Preview

Failures In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1012 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Failures In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman
Growing up, my siblings and I participated in a variety of competitive sports. For my brother and me, this consisted of soccer, basketball, and running track. We would constantly practice together and would make every aspect of it a competition. For example, whoever was breathing hardest at the end of a sprint lost, whoever shot more goals in soccer won, and whoever could dodge and fake out the other was the best athlete in the family. I would try and try to beat my brother but he always found a way to get the upper hand. Compared to my brother, I saw myself as a failure. It wasn’t until one parent teacher conference night that i realized that I was far more academically capable than my older brother. I had better grades and was more well liked …show more content…
For one, a failure to one can be seen as a success to another. It can be through a job, your family, or through financial success. In the book Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the author brings up the topic of failure multiple times. Many of these failures are demonstrated through the struggles of the main character, Willy. Though the audience never actually can look into the main character’s mind, one can clearly see the internal battle that is happening inside Willy Loman’s head. He often is seen dwelling on the more upsetting aspects of his life, never particularly taking notice to all the good he has …show more content…
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.
Failure is so broad and adaptable that it somehow finds its way into the lives of every human being in history. But, the only person who can define failure is yourself. Whether or not you succeed depends on how you view yourself and your life. Behind every success is a failure, you just have to know what it is you’re good at. Unfortunately, Willy was never able to see through his failures to his potential success. It’s never easy to continue a pursuit that frequently results in failure. Every success does not signify the end, yet each failure is seldom

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Willy had a few problems of his own. First he let himself get caught with his mistress by his son, which devastated him. He also acted like his sons were perfect, which they weren't. He should have made sure his son passed math so he could have graduated, but he put that into the hands of their next-door…

    • 630 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although it is seen in Act 1, it becomes more evident in Act 2 that Willy only fears of diminishing pride and popularity. It is in Act 2 where the meaning behind the story’s title, Death of a Salesman, is revealed: Willy states, “when he died, hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral” (idk). Dave Singleman was a popular man, and Willy strives to be as popular as Dave was, which is why he has the job of a seller. Furthermore, when Willy is fired from his job, he becomes devastated. Being a seller, especially in New York City, was Willy’s best chance of becoming a well-liked, or popular, man. Initially, the reader would believe that Willy is devastated for his job loss because he will not be able to support him and his wife financially,…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Society’s negative view of failure seems to be prevalent today, but younger generations don’t seem as afraid of failure as previous generations. Zinsser believes that this is a step toward a more personalized, individual view of success and failure, where people can fail without fear and have their own gage of success.…

    • 507 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. Many definitions of tragedy claim that at the end of the play positives have emerged. Is it possible to see anything positive in the ending of 'Death of a Salesman'?…

    • 712 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Willy's life is built around dreams and illusions that cause him to miss the truth and reality in his misleading life. This is best exemplified in the career Willy chose for himself. In reality, Willy loved to work with his hands. He had completed large improvements on the house, and prior to his suicide, he planted a garden. However, Willy denied himself of the pleasure of using his hands to make a living because of his dreams to be like Dave Singleman and be so loved that his buyers all came to his funeral. Willy's blindness made him believe that it was more prestigious to be a less than adequate businessman than a content handyman. He had also blindly decided that he would commit suicide in order to receive money from his life insurance. Yet, he failed to recognize that the insurance policy would not cover a suicide. Even when his brother Ben tried warning him that they might not honour the policy, Willy refused to…

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Willy is the only one who takes actions of desperation and hopeless. It is his hubris, his inflated pride and ambition to consummate the American dream that leads him to his destructive action, his inability to remember the value of his own life. He thinks that he can’t longer maintain his family’s future, and that he is worth more dead than alive.…

    • 1030 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “We learn from failure, not from success.“ What that means is when you succeed you do not learn anything because in your mind you did everything right. Success is a problematical victory because you learn nothing from doing something right. “I wished her success. I was lying. What I actually wish for her is failure. “I believe in the power of failure.” (Carroll). In “Failure is a Good Thing,” by Jon Carroll, he talks about how he wishes for his granddaughter to fail. He explains how he makes his living by failing and accepting his failures because they are opportunities to learn new things. The author’s voice throughout the story is very informal and shows how to succeed through failure. Carroll feels as if…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lomans in the play Death of a Salesman are exemplar of the average American family trying to live up to their aspirations of being extremely successful during the mid 1900s. The American dream for many in the 1950s involved success in the job industry, peace, as well as overall prosperity. However, Arthur Miller develops the Loman family in a way that sets them up for failure as the Lomans are crumbling in terms of their relationship with each other and society itself. For example, Miller states, “consequently he [Willy] is working with two logics which often collide” (Miller.158). These logics that Miller is describing are hindering the ability for the Lomans to achieve any type of success as they are constantly at odds with another.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Critical Lens Essay

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Success is to achieve something that we truly long for. “Sometimes failure is more beneficial than success.” Written by Darren Roberts. This is a very inspiring quote for all species of mankind. I agree rightfully with this quote as it states that even sometimes there are ups and downs, falls and disruptions in life, but those problems make us even stronger and prevent us from making the same mistake and make us more successful in life. Although, if losing things sometimes make us closer to something we want, we must make a go for it. As In Homers’, The Odyssey, and Nancy’s’, The House of The Scorpion, the main characters deal with personal loss and face many hardships, but finally reach to their own respected homes and families, safe and soundly.…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many of us wonder if Willy committing suicide is actually his own fault. Willy is confused by a system that drives its men into a frantic scare when it comes to consuming dreams of being very successful and it can also be detrimental to someone’s life trying to be as successful as possible but not succeeding. With Willy getting a demotion, he is making less money to support him and his wife Linda. As Willy…

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The flashbacks in Death of a Salesman create a buffer between Willy's past and present actions as well as how his morals evolve and influence those actions. Willy does not know his father, and consequently, he has never had a strong male figure in his life. Willy’s flashbacks with Ben show that Ben is a family member that Willy views as a role model. Even though Willy does not know Ben well, He knows that Ben is successful. This causes Willy to value his actions, and want to implement them into his own life. All he knows about Ben’s success is that he walked into the jungle, and walked…

    • 1508 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    From fighting against bacterias in the air to overcoming life changing events, individuals encounter varies adversities since the day they were born. Through the accumulation of differ experiences, our perspectives toward life would be unique, and it would gradually shape individuals’ identities. The modern play, the Death of a Salesman, by has significantly depicts the idea that the formation of an individual’s characteristic is greatly influenced by the adversities they came across with. In the story, the loneliness and abandonments Willy experienced when he was a child unintentionally altered his point of views on relationships and successfulness. He strongly in faiths the outer appearances are much superior than the true internal personality an individual possessed.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Willy’s mindset and outlook on life wasn’t enough to keep up with the new modernizing era, and ultimately lead to his downfall.…

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    appreciation and love goes out to my friend Professor Lynn Houston who has been a light…

    • 26427 Words
    • 106 Pages
    Better Essays