In the books Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, and Fences by August Wilson, there are common themes that run throughout the book. Among these are two, hard working men that can be a bit disillusioned by life. The main character of each book, Willy Loman and Troy Maxson are similar in many ways. They both try hard to be good men and fathers, but unfortunately, they are imperfect in both aspects. Troy distances his self from his youngest son, and many could say that he is too hard and cold towards him. Willy in a way believes that his grown sons could not have done any wrong when they were younger and do no wrong now. But these two fathers are not totally bad. There are many good personal traits that they both display in these books. But as stated as before, they weren't perfect at all.…
The father-son relationship and betrayal between Jay Gatsby and his father, Mr. Gatz, was quite different compared to that of Biff and Willy Loman. However, both relationships improved immensely when each character realized the amount of love they actually had for the other. Jay Gatsby had reinvented himself as a wealthy person instead of poor. In Gatsby’s youth “his parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people--his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all,” (Fitzgerald 98). So he left his parents, achieved his new state of wealth through a bootlegging business (Fitzgerald 133), and never returned home. After Gatsby’s death, his father came to see him immediately when he saw the obituary (Fitzgerald 167). This…
At first glance, both Willy Loman and Troy Maxson live such unpleasant lives that would seem almost impossible not to feel sympathetic towards them. They’re both middle-aged family men fighting to better themselves and their families. However, in the lives of both men, pride, insatiable wants, and jealousy lead to their downfall. After careful examination, it becomes clear why they’re undeserving of the reader’s sympathy.…
Willy dreams of the future in which he will be well-liked and achieve his goals of being rich and maintain his job. However, his mind is so involved in the past and longing for the future that he does not focus on the present reality. This causes his life to no longer be prosperous, leading to his hamartia. This consequently leads to Willy Lomans tragic death after the realization of the reality he has been avoiding. Willy’s enduring of the hamartia and anagnorisis due to his hubris leads him to be characterized as a tragic…
During the span of the book, Willy attempts to take his life. Whatever motive was behind his actions, one presumes it is almost definitely related to Willy’s. But why? The audience must wonder what horrible thing pushes a man over the edge like that? For willy, his idea of success is unlike many others. He himself believed that he was an above average salesman. Yet, he never exactly “made it big”, much like an amateur actor in Hollywood. Willy never got his hollywood premier no matter how far he traveled or how hard he seemed to work for it.…
Willy often retreats to the past, because he does not want to deal with his failures in the present. Once Willy finally owns up to his mistakes he fixes the problem by committing suicide, because his family can get insurance money from his death.…
One major flaw of Willy is his reliance on false hope. This can stem from his son, Biff. As seen in imaginings, adolescent Biff looks up to Willy as a great man, causing him to seek for his approval. In high school, Biff has many athletic achievements and is well liked. His awards cause for Willy to have high hopes in what he can conquer later in life. This developed vastly and became an influence in Willy’s mood. When he has a sense of hope to hold onto, he is liberated of his daily pressures. When Biff and Happy are at the restaurant with…
Willy 's various roles cause him to lose touch of reality because they call for divergent moral ideologies. As a father, a husband, and a businessman, Willy becomes engulfed in the worlds of each role. Willy cares greatly for his struggling and dysfunctional family. For example, when tensions run high after Biff and Willy argue, the entire mood changes from uptight to optimistic when Happy suggests a family-run business in the future.…
Willy has been a salesman all his life; promoting and deals are all he knows, and it has extended from his business into his own life. For quite a long time he has attempted to shape and shape his life into one that is the most engaging; from his children, Biff and Happy, being upbeat, effective representatives like him, to his marriage to his wife Linda, and particularly his vocation. Willy is an extremely defective man who has committed numerous errors, however over the long run he has decided to overlook the parts of his life where he was at flaw and turn them to make himself the exploited person. He has done this for so long, and lied so well to himself and everybody, that he really starts to accept his own particular lies and declines to assume liability for anything he has done. Albeit extremely clashed and now and again the antagonist he could call his own life, Willy is substantially more relatable in his blemishes than he would be on the off chance that he were a completely flawless character.…
Willy Loman’s moral compass often does not point true North in his life and the series of dishonest statements over many years eventually lead to his demise and detriment of his family. When his boys were young, Willy makes many promises of great riches and achievements for them, something he lives for, but never really has. While Willy continually puts Biff on a pedestal, setting him up for failure, he barely pays attention to his younger son, Happy, who simply desires respect and affirmation from his father. Further, Willy is frequently dishonest, in particular to his wife, Linda, about his income, his actual stature, and his faithfulness. It finally culminates when he is caught cheating on his wife by Biff, and goes so far to get his son to keep quiet about his indiscretion.…
Willy’s inability to recognize the actual reality of his situation is first seen during the scene where Ben is introduced. In this scene, Ben tells of their father’s success as a salesman and his own rapid success with diamonds in Africa. As a result of this “interaction”, Willy believes that either he or his sons will have a similar kind of success. The confused man does not take into account that Ben happened to be extremely lucky…
Most of his family members don’t even see this because they are just as delusional as Willy is. However, his son, Biff, is not quite as delusional and sees the “phony” in his father. Biff continuously tries to bring this up to Willy but Willy continuously tries to avoid this inconvenient truth. For example, when Biff and Happy, Willy’s other son, meet Biff at the bar to discuss Biff’s situation with Bill Oliver, Biff’s previous employer, Willy thinks everything went great and that Biff is going to have great new job with Oliver. Biff is trying to tell Willy that this is not how the meeting went at all. However, because Willy doesn’t want to hear it, he doesn’t let Biff finish many of his sentences. Willy is very ignorant to reality. He does not want to believe any of the truths his son is telling him and the only way he knows how to cope with that is by rudely interrupting Biff. The old saying of “ignorance is bliss” really pertains to Willy because he is mostly a jolly old man who ignores all the troubles, even though they may be true, that surround him. Although, it is hard to be ignorant of the troubles around you, especially when someone close to you is trying to remind you of…
We know that Willy’s father left him when he was a very young child and Ben became an idol for Willy because of his business acumen. However, even though these two characters visit the play only as figments of Willy’s mind, the fact that their presence is acknowledged is indicative of the importance of their role in the construction of Willy’s life. Notably, the portrayal of Willy’s father is depicted by flute music, (his father made flutes) and is present throughout all of Willy’s hallucinations. This maybe an allusion to his yearning for his absent father and perhaps Willy’s idealistic and misplaced admiration for him. Ben, however, is much more prevalent and Willy is very anxious for his approval and praise. Ben’s visits are always very flighty and although Willy is overjoyed at his appearance, he is left frustrated when Ben leaves. Willy has a great need to prove himself successful, yet there is no substantial support evident from these dominant characters in Willy’s endeavours. They both left him when he was very young and the vague encouragements from Ben are just figments of Willy’s own imagination. Yet the result of these desertions have a profound effect on the formation of the young Willy and it is of no surprise that the repercussions that this abandonment at an early age has contributed to the serious flaws we witness in the old Willy. So, we must concede that some guilt has to be accepted on the part of his father and brother in creating and establishing this quite flawed…
I would like to start by making a character analysis. First, both characters Bartleby and Willy Loman have serious social and psychological issues that are evident. The employers of both these men attempt to assist them. Neither one is able to continue in their daily work tasks for one reason or another. Both have opportunities but choose not take them.…
“Consider the relationship established between Willy and Linda in the opening of the play (p8-10). What do we learn about their marriage? What clues to future events are subtly being introduced here?…