He can't let go of the idea that popularity and wealth are what are most important in a man.
In the second act, Willy receives a terrible blow. He explains to his boss, Howard, how he met a salesman when he was about 19, and admired the man's skills, and decided that sales was the very best job a man could have. But he tells Howard he's tired, and he wants to work in the store instead of on the road. Howard keeps telling him there's no opening for floor sales, and then finally tells him the truth: the company is going to let Willy go. Howard says:
HOWARD: I think you need a good long rest, Willy... And then when you feel better, come back, and we'll see if we can work something out.
He tells Willy that this is no time for false pride and that he should ask his sons for help, but Willy has run on false pride all his life. He can't let go of it now that his career is crumbling around him. In the middle of this desperation, he flashes back to his Uncle Ben, who really could close a big deal with just a phone call, who went to Alaska with nothing and came back rich. This just helps prop up Willy's notion that it should be easy to achieve wealth, making him all the more a failure because he has worked so hard but not accomplished it.
Everywhere Willy turns there are signs that he held on to false beliefs. He runs into Bernard who is grown, has two children, and is doing very well professionally. Biff, it turns out, failed math, didn't make up the credit, and never got his high school diploma. Near the end of the play, we find out why. Biff caught his dad with another woman while Willy was out of town. Biff idolized his father, but sees him give stockings to a strange woman while Linda repeatedly mends hers. More than anything, Willy has always wanted Biff to love him and to do well. As Willy's career is falling apart, he sees...
Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is about a sad salesman, Willy Loman has spent his entire adult life in sales, with little success, but always believing affirming that a man who is well-liked is always successful. There have been many film and television versions of Miller's play since its first performance in 1949. The 1966 version directed by Alex Segal and starring Lee J. Cobb has
Willy suffers from the consequences of the internal and external conflicts in his life. One of the antagonists in this story is the false promise of the American Dream, not another person per se. Willy is unable to become rich and show his family his own worth through material possessions, despite his hard work and perseverance, which is a conflict to him because he believed that would happen. He believes
Willy relives the painful memory, but does not accord it the same weight as Biff. The inability of Willy to understand Biff is one of the central conflicts of the play. Even after the father and son have their show-down, when Biff insists to Willy that he is "nothing," and that it doesn't matter to him, Willy can only marvel that Biff likes him. Unlike in a Greek play,
"(Miller, 96) However, even if it can appear that Willy's death is a further failure and humiliation, Happy points out at his funeral that Loman had the braveness to pursue his dream to the end, despite the fact that he did not succeed: "I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. it's the only dream you can have
Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller Themes of Disillusionment in the American Dream, Betrayal, and Abandonment in "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller "Death of a Salesman," Arthur Miller's best play created in 20th century, is noted for its effective portrayal and illustration of the American life in the character of its tragic hero/protagonist, Willy Loman. Set at a time where the so-called "American dream" is fulfilled by every
Throughout the play, Willy longs for the wealth, privilege, and equality the America was alleged to have been built upon until he can no longer deny that the promises of the American dream are just an illusion. While this is without a doubt a scathing critique of capitalism, at the same time, the play seems to be trying to show that nothing is truly real and once you remove
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