the business world. The whole of the Loman's world has become stagnated with things going from bad to worse
Look at the section from Charley's entrance to exit. How dramtically effective do you find this section? What ideas within the play do you find within this section?
Look at the section from Charley's entrance to exit. How dramtically effective do you find this section? What ideas within the play do you find within this section? The scene featuring Willy, Charley and Willy's fictional vision of his brother Ben. This scene provides and excellent insight into the main body of the plays ideas and provides a debatable level of dramatic effectiveness which I intend to examine. It particularly provides an insight into the ideas of the romanticised, American, capitalist society within the play, Willies belief in 'being liked' and his need to take self-esteem from others being the key part of his value system and his self-denial, pride and lying. I feel the scene conveys Willies self-denial and his fatally woven web of lies well as it highlights how this contributed to his insanity. His pride keeps him from accepting help from Charley when he even confesses 'I got nothin' to give him, Charley, I'm clean.' This is after Charley offers him a job and Willie tells him 'I got a good job.' He denies help for his family who he clearly loves so much because of his pride. He later contradicts himself when talking to his projection of Ben, his brother. As his brother is portrayed in Willies imagination as somebody of great similarity but also success, varying from Willie. Willie tells him a different story, desperately seeking self-esteem from Ben's
English Essay- Death of a salesman
Willy returns to the past on several occasions. Look at each of these 'visits' and say what they tell the reader about Willy. As Willy has grown older he has trouble distinguishing between past and present, between illusion and reality an is often lead through flashbacks where much of the story is told. The flashbacks usually show the summer after Biffs senior year of high school when all of the family problems began. Willy has many encounters with his past. The first one we come across is when Willy has returned home, talking to Linda about his day, when he says something about the car, "I was thinking of the Chevvy" the Chevvy that he drove was of happy memories however it makes the reader feel that Willy is a bit confused at first because he says he could not open the car window. Also it states that the car is of high importance to Willy. There are many encounters with the car later on. When Willy is describing his journey he mentions the scenery too, " but it is so beautiful up there, Linda, the trees are so thick and the sun is so warm" it is the scenery that has made Willy so happy and thinking of the Chevvy. This refers back to the stage directions when Willy returns back for another visit to the past, it is said that " The apartment houses are fading out and the entire house and surroundings become covered with leaves" this may be that the pas has something to
Is 'Death of a Salesman' anything more than a criticism of the moral and social standards of America in the mid twentieth century?
Is 'Death of a Salesman' anything more than a criticism of the moral and social standards of America in the mid twentieth century? Some critics have regarded it as Communist propaganda denouncing the evils of Capitalism, while others have seen it as a sympathetic study of the problems of big business. Some have interpreted it in Freudian terms and attributed to its author abstruse psychological theories, while from a Catholic point of view it has been approvingly regarded as a warning of the meaninglessness of life where there is no religious faith. Willy Loman is certainly a victim of the Capitalist system exploited and then cast aside. "He works for a company thirty years, opens up unheard of territories to their trademark, and now in his old age they take his salary away." Against this view is set the realism of the businessman: "When a man gets old you fire him." Miller says that he meant (among other things) to "celebrate the common sense of business men, who love the personality that wins the day, but know that you've got to have the right goods at the right price." The cult of the personality and the profit motive are the two main ideologies that come into direct into conflict in 'Death of a Salesman'. The play moves from the homespun myth of the fierce individualist who has pulled himself up by the bootstraps and into fame and fortune (i.e. Willy's father and Ben,
Discussing Joe Keller.
Joe Keller Joe Keller lives on denial. As Miller has said, "The truth and mankind are cousins, not brothers and sisters." He is a survivor doing what he has to, to get by and, to Miller, that is an entirely recognisable, if, finally, unacceptable, motive. In an early draft we are told that Keller had been poor until 1938, a victim of the Depression. The war had thus made him and he knew what it was to have nothing. That fact is removed from the final version but not the fear of losing everything. Nor was he the only person cutting corners during the war. In small ways many people were compromising, cheating on rationed goods, even profiting from the conflict. It is worthwhile recalling that Miller began this play during the war and expected it to be produced during the war. He thought, therefore, that he would merely be speaking aloud what everyone knew on a daily basis, though he suspected that the play might cause something of a furore. Joe Keller justifies his actions in terms of the family, to which alone he acknowledges responsibility. Like so many of Miller's characters, he wishes to leave his mark on the world, to justify his existence, and how else but by passing the business onto his sons. He forgets, however, that he has a responsibility which extends far beyond the family. Indeed, in some senses, this had been a central
In this essay I will be looking at the importance of family relationships in Arthur Miller's play 'Death of a salesman' and in particular Willy's relationships with his two sons Biff and Happy.
English coursework In this essay I will be looking at the importance of family relationships in Arthur Miller's play 'Death of a salesman' and in particular Willy's relationships with his two sons Biff and Happy. I will also look at how the scene of the Chophouse is so significant in terms of relationships and to the play as a whole. Arthur Miller was born in New York in 1915.His father was an Austrian who had moved to America prior to Miller's birth in order to full fill the "Great American Dream". The American dream is the chance to achieve great things with hard work and a belief in one self where by they can achieve their ambitions of wealth and personal status. His father had a prosperous lifestyle running a successful family business in manufacturing clothing. This allowed Miller to have everything he wanted at a young age. But before Miller was about to begin university his father, like many other successful people at that time, lost everything in the stock market crash of 1929. This meant that Miller had to
In this essay I am going to try to show Miller's view on success and how he uses Willy Lowman to show it.
DEATH OF A SALESMAN In this essay I am going to try to show Miller's view on success and how he uses Willy Lowman to show it. The American dream is all that an average man could wish for, a house, money and family, although can seem easy enough it has corruption and faults in its path. Not as many people as would be believed succeed in the capitalist environment which the dream inhabits. Not everyone is going to succeed and not everybody is going to be equally paid, it is not possible. In a society where everyone is competing, when someone dies, when someone gets fired there is no-one for them to turn to for support for their families and there is always someone to fill his/her place. If capitalism makes it possible for a person to be who they want to be then why is the middle class only a select few? The American dream is supposed to represent hope and opportunity for people to create a better life for themselves and their families. But now, more work means more material goods such as bigger cars, houses and toys. Capitalism is defined as "a social system" based on the recognition of individual rights including property rights in which all property is privately owned. Under capitalism the state is separated from economic production and trade, just like the system of political freedom. Socialism is defined as "best of all human societies is one based on
Act I in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman."
Nikesh Kumar 1/9/03 Period 3 Commentary- pages 66-69 The purpose of this passage from the end of Act I, where the Loman family converses among themselves, is to characterize Willy and showing his development. Willy is being nice to Biff, as he hopes that Biff will fulfill the dream that Willy has always wanted. One reason for Willy's reluctance to criticize Biff for his youthful thefts and his lackadaisical attitude toward his classes seems to be that he fears doing damage to the ego of Biff. As a result, he keeps offering countless praises hoping that Biff will fulfill the dreams that Willy has for him. For example, Willy tells Biff, "Because you got a greatness in you, Biff, remember that. You got all kinds a greatness..." Another reason that Willy refuses to criticize Biff is because he fears that if he does, Biff will dislike him. This disapproval signifies the ultimate personal and professional insult and failure. Willy's consciousness is split between despair and hope, and therefore, it is possible that both considerations are behind Willy's choice not to criticize Biff's youthful carelessness. Willy's life is a failure for him and now he is trying to redeem his life by "The American Dream." He displays characteristics of a happy man looking for all the success he can find and puts his faith in Biff as the bright hope of the future. He wants his "boys" to be all that
"Evacuation was a great success" Do you agree or disagree with this interpretation? Explain your answer using the sources and knowledge from your own studies.
"Evacuation was a great success" Do you agree or disagree with this interpretation? Explain your answer using the sources and knowledge from your own studies. Evacuation was seen as both a success and a failure. It succeeded by saving many peoples lives but it failed because it was badly organised with many children arriving in the wrong places. I agree with the statement that evacuation was a success as it provided safe homes for Britain's wartime children. Source B gives evidence as to why it was a success. It shows how the children were happy, they saw evacuation as an exciting adventure and majority of them enjoyed it. The source also shows a lot of children making there way to the station; the Government were able to evacuate around 1.5 million people, saving many lives. The source is a photograph taken at the time; it is a primary source which means we can trust it. However, all the people in the photo are looking at the camera so it looks as if it has been posed and possibly used as propaganda. Furthermore, source D shows how evacuation was a success. It shows some evacuees taking a bath; they all look happy which is a sign to show that the children enjoyed themselves. The children also look very clean and healthy; this was very common for evacuees as it was a result of the clean country life. The source is a photo so it is dependable however it was used by the