Death of a Salesman: a Different Perspective
Death of a Salesman: A Different Perspective
Jeanne Gordon
Shawnee State University
IDST Civilization and Literature
November 21, 2011
In Death of a Salesman, a play written by Arthur Miller, Willie Loman is a salesman! In the introduction of the play, we can see exactly how Miller feels about a person being a salesman by the reply he made to a comment and said " he sells what a salesman has to sell, himself. As Charley insists , the only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. As a salesman he has got to get by on a smile and a shoeshine. He has to charm. He is a performer, a confidence man who must never lack confidence. His error is to confuse the role he plays with the person he wishes to be" (as cited in Death of a Salesman,1998, pp xxv). Arthur Miller understood the impact that the societal beliefs of what constitutes being a success had on the average man and how he viewed his current social status in relation to what his dreams of it were. I don't view Willie Loman as being some crazy old man, but a man who has worked hard to provide for his family. I see him as a man that had the same hopes and aspirations for his sons that every parent has. I respect Willie Loman. However, as a medical professional I am going to stick with my original assumption that in addition to being a salesman, he is a man that is suffering from Alzheimer's dementia. My goal is not to take away from the belief that Willie is a man that just hasn't figured out yet who he is, but as Willie Loman, an ordinary man that is suffering from Alzheimer's Dementia. I am going to provide information collaborating the parallels between symptoms of Alzheimer's and Willie's actions throughout the play.
Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning-thinking, remembering, and reasoning-to such an extent that it interferes with a person's daily life (Healthy People 2020). Dementia affects an individual's health, quality of life, and ability to live independently. It
Jeanne Gordon
Shawnee State University
IDST Civilization and Literature
November 21, 2011
In Death of a Salesman, a play written by Arthur Miller, Willie Loman is a salesman! In the introduction of the play, we can see exactly how Miller feels about a person being a salesman by the reply he made to a comment and said " he sells what a salesman has to sell, himself. As Charley insists , the only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. As a salesman he has got to get by on a smile and a shoeshine. He has to charm. He is a performer, a confidence man who must never lack confidence. His error is to confuse the role he plays with the person he wishes to be" (as cited in Death of a Salesman,1998, pp xxv). Arthur Miller understood the impact that the societal beliefs of what constitutes being a success had on the average man and how he viewed his current social status in relation to what his dreams of it were. I don't view Willie Loman as being some crazy old man, but a man who has worked hard to provide for his family. I see him as a man that had the same hopes and aspirations for his sons that every parent has. I respect Willie Loman. However, as a medical professional I am going to stick with my original assumption that in addition to being a salesman, he is a man that is suffering from Alzheimer's dementia. My goal is not to take away from the belief that Willie is a man that just hasn't figured out yet who he is, but as Willie Loman, an ordinary man that is suffering from Alzheimer's Dementia. I am going to provide information collaborating the parallels between symptoms of Alzheimer's and Willie's actions throughout the play.
Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning-thinking, remembering, and reasoning-to such an extent that it interferes with a person's daily life (Healthy People 2020). Dementia affects an individual's health, quality of life, and ability to live independently. It
References: Healthy people 2020. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://healthypeople.gov/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?/2020topicid=7 Miller, A. (1998). Death of a salesman (p. xxv). New york: Penguin Books.