Preview

Death of a Salesman

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
280 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Death of a Salesman
9. Linda is a multidimensional wife because she continues to defend Willy when he treats her like she is worthless. However, Linda suffers from her treatment but she does not make a big deal about it and continues to support Willy and her children. She defends Willy and supports him through financial issues. She also brings the family together and is the back-bone of the family. No matter how she is treated she continues to be supportive.
10. Willy is conqueror of the New England territories which allows him to have dreams and goals of going to these places and becoming successful. Willy’s brother, Ben, moved to Alaska and found a diamond mine and became rich. Willy wishes for the same success and wealth as his brother but cannot reach that goal. The” faraway places” represent his dreams and goal for financial success.
Is Howard a villain?
Howard is somewhat a villain but he is also sympathetic. He is completely oblivious to Willy’s problem. Willy’s confusion of the personal and business world puts Howard in an awkward position. Howard feels no personal connection to Willy, but Willy had a connection to Howard’s father and a personal loyalty to Howard. Howard pretended ignorance of Willy’s situation, which becomes clear, is a way of distancing himself from Willy. Willy has a good claim on the company and has been there for years so Howards claim to the situation is unethical. Howard does not want to be trapped by Willy’s expectations but he also does not want to have to pay attention to the fact that Willy has devoted his whole life to the company which owes him more .

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    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.…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    During the play the main focus point is Willy’s volcanic relationship with his eldest son Biff, in which he is on the same path as his father. “WILLY: Sure. Certain men just don’t get started till later in life. Like Thomas Edison, I think. Or B.F. Goodrich. One of them was deaf. [He starts for the bedroom doorway.] I’ll put my money on Biff. (Act 1)” Willy sticks to his gut and hopes that Biff will be the greatest major business entrepreneur. He’s desperate for Biff to follow in his foot steps even though his advice is not the reality of the new world they live…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Willy’s teachings not only influenced his sons success, but also shaped the kind of people they became. Willy believed that one only needed to be well-liked and attractive to achieve the comforts of the American dream. He emphasized the importance of these attributes, believing they were the key to success. This idea shows its false nature when Howard Wagner fired him even when he states how fond Mr.Wagner was of Willy, claiming that he named Howard, “Your father came to me the day you were born and asked me what I thought of the name of Howard…”(act II, 80). Yet at the end “business is business”(act II, 80).…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Willy started out as a lower middle-class workingman, and in the end, he ended up that same way. He believed wholeheartedly in the American dream of success and wealth, but he never achieved it. Neither one of his sons fulfilled his hope and dream that they would succeed where he had failed miserably. When his illusions of himself began to fail under the pressing reality of his actual conditions, Willy's mental health began to fall apart. The mental struggle with himself proved to be too much and…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Howard is the head of the Wagner Company and is Willy’s boss. Howard’s dad started the company and was the one who hired Willy. When Willy begs Howard for a chance to work in New York, Howard fires him because Willy has made no improvement in the Wagner Company. Howard is a tough successful businessman and just doing what he thinks is the best for his company.…

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Willy Loman has the confidence of a billionaire. He acts like he is a hero, almost as if he ran the town. Willy’s confident attitude rubbed off onto his kids (Biff and Happy) making them believe that their father was a very successful man and that they were living the high class life. When in reality it was so far from that. Only Willy saw himself as the best. His friends, his bosses all knew he was full of talk, but never mentioned anything to him. “Well, that's the training, the training. I'm telling you, i was selling’ thousands and thousands, but I had to come home.”(34) The reality of Willy Loman's life is quite sad and pathetic, thinking that one is making so much money and is going to be so successful when really none of that is going…

    • 148 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Death of a Salesman

    • 1087 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There are many parallels that can be drawn between August Wilson’s and Arthur Miller’s main characters in both of their respective plays. While some may not be immediately obvious, I plan to connect many of the dots to illuminate the similar characteristics exhibited by the characters in question. Wilson and Miller both present main characters that have similarities such as having strained relationships with their children. Other comparable traits between these two characters are their unfaithfulness to their wife, and not being able to face reality.…

    • 1087 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Willy Tragic Hero

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages

    To begin with, one of Willy’s biggest tragic flaws is his failure of being a good father. And does not hold a rightful position in his family. Willy is not a good father for many reasons. He always made his job his first priority. Willy’s travels…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death of a salesman

    • 587 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The setting of Death of a Salesman takes place mostly in Willy Loman's home and backyard, but in the scenes where he is not in the house, we see him get fired in an office building and meeting his sons in a restaurant. Also, a good bit of the play takes place in Willy's mind. The story takes place in the 1940's when we had just ended WWII.…

    • 587 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death of a Salesman

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages

    An excellent father will make every effort to constantly do what is best for his family. He will put his needs last, ensuring that his family is well cared for and not lacking for any necessities. And, most significantly, a first-class father will make his family his main concern, coming before his job, his friends, or even himself. In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is a prime example of a horrific father in every way mentioned previously. Not only is Willy Loman not a good father and spouse, but he furthers his failure by being a typical anti-hero and by failing to accomplish the American Dream. There for I believe the play is not necessarily what Miller and Kazan perceive it to be. Here I will be discussing Willy Lomans discraceful actions towards his family and finally expose the actual theme of the play.…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death of a Salesman

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When most people think of a hero they think of superheroes, a famous celebrity, a great sports player, or their parents. Would someone call a forgetful and stubborn person a hero? Chances are they would not. In Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman,” Willy Loman is not a tragic hero because he does not fit Aristotle’s assertions that a tragic hero must arouse pity in the reader, feature a hero that is good, and feature a hero whose downfall is “brought upon him not by vice and depravity but by some error in judgment.”…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Death of a Salesman

    • 1439 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “The ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American” (Dictionary.com). The American Dream is “a life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the U.S” (Dictionary.com). The image of America is presented negatively in the novel The Great Gatsby and the play Death of A Salesman because it is depicted as a materialistic lonely place.…

    • 1439 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death of a Salesman

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Willy was raised as a salesman’s son and saw how his father acted and what he did. By seeing how his father knew all these different people, Willy believed that to be successful you need to be liked by everyone and know everyone. He also believed that you needed to act like a “real man” and always one up everyone to look superior. This is shown when Ben doubts Willy’s hardness for living in the city and Willy tries to oversell how wild city life is. “…It’s Brooklyn but we hunt too. Oh, sure, there’s snakes and rabbits and-that’s why I moved out here” (Miller, 50). It was the unintentional pressure from his family which psychologically ruined Willy from the start. He would’ve needed help right when he was taught to think that way so by the time he was married and had kids there was almost no way to reverse the damage that had been done.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Death of a Salesman

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Things like my family and friends, as well as my personal experiences influence my values. With values come goals, like going to college and graduating and than getting a steady job. Of course people make their own goals and have their own ambitions, but a lot of times its influenced by those around you. I believe if you stick to a goal and fail, than you learn from your mistakes and do better the next time, and if you go after a goal and succeed, well that’s just the best feeling ever.…

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics