Stunting For The Jones In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman
Stunting for the Jones
Stunting is a word used to describe a person who is showing off or trying to get attention by performing a stunt and being someone they are not, when in actuality your life is a disaster. In “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, the main character Willy Loman is a salesman whose quintessential American Dream is flawed and directly linked to his self-worth and his eldest son Biff’s achievements. Consequently, Willy’s failure to achieve his idea of the American Dream, becomes results what he believes is a personal failure and identity crisis. As a man deep in the memories of the past and controlled by his fears of the future, Will views himself a victim of bad luck accepting very little responsibility for his failures. However, it was not an ill-fated destiny that drove Willy to commit suicide and destroy his family; it was his distorted set of values. As a young boy, Biff, Willy’s oldest son showed athletic promise and charming personality that made him proud. Willy instilled in Biff and Happy; that in order to be successful in life all you needed was personality and great looks. He put little emphasis on hard work and repeatedly throughout the play applauds his boys for their popularity. For example, when a neighbor boy, Bernard attempts to get a young Biff to study for his Math regents, Willy …show more content…
criticizes Bernard by mocking him:
That’s just what I mean, Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five
times ahead of him. That’s why I thank Almighty God you’re both built like Adonises. Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. You take me, for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. "Willy Loman is here!" That’s all they have to know and I go right through. (20)
Willy believes that being well liked and having some money will solve life problems and, ultimately, result in happiness. Willy’s sons adopt his habit of denying or manipulating reality. Willy finds it impossible to understand how someone who was as popular and well liked (the two keys to success in life) as Biff was in high school, could have grown up to be such a failure. Willy always believed that Biff's popularity would be the preface to his success as a great businessman. But that's not the way things have worked out for Biff, and Willy is baffled by it.
Willy's depiction of the American people as kind to anyone who is good looking proves his conviction in his flawed version of the American Dream. Willy is delusional with the idea that he encompasses the skill set and he has indeed “made it." Biff is only half fooled about himself, trying to believe the fallacies instilled in him by Willy, but not being able to. Biff says:
"Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am” (105)!
In contrast, we see his friend Charlie, who is living the real American Dream. Charlie has worked hard and persevered in the business world, successful enough to give money to Willy just to help him pay his bills. Arthur Miller shows us that the American Dream is valid, but those who hope to substitute popularity and lucky breaks for hard work are likely to fail.
'Death of a Salesman', therefore, is a play in which we see significant themes being developed with the aid of Arthur Miller's skillful use of techniques such as setting, characterization and symbolism.
The exploration of the theme of failure and identity within a success oriented society is something which not only had relevance for those who believed in The American Dream but which still has great significance for our own contemporary society. For today's audience, Willy Lowman remains a symbolic figure of failure, partly because of society's false value system but partly because of Willy's own inability to confront life with
integrity.
Stunting is a word used to describe a person who is showing off or trying to get attention by performing a stunt and being someone they are not, when in actuality your life is a disaster. In “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, the main character Willy Loman is a salesman whose quintessential American Dream is flawed and directly linked to his self-worth and his eldest son Biff’s achievements. Consequently, Willy’s failure to achieve his idea of the American Dream, becomes results what he believes is a personal failure and identity crisis. As a man deep in the memories of the past and controlled by his fears of the future, Will views himself a victim of bad luck accepting very little responsibility for his failures. However, it was not an ill-fated destiny that drove Willy to commit suicide and destroy his family; it was his distorted set of values. As a young boy, Biff, Willy’s oldest son showed athletic promise and charming personality that made him proud. Willy instilled in Biff and Happy; that in order to be successful in life all you needed was personality and great looks. He put little emphasis on hard work and repeatedly throughout the play applauds his boys for their popularity. For example, when a neighbor boy, Bernard attempts to get a young Biff to study for his Math regents, Willy …show more content…
criticizes Bernard by mocking him:
That’s just what I mean, Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five
times ahead of him. That’s why I thank Almighty God you’re both built like Adonises. Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. You take me, for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. "Willy Loman is here!" That’s all they have to know and I go right through. (20)
Willy believes that being well liked and having some money will solve life problems and, ultimately, result in happiness. Willy’s sons adopt his habit of denying or manipulating reality. Willy finds it impossible to understand how someone who was as popular and well liked (the two keys to success in life) as Biff was in high school, could have grown up to be such a failure. Willy always believed that Biff's popularity would be the preface to his success as a great businessman. But that's not the way things have worked out for Biff, and Willy is baffled by it.
Willy's depiction of the American people as kind to anyone who is good looking proves his conviction in his flawed version of the American Dream. Willy is delusional with the idea that he encompasses the skill set and he has indeed “made it." Biff is only half fooled about himself, trying to believe the fallacies instilled in him by Willy, but not being able to. Biff says:
"Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am” (105)!
In contrast, we see his friend Charlie, who is living the real American Dream. Charlie has worked hard and persevered in the business world, successful enough to give money to Willy just to help him pay his bills. Arthur Miller shows us that the American Dream is valid, but those who hope to substitute popularity and lucky breaks for hard work are likely to fail.
'Death of a Salesman', therefore, is a play in which we see significant themes being developed with the aid of Arthur Miller's skillful use of techniques such as setting, characterization and symbolism.
The exploration of the theme of failure and identity within a success oriented society is something which not only had relevance for those who believed in The American Dream but which still has great significance for our own contemporary society. For today's audience, Willy Lowman remains a symbolic figure of failure, partly because of society's false value system but partly because of Willy's own inability to confront life with
integrity.