American Dream And Willy Loman's Meaningless Death
Society’s American Dream and Willy Loman’s Meaningless Death
Jasmine Burt
English 1080-29
Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman” is a social drama that stands to explain the elaborate concept of the American Dream. The protagonist of the play, Willy Loman, is one of the most complex and difficult characters in literature history. This is true because Willy is another normal man with no shortage of his own issues that are far too difficult for anybody to truly understand. He is comparable to the likes of Edgar Allen Poe or Stieg Larsson in the idea that nobody could realize his legacy until after he dies. Willy Loman’s so called failure was through no fault of his own but simply because he is an anachronism, he can not keep up with society’s …show more content…
She claims she understands and loves Willy, even with his actions she represses. Although, in this speech Linda states “I search and search and I search, and I can’t understand it.” This shows that even the one person in the play who was Willy’s advocate, his lover, his other half knew no more about Willy than anybody else. That is why Willy is the most difficult character in literature history, because he is so humanistic. He could be called the most humanistic character in all literature history quite frankly. This play doesn’t only stand to discuss the American Dream, no, but humans in general. The play discusses ideas of every day human struggles like mental health and family problems as …show more content…
Arthur Miller uses Motifs, Set and Stage as well as speeches to prove that this play is a social drama. Willy Loman is an aging sixty three year old human who struggles with abandonment and self-deception, along with pressures from society to become the “greatest man”. Linda Loman sums up Willy with a conversation between her and her sons.
Linda: I don't say he's a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper... But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. so attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person.
Jasmine Burt
English 1080-29
Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman” is a social drama that stands to explain the elaborate concept of the American Dream. The protagonist of the play, Willy Loman, is one of the most complex and difficult characters in literature history. This is true because Willy is another normal man with no shortage of his own issues that are far too difficult for anybody to truly understand. He is comparable to the likes of Edgar Allen Poe or Stieg Larsson in the idea that nobody could realize his legacy until after he dies. Willy Loman’s so called failure was through no fault of his own but simply because he is an anachronism, he can not keep up with society’s …show more content…
She claims she understands and loves Willy, even with his actions she represses. Although, in this speech Linda states “I search and search and I search, and I can’t understand it.” This shows that even the one person in the play who was Willy’s advocate, his lover, his other half knew no more about Willy than anybody else. That is why Willy is the most difficult character in literature history, because he is so humanistic. He could be called the most humanistic character in all literature history quite frankly. This play doesn’t only stand to discuss the American Dream, no, but humans in general. The play discusses ideas of every day human struggles like mental health and family problems as …show more content…
Arthur Miller uses Motifs, Set and Stage as well as speeches to prove that this play is a social drama. Willy Loman is an aging sixty three year old human who struggles with abandonment and self-deception, along with pressures from society to become the “greatest man”. Linda Loman sums up Willy with a conversation between her and her sons.
Linda: I don't say he's a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper... But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. so attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person.