PERIOD & YOUR NAME (first and last)

OPEN-ENDED / CRITIC INTERPRETATION QUESTIONS 1) Miller offered a number of interpretations on his play. (a) It is about “the paradoxes of being alive in a technological civilization.” (b) It is “a story about violence within the family.” (c) It is about “the suppression of the individual by placing him below the imperious needs of society.” (d) It is about “a man who kills himself because he isn’t liked.” (e) It is a play which expresses “all those feelings of a society falling to pieces which I had.” (f) And, “Death of a Salesman is a love story between a man and his son, and in a crazy way between both of them and America.” Defend your selection of which statement holds the greatest truth in your reading of the play.

2) Contrast the 2 dominant life views: 1)“Life is a casting off” (Linda) vs. 2) “Some people accomplish something (Willy). Which is more accurate in life; and which is more applicable to the text? Provide ample text detail in your assertions/insights. (#70 Charley)

3) Willy claims that success in business is based not on “what you do” but on “who you know and the smile on your face! It’s contacts … a man can end up with diamonds on the basis of being well liked.” How does the play support or reject this assertion?

4) “What binds us to this play is that we are the American family and the Lomans play out many of the familial relationships that make us who we are. The play, for me, is not sad or about death. It brings a catharsis that leads us to consider living out lives authentically, leaving the best of who we are rather than what others wanted us to be.” To what extent do you find truth in this more hopeful interpretation of the play? #125

5) Merge the below 4 interpretations with your own view or pick the most insightful view from the list and explain why: 1) Willy’s greatest struggle is the struggle for absolution and meaning to his life/existence. 2) Agree or disagree: Biff and Willy wrestle each other for their existence. 3) Miller once said, “Your love for him binds you; but you want it to free you to be your own man” – is this the ultimate problem of not just Biff, but Hamlet and Willy as well? Explain. 4) Do you agree: Biff loves his father enough to fight him and his lethal beliefs.

6) MILLER: “I confess that I had laughed more during the writing of DOAS than I have ever done, when alone, in my life. I laughed because moment after moment came when I felt I had rapped it right on the head – the non sequitur, the aberrant but meaningful idea racing through Willy’s head, the turn of story that kept surprising me every morning.” What were at least 3 humorous moments or lines you found in the play? #45

DRAMATIC CONVENTIONS (STAGING/PROPS/STRUCTURE) QUESTIONS 7) What are at least 3 bullet list argumentative claims you can make about range of functions/dramatic significances of the Requiem in the play? (What does it accomplish/do/convey OR how does it frame character/social argument/theme?) OR finish the sentence 3 different ways: “The Requiem functions to…” (you can prove/explain your 3 claims)

8) Miller likened the structure of DOAS to geological strata, in which different times are present in the same instant. He has also compared it to a CAT scan, which simultaneously reveals inside and outside. Miller also said the structure of the play was determined by what was needed to draw up his memories like a mass of tangled roots without end or beginning. Miller also said, “The play takes place in Willy’s mind so it travels through different definitions of reality, it keeps shifting.” & Miller also said, “The past, as in hallucination, comes back to him; not chronologically as in flashback, but dynamically with the inner logic of his erupting volcanic unconsciousness.” & Miller also said, “There are no flashbacks in the play but only a mobile concurrency of past and present.” (also floated ideas about layer cake)Which do you find to be the most accurate way of looking at time and dramatic structure in this play?

9) How are symbolic stage props used to aid in characterization of Willy, Biff, etc? What does Willy’s difficulty with machines – especially his car, the refrigerator, his house, and Howard’s wire recorder – suggest about him? To what extent are these objects symbolic? & How do "planned obsolescence," insurance, and "buying on time" (credit) figure into the play? What are Willy's attitudes toward the products (cars, refrigerator, home, etc.) that he buys and uses?

10) How is it possible to read the play as the story of Biff’s eventual triumph? [Do you agree – if the play offers any hope it offers it through the character of Biff.] OR MILLER: I am sorry the self-realization of the older son, Biff, is not a weightier counterbalance to Willy’s disaster in the audience’s mind. Do you agree? Is this play too much Willy’s tale and not a balance between Willy and Biff? (Did Miller strike the right balance in his plot/character/relationship constructions?)

THEME & SOCIAL ARGUMENT QUESTIONS 12) Miller once said of Willy, “Something in him knows that if he stands still he will be overwhelmed. These lies and evasions of his are his little swords with which he wards off the devils around him … There is a nobility, in fact, in Willy’s struggle. Maybe it comes from his refusal ever to relent, to give up…” Is Willy Loman’s story pathetic or tragic? If you find Willy pathetic, does this weaken the force of the play? Can we say that Willy has come to any self-knowledge at the end of the play?

13) Miller says that tragedy shows man’s struggle to secure “his sense of personal dignity” and that “his destruction in the attempt posits a wrong or an evil in his environment.” Do you think this makes sense when applied to some earlier tragedies (such as Oedipus the King), and does it apply convincingly to Death of a Salesman? Is this the tragedy of an individual’s own making? Or is society at fault for corrupting and exploiting Willy? Or both? OR “Its theme comes across with blinding clarity – failure is the only sin Americans will not forgive” (Kallen circa 1975). Do you agree or disagree with the critic. Use specific examples to prove your point (though staying to some degree rooted in the text). Can consider how Miller says tragedy must be optimistic … in what ways was DOAS optimistic (or did Miller fail at that)?

14) Explore the urban (Brooklyn, etc) vs. rural (the West, farms, Africa/Alaska/Willy’s father) dynamic in the play. What is the significance and role of the farm and farming imagery? How does it relate to business and urban life? What does Willy miss about the old days? What has changed? AND/OR Explore the divisions between present action (1943) and 1928 or what associations Miller places into each time frame (and what it reveals about Miller’s attitudes about progress or the evolution of American business, etc). How does Miller use lighting, the set, blocking, and music to differentiate between action in the present and “memory” action? OR The set is offered as a metaphor, a visual marker of social and psychological change in Willy between 1928 and 1943. Explain the nature of change in these two sets/times.

15) When the play first appeared in 1949, some reviewers thought it a bitter attack upon the capitalist system. Others found in it a social criticism by a writer committed to a faith in democracy and free enterprise. What do you think? Does the play make any specific criticism of society? OR To what extent do you agree with the 1949 critic who felt DOAS was: “a time bomb under American capitalism” (What does the play attack or question if not American capitalism?)#57 OR Miller’s critical reception, particularly in his native America, has been mixed, at time downright hostile. America finally does not want to be told that innocence can ever be lost, that a condition of after the fall exists and so cannot accept Miller’s world-view; in America Miller’s vision is thus incompatible with the individualistic (yet mass-oriented) American dream.In your view, does America like to watch a play like this that says what it says about America? #61

CHARACTER OR RELATIONSHIP BASED QUESTIONS 16) Willy is a man of contradictions, from his statements to his actions. List at least three clear contradictions voiced by Willy and discuss what these contradictions show about Willy’s character. OR Miller said, Willy Loman “can’t bear reality, and since he can’t do much to change it, he keeps changing his ideas of it.” Discuss the form and structure of the play as a reflection of Willy's state of mind. To what extent do you find the above quotation true?

17) Compare the view (a), “Woman in Miller’s plays is usually the prop of the male principle without whom man falters, loses his way” to (b) “Miller’s women are usually shadowy characters, rarely as fully realized as even some of the secondary men.” to (c) the critic Rhoda Koenig objection to Miller’s treatment of women, “of whom he knows two types. One is the wicked slut, the other is a combination of good waitress and slipper-bearing retriever. Linda, in particular, is a dumb and useful doormat.” Which one most fully embodies your perception of Miller’s use and treatment of women in Death of a Salesman. Defend your response. OR Is Linda a strong character? Does Linda deserve part of the blame for Willy’s tragedy? Is Linda a loving wife or a self-deceiving "enabler" of family pathologies? Is she aware of Willy’s infidelity (why might Miller leave this deliberately ambiguous)?

18) Contrast the father-son relationships between Charley-Bernard and Willy-Biff.

19) How do Ben and Charley function as opposites? What is the function achieved by each?

20) What do you make of the character of Ben? What does he represent, when does he appear, and how is he the opposite of Willy? Why does he say what he says in their last conversation?

21) What does the idea/character of Dave Singleman contribute to the play? Pg81

Period 5, Peter Kim

I think it is D. The straight-forward statement is that the play is about how Willy did kill himself because he was not liked as not only did he mention earlier in his life that he was not liked by his associates and peers near the beginning of the play, but also, he believed Biff did not like him. This was clearly seen at the end of play where Willy remarks and is shocked at the fact that Biff loves him for what he is; he kills himself because despite the realization that Biff loved him, he wanted to appear to sacrifice his life in order to give his kids a push start in the world with twenty thousand dollars of insurance money that would come in. This sad finale depicts the harsh reality and truth that Willy had to deal with every day constantly where he lived in misery and illusions in order to cope with the life he had.

Overall, this is about Biff and Willy as throughout the play, these two characters conflict a lot as son and father respectively. It does revolve around Willy of course in the play as he seems to be the anchor of the plot where the plot is able to branch out into the lives of other characters while maintaining its intended purpose by tying it all back to Willy. It does balance pretty well with both Willy and Biff from what I can see despite the argument being made that perhaps Willy does have a more significant role in the play in an explicit manner, but perhaps through careful analysis and a second reading, it is shown that Biff has an influence on a great deal of Willy’s character and his behavior. Such an example would be how Willy seems a bit obsessed or somewhat too deeply enveloped in the idea of Biff working for Bill Oliver and the thought itself drives Willy to happiness.

I find Willy personally tragic and a sort of pitying emotion developing for his character as it appears that he has a sort of pride and ego that every man stereotypically has which leads to his demise in a way. He refuses the job from Charley despite it occurring twice with the offer due to his guilt and ego along with a slight sense of pride as a salesman; he’s seen as a sort of lost yet loyal character in which he’s extremely loyal to his job, driving miles on end for one pitch, and yet lost as he appears to struggle to cope with the reality he dwells in as he has fantasies and flashbacks of his past self and the “good old days” as some would put it. At the end of the play, this tragic Willy does come to acknowledge the fact that he is stuck in this situation unless he can get out of it through the method of suicide and does realize that only one person truly likes or loves him for what he is which happens to be Biff as he makes a shocking recognition; he overall does come to some self-acknowledgement and recognition at the end before his time is up.

Ben is this sort of negative optimistic character as contradictory as that seems; he is not only the encouraging one and role model of Willy, but also the person who encourages Willy to suicide although it is only a figment of Willy’s fantastical daydreams where he is not himself. Willy depicts Ben as a symbol of success, the “American Dream” or however it is called in that time period but contradicts Willy as he is not only more successful than him, but also represents a different sense of optimism that Willy craves. Willy seems to chase a sort of positive optimism where he remains hopeful to his career as a salesman while Ben downplays Willy into thinking that this salesman career choice was an awful one and constantly reminds Willy of a missed opportunity of finding a diamond mine. Ben says those things to Willy as he encourages Willy with optimism through a negative intent where Willy would give up his own life to provide a path and life for his two sons. The statements made by Ben are enticing as Willy looks up to him and cannot differentiate his daydreams from his reality thus gives into his role model and succumbs to suicide, meeting a tragic fate.

Willy says that business is business and believes that you deserve what you get and you should not be attached to one thing. You should be exposed to various things and be flexible. The play supports this idea because Willy thought that he was a successful man and would be able to get fame easily because of his ego. Moreover, he believed that when he talked to Howard he would be easily offered a better job to pay off for his bills. However, on the other side, Bernard and his father worked hard to earn the credit and success in their life and therefore, the quote "A man can end up with diamonds on the basis of being well-liked" is rejected in the play. This can be supported by looking at how many people actually came to his funeral as well as he was not that successful in his life.

I think the most accurate way of looking at the time and dramatic structure in this play is referring it to having flashbacks and then evaluating base off of it. Willy has many flashbacks in the play that allows him to go back in the past and live in that moment and then allowing those memories to merge in with his present time. This basically makes him lose his memory at some times and not letting him live in the present but rather in the past; this makes the play dramatic.

I think Willy Loman's story is tragic because he did go through a lot in the past that makes him keep having all these tragic flashbacks as well as depressed all the time. Willy was all about the money and fame from the beginning and believed that his kids would do something big in their lives and he would be able to live of off that. However because of his affair, his kids not succeeding and him not getting a well paid job this lead him into depression. Towards the end of the play he determines his self awareness by believing that if he kills himself he would be a hero in their sons eyes.

Charley and Bernard's relationship is strong because they have strong morals and both are very successful and care about the people that they are close to the most especially the Lomans. However, Charley had also guided Bernard that helping others and caring about them will bring him success. Willy treated his son Biff that he will become a very successful businessman because he is well liked by many people and is more well known than Bernard.

Miller offers “It is about ‘the paradoxes of being alive in a technological civilization.’” Death of the salesman holds this as the greatest truth when reading the play. In a literal sense this is mostly interpreted through the contradicting dialogues of Willy as he tries to help Biff succeed in the business world. This also goes back to the time period as the civilization technologically advances and progresses, things become obsolete. Miller presents the two sides of being alive or dead. As being alive is a “gift” there are hardships that bring people to the “easy way out”. These different hardships affects the emotions and desires we have in life. This perspective can be seen through Étienne Lamotte Buddhist perspective “The desperate person who takes his own life obviously aspires to annihilation: his suicide, instigated by desire, will not omit him from fruition, and he will have to partake of the fruit of his action. In the case of the ordinary man, suicide is a folly and does not achieve the intended aim.”. The perspective of Willy of the life insurance policy money going to Biff may not achieve the better life for Biff as Willy intended. This is why this interpretation is important to remind those in peril to not do something foolish to help someone else, but to slowly find the right way to help someone without giving your life.

Miller did effectively show a man’s struggle to secure dignity and brought destruction upon himself. I feel it is both of a individual’s creation of the tragedy, and society because yes it may lead to the individual’s thoughts and selflessness but those thoughts are formed through society’s corruption as well. Miller’s tragedy attempted to find some optimism in this situation but I feel this play ended up more in parallel with the Great Gatsby with no true satisfying ending that brings the optimistic views of the American dream.

At the time Death of the Salesman may have been seen as an attack on capitalism as it was first staged in 1949, but I feel as a playwright Miller was criticising society as a whole. Whether in a capitalist system or a socialist system there is one goal of all the individuals in these systems and that is to achieve success. It is seeing even to this day where suicide because of struggle is common throughout the whole world and this is through society’s strive for total success all the time. At times there will be those who fall through the cracks and will not make it. But those are simply the things that come with living, it is like a burger that you don’t make yourself, you appreciate the meat, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, but you don’t enjoy the mayo, yet the maker puts it on as the burger is made. There are no options to what life gives you but the blinding clarity of people drives them to not believe failure is never possible, success will come.

The character of Ben is symbolic for the hope of the American dream. He appears in the times when Willy or the lower class may feel there is no hope or future left for them or their families. Ben is shown in a white and pure image just as any dream should be, but Willy had worked hard his whole life while Ben more or less cheated the way to wealth and paid the price of death at the end. In the last conversation between Ben and Willy, Ben is more of a subconscious thought of what Willy is thinking, the suicide will give Biff a better life, and Ben explained the hardships of the action to make that sacrifice for money or “selling his soul”. This is also seen in the Great Gatsby through his cheat to fame and the trap of the American dream.

I think the play rejects this notion because will says this to his son, yet he goes to get the insurance money and say he’s going to Boston to his boss and is told no. And the entire thing with Oliver, had they been important enough to remember, then Biff wouldn’t have been as upset as he was. I see this as you may know someone and have talked to them, yet they might not know you. And finally, the funeral scene is telling to the fact that not many people actually liked Willy, as almost no one went, so Willy can be established as a not-very successful businessman at all during his lifetime.

A stage prop that is significant for Willy would be the car, and his issues with the car. His issue with the car could possibly symbolize how he feels like he is stuck and can’t understand that times have changed and that he is not a young man anymore. And the irony is that he crashes the car, causing his own death. For Biff, a notable stage prop would be the fountain pen, as it results in an epiphany for the character and makes him rethink his life choices, leading to the thing he tells his father in their last confrontation.

I do think this applies to other, earlier tragedies, as Miller statement applies to them, but I do not think this applies to DOAS. Willy creates his own tragedy by trying to achieve things, like planting the seeds or keep his job when he should really retire, and ultimately he ends himself. He also begins destroying himself when he cheats on his wife, and when Biff found out, destroyed a piece of each of them, Society did not have much influence as it was mostly caused by Willy and his own mindset and actions.

Well, Ben is dead, but appears in the flashbacks, or in Willy’s thoughts, like in the end when he’s leaving to go to the car. Ben seemed to be reasonably important to Willy as he reappears. He may have taught Willy to be the salesman he was earlier in Willy’s life. And in that last scene, Ben could be seen as Willy’s subconscious saying it’s time for him to go, thus leading to the car crash.

Throughout the play Willy had flashbacks to the past and bragged in the present to Happy and Biff about his business success. Willy talks about how he knows everyone in New England and that they would let him skip lines because he is well known. The play rejects this assertion because Howard rejects Willy's request and abruptly fires him. Willy believes that knowing Howard's father would bring him success , but as Howard said, "business is business..." Proving the point that times has changed and that success does not come from knowing people.

The symbolic stage props are integrated into the lives of the characters that represent who they are as a person and or their mindset at a specific time. The white sneakers with U.V.A written on the bottom represents Willy's ambition and motivation to go to that college, but when he burns it it is a shift in his characterization as the burning of the shoes represent the burning of his dreams.
Willy's difficulty with machines suggest that he is not a city person, rather a person who should be working with his hands in a farm out West. This is apparent through the lack of knowledge and ability to manage technology. This is supported by the planting of seeds as a 'what if' moment on if he could have been a farmer.
These objects are symbolic to a great extent as they are part of the characters lives in some personal manner. They represent their changes in attitude without the characters being straightforward about their feelings.
Willy's attitude toward products are both negative and positive. He brags and is prideful about the products when they are functioning correctly or lies about the greatness of the products as a way to reassure himself that everything is going well. In some instances he dislikes the products or make excuses on why they are bad and nonsensical.

I see Willy's story as tragic. Even though Willy has lied multiple times over the course of the play and committed adultery, he had good intentions referring to Happy and Biff. Willy's has always wanted both of his sons to be successful in the future. This is a way of leaving his mark. Willy told many lies about his success as a way for his sons to aspire to be like him or even better, but this becomes tragic as all his lies backfire. The lies said bloated the minds of Biff and Happy, it especially affected Biff as he caught Willy with another woman. This one lie made Biff re-think about everything Will had said and what else he could have lied about. Near the end of the play Biff says that all his family does is lie. I do think Willy has came to self-knowledge at the end of the play because he becomes a little happier knowing that Biff still loves him. Also, he knows what he could do to solve the problem.

Throughout the play, there was no flashbacks, but there was no flashbacks, but simultaneous moments of the past and present. This means while time still continues forward, Willy remembers the past or a illusion to the past while going through his daily life. Willy does not like to look at reality and always changes his thoughts because he cannot change it in his own power. Objects in reality such as the house, car, appliances etc. are not in his control anymore because of the lack of money. I agree to a great extent, this is mainly represented through Biff and Willy's relationship. He tries to help Biff to be successful, but realizes at some point he cannot change him and his attitude. Because Willy can't do much, he always changes his mind about Biff through his attitude. This is seen when he becomes overjoyed and happy when he hears about Biff's chance at an offer, but becomes disappointed and hopeless when Biff does not follow through.

I believe the play generally rejects this assertion. Willy himself throughout the play claims that everyone in New England knows and loves him yet he constantly comes up short in terms of money and paying bills. He claims he knew so many people but essentially ended up with nothing. Charley always ended up either offering Willy a job or giving him money.

Another example of this throughout the play is how Bernard was generally ignored and disliked by Willy when he was a child but Bernard ended up being generally successful , preparing to appear before the supreme court as a lawyer. Biff on the other hand was well liked and popular as a child but ended up jobless with no direction as an adult. Both of these examples reject the assertion that a man can end up with diamonds on the basis of being well liked.

I believe that the play is more the tragic tale of Will's downfall rather than the eventual self-realization of Biff. Biff's self realization is more of a subplot that serves to contribute and add to Willy's story. While the two plots are not exactly equally balanced throughout the play I do believe that it is the right balance for the purpose of the play. One of the play's major themes is the American dream. The whole plot of the play consists of Willy's blind faith in his stunted version of the American dream and how it led to his psychological decline in which he is unable to accept the differences between the dream and his own life. Biff's self realization, while contributing to the theme, only occurs at the end of the play and is not as prevalent. This play is Willy's story and I think that Miller did strike the right balance in plot and character constructions.

Upon the first reading I did think that Willy appeared to be pathetic as he refused to give up his distorted view of the American Dream, which ultimately led to his downfall. On the other hand after this second reading I realized that it is more tragic than pathetic. This distortion in Willy's mind that resulted from his refusal essentially drove him to madness as he psychologically declined throughout the play and eventually was unable to distinguish between reality and his memories/dreams. I think this strengthens the play as it develops the plot and underlying themes. I do think that Willy came to some sort of self realization at the end of the play as he finally gave up. He gave up his distorted view and everything else, including his life.

Charley and Bernard did not verbalize their love for the American Dream and business but essentially were more successful than Willy and Biff. Charley and Bernard both achieved success through hard work but Willy and Bernard came up short and were not successful even with all of their constant talk of achievement. Charley and Bernard were not popular or well liked but had a good relationship with each other. Neither boasted about their success and both were quick to help the Lomans out in several situations. Willy and Biff on the other hand claimed to have been well liked and were very boastful but did not have a good and honest relationship with each other. Biff resented his father to an extent due to his fathers affair and Willy had the delusional hope of Biff one day becoming extremely successful even though he had yet to prove he could hold a job.

Willy had to take on a different approach in sales to ensure his material success. Will wasn’t much successful in the sales business as he got older. In the old days, Willy was successful in the New England area, as he knew a lot of people and sold things they liked. Then as time passed, society changed. Willy couldn’t sell much. He could barely sell anything. He believed that he talked too much or he didn’t smile enough. He didn’t have that much contacts in the sales business. He believed that many people would attend his funeral, but only his family, Charlie, and Bernard were there. This is evident as it shows that because he didn't have any contacts in the business he couldn’t make a living.

In my opinion, the play is mostly pessimistic. He shows the consequences we face for our advances in technology and capitalism. The consequence is evidently death. Willy had to go from selling things to selling himself. He becomes a commodity in the law of economy. The only real optimistic thing to come out of the play is Bernard. He becomes a successful person in this world. Charlie is the symbol of hope in this corrupt society. But, the pessimistic aspects overshadow the optimistic ones.

Willy went from selling things to selling himself in order to justify the waste of it. He has becomes a commodity “which like other commodities will at a certain point be discarded by the laws of the economy”. He brings the tragedy to himself by living the lie and living with this economy. “Willy is a baby…”. He still believes in the goodness of selling and that it is the greatest thing. But, in the new society, he doesn’t have the tools or personality to make it in sales. He knows this but doesn’t want to do anything to overturn it. He knows that he will never make it, but he keeps on trying to sell.

The most decent man in the play is Charlie. He is the representation of good within the capitalist society. He thinks of Willy as family. He helps him out with money every week, knowing that Willy may never pay him back, even though Willy promises to. He taught his son to chase worthwhile objectives. Ben is the corrupt person in the play. He represents the capitalist society. All he cares about is fame and money. He was lucky to find the diamonds in the first place, making him rich. That is the only story he tell. He believes the only way to make money is by luck or doing something corrupt. His relationship with Will and Willy’s relationship with his father, made Willy corrupt. Willy was never able to teach his son like Charley was able to teach Bernard.

The play rejects the assertion that success in business is based on “who you know and the smile on your face.” Instead, Miller emphasizes the idea that success is based on intelligence and effort rather than appearances. Bernard is arguably the most successful character in the novel, defending a case in the Supreme Court despite the fact that he is “not well liked” according to Biff. As the play progresses, Biff and Bernard switch positions of popularity and success. Miller demonstrates this change by incorporating situational irony as Bernard goes from carrying Biff’s shoulder guard to bringing tennis rackets on his trip to the Supreme Court. In a similar sense, Charley, who is “liked but not well liked” ends up in a position of authority as Willy consistently borrows money from him. By the end of the novel, Willy comes to the realization that appearances do not guarantee success as the imaginary figure of his brother tells him “The jungle is dark but full of diamonds” (Miller 107). Through this statement, Willy’s subconscious tells him that the only “diamonds” he can get are those attached to his life insurance policy.

Willy’s difficulty operating machines such as Howard’s wire recorder suggests that he is stuck in the past and unable to adapt to change. This characteristic is further emphasized by his memory scenes and the moments in which he confuses the past and the present, such as confusing his old chevvy with his current car. Through these objects, Miller also criticizes the profit-motivated nature of consumerism and capitalist society because the everything seems to break down once Willy finishes paying for it. After Linda reminds Willy of the broken refrigerator in Act Two, Willy exclaims, “They time them so when you finally paid for them, they’re used up” (Miller 54). In this line, Miller implicitly voices his opposition to planned obsolescence, which is a prominent characteristic of capitalist industries. In fact, Willy’s entire character is another market product of capitalism in the sense that once his worth as a sales commodity decreases, Howard fires him. In Willy’s defiance, he exclaims “You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away” (Miller 61), but in Willy’s circumstance, he is simply another cog in the machine that no longer functional and therefore must be disposed of.

While Death of a Salesman is undoubtedly a tragedy in a common setting, Willy Loman is more of pathetic character than a tragic hero. In Ancient Greek and Shakespearean tragedies, the tragic hero is characterized as a man of high position such as a king or general with a tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall. In modern tragedies, the tragic hero has shifted to the common man and Death of a Salesman is no exception. Willy Loman is as common as they come, but he lacks one essential trait of a tragic hero, a justified sense of personal dignity and sanity. Willy’s backward morals and contradictory behavior detract from the audiences ability to sympathize or even pity him. Tragedies often end with death, but the cause of death is usually left as a mystery. Miller removes any aspect of suspense from the play as the title, Death of a Salesman, reveals the ending, and from the opening act, the audience learns that Willy is a suicidal salesperson with no personality left to sell. As a result, It comes as no surprise when Willy comes to the realization that he is more financially useful to his family dead than alive.

Linda in Death of a Salesman is exactly what she appears on the surface, a devoted wife with no ulterior motive but her husband’s happiness. Throughout the play, Miller portrays women as a plot device to further develop the male character’s. Linda’s subservience serves to contrast Willy’s delusional pride and lack of morals. In Linda’s most influential dialogue, she emphasizes that “attention must be paid” (Miller 40) to Willy because he is a human being. Ironically, nobody pays attention to Linda. Willy snaps at her, cutting her off whenever she starts to speak, and Biff and Happy consistently ignore her admonitions regarding their treatment of their father.

Period 4, Nicholas Imbimbo

1) Throughout his entire life, Willy Loman has believed himself to be well-liked, saying that he has thousands of friends all over the New England territory. Unfortunately, he goes to the grave without knowing that maybe he was not fit to be a salesmen. Biff says, "He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong. He never knew who he was." (138) Will Loman has a false perception of who he was and when he realized his false perceptions, he refuses to admit his mistakes. Willy never destroying his illusions, lead him to lead a "false" life. He will never know who he really is as long as he latches on to these false perceptions. Towards the end of the story, Willy knows that his life is falling apart. Biff has nothing, Happy has nothing, and Willy has nothing to leave behind for his family. At the end of the play, Ben encourages Willy to enter the "jungle" finally and get his diamond. The "diamond" is to kill himself for insurance money in order to make his life meaningful. Willy Loman was a lost man that was trapped by the void of illusion, making him unable to every figure out who he truly was.

The broken refrigerator symbolizes the financial worries that are present within Willy. He is a common salesmen, that like the Hastings refrigerator he owns, is unpopular and flawed. In the Glass Menagerie, the gum that Jim chews is very short-lasting, "I always throw it out when the flavor's gone." this same quote could connect to the broken car. The broken car represents the idea of building products not to last. Willy is a product of his time, a common salesmen, that will be tossed away after a while.
When talking with Howard, Willy speaks not of his future with the company but with his history and past promises. On the other hand, Howard is fascinated by the recording machine, showing that Howard is more interested in the future than the past. Willy being frightened when he accidentally turns on the recorder is symbolic of his obsolescence within a modern business world. Will speaks of a time when being a salesmen demanded respect and friendship and this time is clearly gone.
The stage props aid in unraveling the complex character that is Willy Loman.

Willy is not a tragic hero within the play because he is pathetic, in his personal "tragedy" that comes from is inability to admit his mistakes and learn from them. In Arthur Miller's, "Between Pathos and Tragedy," he states, "by virtue of his witlessness, his insensitivity, or the very air he gives off, incapable of grappling with a much superior force." Willy has a false perception of who he is and who he should be in society. He latches on two these false perceptions and doesn't let go until death. Will is a man who lacks the courage and strength that would allow him to overcome these false perceptions. Will has based his parenting, lifestyle and career choice on a value system that is based of appearance rather than truth. When he comes to the realization of these false perceptions, he refuses to admit his mistakes, thus becoming a pathetic rather than a tragic hero. If he would to realize his mistakes and then face them head on, he would be a tragic hero. His lack of strength and courage ultimately led to his pathetic demise.

Willy was impressed by Singleman because he was an 84 year old successful traveling salesmen. Willy using Singleman as an example makes a bad impression on Howard. If Willy is "young" and still full of energy, then why does he want to be taken off of the road. Singleman set a bad example for Willy. Willy got the idea that he might never have to retire, so he didn't have to worry about the future. He would be unhappy with retirement. In a way, Singleman is the reason that Willy never planned from day to day. The Singleman suggests that he was a single man. He did not have the same responsibilities and expenses as Willy. Singleman is single and can continue working when he is 84, as suggested by the quote. Singleman was a bad example for Willy, because now, at 63, Willy is all used up. Willy believes that being a traveling salesmen is heroic and glamorous, however he represents the grim reality of what it is to be a salesmen.

I find truth in this interpretation of the play because many readers can relate to the Loman family and understand the relationships between the characters. There were fights and arguments, serious conversations, and joyful events/memories of events that the Loman family shared together. The audience can relate to this because many of these occur on a daily basis. One important aspect of the play is that Willy was forcing himself to become a salesman, which was something he was not destined to be. As his life kept marching, the audience was able to view how uncomfortable Willy was while working as a salesman. Willy's death ultimately leads the audience to consider that they need to live their lives authentically and do what they desire to do in life, rather than doing what society believes they should become in order to become successful. Many people in the audience can relate to this, including me, which leads them to change their lives. This is the message that I took when I finished reading the play and I completely support/agree with this interpretation.

I believe it is possible to read the play as the story of Biff's eventual triumph because Biff wanted to work with his hands while his father wanted him to become a businessman and become successful in his mind. His father kept him from passing math and going to summer school by putting pressure on him to play football and become well-liked. This led Biff to become stuck because he did not have enough education to go into the business world and Willy would not let him work with his hands, illustrating how Willy pushed Biff into a hole he could not get out of. There is tension that is created throughout the play when Biff and Willy argue and when Willy dies, Biff is finally able to live his life the way he wants to and shows this when he says in the requiem, "I know who I am kid." I believe that Miller struck the right balance between character and plot relationship constructions and did so effectively through the memories in Willy's mind.

I believe the story is both the tragedy of Willy's own making and the corruption and exploitation of Willy by society. Society taught Willy that the only way to become successful was to have a job as a salesman and be well-liked. Willy disregarded his natural talents and desires and chose to follow the path society said to go down, illustrating how Willy was somewhat at fault. At the end of the play, Willy was tired of being who he was and realized that he was a failure. He was ready to lay down his life to ultimately secure a sense of personal dignity before he had nothing left. This is similar to earlier tragedies, such as Oedipus the Kind and Odysseus, but it is also similar to Alfred Ill in The Visit. Both characters were willingly laying down their lives in order to gain something, but the process of holding back was inherently wrong and created destruction in their environment, as said by Miller.

Ben became rich and successful by accident by discovering diamond mines in the jungle, whereas Charley became successful because he was a hard-working, respectable man. Willy believed that he had to be well-liked in order to be successful in his society and Charley was used to illustrate how Willy was wrong. Ben was also used to create some tension because as Willy struggled to be successful and earn money, he became rich by pure luck. This somewhat angered Willy and he was jealous of Ben, especially since he almost went with him. Ben and Charley also illustrate the two main ways of becoming successful in the capitalistic American society, either by working hard regardless of others' views toward them or by pure luck. Charley is also supposed to be "the most respectable man," as said by Miller, and is used to encourage the audience to be like him.

Willy's assertion is based on the idealism of early America when much of business was based on connections and the way one interacted with others could be the means of getting ahead. Loyalty to the company and a sense of trust was highly valued during this time period and smiling while being confident and personable could convey these feelings well. The play seems to reject Willy's point of view entirely while presenting a new business system where Willy is not valued by his company even though he is living by what he preaches and ultimately ends up losing his job.

The idea that society can be to blame for a man's own suffering is an argument of determinism vs free will. If free will does not exist than no one can be at fault for anything because every individual is just a product of their DNA and environment. However, if there exists a true morality, and man is knowledgeable of their own good and evil, and chooses to do evil based on this knowledge than man must take fault for the action even if the outcome was predestined. This same principle can be applied to Willy's situation. Does Willy's boss pursue righteousness? No, it does not seem to be the case. He has to fire Willy based on the capitalistic system. Is it society's fault for choosing this system? No, that does not seem to be the case either because it is the natural basis of economy based on fair trading. For this reason, the fault seems to shift towards Willy. His pride seems to get the best of him in certain situations. Charlie's job offering is a gift of a new opportunity that many people do not even have and yet he does not take it due to pride or over ambition. This ambition seems to be the product of the pursuit of the American Dream; however, one has to be sensible in the manner of going about pursuing this dream, something Willy can be faulted for.

I believe the play is a commentary on American society and the American dream. I do think parts of it can seen to be negative, but at the same time the play seems more like reality than any sort of pessimism towards a certain idea. Americans do struggle trying to pay bills. The play handles this struggle in a relatable manner than an American audience can connect with the same way they can connect with any other middle class protagonist like Peter Parker/Spider-man. The play is not an attack on the American dream as much as it is a token of advice telling a generation that pursuit of money is not all there is to life.

Ben is the dead wealthy brother of Willy whereas Charley is the carefree neighbor of Willy. Both characters have great meaning as symbols to Willy and his attitude towards each of them seem to represent his attitude towards the symbols they represent.
Ben symbolizes the American dream where any man can get rich over night one just must be patient. Charley represents a trusting and carefree man, not in love with money and easy to part with it, who is content with his economic standing and enjoying life. These two clearly conflict when it comes to the value each puts on money. In essence, the actual physical value of money is the same to everyone, however, the personal value one puts on the dollar bill is different for everyone. The personal value Ben puts on wealth is high and Willy has a deep admiration for his brother. Charlie puts less value on money and Willy does not gravitate to his personality as much. These characters function as symbols for levels of desire for money and Willy's relationship with these characters represent how Willy values the dollar bill.

In many ways throughout the play Miller references Willy's ideology of being liked equating to success in business. Though it seems that the idea of Willy's character as established by Miller is that fundamentally his ideology is rather flawed and he does not have a true understanding of his own purpose in the world, in some ways the play subverts the idea that Willy is entirely incorrect. On a more meta level of examination, Charley is not necessarily a "well-liked" character. In fact, Willy even states that Charley is liked but not well liked. However, he is certainly successful in business, as can be seen by his ability to give Willy money and his position with a firm. On a surface level this seems to contradict Willy's ideology, however, Charley, from the standpoint of the audience, is perhaps the most likable, moral, and put together character in the play. In this way, Charley is subtly well-liked, though there is not much that can be said about his "contacts" or the "smile on his face". On the other hand, Willy's existence seems to support his ideology, as he is essentially a nobody and cannot find any success, despite his self proclamation of being a well liked individual. Nobody comes to his funeral because he was not well liked and did not have contacts, and in the end he had completely failed as a business man. Bernard and Ben on the other hand foil Willy's ideology by finding success through what is essentially action, with neither of them hold popularity or contacts with very high regard. It is worth mentioning that Ben literally did find diamonds when he took action and "went into the jungle" though Miller leads us to believe that his actions may have been immoral to an extent. In relation to Bernard, Charley states "he doesn't have to. He's doing it" in relation to Bernard's case before the Supreme Court, a direct contradiction to Willy's ideology.

Miller was not wrong in saying that Biff's self realization is not a sufficient counter-balance to Willy's tragic death, and there are many reasons that this fault exists. Primarily, by introducing us to Willy as the first character in the play, by giving him the most time on stage and the most prominent role, and by essentially working him as the tragic center of the play, Miller created DOAS in a way that pointed every finger towards Willy as the guy the audience was focused in on. The majority of the audience would likely see Willy as the character who can be related to the most, as an individual stuck in the gears of the capitalist world, without any real purpose in life but to make ends meet through a job that provides them with no self satisfaction or sense of completeness. Biff on the other is kind of strange, as he is a failure in a different way than Willy in that he failed high school and has made nothing of himself since. Willy and Biff are both lost, but it is likely that the average audience to a play would be able to identify with Willy's struggle more than Biff's. While it is ultimately Biff who comes to the realization that happiness for him is something far removed from what his father had told him it was, this optimistic realization, while impacting the audience, is overshadowed by Willy's climactic death. It is Willy that the audience sees the thoughts of, Willy who tragically kills himself, and Willy who represents the lie that we have all been taught to live by. In this way Willy's tragedy strikes the audience more, not even necessarily out of meaning, but in its presentation by Miller.

Willy is a man who cannot accept the clarity of his loss in life. He has failed on the only thing that he held pride in, his sales, while also failing on a much deeper level to find a true purpose in his life and to give up the lie he has been living. Rather than acknowledging that he is lost and hopeless, Willy claws at any dignity he can find, making his life a complete and utter lie. Constantly he talks of his being "well-liked" and acts as if he knows what is best for his sons, what the keys to success are, but has never found any of this for himself. However, there cannot be value in holding on to something that has no real meaning to Willy besides his pride, which he holds for all the wrong reasons. He takes pride in his sales because that is the only thing he believes makes him a "somebody", however, he does not even know himself enough to realize that his life has become completely meaningless. In this way he is pathetic, clinging desperately onto something for no other reason than the notion in his head that if he cannot be a king of capitalist America than he can be nobody. He fails to realize himself, or to acknowledge his true passions. Many times throughout the text Miller points towards Willy's aptitude with his hands, doing work crafting and repairing, as his true calling. Biff says that Willy has no idea who he ever really was, and all Willy had was a dream of who he wanted to be. In this way Willy is pathetic to cling onto something so fundamentally worthless, however, this does not lessen his tragedy. We feel pity for Willy's lack of understanding, because it is a lack of understanding that is shared by many individuals within the audience. The audience sees Willy's failure and recognizes the mistakes he has made, and pities him while they may even pity themselves for making the same mistakes. In this way, Willy is pathetic in a way that inspires his tragedy.

I agree that Biff truly does love his father enough to fight him and go against his beliefs because he proves the extent of his love throughout the play. Biff shows little bursts of concern for his father in many scenes, for example when Linda told him about Willy’s past suicide attempts. Concern is also shown for Willy later in the book when the boys are out for dinner and he starts talking to himself. However, the biggest display of affection and love towards Willy from Biff was on page 132 and 133 where Biff had grabbed hold of Willy and began to scream the truth at him. At that point in time Biff didn’t care about his Father’s dream that his mother and brother had tried so hard to preserve. He realized that if he didn’t wake his father up from his unrealistic delusions of what the American dream was, Willy would kill himself for sure. On page 133 the playwright writes “Biff’s fury has spent itself, and he breaks down, sobbing, holding onto Willy, who dumbly fumbles for Biff’s face.” When Biff crumbles in front of his father the audience sees exactly how Biff feels. This act of vulnerability and fear for someone you love proves that although he and Willy bicker a lot, Biff loves his father.

I believe that the structure and aspect of time in this play are altered by Willy’s mind. It isn’t a merging of the past and the present but more of a panicked hallucination in response to guilt and a man’s dreams crumbling. The memories that construct the backstory for the audience start off as simple flashes and short glimpses into Willy’s mind, but as the play progresses these memories and voices become as real as the present for the man, which ultimately drives him to suicide.

I believe that Miller portrayed both Willy's and Biff's stories fairly well. If one really analyzes the play they will discover two stories existing in it. Of course the story revolves around Willy's struggle with himself and who he really is but it also tells a similar story about Biff. The strongest difference between them is that Biff succeeds to see who he really is and what he's meant to do while Willy cannot escape his delusions about what the American Dream is to him and ends up killing himself. On page 132 of the play, Biff says "Pop I'm a dime a dozen and so are you!" and "I'm not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you." showing the audience that he has come to except who he is and is willing to embrace it. Willy, on the other hand, gives in to his hallucination and dies a few pages later.

(e) holds the greatest truth to me in my reading of the play because the use of Willy Loman as a manifestation of his criticisms of the capitalist system is the source of power in his social commentary. The entire course of the play is the downfall of the common man, and though Miller's own present criticisms of economic structure are opposite to Willy's, it is through Willy that the audience can observe Miller's own past contentions with letting go of his pre- determined loyalty to the system he was born into. The separation, however between he and Willy, is that Miller could separate himself from those "feelings," and the fact that Willy is unable to do this, is the central source of conflict in the play.

I believe Miller struck the right balance in his plot/ character construction because the heavier sense of hopelessness, rather that hopefulness, was intended to strike a good deal more fear and realization in his message, than the comfort of Biff's triumph. Though it must have been difficult to not have ended the story with Biff's complete resolution, this would have undermined Miller's disheartening death of a salesman, and morphed into the resurrection of a carpenter. The requiem is necessary for this, as Willy's depressing reality is intended to exist even in death. The final statement 'we're free' represents the failure of capitalism, AKA Willy. For this reason, I believe that to make this clear, this phrase was spoken by Willy, rather than Biff, as to not be misinterpreted. Miller was far too fascinated in the intricacies of Willy Loman's character to have intended the audience to turn their attention to Biff completely, and I feel that interpreting the story as Biff's triumph would be to ignore the obvious message that Miller powerfully conveyed.

Though this statement does apply convincingly to the death of the salesmen in some respects, but not completely. For example, Howard's nickname of Willy as 'Kid' displays the unforgiving disloyalty of the Capitalist environment, and its tendency to supersede the loyal individual. However, Biff is contradictory of this, as an individual who breaks free from his own free will, much as Miller sees himself. Biff criticizes his father even in death, for 'having all the wrong dreams,' which is criticism of both Willy's individual making, yet spoken sympathetically, placing some blame on his environment. It seems as if Miller cannot chose exclusively where to trace this corruption, but he feels it is up to the individual, at least, to change his situation.

pg 126- 127, states his funeral will be massive, proving to Biff his success, then later, 'No, that would be terrible'
pg 64, tells biff to tell jokes, and then not tell jokes when meeting Bill Oliver
pg 16, Biff is lazy, then not lazy

I find the above quotation to be very true, as Willy's delusions become more overwhelming and spastic, as the play advances. It is as if he will himself to change his ideas of it through both his constant contradictions and his breaks from reality. The music also seems to reflect his state of mind, as the past shifts from drifting into his consciousness with gentle flute music, to the chaotic, intense music that crashes with his death, as his past and present states of mind finally collide.

Ben is a character who took a risk, and made his way in capitalist America mostly by way of chance. He juxtaposes Willy, who never took any chance or moved away from his dead end job as a salesman, despite many offers from Ben himself to go out in "the jungle" and attempt something new. Ben made his way by taking a risk and getting lucky, and in this way he is an outlier to the system. It seems that Miller does not necessarily encourage this, as it is implied that Ben's path to success was questionable. All he says is that he went into the jungle and came out rich, leaving out the details, giving the implication that his success was achieved without much morality. In the final conversation, Ben tells Willy killing himself would be cowardly, but eventually says it would be a sure way to make money. In this way he was somewhat contradictory to himself, showing that he is morally shifty and questionable, while also showing that he believes in capital gain by questionable means (killing himself).

The play generally rejects that ideology, noticeably between Willy and Charley as well as Biff and Bernard. Willy philosophy that “a man can end up with diamonds on the basis of being well liked” was challenged by the failure of his career even though he was “well-liked”, such as the fact he named his former boss’ son Howard, who then became his new boss. Despite the friendly or close relation he had with the father, it did not necessarily give him all the tools to become successful. Charley and Bernard both display the ability to succeed not through being popular but through hard work. Bernard, while not the school star as Biff was, had a better future and job due to working hard in school and beyond.

“The play takes place in Willy’s mind so it travels through different definitions of reality, it keeps shifting” is an apt way to describe looking at the time and structure of the play. It isn’t just seeing the memories all at once stacked on top of each, not touching. The play melds the past and present as a cohesive interactive story, where what happens in the past essentially happens again in the present in the form of Willy’s mind, and there are times he is stuck on one particular memory multiple times throughout the play, such as Biff flunking Math. It’s not as organized and clean cut as a layered cake or a geological strata, but those can explain the unfolding definition of Willy’s entire life.

Willy’s story is meant to evoke pity, which of itself is tragedy. Finding Willy pathetic but still empathizing on some level with him and his character is the baseline of the play. His actions are meant to seem unreasonable, deliberately meant for dislike. However, it could be said that his intentions are mostly in the right places, and his personality, while not entirely likable, can be understood. Willy, at the end, perhaps came to some realization to the small objective value his existence is, as Biff said that they are “dime a dozen”, but his beliefs are still rooted absolutely in materialistic wealth. His suicide ultimately is to gain more money for his family, perhaps a return signature of love to his son.

Willy “can’t bear reality, and since he can’t do much to change it, he keeps changing his ideas of it” as Miller said, and this can be seen multiple times throughout the play. The beginning, where he first called Biff lazy, then just a few lines later claimed that at least “he’s not lazy” showed how when he first was showing disappointment in the failures of his son, then he was cycling back to believing his son can pull through for him. Willy’s reality changes depending on the situation and his needs at the time. His lies to those around him, his wife about the bills, Howard about his sons’ careers, are all examples of Willy’s own personal reality where what he doesn’t like doesn’t exist.

5, McFarland, Adrian

I agree with this concept because of the sole fact that by the end of the play, Biff seems to have finally come to terms with himself and his resolution to be his own man. Biff was constantly trying to please Willy and Miller wrote him as a seemingly trapped character, stuck in this false whirlpool that Willy had created in his own life. Willy was so deep into the water at that point that his constant nagging of Biff to ultimately tell him what he wanted to hear. An example of that could be seen after Biff’s “meeting” with Bill Oliver, and Willy consistently trying to convince Biff to say that he was going to be successful with this guy that Biff had no intentions of accomplishing anything for. When Willy dies at the end of the play, Biff’s “I know who I am” statement shows that he no longer has to wrestle for the wheel of his own life anymore.

9) Miller writing Willy to constantly have troubles with his breaking, old machines represent Willy and his life. Despite the amount of money and time he puts into them, they are overused and are no longer helpful. Willy, like his machinery, is becoming overused (as best put by Howard’s explanation of why he was being fired) and is losing the ability to be a helpful asset to the community. He is angry at the products for not working, in effect being angry with himself for never becoming the salesman he truly wanted to be. He was not well-known, he did not make a lot of money, and he did not receive the “death of a salesman” he dreamed of, like Dave Singleman. He was frustrated with himself and everything around him, and felt that it had all be a failure or a waste.

13) I believe Willy’s tragedy came solely from himself and his own hubris. Miller wrote him as the aspiring American Dream, wanting to be received and welcomed by everyone and having so much fame you could drown in it. As a common man, his tragedy was meant to connect with the audience and Miller did so very well. He made his tragedy something simple, not like avenging the death of your father as Shakespearean plays typically represented. The tragedy of the common man is much more realistic and self-created, and Miller’s play could be interpreted as an attack on this self-absorbed dream of recognition and self-worth, achieving both through external recognition and acknowledgement (yuck, who likes that?)

16) One of his many contradictions is that of which is car is THE BEST car ever, yet also the CRAPPIEST vehicle in existence, all on the same page. Another is seen through his opinion of Biff, whom he calls lazy and also the hardest worker within a mere few lines of dialogue. One final contradiction Willy makes is his criticism of Biff’s “gee” and how it is a “boy’s word,” even though he ends up saying it a few times throughout the play as well. Miller’s use of the final contradiction emphasizes the child-like personality of this seemingly deranged and distraught man, as he is told to “grow up” by Charley twice, once in the past and again in the present. Willy’s contradictions show his inner torment in their fullness, which is tied in as well to his past with his mistress. He is confused and upset about where his life has gone, and Miller’s repetitive use of contradictory ideas in Willy’s head show his dissatisfaction and frustration.

(a)
Best encapsulated in the refrained upon ideas of successes failing to enjoy the fruits of their success the play takes aim at modern values and what is necessary to survive in it as well as what is gained from success. The man that built his estate but hadn't the mind to live in it, the house being paid off when there is no one left to live in it. This is brought to a head as Linda says at Willy's funeral "we're finally free". The irony is evident and elucidates the paradox. The fruits of Willy's life are never enjoyed properly as he is constantly involved in the process of their tending and maintenance which excludes their utilization until an end may ultimately be reached, but at this point there is no utility left in it.
There is also the tragedy of the common man for whom the American dream sought by Willy is to be a beacon of hope, but more often serves to be detrimental. Striving for ends necessitates a never ending process that ultimately destroys anyone who undertakes it.

The redemption of Biff to the reader of the play is in his eventual realization of the flaw in Willy's mentality and that which was instilled in him. He breached the ignorance his father shrouded himself in, which to an extent throughout the play he possessed the knowledge, but was elucidated as he said to Willy he was "a dime a dozen" and realized that he was no great man in the sphere his father always suggested him to be and that he was not destined success in the business on the merit of his character, he realized it was not the world for him, or his father for that matter, as he claimed his father to have his ideals all messed up. Which is the correct assessment juxtaposed the still indoctrinated Happy. Biff was able to recognize he could at best be a shaky cog in the machine never quite properly fit in, and that he was far better off doing work under the sun and using the gifts Willy admonished him for.

Willy says that a man ought to leave something in the world, to have grown something to add to the world. He made a last ditch effort at this as he does attempt to plant seeds. This is the life Willy should have pursued from the beginning it is more in line with his values of community and solid stature, the ones to achieve in the world Willy assigns himself to are the anemics like Bernard and unfeeling like Howard. In many ways the West is where the Lomans all belong and could thrive, whereas the urban area is where they are all caged in and restrained. He grew up traversing the frontier and that is what shaped his early ideals which he maintained. There he should have remained and there his children of similar ideals would have been far more successful and happier not in the business scape. To an extent Willy does know this as he feels the ill regard for his profession from the apparition of his brother Ben and the regret he feels for not going to Alaska.

Dave Singleman is the dead dream Willy wishes to be a reality, that he may be able to thrive off the back of simply being well-known and well-liked, and being a man of good character, this is the dream of which Willy was deprived but fantasized for himself, this was the image of the massive funeral that Willy had for himself and that dream with Charley insisted must be maintained by a salesman. If ever Willy had anything resembling the portrayed life of Dave Singleman, it was long gone by the end of the play and sharply contrasted what was said of Singleman, who it was said could make all his sales with a few phone calls in any town, whereas Willy would make trips of 400 miles without realizing a single sale.

The play definitely rejected his assertion since he achieved relatively very little success in his career save for his home and some other familial possessions. Willy spent his entire career trying to be well liked, and if we believe him, achieved this feat. However, doing this has seem to merit him nothing as in the requiem, not one person from his career came to his funeral. Additionally, Howard achieved more than Willy without these characteristics simply by nature of his birth. His opinion is blatantly wrong, and Willy remained in denial in the later half of his life.

I find that scenes the audience gets to see of Willy in the past are definitely hallucinations of a man who has deluded himself his whole life only to find out he is wrong in a time of genuine crisis. This is evident by Willy talking to Ben in the present despite the fact that Ben had died years prior. In this conversation, Willy rationalizes his suicide while his hallucination of Ben ask him to reconsider showing his own futile thoughts against this. Additionally, he refers to Charlie as Ben showing hallucinations.

Farming imagery is used to convey the free spirit that Willy, Biff, and Happy all have. The idea of going to Alaska, the Mid-West, and Africa to fill this need represents the knowledge that all three contain that the are not meant to live this kind of life. Ben exemplifies this as he lived a life far more opulent than his brother by working in the jungle. Additionally this imagery is meant to comment on the American people in general, as Miller tries to explain to them how futile this life is.

Ben represents both Willy's inner knowledge of his own needs, and a model for Willy on how to live. He shows the former in his conversation at the end of Act II wherein, he tries to talk Willy out of his suicide. This is because Ben at this point is not Ben as we knew him earlier in the play, and is a manifestation of Willy's desire to leave this life. This is because he watched Ben make a fortune in Africa doing what Willy would have liked to work as, while he sat around trying to be "well-liked" enough to try to move up in a world which would not let him. Ben's representation of how Willy should have lived was modeled in this, as even if Ben did not go to Alaska, Willy felt he should have.

Period 5 Christian Mahlstedt

I believe statement f holds the greatest truth in Death of a Salesman because the conflict of this play results in Willy’s unbreakable love for his son which ultimately blocks his ability to realize reality. This can be seen specifically at the end of the play, when Biff admits that he is not a man of great worth and does not belong ordering men around, rather belongs working in the fields. However, Willy disagrees believing his son is an absolute winner despite all his son’s failures and kills himself in order to provide more money for Biff. This idea of love for something is also shown in Willy’s love for America, as he ultimately believes that if he is well liked he will be successful no matter what, however this idea is proven false as his love for America is betrayed when Howard, whom he helped name, denies him a job and fires him.

Although the play is primarily the story of Willy and his progression towards reaching complete madness, the play is also Biff’s journey towards recovery and realization of reality. I a sense the play does lead to the triumph of Biff as when he is arguing with Willy towards the end of the play, he admits he is not the most successful man and is somewhat a failure, however he realizes this and accepts it as he states that he wishes to find work in the fields rather than tertiary sector jobs, as working in the fields would better suit his skill set being such a good athlete. He does not let him failing to reach the National Football League drive him mad, as Willy let his economic and social failures. I believe Biff realizing what his life is best suited for, is essentially his ultimate triumph in the play.

I believe this tragedy is ultimately the fault of Willy himself. This is because he refused to humble himself or look at life with a sense of reality. This can be seen towards the end of the play when Charley offers Willy exactly what he desires and needs for him and his family, a job that is at home and pays well, yet he refuses. He refuses this job because he believes he is superior to Charley. Willy’s failure and tragedy is ultimately his own fault not his environment’s as Charley was able to thrive in the same environment and in my opinion Bernard’s success versus Biff’s failure are the result of Charley’s rationality, and Willy’s ignorance.

I believe this tragedy is ultimately the fault of Willy himself. This is because he refused to humble himself or look at life with a sense of reality. This can be seen towards the end of the play when Charley offers Willy exactly what he desires and needs for him and his family, a job that is at home and pays well, yet he refuses. He refuses this job because he believes he is superior to Charley. Willy’s failure and tragedy is ultimately his own fault not his environment’s as Charley was able to thrive in the same environment and in my opinion Bernard’s success versus Biff’s failure are the result of Charley’s rationality, and Willy’s ignorance.

F. I agree with this critics claim that Death of a Salesman is a love story between a man and his son, and in a crazy way between both of them and America for many reasons. It is a love story between a man and his son because throughout the play Biff and Willy have conflicts and they try to see eye to eye. This Is seen throughout the play because in Boston, Biff caught Willy cheating on his wife and felt broken. Willy cries and tries to get his son to forgive him. After that, Biff tries the whole play to love his father and forget what he did to his family. He tries to make Willy happy by going to the meeting with Bill. Also a love story between them and America as they both try throughout the whole play to fulfill the American Dream. Biff with football and Willy with business.

2.i think the quote "Some people accomplish something" by Willy is more accurate in life and more applicable to the text. It is more accurate in life because everyone has a certain role throughout their every day lives even if it is not a big one. Everyone does something that changes other peoples lives even if it doesn't seem as a huge deal. This is also applicable to the text because it seems as if every character was included in the play for a significant role. Some examples of this may be the women Willy was cheating with because she single handedly ruined the trust between Biff and Willy. Charles is another one because he portrays to the audience a more normal family rather than the difficulties in Willy's family.

4. Yes I agree with this statement that Biff loves his father enough to fight him and his lethal beliefs. I agree because even though Biff caught Willy cheating (which really hurt him and kind of crushed his dreams in a way), Biff continues listening to Linda and trying his best to make Willy more happy all throughout the play. This is seen when Biff goes to the meeting with Bill Oliver. Willy attempts to go into business to make his father proud, even though it isn't what he wants to do with his life at all. He continuously makes his life harder on himself to try and make his father happier or proud.

What does Willy’s difficulty with machines – especially his car, the refrigerator, his house, and Howard’s wire recorder – suggest about him?

Willy's many difficulties with machines throughout the whole play suggest that he is a lot more old style and really stuck in his past. I think this because all these machines were most likely invented while Willy was growing up and it probably was hard to get used to these new machines. He is stuck in the past because he tries for him and his sons to achieve the American Dream throughout the whole play.

Overall, the play seems to support this assertion. As opposed to what Willy seemed to intend by saying this, the playwright chooses to take this concept to its most radical form. We see this based on the fact that despite Willy’s actions, which included spending over 32, supposedly successful, years as a salesman at the company, he was still laid off. The reason for this in terms of the premise is that both Willy’s past actions did not matter and that he was not particularly well liked, neither his boss or his clients. This is further exacerbated by the fact did not really have a real smile on his face as for most of the play he was tired of his long commute and of selling. As soon as that happened his life seemed to fall apart more quickly, with him eventually taking his own life by the end of the book.

Overall, Willy’s attitude towards the technological props in the play vary wildly depending on the purpose they serve. One example of this would be his car. During flashbacks and other references to the past, Willy’s car is a shiny red Buick that he took immense pride in. During the modern days his car is depicted as far more beat up and old than his old car. This car could be representative of Willy’s vision on life. During the past his car was like a dream, much like life in his flashbacks. Other technology, like wire recorder show how Willy has fallen out of favor with the times and is being left behind. The refrigerator is intended to be an extension of the house in that as soon as he is finished paying for it, it breaks down. This represents how society only provides for people as long as they are useful to someone.

Overall, I would argue that Willy’s struggle was more pathetic than tragic. While this did preserve the force of the play, Willy’s manner of problem solving did not allow him to gain any kind of self knowledge by the end of the play. I believe that the main force of the play is how Willy has nearly gone mad the betrayals he has received, both from his boss, Howard, and from his sons, especially Biff. Willy being laid off could be seen as a betrayal to him because after spending so many years with the company, he could not have expected to get laid off. Biff failing to go to school, not getting the deal with Oscar, and his fight with Willy further exasperated Willy’s psychological decline during the restaurant scene by suggesting Willy was a failure as a father. What made Willy’s struggles seem pathetic rather than tragic was the fact that rather than face the facts, Willy chose to instead deny reality and believe in a falsely constructed narrative. This prevented him from attaining and self-knowledge at any point in the play and instead led to him killing himself to prove that he was not a bad father and prove everyone was wrong except him.

According to Miller, Charley is the most moral character in the play. Ben on the other hand, was in the diamond business in Africa; considering the conditions that most of such of these diamond mines, this can be considered to make Ben to be an amoral individual. It is also important to mention Ben’s suave demeanor. The main difference between the two is that Ben exists almost exclusively in Willy’s head while Charley is real. This is because Ben represents Willy’s ideal image of success. Charley on the other hand was intended to be Willy’s foil and rival. He is Willy’s foil because he is everything Willy is not; Charley is successful, has a good relationship with his successful son, and is humble.

Period 5, Luanna Campos

The play rejects this assertion by juxtaposing the successes of the Loman family and Charley’s due to their differing ideologies. The
Loman family believed that to be successful, one only had to be attractive and well-liked. This is demonstrated by Miller’s portrayal of Biff as athletic, and “a young man with such personal attractiveness.” Despite this, the playwright reduces Biff’s potential, and he ends up being a 34 year old “loser” without a stable job or life. Willy’s claims are juxtaposed and refuted by the play through the depictions of Charley and Bernard, and their successes despite their deliberate entrances in only knickers and nerdy disposition. Bernard and Charley are characterized as intelligent and hard working, rather than attractive. Miller deliberately makes Charley and Bernard successful in the tumultuous nature of capitalism to demonstrate the play’s rejection of Willy’s claims.

I agree that Biff is not a weightier counterbalance to Willy’s disaster and that it is too much of Willy’s tale. Within the play Biff is only an elaborate tool of Miller to agitate the mental state of Willy. This is demonstrated by the way the negative nature of Willy’s relationship with Biff feeds into the delusions Willy has, such as his conversations with Ben. Biff refuted the American Dream Willy sold him during his childhood when he discovered Willy’s infidelity and cried “you fake! You phony little fake!” Willy interpreted Biff’s refutation of the dream as spite and “dislike” towards him, which perpetuates Willy’s conversations with Ben, where he discusses how to make Biff “like” him again and be successful. Within these delusional conversations, Willy ultimately decides to kill himself in order to win Biff’s love back through the assumed life insurance payment. Biff is only a facet and catalyst to the dilapidation of Willy’s psyche. The play centralizes around the decomposition of Willy’s mental health, and Biff is a tool to destroy it.

I find Willy pathetic because of his frivolous quantifications of life and success, such as “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 again.” He prefers the validation of strangers and colleagues, similar to that which Dave Singleman received, rather than receive the undying love of his family. Willy believes that attractiveness and amicability are the tools which one can find success, which is obviously incorrect and the laziest means by which to secure success. He devotes his entire life to this ideology, and commits suicide to rationalize his existence by leaving money from the life insurance policy behind. Despite his pathetic nature, I don’t believe it weakens the force of the play. In fact, I believe it reinforces the strength of the play as the audience watches a feeble man devote the last bits of his existence to the belief that hung him up to dry in hopes of finding forgiveness from his son. It creates pathos for Willy within the audience, thus allowing them to sympathize with Willy. This sympathy makes the audience understand the depth of Willy’s suffering. This understanding of Willy’s tragedy strengthens the play.

A contradiction is on page 16 where Willy cries “Biff is a lazy bum,” and then states “there’s one thing about Biff - he’s not lazy.” This contradiction demonstrates that Willy is always appeasing Biff, hoping that this appeasement will make Biff “like” and validate him again, because according to Willy, one must be liked to be successful. Another contradiction is when Willy states “the competition is maddening!” Willy himself believes in the competition of salesmanship and the American dream, yet does not agree or handle the effects of it very well. This demonstrates the fallibility of Willy’s beliefs and mental state. A final contradiction is when Wolly claims he made five hundred gross whereas he made 180 gross. This contradiction demonstrates the lies and instability within Willy’s mind and the memory scenes. He does not accurately recollect events for what they were and visualizes a stronger success for himself to compensate for his lack of success in salesmanship.

The play completely rejects the assertion that being well liked can have an overall greater impact in business than what you do. Examples of this can be found in several characters. One of which is Biff. Biff was well liked by his father, and was very popular while in high school. However, in the future, he is struggling to find work, went to jail for 3 months, and said himself that he lacks sales skills to go into that type of work. On the other hand, you can see the opposite outcome in Bernard. Bernard was not well liked in high school, and blown off my Biff, Willy, and others. But now in the present day, he is a rich, successful man who is going to the supreme court for a case.

I most agree with Miller statement that “The past, as in hallucination, comes back to him; not chronologically as in flashback, but dynamically with the inner logic of his erupting volcanic unconsciousness.” This quote emphasizes that these moments in the past throughout the play are no flashbacks. This is important to distinguish, as the events we see are from Willy’s memory, and may be distorted from the truth. The term “hallucination” is accurate in instances in which the present day Willy is talking to a character in the past, like with his brother Ben. Ben had died a while back, however, when Willy is playing cards with Charley and when he is planting seed packets, Ben is present, talking to him about business proposals.

Farming imagery is important in the play to show contrast in Willy’s life. In the second act of the play, after Willy is left in the bathroom of Frank’s Chop House, Willy wants to buy seeds for planting. This is to show Willy’s longing for a purpose in his life. Planting seeds using his hands gives him a sense of direct impact, unlike his job which is more of a metaphysical impact on the world. Rural life is also important to show contrast between Willy and his older brother, Ben. Ben constantly repeats that he was 17 when he walked into the jungle, and when he was 21, he walked out a rich man. Ben, the older brother, having this success with the rural life has put Willy in his shadow, constantly trying to develop an equally substantial living in the urban world.

Ben and Charley function as opposites because they are both successful men that come from two completely different worlds. Ben walked in and out of the jungle and make his living with diamonds, where Charley made a living through business. Both serve the same function by offering Willy an opportunity to end his suffering, but are both denied as Willy believes that those jobs are beneath him. These two characters serve to emphasize Willy’s stubbornness, and refusal to have help in his job, while Willy still gets literal money from Charley to pay for insurance/act like his job is still paying him.

In my opinion, letter F is the statement that holds the greatest truth in my reading of the play. Miller's interpretation on his play is interpreted through a father's love and dreams of his son, but the rejection of it due to the mistakes he has made. This is also ironically compared to their position in society and their love/hate towards it. The father (Willy) ended up sacrificing himself to show his love toward his family, specifically his older son, Biff. However, throughout the play there is also a comparison/demonstration of their roles in society and how it has affected them. In Willy's case, his passion of being a salesman and his wanting for his son to be someone extravagant in the future, soon led to his downfall of wanting more and more, which eventually led to his death. In Biff's case, he was a football player, which is the main sport played in America, and this illustrates how they supported their American beliefs.

Willy's difficulty with machines suggests that he is old and not used to new technology, which is taking over many jobs of the salesmen. These objects also symbolize the payments he needs to make, and the problem he encounters that he doesn't have enough money to do so. "Planned obsolescence," insurance, and "buying on time" (credit) figure into the play in many ways especially in the way they all lead to Willy's death. Willy's attitudes toward the products (cars, refrigerator, home, etc.) that he buys and uses is that he doesn't like them because he says that by the time they fully pay for them, it is already old and useless, and they would need to get a new one.

Willy Loman's story is both pathetic and tragic. Willy believed that a salesman like himself will be one of very little few, however his main problem was that he didn't agree to the fact that he was only just a normal salesman and no one really special. That's what makes it pathetic, especially when he tried to ignore that fact that it was reality, and not imaginary. It is tragic because he began believing false information, and the only way he could forget about them was when he kept on bringing back old memories, good or bad. This is even more tragic because due to all of this denial he had, he ended up committing suicide.

Charley and Bernard father and son relationship greatly differs from Willy and Biff's relationship. Charley was a father who let Bernard choose his future and decide for himself of what he was going to be and what he was going to do. He was a chill father who was very close and honest to his son. Willy, on the other hand, was different. He wanted Biff to go a path that he chose for him, and he wasn't very close or all that honest with him. This worsened even more when Biff found out that his father was cheating on his mother. There are many more differences, however those are the main ones.

Based on these two views of life, the one that more accurately defines life is Willy’s point of view. “Some people accomplish something,” is a better way of saying there are winners and losers in life. There are those who thrive and are able to actually achieve something that others can’t. Sometimes in life, there are people who either don’t have the motivation to achieve something, or they spend their entire life trying to accomplish that one things and it takes attention away from the other important things in their life (much like Willy himself). On the other hand, there are those who put in the work and in the end actually get the best results (for example, Bernard).

-The main reason that the Requiem at the end of the play is significant is because I believe it brings closure to the play. There are many cliffhangers but this ties up at least one of the loose ends.
-Without it, there would be too many unanswered questions about what happened to Willy. If there wasn’t a Requiem, at the end of the play you would only know that he left in the car, there are various possibilities as to what could happen to him.
-Linda’s last words in the Requiem are probably the most important ones for her character. Although Miller has given women the role of being inferior and dumb, this is a step up for women in the play. She tells Willy that she has paid off the house, that “[They’re] free.” She even tells Willy that she’s not going to cry but then does. It’s emotional, but as stated before it also brings closure.

I think Willy’s story is pathetic. There isn’t a part of me that thinks that it’s tragic. I think I lost all respect for him when I finally realized that he was cheating on Linda. I would be more sympathetic to him if he hadn’t done something like that to make him lose his mind. It’s hard to feel sorry for him because he was the one that ruined Biff’s life. You can’t put that on a kid, especially when they already have enough going on in their life and now they have to handle this to. Willy is getting pity from people like Happy and Linda, two people who don’t know about what happened, and it’s not fair. Nothing tragic happened to him he just go caught in a lie. By the end of the play, Willy ends up feeling guilty which then causes him to kill himself, but this is selfish. He should’ve confronted Linda instead of just running away from his problems and acting like they aren’t there.

Charley is supportive and proud of what his son has become; he knows Bernard put in the work to be where he is today. As for Willy, he thinks that he could've had a better life had Biff not found out. I feel like Willy doesn't feel like its his fault that Biff didn't have that great of a turn out; when in reality, it is.

5, Matthew Ghabras

In Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the main interpretation I found was the idea that DOAS is a love story between a man and his son, and how they both are faced against America. This is referring to the American dream, and how a man and his son both strive for the American dream. As seen on page 16, Willy talks about Biff’s hard work and personal attractiveness, suggesting that anyone, especially his son, who works hard is destined to have success in America. By the end of the play, we see how Willy’s love for Biff resulted in his own suicide as he believed his son didn’t want to carry out his dreams anymore.

In Death of a Salesman, I believe Miller uses Biff as a character in order to show the faults within Willy and Willy’s mind. While you can read the story as Biff’s eventual triumph because of how he was finally able to convince his father that he didn’t want to live out his father’s dreams anymore, it is a story of Biff’s rise and Willy’s fall. This is why I believe Miller did strike the right balance as he showed the tough relationship between Willy and Biff all stemming from page 120 when Biff finds out his father was cheating on his mother. This was the fall of Willy and Biff, but ever since the time that passed from that scene, Biff has been able to rise back up and live out his dreams without his father’s criticism.

Willy in Death of a Salesman is definitely a tragic character as it is about a man who struggles to live and abide in a society that is completely different from the one he grew up in, and results in his slow decay into insanity. While one can blame society for Willy’s faults, Willy himself has led to his own demise in his beliefs in the American dream, and how you can reach greatness from nothing. By the end of the play, Willy realized that the dream he had been living by for his entire life, Willy decides to end his life as he has been living by a dream his whole life.

Ben represents Willy’s dreams and his thoughts on his sons and his won life. Whenever Ben appears in DOAS, it is always when Willy needs help from someone else, and is a figment of his imagination and how Ben always agrees with what Willy is thinking, just as how when Willy on page 49 shows Ben his kids, where Ben agrees with him they are well brought up. Ben is used by Miller to show how Willy believes in the American dream and the idea of Ben being successful keeps him going to achieve the dream.

The play somewhat supports this idea. Willy sees himself as a well known and well liked man, and therefore he believes that he is working towards a fortune. However most people outside of Willy's family see Willy as a blundering fool working towards an unrealistic goal, and for this reason don't want to be associated with him, such as Howard firing him. Ben on the other hand appears from Willy's point of view as a charismatic salesman who embodies this goal of his. From Willy's point of view Ben's charisma and popularity led to his wealth.

The best example of the structure of Death Of A Salesman is the jam and rice pudding example from Arcadia. This metaphor represents how the two time periods are seemingly linked and cannot be separated in any way, much like how you cannot un-stir jam from pudding. In terms of Death Of A Salesman, this represents the state of Willy's mind, as he lives in both the present and his past memories. To Willy, these two time periods are seemingly inseparable, resulting in him having flashbacks to 1928, and as the audience sees the majority of the play from Willy's point of view, this changes how the audience sees the play.

This play certainly criticizes the capitalist structure of the post World War 2 era, as blue collar workers became somewhat expendable or replaceable pieces of a machine, such as Willy. However this play is not meant to attack capitalism on the whole, in favor of communism. An example of this is Charlie. Miller has stated that Charlie is the most decent man in play, and that he is a capitalist. Charlie is continually willing to offer a job to Willy, whom many people see as a lost cause of sorts. In addition, the play never directly or indirectly offers an alternative to capitalism, which weakens the arguement that this play promotes communism.

Ben represents the goal that Willy has been working towards since he met Dave Singleman. He represents the smart, charismatic, successful, businessman that Willy believes can be achieved by becoming a well known and well liked salesman. he also in turn represents the American dream, as anyone, even someone who comes from a non-wealthy family such as Ben can become a success.

The play ultimately contains a little bit of each of these interpretations. For the most part I would mostly agree that it is about a man who kills himself because he isn't like, however I would argue that it's not that he isn't like but it's more that he isn't needed anymore. Willy is fighting a battle against structural unemployment in society but another battle amongst his family. For this reason the play is a hybrid between choice f and d. D is relevant because not only is Willy battling society and the advancements of a capitalist society but also a battle with his son Biff. Willy wants Biff to be a successful football player, as a young man, and a successful business man, as an adult. Biff realizes that this isn't what his life is supposed to come too, yet Willy can't fathom an unsuccessful son in a capitalist society. America is getting in between the relationship between father and son. This is why the play is a hybrid of options f and d because America is having effect on the love Biff and Willy have and once had but at the same time setting standards for the two men, which neither can achieve because for Willy he isn't like and for Biff he isn't capable of being successful.

Stage props are essential in characterizing Willy. Willy is essentially an old fashioned salesman that doesn't have the young, salesman look that a progressing capitalist society wants and needs. The stage props such as the refrigerator, the car and the wire recorder are crucial in this characterization of Willy because they show his inability to keep up with the times. A time of new technology and a new generation of salesman and bosses( Willy's younger boss). These objects symbolize an advancing society, one in which Willy is quickly falling out of. He takes on an attitude of resentment towards these machines, for example with the wire recorder, it was apparent that it was cool and interesting for Howard but Willy didn't care too much about it. In addition, Willy's car is old and out of style but he talks about it like it is the best vehicle on the market. These object and stage props symbolize the older generation quickly becoming less and less relevant in a society that continues to advance.

I think the play is a social commentary and criticism of American Society and the capitalist system that can and will destroy a person at the snap of a finger. Willy as he continues to get older is losing social and psychological status and in a capitalist society this can't be. Miller makes this point especially in the scene where Willy is asking Howard for a position working in the office and Howard won't give him one or help Willy out. Willy then mentions how Howard's father was his best friend and would help him out if need be. What I got from this scene, is the loss of friendship and love in society, people are more greedy and Willy is still stuck in a time where society was more forgiving. Howard's line business is business hits the tone of this argument because, at the end of the day its about efficiency and money in the new greedy capitalist society that is becoming more and more technologically advanced. America is becoming more hostile of the people within in it naturally.

Dave Singleman's character is essential in forming the character of Willy because Willy is inspired by him, yet Dave Singleman set a bad example for the way life should be lived. Willy got the idea that he may never have to retire and therefore never worry about the future causing him to jus think in the present throughout the play. This is why Willy is so tragic, he lived his life trying to be someone else who wasn't necessarily a good role model. The name "Singleman" suggests that Dave was a single man, one without priorities and one without the same responsibilities as Willy (wife, kids). His name also suggests a man who without these responsibilities is able to work until an old age. I think Willy fills in the missing parts to the character of Dave Singleman and Willy reveals the harshness of a traveling salesman. Miller included the line, "and by the way he died the death of a salesman", which foreshadowed the fact that Willy was going to die a working salesman, and suggested that Dave Singleman's apparent glamorous lifestyle wasn't so glamorous after all.

F) "Death of Salesman is a love story between a man and his son, and in a crazy way between both of them and America" is true in the sense of how Biff and Willy had a complex relationship that was indefinitely of love. Willy loved his son and always bragged about Biff to everyone. For example, when he was talking to Bernard in the present, he mentioned how Biff was successful as he was about to launch a "big" deal. In the past, Biff was successful with sports and the ladies, and Willy felt that his son could do anything because was street smart and was popular and had connections. Furthermore, Biff's love for his father is evident when he removed the pipe in the basement, which was the tool Willy was going to use for suicide. In addition, he exclaims to Happy at the restaurant and ask for help for himself and for his father. These examples show the love that they both had for each other.

The Requiem functions to shift the blame off of Willy's lost efforts for success as an individual onto the profession itself because of the expectations and demands that it has through Charley's speech about the nature of salesman dreams. It also functions to explain how Willy bought himself into the myth of the "American Dream". He was able to raise a family under a house and was able to buy several things, but in the end, failed to receive the gifts that the "dream" offered. He did not make realistic standards, which led to his death. Lastly, it functions to create sadness in the readers as no matter his efforts, Willy had no one by his side but his family and Charley's as no one came to the funeral.

I believe that DOAS is in fact an attack on Capitalism because it gives a strong example through Willy and his family of the negative aspects the economic system has on society. Miller has Willy as someone who is constantly buying sup-par goods that only last for awhile and is constant need of repairs. He is a good representation of the poverty cycle that capitalism has as it is hard for him to get out of the constant need for money for minor things because he can only afford essential items that are almost broken. He is also a strong representation of structural unemployment and the effects it has on people because he used to be a good salesman that was known, but over time, things change, demand is different and people grow old. He is no longer who he was back then and results in someone who has no ability to get a job. Furthermore, American capitalist society is growing to a more professional, but heartless system as it is one where friendships break because business is the major concern. With Howard, even though his dad in the past would've helped him out, now, he feels that Willy is a liability and doesn't feel the need to help him out in the goodness of his heart.
I believe that DOAS is in fact an attack on Capitalism because it gives a strong example through Willy and his family of the negative aspects the economic system has on society. Miller has Willy as someone who is constantly buying sup-par goods that only last for awhile and is constant need of repairs. He is a good representation of the poverty cycle that capitalism has as it is hard for him to get out of the constant need for money for minor things because he can only afford essential items that are almost broken. He is also a strong representation of structural unemployment and the effects it has on people because he used to be a good salesman that was known, but over time, things change, demand is different and people grow old. He is no longer who he was back then and results in someone who has no ability to get a job. Furthermore, American capitalist society is growing to a more professional, but heartless system as it is one where friendships break because business is the major concern. With Howard, even though his dad in the past would've helped him out, now, he feels that Willy is a liability and doesn't feel the need to help him out in the goodness of his heart.

Willy and Biff was very close when Biff was younger. Willy looked towards Biff as someone who was going to be the best in life and supported him saying how he would get far in life through his relationships with people despite Bernard telling him to study. However, Charley and Bernard were more distant with his father not being as involved in Bernard's affairs. Later in life, Willy asks Charley where he went wrong and how Bernard ended up the way he did and Charley responded with how he's happy he was not as involved. By doing this, one can assume that Bernard was able to flourish independently, leading to his success as a lawyer at the Supreme Court.

The play overall rejects this assertion in that almost all of the characters that are not Willy find themselves to be successful. Not all of the characters found success in the same way, but they do not find it through the connections and likability that Willy claims. Howard finds success through inheritance. Stanley and Bernard both find themselves well off as a result of hard work. Willy’s brother Ben made a fortune purely out of luck, and did not have to be likeable or have the connections that Willy claims to need. The difference in the way that the different characters turned out is exemplified by the part in the play where Willy says to Charley “The Supreme Court! And he didn’t even mention it!” (95) This quote shows that Bernard is truly a hard worker and does not feel the need to flaunt his professional status. This is something that Willy can not comprehend the idea of someone being successful when they are not well-liked and do not have connections.

Willy’s trouble with machines is symbolic that he is dated and is no longer required by society. The refrigerator shows that Willy is a person that buys things based on flashy advertising. Willy’s struggle with the wire recorder shows that he is no longer well acquainted with the new technology that is being used by most of society. In addition to that the wire recorder displays the class difference between Willy and Howard. Howard is able to afford the new technologies that come out, while Willy and his family still face financial struggle. This is shown in the play when Howard says to Willy “I bought it for dictation, but you can do anything with it” (77) This quote shows that Howard is able to purchase new technologies at his leisure, something Willy can not afford to do. Given that Willy is not able to afford such technologies, they are very foreign to him. In the play Willy accidentally switches on the recorder and “leaping away with fright” (83) shows that Willy is outdated by society’s standards and is not acquainted with new mechanical devices. Credit figures into the play as Willy will always be paying for the things that he has. He will never truly own the things that he pays for. This by some extent plays into planned obsolescence in that by the time he has paid off the things that he has, he will not be able to use them.

The play is a social criticism as it comments on the specific factors of the American dream. The play shows that even one who follows the system whole heartedly can be cast away once they have made their contribution. In the play Willy is shocked to find out that he will see no sympathy from Howard even after he has dedicated more time to the firm than Howard has been alive. “I put thirty-four years into this firm, … You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away,” (82) This demonstrates how Willy has dedicated a majority of his life to a specific firm and then he is not rewarded accordingly. He was simply drained of his efforts and then discarded once he had fulfilled his duty. Even in a time when he is desperate the capitalist system will turn him away in his time of need. “You’ll have to excuse me, Willy, I gotta see some people” (83) This shows the idea that Howard simply can not take time for Willy and his problems. In terms of whether or not Americans like watching a play like this, I think there are some that simply need the awakening or need to be provided with the question that makes people ask themselves what it is that they are working so hard for.

In the play Ben is representative of something that only few achieve. That is success merely by luck. On the other hand Charley is one to show that hard work is what is required to truly accomplish something in life. In essence Charley is not a fanatic, and he is one that is there to try and set Willy on the right path. There is a sense of contrasting realism that is shown between the two characters. Charley is a character that is realistic, he represents what will be true for the average individual. Ben is a character that is not realistic and this is because he is representative of something that few will accomplish. Charley tries to bring realism to Willy’s eyes in saying “Listen, if they steal any more from that building the watchman’ll put the cops on them!” (50) He tries to show Willy that there is a certain amount of realism that Willy needs to bring to his attention. Ben being the opposite stimulates Willy’s fascination thinking that riches can come to anyone if they are lucky. “... and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God I was rich” (48).

4th, Danielle Crawford

The play essentially focuses on Willy and his dream, but in reality, the people Willy knows are all pretty well off which is quite ironic seeing the struggles in Willy's everyday life. Willy's brother Ben is a wealthy man who represents the life in which Willy desperately wants to achieve. We also see Willy's neighbor Charley who is well off and is generally nice to Willy and his family. Charley has offered help to Willy many times throughout the play and it seems that all Willy gives back is insults. Willy is constantly trying to put Charley down which just shows how self-destructing he truly is. Helped has been offered to Willy but he is too stubborn to take what's given to him, therefore, even though Willy may know people who could increase his business potential, yet he is too busy comparing himself to them and longing for a dream he won't ever achieve.

I believe that in the tragedy "Oedipus Rex" one can see that his essential struggle was to run from the truth. Oedipus was left on a mountain to die because there was a rumor that the son of Jocasta and Laius would "murder his father and marry his mother". Oedipus was foretold at the oracle of Delphi that he would commit the murder of his father, therefore, Oedipus ran from the possibility of him ever doing so. To shorten this.... Basically, Oedipus has been told that he is the murderer but doesn't believe that is the truth until he retraces his steps on his journey to Thebes. Thebes is suffering a plague which will only be uplifted if the murderer is brought to justice, therefore, upon realizing the truth Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus blinds himself with her dress pins. In DOAS, Willy refuses to accept the offers of the well-off people who surround him. He self-destructs himself as he makes these choices by trying to keep his own dignity. He does what any others do, fails to realize that by accepting help he could essentially be helping himself and provide more for his family then he already is. This creates a stressful environment around himself and others because he is always struggling to stay above water while he could use the help of others to his own advantage. Miller creates the optimistic feel in the play while still including the pessimistic reality that surrounds the characters.

Period 5, Peter Kim

I chose (d). The straight-forward statement is that the play is about how Willy did kill himself because he was not liked as not only did he mention earlier in his life that he was not liked by his associates and peers near the beginning of the play, but also, he believed Biff did not like him. This was clearly seen at the end of play where Willy remarks and is shocked at the fact that Biff loves him for what he is; he kills himself because despite the realization that Biff loved him, he wanted to appear to sacrifice his life in order to give his kids a push start in the world with twenty thousand dollars of insurance money that would come in. The quote stated by Willy “always loved me. Isn’t that a remarkable thing? Ben, he’ll worship me for it!” (pg. 135) comes into play with this tragic epiphany of a sort. This sad finale depicts the harsh reality and truth that Willy had to deal with every day constantly where he lived in misery and illusions in order to cope with the life he had.

Overall, this is about Biff and Willy as throughout the play, these two characters conflict a lot as son and father respectively. It does revolve around Willy of course in the play as he seems to be the anchor of the plot where the plot is able to branch out into the lives of other characters while maintaining its intended purpose by tying it all back to Willy. It does balance pretty well with both Willy and Biff from what I can see despite the argument being made that perhaps Willy does have a more significant role in the play in an explicit manner, but perhaps through careful analysis and a second reading, it is shown that Biff has an influence on a great deal of Willy’s character and his behavior. Such an example would be how Willy seems a bit obsessed or somewhat too deeply enveloped in the idea of Biff working for Bill Oliver and the thought itself drives Willy to happiness as seen at the scenes at the dinner at Frank’s Chop House. The quote “did you see Oliver?” and the repetitive question asked by Willy on pg.106 – 107 shows the influence of Biff’s being over Willy in which Willy leads the play’s plot, but his actions seem to be determined by Biff on a majority of things. In the end, Biff is triumphant to an extent, but this victory on his side doesn't come without consequences which is the simple fact that he lost his father due to suicide perhaps forever haunting him and his mindset as money was what basically killed him.

I find Willy personally tragic and a sort of pitying emotion developing for his character as it appears that he has a sort of pride and ego that every man stereotypically has which leads to his demise in a way. He refuses the job from Charley despite it occurring twice with the offer due to his guilt and ego along with a slight sense of pride as a salesman; he’s seen as a sort of lost yet loyal character in which he’s extremely loyal to his job, driving miles on end for one pitch, and yet lost as he appears to struggle to cope with the reality he dwells in as he has fantasies and flashbacks of his past self and the “good old days” as some would put it. At the end of the play, this tragic Willy does come to acknowledge the fact that he is stuck in this situation unless he can get out of it through the method of suicide and does realize that only one person truly likes or loves him for what he is which happens to be Biff as he makes a shocking recognition; he overall does come to some self-acknowledgement and recognition at the end before his time is up. The quote “can you imagine that magnificence with twenty thousand dollars in his pocket?” (pg. 135) depicts Willy’s acknowledgement of the hopelessness of the situation and the only way to get out of it is to end it all which would be through suicide thus becoming a character tragedy.

Ben is this sort of negative optimistic character as contradictory as that seems; he is not only the encouraging one and role model of Willy, but also the person who encourages Willy to suicide although it is only a figment of Willy’s fantastical daydreams where he is not himself. Willy depicts Ben as a symbol of success, the “American Dream” or however it is called in that time period but contradicts Willy as he is not only more successful than him, but also represents a different sense of optimism that Willy craves. Willy seems to chase a sort of positive optimism where he remains hopeful to his career as a salesman while Ben downplays Willy into thinking that this salesman career choice was an awful one and constantly reminds Willy of a missed opportunity of finding a diamond mine. Ben says those things to Willy as he encourages Willy with optimism through a negative intent where Willy would give up his own life to provide a path and life for his two sons. The quote “a perfect proposition all around” is stated by Ben at the end of the play on page 135 where he agrees with Willy after enticing him to suicide in a manner that causes the insurance money to come to the family in order to aid them as Willy has now fully been convinced that his time is up, looking optimistic to his death and the positive results it may hold through the negative actions he took. The statements made by Ben are enticing as Willy looks up to him and cannot differentiate his daydreams from his reality thus gives into his role model and succumbs to suicide, meeting a tragic fate.

I agree with the statement, “Biff loves his father enough to fight him and his lethal beliefs.” Throughout the play, Biff seems to struggle with who he is and what he wishes to accomplish. However, by the end, the audience finds that Biff has always known exactly who he is, but has obtained an internal conflict due to Willy’s influence. Willy believes that pride in life is based upon how well-liked one may become, or how attractive one is physically, naturally pushing Biff to become a salesman. Biff, however, wishes to work with his hands outdoors. An internal conflict is created, as Biff seeks validation from his father and is scared of disappointing him; he wants his father to be just as proud of him as he was when Biff was a teenager. Biff states, “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! Why can’t I say that Willy?” (132).

Willy always seems to be, at first, pleased with the products which he buys and uses. However, once Linda announces the cost to fix such a product, Willy seems to contradict himself and place negative aspects upon the product. For instance, Willy first states, “Chevrolet, Linda, is the greatest car ever built,” (34). However, once Linda reveals the cost to pay for a repair on the car, Willy changes his outlook only a few minutes later, stating, “That goddam Chevrolet, they ought to prohibit the manufacture of that car,” (36).

The sudden change of view is most likely due to the guilt in which he feels since he cannot financially support the family he loves so much. Willy believes that most men are dignified by the amount of money they can bring home to the family, as most men believed during this time period. The audience can see how much his lack of financial support affects his thoughts throughout the play. By the end of the play, the audience can determine that Willy ultimately kills himself in order to supply his family with the money they need, specifically Biff “...with twenty thousand behind him,” (133).

The urban lifestyle of towering buildings and large masses of people frustrates Willy, as “you can’t raise a carrot in the backyard,” (17). Urbanization becomes a toxic symbol which represents the lack of growth or improvement and failures of Willy’s life, specifically, his failure as a father. The seeds in which he has planted in the backyard no longer grow, just as the seeds he has planted in his children no longer flourish. His children remain mere seedlings or teenagers, rather than full-grown developing adults, as they have no sense of a determined future in mind. Willy, through planting seeds, wished to grow something that would flourish long after his death. However, these seeds could not grow under the pressure of the city life, and thus neither could he. Whereas, before the city had developed, in the rural times, he was happy with the way in which his seeds were able to thrive.

“Biff is a lazy bum!” (16) “There’s one thing about Biff – he’s not lazy.” (16)
These contradictory statements represent the internal conflict within Willy. He feels guilty, as he has failed to train his son for the rigorous life in the real world. Willy also wishes to live in the past, when Biff was a successful teenager. In this case, I agree with Miller’s quote because Willy is clearly struggling to accept reality, attempting not to blame himself nor Biff for negative consequences.

“And don’t say ‘Gee.’ ‘Gee’ is a boy’s word. A man walking in for fifteen thousand dollars does not say ‘Gee!’” (65) “Walk in with a big laugh” (65)
Due to the absence of his father, Willy was never able to learn average social norms and thus cannot teach them to his son. He often wonders if his own approach is the correct approach and constantly seeks validation, since he never received any from his father.

“Bigger than Uncle Charley! Because Charley is not – liked. He’s liked, but he’s not – well liked.” (30)
Here, Willy is pondering his actions regarding the approach he took in planting his seeds, nourishing them through the teachings of physical appearance, rather than accomplishments. He attempts to make himself feel better by stating that Charley is not well-liked, justifying the fact that he raised a better child and earned more money through referring to his physical appearance and stance in society.

Death of a Salesman deconstructs many of the hardships and complications of the idea of “The American Dream”. Ideally America is supposed to be the land of opportunity. The protagonist Willy Loman, is a salesman representing the average american man. He spends most of his time traveling the world selling for the Wagner company. He misses out on the opportunity to properly raise his two children Happy and Biff. His wife Linda states to Happy,” He works for a company thirty-six years this March, opens up unheard-of territories to their trademark, and now in his old age they take his salary away.” This demonstrates that Willy has given up his whole life to the idea of the american dream and he has nothing to show for it. Furthermore he neglects his two children in the process, and now they acquired the poor skills of their father Willy due to having poor representation. These negative characteristics affect all of the Loman men and as a result, neither of them reach state of wealth and prosperity.

The way the play is structured, it is made in a way that the audience is able to see both past and present due to Millers bending of time in order for the audience to gain a better understanding of how Willy is losing his sense of reality. Miller creates Willy in a way that he relives the past. An example of this would be when Willy is talking to his wife and she is mending the stockings he states, “I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out!” This statement represents Willy reliving the guilt of having a mistress

It can be argued that Willy Loman is both pathetic and tragic. Tragic being he was born into a system that was destined to fail, and pathetic for at any second believing he could escape the terrible fate by repeating the past. Even the way he left the play was both tragic and pathetic. He died by committing suicide which in most cases is the cowardly tragic way out. However he thought that is what the family needed. In many instances, Willy tried to look at the brighter side of things insgtead of looking at the actual issues. An example of this would be his treatment towards his son Biff. As a child Biff displayed some very unredeemable characteristics. Instead of WIlly addressing those issues he focused on Biffs physical traits, and as a result Biff is a lazy bum and WIlly reminence on his sons highschool days.

Ben represents societies idea of everything done right. Ben went to school, made decent grades, and was more so academically inclined than phycially inclined. He was also disciplined. As a result he grew up to be fairly successful in cpomparison to his child colleagues Happy and Biff. Ben represents the individuals that are lucky enough in society to have something but unwilling to take the risky entreprenuerial step to achieve greatness. He believed in a narrow path, he stuck to it and as a result he is living the better part of the American Dream.
.

I find this interpretation of the play to be particularly true. Throughout the play, Biff is constantly pulled towards nature, where he feels most free from his father and the pressures of being successful and “well liked,” however, upon his return home, Biff is consumed once again with these energies which drive him in circles leaving him lost and unsure of who he is or what he should be. Charley and Bernard on the other hand have a peaceful and supportive relationship where being “well liked” is not ultimately seen as equal to or guaranteed success. Because of this, Bernard is able to begin his journey of self realization at a early age and strive for what he believes is his authentic self and life.

I enjoy Miller’s metaphoric use of Willy’s “erupting volcanic unconsciousness” to depict how his unconscious evolves from small interrupting scenes or characters from Willy’s past coalescing and/or colliding with the present reality, similar to that of Arcadia, into a controlling realistic hallucination which convinces and pressures him into his eventual suicide. To demonstrate the growing strength of these hallucinations Miller makes use of flute music which gets increasingly more dramatic and daunting as Willy’s imagination gets stronger, consuming him more often and coming as negative memories symbolic of his negative and suicidal thoughts. The music finally “crashes down in a frenzy of sound” and becomes a single cello string after the audience hears the sound of the car crash signaling the death of Willy Loman.

Arthur Miller shows contempt toward the American capitalist system through Howard and setting. Howards line, “business is business,” used to justify firing Willy at his lowest point shows how businesses have become less emotional and empathetic toward workers and simply focus on making a profit even at the expense of the American people. Through setting, Miller depicts society’s disregard for nature and therein the root of humanity. Numerous times Willy comments on his house being boxed-in by apartment buildings making him unable to see the moon, stars, or plant anything in the yard as it will never grow. On the other hand, Miller implants his criticism on the failure and lack of rationality of the American dream through Dave Singleman and Happy’s merchandise manager. It is stated in the play that Singleman was “loved by all,” however, his name suggests otherwise as he died alone at 84, still working, calling buyers and traveling from city to city. Similarly, Happy’s merchandise manager is said to have built an estate in Long Island, lived there for a few months and sold that one and built another. Additionally, Happy confesses to having all he ever wanted in life, his childish idea of success and happiness, and yet, he is lonely.

Dave Singleman was a demonstration of the of the American dream success story and reason Willy became a salesman. What drew Willy to look up to Singleman and give up finding his father or going into business with his successful brother was that Singleman was “loved by all” being that “hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral,” however he died alone, no wife or kids at 84, still working. If the American dream is to be well liked in a world of business, by the standard presented in the play in 1948, how can you tell if you are liked by anyone in the business world. As Howard said, “business is business” and Willy makes it clear that there is no personality or comradeship in business anymore, so what is he striving for?

The play rejects this assertion, through many characters and references. The reference to J.P Morgan in a Turkish bath, and no one liking him was intentional to show that your personal looks don't make or break you in the business world. Charley was also a disinterested, caricature of a man, and he was extremely successful. Ben was a self-made man, going into the jungle and coming out with diamonds. Ben was most likely a brutal colonizer, and was most likely not liked. Lastly, Willy was a clear contradiction, as his connections with buyers and Howard's father didn't help him in the ever running rat race that is the business world of America.

The CAT scan question is the most accurate way of looking at the dramatic structure, especially for the character of Willy Loman. Willy had obvious mental turmoil, and he simultaneously lived in three parallel lives, one being the real world, one being his memories (surrounding Biff and the football game), and one being his manifestations of his dead brother Ben. The cat scan shows the inside and the outside of a person, and the way that the play was structured showed the deterioration of the mind of Willy Loman, as his inner reality started to materialize into his exterior reality. This spiraling out of control, seemingly due to his job, and set off by his drive home when he thought he was driving his old car, started his transition into insanity. The dramatic structure was also highly effective in developing characters without the usage of soliloquy.

Personally I think Willy Loman is pathetic. His struggle would be easily defeated if only he was just honest enough with himself to see that he could escape the hell he was in if he just did what he wanted to do, or if he even just took the job from Charley. Although he was pathetic, it doesn't lessen the impact the play has, or make one not personally sympathize with Willy, as the idea that a person's whole life was meaningless, and that if only he changed one thing he would be fine, is quite sad. I think that him being pathetic adds a whole other layer of social commentary, as Miller is saying that if only you just wake up and see reality, you can escape the repetitive hell that your life is.

Charley and Bernard had a good father-son relationship, with no pressure on Bernard to become a businessman and follow in Charley's footsteps. This directly affected Bernard's drive, as he would find his passion and follow it to the highest point that he could go as a lawyer, up to the supreme court. There may be natural factors (Bernard is smarter than Biff), but as Charley said, "my salvation was that I was never took interest in anything." This doesn't mean that Charley was a bad father, it just meant that he wasn't oppressive in determining what his son would be. Also comparable to Biff and Willy's relationship, Bernard and Charley are both adults and treat each other as such. They don't baby each other, rather, Charley gives Bernard a bottle, showing that Charley views his son as an equal, another adult. Biff and Willy's relationship is strenuous. It may seem that it is strenuous due to the fact that Biff discovered that Willy was cheating on Linda, but that was just the breaking point for Biff. Biff was indoctrinating in the idea that his father had this honorable, noble job, and that everyone should be like him. But when he found his father was lying and having sex with random women, his whole mindset that his father built came crashing down, and his life path was lost. This is the reason that forcing a person (especially your children) to do something is wrong, as it can come apart very quickly. Their relationship was toxic and pressured, and Biff was trying to show Willy that his outlook was wrong and Willy wouldn't listen, as he had too much pride.

4th Period Evan Bagby

These 2 dominant life views are very contrasting, but one is clearly more accurate in life. The statement “Some people accomplish something” is an accurate reflection of life because happiness can be accomplished in life. The countering phrase, “life is a casting off,” is an inaccurate reflection of human existence because this nihilistic view is not gospel truth for every person on earth. Some people may not be able to accomplish anything in the world of occupation, but happiness can still be found through love. Opposite this, happiness can be found through power. There are many means to obtain happiness, but there are so many ways that it would be impossible to list. Because happiness can be found at all, life cannot be considered a “casting off.” If it was impossible to experience happiness,

Within the limited scope of this play, however, the latter phrase is applicable because in this play, no one experiences enough happiness to be considered an “accomplishment.” In the play, Willy states, "I was fired, and I'm looking for a little good news to tell your mother, because the woman has waited and the woman has suffered" (Miller 107), and this quotes shows that Willy has never had enough success to end his wife's suffering. Each character either dies or never amounts to anything, and this lack of accomplishment is why their lives are “casting offs.” Life for these characters is a never-ending struggle to make the ends meet, and this lack of either initiative or luck is what leads to their downfalls. The only character in this play that could be considered a success is Charley because he lives a life proud of his job and son, but this one character does justify the number of lives that are negatively affected by the American system that Charley benefits from.

This statement makes sense for other tragic heroes, such as Jay Gatsby or Romeo Montague because both heroes are only able to accept the truth minutes before their deaths. Their dignities are only found upon death, and that is the nature of a tragic hero. However, this statement does not apply to Death of a Salesman because the tragic hero of the story, Willy Loman, is not able to accept the truth and dies in a state of denial. The death of the salesman is not a death that was warranted, despite Miller’s attempt to portray it as such. Because Willy is delusional, his ability to accept truth is heavily hindered. This means that, as a tragic hero, Willy is not able to fulfill an essential part of the tragic hero: self-inflicted, noble death.

Miller’s belief that Death of a Salesman is as delusional as Willy himself because nothing in this play is optimistic for the characters. Biff and Happy fail at everything they do, Linda fails to understand the extent of her husband’s failure, and Willy is fails to realize that his job, marriage, and brother are all false and corrupt. The only remotely optimistic character is of this play are Bernard and Charley, due to their successes as lawyer/businessman and son/father, respectively.

Willy Loman’s story is pathetic because he has a complete and utter lack of self-awareness. If Willy was able to accept the truth, then his story could be considered tragic. Although the only reason he is unable to do this at the time of his death is his mental shortcomings, when his mind is fully sound, he is unable to accept the failures that Biff and Happy are. This failure is shown in the restaurant scene when Willy says, “You got it! You got it!" (Miller 112), despite Biff telling him that he did not.

Willy is unable to come to any realization at the end of the play because of his disability, so it would be unfair to expect him to do so. However, Willy’s pathetic nature leads to a weakening of the play because we expect the tragic hero to achieve their goals or die trying. While it could be argued that Willy dies trying to chase his dream through his brother, it would be difficult to argue that he was self-aware when he was doing this. Despite all of this, Willy’s weakening is made up for through Biff’s persistent effort to do something with his life through his father’s lack of success.

Ben and Charley provide the perfect contradictions of Willy because Ben represents what Willy wants and Charley represents what Willy doesn’t have. Willy wants success, challenge, and love, all which Ben has. Charley has a job, a loving son, and a true marriage, all which Willy does not have. There is contradiction in each of these because Willy sees Ben delusionally, meaning that he is what Willy doesn’t have. This is also shown through Willy's family's treatment of him, as Biff asks, "What the hell is wrong with him?" (Miller 53) when Willy is talking to his memory of Ben.

The function achieved by Ben is the object of Willy’s distant desire for the success that he wants, and the function that Charley achieves is his foil as a hero. Charley offers Willy a job, but Willy sees himself as above Charley and refuses to accept it. In the play, Ben only appears when Willy is having a memory, and these scenes are only present when Willy both wants something and does not have something else.

1c) Death of a Salesman is known to have the theme of a man selling his soul to the materialistic ideals of the so-called “American dream.” Thus, the greatest truth in the play would seemingly be that it is about “the suppression of the individual by placing him below the imperious needs of society.” This is depicted solely through the Loman family, specifically Willy and Biff. Willy, seemingly wanting the best for his sons, has great expectations and images, especially for Biff, as he wants him to become very successful. As those expectations were not lived up, the play revolves around the two’s quarrels and discrepancies, which causes the family to fall apart. Placing materialistic value over family and love depicts a distortion of the American dream, and shows how individuals place items over what truly matters, family. Willy held the dream over his two sons, and pushed them to the extent of the family breaking apart. Understanding the distortion of the American dream, it is noted by Willy how one pays for a house all their life, and by the time it is paid off there is no one to live in it. The imperious needs of society tend to only value profit and place the children in the steps of their father, which as seen in the novel, does not hold the expected future of happiness and glorification, but a broken, saddened family, even pushing to the brink of death.

9) Arthur Miller used many small stage props throughout the play in order to enhance characterization which is many shown through Willy and Biff. Specifically for Willy, the refrigerator and the car, aged items in the play, can symbolize Willy himself, as well as his job as a salesman. The car and the refrigerator are run-down and almost seen as obsolete, just as the position of salesman. It is seen throughout the novel as Willy struggles everyday with profit, he begins to slow down, and age. Miller also places objects in the play to correspond with Biff as well, and the most prominent one being the University of Virginia shoes. In this way, they are seen as a symbol for Biff’s dream and his future. Upon finding out of his father’s affair, he burned the sneakers in the furnace, ultimately diminishing his future goals and dreams. This symbol fits really well in the play as once those sneakers are burned, Biff loses hope, and his downfall begins.

15) This play seems to exhibit criticisms against American perspective and culture, but this was Miller’s way of showing the world where America is headed, and how this is affecting individuals. In my interpretation, I generally see this play as a distortion of the “American dream,” but rather than a true distortion, it portrays what really occurs behind closed American household doors. The American dream is seen as a perfect family with a working father supporting his wife and kids, and then the kids pursuing the dream. However, it is known this does not occur in every household, and Miller strategically depicts this with the Loman family. Willy forces the dream onto Biff, and when the end result contradicts the American dream, Willy changes, and almost goes crazy, verging the two apart from one another. Arthur Miller did not want to blatantly criticize the America and its famous “dream,” but rather open the eyes of people to not fall into the materialistic life, which consumes one, and can even drive them to death.

20) Ben represents everything that Willy wanted to be and have, but did not. In the novel it is explained how Ben simply “walked into the jungle and came out rich,” which greatly opposes Willy and his lifestyle. Willy has worked all his life and attempted to put this ethic on his children, but it is evident Ben depicts someone who Willy longs to be like, a man with great profit, but little work. Including Ben and his success in the play allows for Willy’s dreams and expectations to be supported. It seems as if Ben appears in times where Willy needs advice of what to do, which is seen in the last conversation in the play between Ben and Willy, where they both come to a realization that it is Willy’s “time.” Overall, Ben was a tool used to show that the American dream is a possibility, thus why Willy continues to push it onto Biff, and remains hard on himself.

5 and Gabrielle Johnston

"Life is a casting off" was an idea most impactful through the character of Linda towards the end of the play. In the final scene at Willy's funeral, Linda claims she can not cry but soon starts to break down when the other characters walk away, saying how "We're free and clear". All Willy needed to do was survive another week and the payments would have been finalized and he wouldnt have had to focus anymore on making money and could have relaxed. What this shows though is that your entire life is just on long job shift to make money in order to survive. All you have to do in life really is just breathe and pay taxes. The second phrase "some people accomplish something" seems a bit less accurate or applicable to me in the description of human life. Yes, the characters in the play like Charley have lives fulfilled with successful children and a relaxed retirement but still all those successes took place because of different experiences of casting off. Charley had to raise his children just to cast them off so they can live their own and Charley worked for years just to be cast off for retirement.

Death of a Salesman's meaning is most appropriately harnessed by the phrase referencing paradoxes of being alive in a technological civilization. A cause of Willy's anxiety and falling behind in the world he lived in was due to technological advances that he could not keep up with. Initially starting on page 1, the description of the plays main scene, "the Salesman's house. We are aware of the towering, angular shapes behind it, surrounding it on all sides.", these angular shapes are the new apartment buildings that seem to corner and entrap Willy's traditionalist style house. This example, as well as the scene with the tape recorder, car, and refrigerator shows how Willy is overwhelmed by new technology or just new ideas in general that he simply cant grasp and they are what leads to his tragic suicide in the end from insanity.

Miller's idea that tragedy shows man's struggle to secure "his sense of personal dignity" and "his destruction in the attempt posits a wrong or an evil in his environment." makes sense when applied to earlier tragedies as well as Death of a Salesman. The tragedy of Willy's fate was at fault of not only himself, but also due to the environment in which he grew up in and the society that entrapped him to a helpless cycle of corruption. The technology of the era was rapidly developing in a way he could not keep up with. The struggle Willy felt was in the idea that he must have money in order to not only survive, but to live comfortably as well as to sustain the idea of being a hero to his sons. Willy lied several times about his financial gains to his wife and sons in order to create a sense of false pride as well as trick himself to believe he was ok. This mindset of trying to be optimistic of a struggling situation is what kept Willy digging himself a deeper grave. His final idea of personal dignity through suicide shows how he would rather die and get the money so his family could live a better life and be seen in better light by others, but in actuality makes Willy seem like a coward and brings shame to the family name.

Ben is Willy Loman's brother. He is already dead as the play begins, and he appears only in Willy's memories and reveries. Willy looks up to Ben and holds him up as an example to his sons Biff and Happy. 'The man knew what he wanted and went out and got it! Walked into a jungle, and comes out, the age of twenty-one, and he's rich!' Willy says. Ben represents Willy's and the American dream of instant riches and appears as almost of voice of reasoning that Willy randomly envisions and speaks to when he is struggling with an idea or choice. At first with the idea of suicide, Ben tried to tell Willy that the insurance company may not give his family $20,000 if they discover Willy's death was via suicide so it is not worth it, but later in their final conversation, Ben keeps repeating, "The jungle is dark but full of diamonds." and eventually claims Willy's idea of suicide is a "perfect proposition all around.".

This interpretation of the play is essentially how I would view the point Miller is trying to get across. The concept that the Loman family represents American families in general is one I'd agree with, mainly because as a capitalist society we have placed great value on our competitive nature and narrowly focused on results and how we add up to the rest of society and this is what I believe Miller is trying to expose the audience to. Although the capitalist mentality has worked greatly for America with regards to economics and foreign influence, we have been too caught up in it all and have forgotten the people and experiences that matter. This is evident through the Loman family where Willy pushed Biff to become successful football player, then encouraged the idea of Biff and Happy opening up a sporting goods store in Florida. All of these minor business ideas that come up for Biff, Willy seems to jump right on board and pushes him to be successful in whatever occupation rather than letting Biff go and find who he really is without the pressure that Willy places on him.

The statement asserted by Miller regarding how the play takes place in Willy's mind and changes over time. This is an interesting concept because the geological strata in the play revolves mainly around the Loman household which has been shadowed in by all the new apartment buildings towering over the property, reducing the view for the Lomans. The buildings developing over time represent the loss of opportunities for Willy's ideal American Dream as time progresses. This is shown through Biff not having a stable job and Willy being fired, it's like Willy's dream of being a successful salesman and Biff a successful son are all being overcrowded and overshadowed by their prior mistakes which is represented in the apartment building surrounding the house.

The 1949 critic who felt DOAS was "a time bomb under American capitalism" was overreacting immensely to the greater theme of the play. Although the play did clearly criticize the capitalistic mentality, Miller was mainly attacking the greedy mindset itself rather than capitalism as a whole. I would also say that America does like a play that can alter the previous perspective of something such as an ideology in this case. This play is popular because it doesn't necessarily disrespect the audience however, it does remove a film over their lifestyles in away which they are able to identify similarities between themselves and the characters.

Ben and Charley are essentially both successful characters in DOAS who are constantly being contrasted regarding different approaches to the American Dream. Ben moved to Africa and became rich by luckily discovering diamonds whereas Charley worked hard and has a stable income and raised a successful family. Willy is essentially a cross between the two yet unsuccessful. This is because although he has/had a job in which there was potential opportunity for success, Willy remained dreaming about how Ben became successful which corrupted how he went about addressing financial issues as well as how he influences his family. The manifestation of this confused mind is clearly evident through Biff who is raised very close to Willy and becomes unclear as to who he is as a person. So although Willy can be successful if he applies himself at his job, he is too busy living in a daydream to actually pull him out of the cycle of self-denial.

4th, Danielle Crawford

Personally, I feel like Willy’s story is both pathetic and tragic. Willy has a way of showing that he can handle himself and he wants to be independent, but it doesn’t always work like that.
I find it pathetic that Willy seems to never give up but then he is still making it harder for himself as he pushes away others, for example, when Charley offers him a job. I do also believe that him being pathetic weakens the force of the play in a way because of his stubbornness, it’s quite easy to realize that he won’t ever change his ways. Miller says it himself, “[Willy] can’t bear reality, and since he can’t do much to change it, he keeps changing his ideas of it.”. Personally, I find it pathetic that Willy’s dream is at a standstill and all he can seem to do is fantasize. But on the other hand, there is “nobility” in his struggle, the man strives for greatness even though it may not be realistic. I also feel as though the story of Willy may also be sort of tragic in a sense. Willy has lived his life comparing himself to everyone else, mostly Ben and Charley, but he doesn’t really achieve that level. Ben is seen in the play as Willy’s “dream”, he lives with the picture of his brother being well off and yet he still struggles after all attempts.

Willy and Biff-
Willy was the person who let Biff get away with ruining his own life, Biff had a chance to play football in college but couldn’t because he failed math. Biff and his dad have beef and when Biff comes into the play, we immediately see that he blames everything on Willy and doesn't quite share the same fantasy with his dad. Billy wants to live a simple life and well, Willy hasn’t really benefitted him whatsoever. At one-point, Biff begins to steal from his bosses and can’t keep a job which he just comes back and pins on Willy.

Charley and Bernard-
On the other hand, Charley and Bernard have a wonderful relationship. Bernard is a good kid, watches out for Biff and keeps to himself, he was a nerd in high school. Charley was very successful, so Bernard has guidance from his father and decides to follow in his footsteps. Charley and Bernard are both very humble; they are never the ones to brag but they have what could be seen as the “American dream” relationship.

The acceptance and rejection of the claim success is not based on what you do but rather who you know and the smile on your face is seen throughout the play within the characters and their relationships. Rather than completely rejecting or accepting the assertion, Arthur Miller shows the reality of it and how it differs from character to character. While pursuing sales may work for some, it does not work for all. Willy’s character idealizes the material tangibility of wealth, something that he often lacks. As stated by Biff in the requiem, Willy was chasing the wrong dreams; like his brother Ben and his father, Willy worked best using his hands and creating. Had he instead sold what he created himself, he probably would have been much happier in life and even a better salesman. While Willy’s character rejects the claim, Dave Singleman personifies it. Singleman was the character that Willy wished to be but never could, the character who actually did build success because of his smile and how many people he knew. The play ultimately demonstrates the harsh reality of life that some make it and some don’t. t

For me, the last two quotes by miller (“The past, as in hallucination, comes back to him; not chronologically as in flashback, but dynamically with the inner logic of his erupting volcanic unconsciousness” and “There are no flashbacks in the play but only a mobile concurrency of past and present”) as well as the comparison to a CAT scan most accurately describes the way time works within the play and it’s dramatic structure. As stated in the drama handout, the purpose of drama is to illustrate an idea (among other things as well). The idea of DOAS is the loss of self in the pursuit of happiness through material and monetary success. This can be seen in Willy’s unconscious eruptions and loss of sanity, when what is in the inside of his brain manifests in his outside world. Rather than having flashbacks, the concurrency of past and present show who he is and always was as a character, and his relationship with the people around him. You don’t know whether to feel pity or disdain for his character.

I think the play can be interpreted as a critique of capitalism, only finding joy and success in monetary gain whereas being happy and doing what you love should be held most valuable. It can be seen completely in Willy’s character and the advice given to his children that seems to hinder them rather than help. However I think the play can also be considered a critique of society rather than state being that it shows monetary and personal success in some characters, such as Charlie, Bernard and Ben. If anything, I feel that the play attacks the troublesome reality of life that can be for some people. You live, you work (doing something you don’t truly love), you might pay your bills if you can, then you die. The message I got from the play was to do what I love and measure success in happiness, and shoot for the stars doing that.

The difference between Charley and Bernard’s relationship and Biff and Willy’s is that Charley and Bernard actually had one. Willy’s judgement in regards to the raising of his children and advice he gave to them really hindered his relationship with his sons, especially Biff. Although it can be blamed on the affair, Biff’s character (stealing, getting handsy with women) was a reflection of parenting. On page 95, Willy says “And you never told him what to do, did you? You never took any interest in him” to which Charley replies, “My salvation is that I never took any interest in anything”. This dialogue is significant in that it explains where Willy may have made mistakes in his relationships with his sons. His motto in life was that the only way to get far was to be liked, however the play shows that this is not the case. Willy stressed too much the success of his sons, often making contradicting statements about their laziness and great work ethic. The stress he put on his sons to succeed in a specific way is what caused their downfall, and Charley’s ‘lack of interest’ (giving his child freedom) is what led to Bernards success.

The play supports this claim throughout the play. When Willy is constantly reminding his sons how important it is in life to know people and have connections with them. Since his brother, Ben lucks into discovering diamonds while in Alaska and Africa. Willy is so focused on his version of the dream because of his brothers’ success that it causes him to fail to achieve the financial success of loving his family. This causes him to literally die for money at the end of the play because he felt that his family needs the money which causes him to now truly see himself ( Act 2).

There is a somewhat happy ending of this play because Willy's family is no longer in debt and now has money because of his life insurance. Also the unsuitability of Willy's dream that leads him to happiness. It was vaguely mentioned in the play but, the requiem allowed the audience to fully understand that he was happy and maybe if he chose a different path he would not have committed suicide. This lead Biff to further the wrong dreams that Willy had been going after.

Death of a Salesman takes place primarily in the Loman house. This narrow setting is contrasted with Africa and Alaska as he tried to follow his brothers’ footsteps and search for diamonds which causes the urban world to be replace the rural. The house of the Loman family symbolizes restriction of psychical and mental places. These places like Alaska and Africa distant places that symbolize freedom, escape, and hope for something good to occur. Throughout the play, Willy tries to convince himself and his family that New York is a land of opportunity that allows for success however his brother Ben’s adventures to these places ( Alaska, Jungle) cause him to doubt himself and feel that it can not be true. Biff, Happy, and Ben repeatedly suggest that the Loman's are better suited to physical, hands-on kinds of work, an assertion supported by their failure as salesmen. Willy’s obsession with distant lands further proves that he might prefer a very different livelihood than the one he has. The farm is significant because it is Biff’s dream, that is constantly ridiculed by his family. Another place that is symbolized is Texas both literally and figuratively. Nature symbolizes an empty space that Willy can control. The play contains stage directions to better understand the time change between past and present. Miller suggested that when the actions are in the present there are imaginary wall-lines, entering the house only through its door at the left. But the scenes of the past have these boundaries that are broken. Also when characters are entering or leaving a room they step through a wall on to the forestage.

C.) Women during the 1940s were treated the way Linda had been treated throughout the play. Willy ignored, cut her off, and disrespected her. However, she still cherished and was loyal to her husband. The women in the play boosted Willy's self-confidence and his ego. Linda was a loving wife from the beginning to the end of the play she may not have stood up for Willy's attempts to commit suicide but, she was clueless till the end. This can be seen when Linda says "We are free!" ( Requiem) at the end of the play. She is somehow responsible for Willy's death because even after she knew she only told her sons to love their father. Linda did not try to stop him but, she stayed devoted to her husband till the end even after knowing about her affair.

Willy’s greatest struggle is the struggle for the absolution and meaning to his life and or existence. Willy is seen many times feeling guilty of many things throughout the play. For example, Willy has affairs while still being married to Linda. While on once of his affair trips in Boston, Biff comes by to tell Willy that he has flunked math for the semester. In this part of the play, Biff discovers the woman who Willy is having an affair with. Willy felt much guilt in this part of the play, yet he continues with it until Biff asks him to let it go. Willy then tells here to leave but before that, she asks for her stocking. Willy especially feels guilty about this because the stockings were Linda. Willy is using his wife’s stocking and giving them to a woman who he has no connections with.

Stage props are often used to enhance the playwright’s play by aiding in the characterization of certain characters. There are many components of stage property shown throughout the play which are connected to willy and aid in the characterization while also hinting toward other juxtapositions. For example, Willy finds much difficulty with the use of many modern components in life such as his car, the refrigerator, his house, and Howard’s wire recorder. These items have a sort of a complexity aspect which allows them to find the ways to recommend that Willy is becoming obsolete. He often finds trouble using many of the items, which angers him and makes himself perpetuate about his life and how hard it is. This parallels the Great Gatsby, by how daisy doesn’t know how to use Gatsby’s car to s superficial level. She then kills myrtle Wilson and by cause and effect relations causes Gatsby to get murdered by the husband of Myrtle Wilson.

Willy’s character has much going on in his life. He has an abundance of lies and other events that causes him to self-perpetuate about his life and get overwhelmed. Miller’s quote “Something in him [Willy] knows that if he stands still, he will be overwhelmed.’’ When Willy would stand still, he would have all of his lies and evasions caught up to him. These lies, and evasions would include his failed attempts of suicide, his affairs, and him giving his wife’s stocking to the women in his affairs. When is “stands still” he would have to remembered by all his past events. More than being overwhelmed would come guilt as he has tried to leave his family multiple times and had affairs away from his wife.

Dave singleman was said to be the greatest salesman. He was 84 and still made a living by not leaving the house. He made Willy become a salesman. With Dave’s story of how he made a living by being a salesman with the story of how Dave made a living. Dave singleman was a role model to Willy. He contributes to the play by influencing Willy in his job career and that influences him by having travelling. His career choice could have much influence in his suicide attempts and his affairs. The mentality could be that he was never as good as Dave and he should have punished himself.

Period 5 Madi Mulcahy

To some extent, the play both supports and rejects the assertion that being well-liked will ultimately result in being financially successful. Miller’s play supports this by incorporating the character of Dave Singleman, a successful salesman in the eyes of Willy Loman first mentioned in the beginning of Act Two. Dave embodies the facade of everything Willy hopes he could be; rich, loved, and overall successful. He was fixated on the fact that Dave’s funeral was filled with many people who loved him, ultimately calling his death “the death of a salesman,” notably the only time the title is mentioned in the play. This death symbolizes, for Willy, the end result of being successful and loved. Though it worked out for Singleman, the play ultimately shows that being well-liked is not enough to be financially successful, as seen through Charley, a man described as “slow of speech, laconic, and immovable.” Though Charley is not physically attractive, he worked very hard and made strategic financial decisions to build up his business and ultimately achieved the closest thing possible to the American Dream through hard work rather than smiles and charisma. The play mainly rejects this assertion, as the audience can come to the conclusion that the life of a salesman is not typically one like Singleman’s but one like Willy’s, where smiles and selling can hardly make enough money to pay the bills.

The requiem functions to:
Show Happy’s narcissistic, self-validating attitude. The audience knows throughout the play that Happy’s position in the Loman family is the forgotten, unimportant second son, a similar position that ironically, Willy assumed in his own family. Though Happy never mentions it, he continuously attempts to prove that he is important or significant in his family by mentioning earlier in the play that he’s going to get married. He ultimately wants to do what Biff cannot for his father, but only in attempt of seeking validation. He does not actually care about Willy which can be seen at Frank’s Chophouse when he denies even knowing his father. In the requiem, he makes one final attempt to validate himself when saying he will not let his father die in vain and will try to achieve what Willy could not.
Show that Willy’s death did not do what he (delusionally) hoped it would. Linda sobs, “We’re free, we’re free,” meaning free of the financial burden they had been trying to escape their entire lives, but only at the cost of Willy’s which, to Linda and to anyone in the Loman family, was not a worthy price to pay. She sobs because she knows why he did what he did but still could never begin to understand the delusion of commodifying his life in attempt to earn love, respect, and validation from his family.
Show Biff’s mindset change. Throughout the play, he says he does not know what to do or what he’s good for, that he’s a bum. His mother and father also criticize him for this, and his father largely and internally blames himself for Biff’s so-called failure in life. By the end of the play, though, Biff says “I know who I am, kid,” meaning he has found that his life is not a commodity and he will do with it what makes him happy. He even points out that Willy did not know who he was, as he was so focused on succeeding financially and giving Biff the success he could never have.

I don’t think Miller absolutely despised capitalism, but the play most definitely criticized its flaws. He mentions that you can work 50 weeks just for a two week vacation, that you fully exert yourself and stay loyal to a company that has the power to lay you off before you can collect any kind of real benefits. For a system to work, it has to be able to be criticized, and if it is recognizably able to be criticized, then there is hope in fixing it. Americans likely were uncomfortable having the realization that the American Dream was just that- a dream. It was almost completely unachievable to build wild financial success by working a standard 40 hour/week job. People do not want to be told that the system by which they live is corrupt or unable to be fixed; people do not want to lose hope in their society or in their government; people do not want to think they are living a life that’s seemingly pointless. For WIlly Loman, his job and financial position was equated with his worth. He completely commodified his life, and this is clearly an unhealthy way to live. However clear it is, one can’t help but question, do I place a price tag on my life?

Ben serves mainly as someone Willy looks up to in an unhealthy way. He wants to be successful and rich the way Ben is, and he continuously works to try and achieve that success. What Willy is never able to fully realize or rather, accept, is that Ben got lucky; he took advantage of an opportunity and ended up rich, only to boast about his “success” for the rest of his life. This is expressed in the beginning of the play, when Willy mentions he just as easily could have gone to Alaska with Ben and been just as lucky. But his commitment to working hard and finding success in the sales business prevented him from doing so, and his imagination taunted him with this until he died. Throughout the play, Ben transformed from a memory to a figment of Willy’s imagination/subconscious. In the end, this image of Ben first told Willy no matter what he did, even if he killed himself, Biff would think him a coward. But that isn’t what Willy wanted to hear, even if he knew it was the truth, so naturally, the image of Ben began to convince him that he had no other option but to commit suicide. And because Willy listened to him, he was able to be satisfied in his choice to follow Ben, to do something (that he thought was) beneficial for Biff and the rest of his family, to ultimately “succeed.”

Period 6 Artis Lertkitcharoenpon

(f): In my opinion the statement that Death of a Salesman revolves around the complicated love relationship between Willy and his son Biff is very reasonable. Their relationship, which slowly becomes revealed to the audience as the play progresses, constitutes many of the play’s scenes and is constantly being alluded to or built towards. The conclusion of Death of a Salesman serves to solidify the statement that the entirety of the play is permeated with father-son relationship undertones, as Willy and Biff have a falling out in the form of a verbal fight, as well as loving realization when Biff kisses Willy in an emotional outburst. Miller masterfully constructs the perception of Willy’s death being an act of love to show his eldest son how known and “vital” he was to the surrounding area. This perception also serves to amplify the love story.

It is my belief that the most accurate way of looking at time and dramatic structure is stated in the quote “The past, as in hallucination, comes back to him; not chronologically as in flashback, but dynamically with the inner logic of his erupting volcanic unconsciousness.” This is true because Willy’s sporadic dream-visions centered around past events and his older brother Ben are a cause of his tumultuous journey through life, such as his complicated relationship with his son, and being fired from his long-time firm. Remnants of his past appear as a result of these types of troubling events, not the other way around. The visions double as an outlet for Willy to release outbursts of hidden qualms/grief/feelings about the past as well as being a reminder of past failures and his own inability to control his life.

In my opinion Willy’s story is quite pathetic. His delusional visions and ideals complement the fact that he is just a failure and has not only passed on that failure to his kids, but in old age is now distraught and eager to die. This pathetic outlook changes the entire nature of the way the audience experiences the play. Miller’s construction of Willy’s character is not very likable to begin with, but by the end of the play when all of Willy’s flaws are exposed and the story of his life of broken relationships is fully understood by the audience, he seems even more despicable.

The father son relationships with regards to Charley-Bernard and Willy-Biff are almost completely the opposite. In childhood Bernard was viewed as a simpleton nerd who the Lomans felt was too critical of academics since Bernard was always pushing Biff to better himself academically. He went through life as a hard working and patient young man until his work finally paid off, and as an adult is extremely successful. One of the main reasons alluded by Miller that Bernard turned out so well was because his father Charley basically ignored him or had no authoritative tendencies toward what his son did or wanted to do. This is the complete opposite of Biff and Willy. Willy essentially lives through Biff, and dotes on everything he does. In a sense, he is so closely intertwined in his son’s life that his son’s own ingenuity/drive is snuffed out. As a result of this intertwined relationship, Biff regarded Willy in an almost transcendent light, an invulnerable father figure who knew no wrong. After seeing the slightest sign of weakness in Willy, Biff breaks down as a result of that.

Lauren Conway period 5

I think 1) is the most insightful interpretation. Willy explicitly states that he never had a close relationship with his father since he left when Willy was a baby. Therefore Willy says he still feels “kind of temporary about himself”. He never had a guiding paternal figure in his life so he was never able to find a true meaning for his existence. This is why his advice to Biff is incongruous with his actions. For example, he tells Biff not to say “Gee” as it is a boy’s word yet he uses that word frequently himself. At one point he tells Biff not to make any jokes but then says to start off his meeting with an anecdote from the past. His lack of purpose is what leads him to put so much stock in his son. Willy could never become the ideal man that he wanted to be, therefore he puts that burden onto his son to justify his existence. His fault is that Biff is the wrong person to put his dreams into and this leads to his downfall.

The props such as his car, refrigerator, and house represent the forces that put down the futile attempts of the middle-class to achieve the American dream. Planned obsolescence is an aspect of the post-industrial capitalist system that dehumanizes citizens and re purposes them as cash-cows. Willy is constantly fixing up his appliances and paying for mechanics which demonstrates to readers that he will never be able to escape his growing debts. Willy seems to realize this on some level yet cannot make the connection that his dreams of becoming a successful salesman will never come to fruition. This is in part because he is past his prime and cannot keep up with the times. This is demonstrated when he cannot operate Howard’s radio. He seems almost scared of the latest technology and grapples with the fact that the post-war industrial era is not quite as kind as the one Dave Singleman belongs to.

His story is tragic. It is demonstrated multiple times that he is a skilled carpenter. He seems to enjoy fixing up the roof and car and building up his house. Biff even remarks that, “there's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made” It’s possible that if Willy had been able to overcome his convictions about being a salesman and know himself he wouldn't have killed himself or been as unhappy. However, as Biff puts it, “He had the wrong dreams” That is his tragic flaw. He is unable to mature mentally due to his father’s absence and cannot overcome his ideals. By the end of the play he, on some level, realizes that he can never achieve his ideals when he admits to being fired and begs for a happy lie from Biff. However he holds onto his delusions with all he has because he is too far gone to grapple with the consequences of his choices.

Dave Singleman both serves as a template for Willy’s ideals and emphasizes the shift away from humanism that came with the post-war industrial period. He is mentioned when Willy is grasping at straws trying to transfer from a traveling salesman to one stationed in New York. He gives an anecdote to Howard about how when Dave Singleman died, people from all over came to mourn his death. It is implied that this is what Willy hopes will happen when he dies. However, this will never happen because they belong to different eras. Dave Singleman highlights the cruelty of Willy’s time period because Willy will have a small funeral of five people in attendance. This is because the post-war period he belongs to no longer values the individual like Dave Singleman’s did.

Period 5 Chris Bratu

The interpretation of choice E holds the greatest truth in "Death of a Salesman", because Stoppard intended the character of Willy Loman to be identified as the every-man. Normally, the every-man is subjected to the crumbling pillars of society and must suffer it’s from its faults. Choice E seems to tie the other interpretations as well and shouldn't be looked as solely a "society falling to pieces" and instead an amalgamation of progress, paradoxically hindering a technological society, and the suppression of the individual. These reasons are what cause society to falter. For example, Willy's conversation with Howard seems to draw upon this assertion. Howard is displaying a new wire recorder, a symbol of an advancing civilization putting down the obsolete. Willy tells him that he's going to buy it, but Howard essentially is mocking him because he is the one who pays him, implying he knows he can't afford the recorder. Willy in this situation is the obsolete and washed-out tool and Howard is trying to overshadow him with something new. This is also an example of how Stoppard utilized Willy as a way to show that society puts down the individual, resulting in society crumbling in on itself due to technology or anything new overshadowing what once was good and putting down its dignity.

What Miller is suggesting holds merit in plays such as "Oedipus" who, partook in coitus with his mother, resulting in him gouging his eyes out because of shame. He attempts to achieve greatness but destroys his dignity by his own actions, much like Willy Loman.

Willy on the other hand does so by succumbing to society's desires, therefore, making it the fault of society. Social pressures have led to Willy killing himself in the end because of the falsehood of success which clouded his judgement. But, one cannot blame Willy's death on solely society, it was also his conformity to society's desires that led to his tragic downfall. One can see this with his confrontations with Biff in the 2nd act; his son is trying to show him that he is not made out to be someone big and neither is Willy, saying they're both a dime a dozen, but he continues to follow this obsession that can't be reached. Think of it as the green light from "The Great Gatsby"; it symbolized the unobtainable dream which can be compared to Willy's desire to please society and make a name of himself. Both cannot, and probably will never be attained because of the twisted nature of society's pressures. It brainwashes Willy into obtaining something more, but in doing so corrupts him into something less.

I find Willy's journey throughout "Death of a Salesman" to be tragic because, as Stoppard puts it, he is a man that is screaming into a void but will never hear a reply. Warding off his devils is the only way he can stay sane for the short time he has left. I wouldn't go as far to say that Willy is pathetic though due to the cultural standards of the western (mostly American) area of the world. This may seem different to people in Japan who said that Willy deserved his fate because he was too weak to continue selling. That is why I cannot simply say Willy is pathetic, there are too many interpretations on his situation that affect the outlook on his predicament.

I can safely say that his journey is indeed tragic due to him being an every-man and resonating with most of the audience members. This is a way for Stoppard to add even more tragedy to Willy because we can fill his shoes, we've been in situations like his where society is a towering force that is slowly crushing our identity or being. It is especially tragic once we find out he never truly had a father, and the only father figure he's ever had was his dead brother Ben who he conjures up in his imagination to converse with. This sets up Willy's predicament of leaving a legacy, but, unfortunately, that legacy doesn't exist. Biff is seen as the ticket to having the name Loman being well known throughout New England, but it is a dream that will never occur. This is symbolized with the garden that can't grow anything and seeds. These show the uselessness of planting a future for his children, such as gaining insurance for them from his death, which s never even gifted to Biff or Happy.

Charley and Bernard's relationship display what a normal father-son relationship should have. Charley is supportive of Bernard in his pursuits and doesn't push him to fit his own/society's agenda. He lets Bernard spread his wings, complying to the individualistic outlook in America. In the end, Bernard ends up becoming a Supreme Court lawyer, further demonstrating that Charley's parenting methods are meant to signify the faults in Willy's who, in a memory sequence, insults Bernard for having to take a test to further his education.

On the opposite spectrum, there is Willy and Biff who's relationship ends up being toxic for both of them. Willy sets high expectations for Biff, and is mainly shown in a memory scene where Biff is about to head to play in a football match. Willy says that everyone will be screaming the name "Loman" when he scores the touchdown to which Biff replies that when he scores, he'll take off the helmet, signifying that touchdown was for his dad. This indicates that, when he was younger, Biff wanted to please his demanding father who never truly let him be independent. This changes though with the affair scene and the present day scenes where Biff professes he doesn't want to be a salesman. In the end, Willy's relationship with Biff leads to his son becoming a delinquent.

One humorous line I found is on page 23 of the play when Happy says, “All I can do now is wait for the merchandise manager to die.” This is humorous because of the stage directions that are given to Happy while saying his line: “moving about with energy, expressiveness.” The way the dialogue and stage directions work together make this moment humorous because those two are typically a contradiction; death is usually a mournful topic but in this case, Happy is supposed to convey energy and, essentially, happiness. Miller juxtaposes the ideas of death and joy to make a humorous moment.

The next humorous line I found was on page 77 when Howard is showing Willy his new record device for dictation. He is showing off the device to Willy through test recordings he did with his family the previous night. After Howard’s daughter finishes whistling on her tape she says, “Now you, Daddy,” in which Howard replies “She’s crazy for me!” I thought this moment was humorous because Howard’s daughter replied with a statement that didn’t seem to be particularly loving or praising, but it seems like the fact that she was just talking to him convinced Howard of her complete adoration. This reminds me of how parents brag about their kids over the smallest things that no one else would care about except them, which I find humorous since it’s so true and universal.

The third humorous moment I found was on page 102 of the text when Biff and Happy have their interaction with Miss Forsythe in the restaurant. The two boys are trying to impress and seduce Miss Forsythe so they try to stretch the truth to try to make themselves seem more impressive then they are. Happy is telling her about how Biff is a great football player, but that is not enough so he convinces her he plays for the New York Giants through first making sure she doesn’t know who the New York Giants are. It was a very clever move on Happy’s part and makes for a humorous moment by Miller.

DOAS can be easily read as the story of Biff’s eventual triumph because at the end he achieves self-actualization and realizes his place in the world. Through the trials and tribulations goes through because of Willy (discovering Willy cheating on his mom and constant non-approval), he finally realizes the most important thing to do is to make himself happy. This can change the narrative of what seemed to be Willy Loman’s tragedy to Biff’s success because he decides to be brutally honest with his father in the end about his life up to that point and realizes he’s “not a leader of men” (132). He figures out where he wants to fit in the world and leaves to pursue his happiness, which is found out in the open air on a farm.

I think Willy Loman’s story is tragic rather than pathetic. I agree that Willy probably has a sense of confusion so deep within him that he knows if he tries to address it and figure out the truth of not only his past but also his mind, he will become even more unsettled and not be able to go on. He tries to make sense of his reality by making his own reality rather than realizing what has actually happened in his life, or is currently happening. I think this makes Willy not pathetic at all, but rather persistent and semi-brave. When Willy kills himself at the end, I believe that roots from finally becoming enlightened to self-knowledge. Willy realizes that his past is messy and nothing currently makes sense around him so he decides it would be better to leave the world as it is without anything more added to it; he wants to leave his story where it’s at without trying to figure it out further.

Dave Singleman was an elderly salesman that inspired Willy Loman to take up his career of also being a salesman. Singleman unknowingly glorified the job for Willy because he was 84 years old and still “drummed up merchandise in thiry-one states” (81) without even having to leave his room, that was when Willy “realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want” (81). I think this contributes to the play because it shows how Willy has high hopes and ambitions for himself and also those around him (like with Biff and his football), but never puts in the work to make them happen. He also is not willing to take risks (like not going with Ben) but still expects the rewards and is dissatisfied when he doesn’t receive them.

I agree with Miller's interpretation that DOAS is most expresses "all those feelings of a society falling to pieces which I had." At no point in Death of a Salesman did things workout, the Loman family was experiencing problems from the very first scene where it was first revealed Willy couldn't even drive. Then the play carried on to show a broken family where there was conflict between father and sons. The sons could never get jobs, Willy ultimately also lost his job, and in the end Willy ended up killing himself. All of these events parallel a society that is falling apart as Miller had stated.

The Requiem functions to show Willy was misunderstood when he believed there would be tons of people at his funeral.

The Requiem functions to show that in material America you aren't truly free until you've made a great sacrifice. ("We're free")

The Requiem functions to show that despite act two leaving family relations on edge, the sons and their mother have come together to mourn over the death of Willy.

(Mother never wanted to see sons again)

I think the play does poke at Capitalism, however, I think it does so in the sense that Capitalism is an ever changing system where certain jobs will become obsolete if the worker cannot evolve. Willy did have a prime point in his working career, I would say this is around 1928 (based on the mixed memory scenes). Willy's inability to evolve with the times left him to become a slave to the system where he earned nothing.

Potentially a structural unemployment issue? Would be interesting to find different opinions on why Willy actually failed in his work.

Ben is a fictional vision of success, Charley is the living embodiment of it. Ben's idea that you can just walk out of a jungle rich is ludicrous, Charley on the other hand offers Willy a real job and a real opportunity to earn money. Willy obviously chooses the fictional success as he does in nearly every situation and chooses to ignore actual problems going on (like how he doesn't have a job). The function of Ben is to provide Willy with a sense of hope that there is still a chance for big success. The function of Charley is to provide the play (and Willy) with a level-minded genuine character who is there to help those who need it.

Addressing part a of the question, in which states that the play is about “the paradoxes of being alive in a technological civilization”, is important to take into account as a segment of the overall summary for the play. For example, as the scene between Howard and Willy represents this statement (wire recorder) it is important to take into account different aspects such as the suppression of the individual by placing him below the imperious needs of society, a story about violence within the family, and a love story between a man and his son, and in a crazy way between both of them and America. Each of these statements summarize the play in their own respective ways, and therefore is difficult to select one statement as better than the other due to this reasoning.

Contrasting the two dominant life views between Willy and Linda Loman, Linda stating “life is a casting off” and Willy stating “some people accomplish something”, tackle two contrasting life perspectives aiming to address a certain aspect about life and its struggles. Nevertheless, both Linda and Willy’s life views have aspects that address different circumstances. For example, Linda’s life approach is more of a spiritual esc, approach stating that life is a casting off aiming at the idea of mortality and the events that lead to one's end. However, Willy’s approach is much more materialistic and real, stating that some people accomplish something, which is an ideal he held throughout the play whether it be confronting individuals over business, or working on projects at his home. In turn, Willys approach is much more ample in regards to the text.

Willy claims that success in business is based not on “what you do” but on “who you know and the smile on your face! It’s contacts … a man can end up with diamonds on the basis of being well liked.” This statement is rejected throughout the play, as it is primarily the downfall of Willy leading to his death. For example in the middle of the play, Willy meets with Howard with the mindset of obtaining an office job close to home, however as Howard's father offered this deal to Willy, his contact has diminished because of the work he puts out at an old age and the lack of space at the office. This scene represents the flaw in Willys statement, due to his contact and basis of being well liked no longer paying off.

Ben is a representation of the American dream, and how this aspect of venturing into a jungle and returning with a diamond is a sentiment of Willy’s inevitable demise. This American dream is hollow in regards to the absurdity the statement possesses. Ben represents in turn the embodiment of the ease of the American dream, and an antithesis to Willy because of his actions representing the missed opportunity that evaded Willy.

This assertion is supported by the play, and specifically the characters of Willy and Ben. Willy believes this assertion because of his brother Ben’s success and the enchantment of Dave Singleman. Ben is someone who is well liked from a young age as Willy’s father favors Ben. Ben ends up walking into the jungle and coming out rich with diamonds. Willy is regretful of not following in his brother’s footsteps as he could’ve ended up with diamonds just like him. Willy’s false image of Dave Singleman’s life is what propels him to believe this assertion. To Willy, Dave Singleman represents the old world of salesman where personality and connections determine success. Dave is who Willy wants to be in the sales industry because of his success and how many people like him.

Willy’s difficulty with machines such as his car, the refrigerator and Howard’s wire recorder all demonstrate his inability to accomplish his dreams and move on with his life. He is unable to attain the American Dream, which furthers the thinking that nothing is ever as good as he dreamed it to be. It shows how Willy is stuck in his ways due to his false perception of life and can’t move on, which results in his own death. Willy’s attitude at first towards his machines are that they are the best things ever when he believes they will be highly successful. Eventually, the things get old and nothing became of how he dreamed it.

Willy Loman's story is pathetic. Over the many years, he has conditioned himself to believe his illusions. His illusions include the way he believes society sees him. He doesn't stop believing these illusions and because of this he lacks courage and strength, making him pathetic. Willy's inability to move on from the past and face his fears of failure is what leads to his death. What makes Willy even more pathetic is that he instills these illusions in the way he raises his children. Eventually, he discovers that the value system he believes is based off of appearances not the truth, and still refuses to admit his mistakes. I don't believe that Willy being pathetic weakens the force of the play, it just makes the protagonists less likable among readers.

I believe that Linda is a strong character because she protects Willy and his dreams even though she knows he will never succeed. She is extremely loyal and devoted to Willy, especially during hard times. It takes a strong person to deal with someone who has obviously lost their mind and will to live. Although, I do not think Linda would protect Willy if she was aware of his infidelity. In relation to partly blaming Linda for Willy's death, I believe that she tried to protect his ego and believed in him so he wouldn't kill himself, but she doesn't go out of her way to confront him about the gas tube she finds. I don't think it should be allowed to blame Linda for Willy's suicide since he got himself into that mess and wasn't strong enough to face the truth.

Hadi Hemaidan, Period:4

I believe that f holds the greatest truth during my reading of the play. Throughout the play the father and son, Willy and Biff, were constantly arguing about how to be successful in life, and what that success referred to. Willy was obsessed with the idea of Biff achieving the American Dream, and it seemed like Willy loved the Dream as much as his son. The two however seemed to show their feelings in different ways, Biff as he is constantly asking Happy for help to save their father who is clearly on the brink of a complete psychological breakdown by explaining what he wants is not the same as what Willy wants, and his kissing of Willy when he finds him safe at home. Willy on the other hand is still obsessed with the Dream and now that he knows his son loves him, he is willing to combine his two favorite things by committing suicide and giving the insurance money to Biff to start a business and achieve his dream. "I saw the things that I love in this world. The work and the food and the time to sit and smoke. And I looked at the pen and I thought, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be . . . when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am."

This first purpose of the Requiem is to convey sympathy from the characters to Willy Loman, as they recognize that Willy is just a man with a dream, and that many of his actions were driven due to this, making the characters understand why he did those things. The second purpose of the Requiem is due to the fact that it finally pushed Biff to avoided the material life that his father attempted to push on him throughout his life. It was finally a way for Biff to completely rid himself of the notion of the American Dream and the hold it had on him. Another purpose was to show that he was not well-liked and that very few people attended his funeral. It shows Willy as a the tragic hero who failed to complete his goal as a successful salesman, and that his pursuit of the Dream ultimately led to his downfall.
"Nobody dost blame this man. A salesman has got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory."

I believe that in the Death of a Salesman, this is true when it comes to Willy who is very much a tragic character. In the play Willy struggles tirelessly in order to maintain his dignity and to achieve his goal, which is to make sure his son, Biff, achieves the American Dream that he never could. In his attempt to do this through his suicide he hurt the people around him, especially Linda. I believe that in this case, the fault is mostly on Willy himself, as he was the one that was insistent on forcing the American Dream on Biff. I believe that there everything is presented to us differently, but what makes the difference is what we as an individual believe and therefore, i do not blame society for enforcing anything on Willy. "I'm very well liked in Hartford. You know, the trouble is, Linda, people don't seem to take to me." This is him trying to achieve the American dream of being well-liked/popular, and being in denial that he is not achieving the dream.

Dave Singleman was the inspiration for Willy to become a salesman in the beginning due to his huge success, and he believed that being a salesman was the only way to achieve the American Dream as Singleman had. Singleman however died, and hence can be seen as an opposite of sorts to Willy, because both end up dying, however one of them is wildly successful, while the other was failing as a salesman, and was no where near achieving the American Dream.
"Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?"

Period - 5 Melvin Nicolas

4) Do you agree: Biff loves his father enough to fight him and his lethal beliefs. My opinion, I do not agree with this statement because Biff essentially lost all motivation after he discovered Willy’s affair. In Willy’s eyes, Biff needed to pass summer school to play professional football in college that way he will be successful. After Biff lost all motivation, Willy calls him lazy even though it became the result of his own actions. The fact that Willy didn’t have a relationship with his own father created a chain reaction throughout the book. In result, Willy wasn’t the best father as he lacked in the teaching of morals and values to his children. Additionally, anytime they were unsuccessful he mistakenly didn’t support them. Therefore, tension began to rise between Biff and Willy, however, Happy remained a disappointment.

Finish the sentence 3 different ways: “The Requiem functions to…” (you can prove/explain your 3 claims) The Requiem functions to assert a relatively happy ending. As Biff is considered a form of hope, because of Willy’s suicide within the Requiem we learn that he's also informed about the dangers of the American dream.
The Requiem functions to instill a sense of piety or religiosity into the final scene as the Roman Catholic Church perceives the Requiem to mean, “a Mass for those who have died.” The Requiem functions to imply that Willy’s life is surely worth remembering with an aspect of ceremony. Fulfulling Linda Loma’s argument to her sons earlier on in the play that ‘attention must be paid’ to Willy’s life.

The play definitely makes criticisms of society including the American Dream. Showing that Will Loman’s story is a prime example of what happens when the American Dream fails to materialize and falls. Willy begins to think about all of the opportunities that he didn’t take advantage of in his life and this leads to suffrage. Therefore, this play is indeed an attack on the American Dream which second guesses the notion that to be great this comes from personal charm or fame. On page 62 in the play he says, “Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens! Big shot!” Despite his denial of the fact that after all of those years he has still not progressed and that everyone looks at him as a joke.

When speaking of the Lowman Boy’s stealing Charlie and Ben’s attitudes are completely different. Charlie appears to be the realistic one while Ben is only shown within Willy’s dreams or illusions. Additionally, Charley has acquired a limited degree of success within his own town while Ben was very successful in the “big city.” While Ben remains nearly a figment of Willy’s imagination, Charley is there with the Loman family every day, living with all of their problems and proceeding to help them financially so he is real.

If Willy believes the statement, “a man can end up with diamonds on the basis of being well liked” then Willy himself did not succeed in business. Willy Loman was not a well liked man, and it can be seen by the way that the business men interact with him. They call him “kid” and they do not have high respect for him, even though he is older. These interactions in the play display that it supports the idea that it takes a well liked man to succeed in business. Willy may know many people, but that does not mean that he was well liked, and it showed. His business was not as successful as he imagined and he did not accept it.

One of the significances of the Requiem is that it shows a pathos side to Linda, although it is somewhat cliché. Linda says that she is unable to cry, but she ends up sobbing anyway. Her short monologue is her pleading to Willy, as if she is truly sorry and broken. She loved him even though he did not treat her the same.
Another significance is that Charley makes a very strong speech, defending Willy, who also wasn’t treated well by him. This shows that Charley was a true friend, he saw what Willy had to offer the world, and put it into words.
The third thing is that Happy still defended his father, even though he was dead. Biff makes a comment about him but Happy still disagreed. It may be implied that the information about his affair was not revealed and so Happy still sees Willy as a great man.

The self-knowledge that Willy arrived to was that fact that he disappointed his kids and he wasn’t able to change that. He reminisced on his affair when young Biff came by. Afterward he went out to buy seeds for his infertile land. Willy wanted to try again, to grow new seeds, but he couldn’t accept that the past cannot be changed. Meaning that Willy’s story is more tragic than pathetic. It is not Willy’s fault that he is lost in his own mind, it comes with age. Willy could only be helped is he accepted the help, like from Charley and his wife. Tragedy has a way on strengthening the play rather than weakening it. The audience feels bad for Willy because they see what he goes through and his mood swings from person to person. Willy only wanted what was best for Biff, but he expressed it too strongly and it was taken the wrong way.

Willy described Charley as one of his only friends, which was a true statement. Charley was one of the people present at his funeral. Charley also knew that Willy was prideful but that did not stop him from offering help and a job. In the Requirem, Charley stood up for Willy, he talked about the struggles that Willy went through and why he acted as he did. Willy and Charley also have a balance, for one is a large empathetic man, who is not easily insulted and the other is a skinny arrogant man, who retaliates to being insulted.
On the other hand, Ben is almost like Willy’s imaginary friend. He comes around on occasion but manages to gather Willy’s full attention. Not to mention that Ben doesn’t actually offer decent advice about how to be successful, but repeats himself and emphasizes his wealth. Through the dialogue it seems as Willy is to Ben, and Charley is is Willy. One man is more prideful, or holds himself at a higher standard than the other. Willy always wants Ben’s attention, and in his flashbacks he doesn't want him to leave.

period 5 Logan Ornstein

View #1 is most insightful to not only the description of the main character, Willy, but also the overall plot of the play. The ways in which Willy conducted his life was solely based on his absolutist ideals, and how the actions that he performed influenced the ways in which people viewed him as a figure. Because everything he did was in order to enhance his social status and the ways in which people viewed him, his greatest struggle followed him everywhere he went. The constant need for apparent approval from his peers not only influenced Willy at that time period, although. His need for absolutism influenced both him and his sons in the future, based off of the guidelines they had been conducted by in the past. Because of the constant search for a true purpose and life, as well as common reassurance, Willy's largest struggle, and eventual cause of death, was based around the fact that he had not fulfilled what he believed to be the life that he was meant to live, even though he seemed to be denying this concept until the end of the play.

From the beginning of the play, the viewer is exposed to the idea that Willy, the main character, is a washed-up salesman that conducts himself based off principles of the past, and experiences very little success doing so. These same ideas of a "salesman stuck in the past" translated outside of the business world too, and the viewer can see it with different actions and statements that Willy makes. Willy, as the viewer continues to find out, struggles with newer technology of the time, such as fridges, cars, his house and the wire recorder. This lack of understanding and knowledge of the machines continues the viewer on the path to understanding how Willy is so caught up in the past, and how the ways of his life used to be, that he has very little interest and knowledge of the new items of the future. Although it may not seem entirely significant during the play, the lack of knowledge is a large addition to the ideas that although the times have changed, Willy has not and that could be one of the main reasons he does not experience the success that he believes he should.

I find the situation of Willy's downfall more tragic than pathetic for different reasons. For one, Willy was taught the ways of the business world during a time that was less harsh and did not require the skills in which it was starting to become. He seemed to take pride in the basics, and valued the world of business as an art, rather than just a job. How Willy developed into the man he was in the play took years, and was not something that was capable of being altered with the time change. Given this, even when the central figure did not seem to maintain the correct skills to compete, his pride outweighed the difficulties that he faced, something that I can relate to. Although the play somewhat portrays Willy as a pathetic old man that refused to change with the time period, i viewed him as a man who was fond of his craft and strong in his dignity, a man that would fight for what he believed in even if the odds were stacked against him. It is because of this that I find his downfall rather tragic. He stuck to what he believed in, and in no way do i find that pathetic.

The father-son relationship between the two pairs of figures relies heavily on the mindsets of the fathers, a direct contrast between Charley and Willy. Charley is a figure of success in the play, a man who maintains realistic ideas of what must go on in order to be successful, rather than Willy who believes that true success comes from how the people around you view you. Willy raises Biff under the ideas that it is better to be liked and popular than to stay in the class and perform the actions that will not bring you direct popularity. The direct difference in the two pairs derives directly from how they each interacted furing the son's teenage years. Bernard was driven to succeed in school, preparing himself to the best of his ability for the future that lied ahead. Biff, on the other hand, was guided by Willy who focused on getting people to like you under any circumstance. The two relationships carried overly directly to the future, with each son being a direct representation of his father: Bernard as the success story and Biff as the character who looks meaning and motivation with little idea of what he wants to do in his life. Realism vs Absolutism.

Death of a Salesman contains many scenes which create varying emotional responses within the audience. The moments which are shared between Willy Loman and the other members of his family can be at times happy, sad, or even touching. I agree with this statement to an extent as I feel that this is one of the underlying ideas within the play, however, I feel this is not the true purpose of Arthur Miller in writing the play. This viewpoint developed as an undertone of Miller’s critique on society. The way in which Death of a Salesman depicts a family life can be partially or even wholly relatable to audience members who experience this in their daily lives. To those who can relate, there is likely a takeaway at the end of the play in which one would wish to better their own lives as to avoid such a tragic breakup of their own family. The play, in a sense, instills a sort of fear in viewers that makes us want to do better for ourselves and the people around us.

Stage props are an extremely important part of Death of a Salesman as they quite literally show Willy’s inability to adjust to the changing times and the modern world which is different from the one he grew up in. In a metaphorical sense, his struggle with modern technology is representative of his incapability to get over the events of the past as well as coping with the conditions of the present. In the play, we can clearly see that Willy is living in the past through his memories. He feels that the past is much better than the present, which is true to an extent, however, when he chooses to omit the bad memories, his denial only grows stronger. In the case of his personal possessions, the planned obsolescence of his household appliances is representative of Willy. The way in which he is paying off these items until they are paid off yet broken. This is a metaphor for how Willy is “used up” after his many years of working.

In Death of a Salesman, Miller frequently juxtaposes the city with the countryside. The city is depicted as cold and difficult while the prospect of living in the countryside seems to be much more appealing to most of the members of the Loman family. While living in Brooklyn, the Loman’s are struggling to make ends meet due to the increasing prices and Willy’s inability to earn a steady income. Willy is unconsciously drawn to rural life, which can be seen when he is planting seeds in the backyard of their house. Not only would rural life offer him relaxation from the stress of his city commuter job but it would be what the other characters believed to be his true dream. There would be simplicity in rural life as it is away from the technology that Willy struggles to understand and it would be similar to the past that he grew up in.

Dave Singleman contributes the idea that though it is possible to obtain a certain goal, it may take you your whole life and also serves to prove that a lot of things such as popularity are based upon luck. Dave SIngleman was a traveling salesman just like Willy however when he died he had made so many connections that he because both well known and liked, even after his death. It isn’t that Willy cannot achieve this goal, it is simply that he did not get lucky enough to get the customers which Dave helped. It is also something which contributes to the idea that in this society we truly will work until we die. In order to make ends meet, both Dave and Willy are required to work until the death.

The most insightful view is “Willy’s greatest struggle is the struggle for absolution and meaning to his life/existence.” Throughout the play, the reader sees Willy’s quest for absolution from his job, his affair, and his life all together. Willy seeked absolution from his job because it was a heavy burden on him. In the beginning of a play, Willy has two heavy briefcases, and when he sets them down, it is described as him setting down a burden, showing just how much his job weighed on him. Willy tries to find meaning in his job, as his job is his whole life, but he can’t and ends up being let go from that job.
Willy also seeked absolution, or the release of his guilt from his affair with the woman. Willy had visions of her and heard her laugh throughout the play, and especially couldn’t escape her whenever Linda mended her stockings, as he gave a pair to the woman. Willy desperately wanted to escape the guilt that weighed on him from his affair.
Willy also struggled for meaning to his life throughout the play, with his family and his job. He wanted the meaningful life of a salesman, with many connections around the country, but he never really got to that. He also tries to find meaning with a relationship with his sons, but the relationship was strained. Willy’s struggle for absolution and meaning was one of his greatest downfalls in the play.

It is possible to read the play as the story of Biff’s eventual triumph to a certain extent. Even though the played portrayed WIlly’s different struggles throughout it, it did show how some of Biff’s struggles were overcome and how he came to realize what he wanted to do, and discover himself. Biff struggle with holding a job and becoming successful, but he always wanted to farm in the west. But, Willy did not really support it, and pushed him towards business instead. At the end of the play, Biff was freed from that view, and was freed from the box that surrounded them and their house, and came to the realization that that was what he wanted to do to be happy and successful in his own right.
The hope that is offered in the play definitely was offered through Biff, because there wasn’t much hope for the other characters. The play has a tragic end for Willy, but it had a glimmer of hope with Biff’s self-discovery and release from the pressure of success from his father. It shows how you can follow your own path and find hope through that, instead of ending up like Willy, who lost his job, and his life.

The urban vs. rural dynamic in the play add to the different themes and characterization of Willy and Biff. Willy’s house is described as being boxed in by apartment buildings, which represents how he his boxed in in his life and with his job. He is stuck in the same job that he has been doing for years and is not free from it. Biff, however, likes the west and living there, and wanted to farm in the west, but it was discouraged by his family. His family encouraged a business-like life, which would have led to him being trapped just like his father. The rural life represents freedom. We see a glimpse of this with Willy, when he planted seeds, showing how he wanted to be free, but the garden was boxed in, showing how he couldn’t be free. Business is more monotonous and trapping, while farm life is relaxed and freeing.
Alaska also represents that freedom that Willy could not have. He always regretted not going to Alaska with Ben, and if he did he may have ended up rich. It represents the life that Willy could have had, which would have been free from money problems, the salesmen job, and being boxed in in New York. The rural life represents an almost better life that Willy could have had.

Charley and WIlly both had very different relationships with their sons. Willy and Biff were very close when Biff was younger, and Willy supported him and his football. WIlly thought that Biff was very great and deserved a lot of things and was better than others, which we see with Willy wanting Bernard to give Biff answers on schoolwork. Willy never assigned blame on Biff, and blamed Bernard or the teachers when Biff received bad grades, or when he failed a class and couldn’t graduate. But, when Biff caught his dad having and affair and didn’t go to summer school or college, their relationship changed a lot. Biff resented his father and drew away from him, while Willy would get upset with him for not being able to hold jobs and for wanting to farm. The two had a good relationship when they were younger, but it became very strained.
Charley was not as involved in Bernards life when he was younger. WIlly said that Charley was not interested in his life and left him alone. Charley left Bernard to make his own life and own decisions, instead of pushing him towards things like Willy did to Biff. Bernard and Charley had a solid relationship when Bernard got older, and Bernard had lots of success. The two still did things together and had pleasant visits, and Charley was proud of him, but did not show it off like Willy did, which helped them maintain a healthy relationship as father and son.

This claim made by Willy has several appearances throughout the play in regard to Willy’s life, as well as, to the future of both Biff and Bernard. Miller portrayed Willy’s strong belief in this claim through his dialogue and actions. However, the play as a whole seems to reject this claim. This can be seen through Bernard as a character because Willy always ridiculed him for working hard, and said that he would never succeed due to his lack of contacts (and that he was not well-liked). But, Bernard eventually became very successful as a lawyer, and during the play he is about to go argue a case in front of the Supreme Court. On the other hand, Biff was very well-liked when he was younger, but he ultimately turned out to be a failure (and somewhat turned to a life of crime).

I believe that the most accurate way of looking at the dramatic structure and time of the play is through Miller’s statement saying, “The play takes place in Willy’s mind so it travels through different definitions of reality, it keeps shifting.” This is because with the play taking place inside of Willy’s mind it creates a sense of continuous flow, even with the shifting realities that are occurring. These are seen as memories and therefore, still allow the actions within the present time to take place. With the concept of dramatic structure, this statement accurately depicts the significant use of Willy’s memories within the play (“different definitions of reality, it keeps shifting”). This can be seen when Willy gets reminded of a bad situation, and he falls back into his memories in order to justify or ignore the reality of the present time.

In my eyes, Willy’s story is both pathetic and tragic. While looking at Willy’s work ethic it’s tragic that he was never able to succeed or accomplish anything of value, and therefore, he was never able to escape the never-tiring bills that were always chasing him. Also, it’s tragic that Willy works so hard just to provide for his family because he always has them on his mind, and wants to be able to pass something on to them (especially his sons). However, his story can be pathetic because instead of actually facing reality, in order to better himself and succeed in life for the sake of his family, he chooses to hide behind false realities that are based on memories from 1928. This prevents him from moving on from past mistakes and bad situations.

The father-son relationship between Charley-Bernard and Willy-Biff have many differences. A prime difference is the amount of interest each father has for their son. Charley was entirely “interested” in his son Bernard, but that was just how Charley was as a character (he didn’t have much interest in anything). On the other hand, Willy practically devoted all of his interest to Biff. However, this seemed to add a great deal of pressure onto Biff to succeed in life; in which, Biff eventually cracked under the pressure and turned out to essentially be a failure. While, Bernard worked hard to make his dad proud, and with no additional pressure from his father, he became very successful as a lawyer. Both father-son relationships have a main similarity, which is the pride each father has for their son (at certain points in their lives). For Charley, he is very proud of Bernard being a lawyer, and tells Willy that he going to present a case in front of the Supreme Court. For Willy, his pride comes from when Biff was only 18 and was captain of the high school football team. He would always discuss how great of a son Biff was, and how he was going to be a huge success.

The play reinforces the idea that capitalist societies, or maybe even man in general, will want to put value into a man. And when that man is used up, his value goes away. This is why your ability becomes more valuable than your social status. This is most obviously and clearly shown by Willy who had given his life to the company and in return had stated that one “can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away — a man is not a piece of fruit!” Willy was a used up salesman who couldn’t even sell anymore and his smile did nothing for him anymore. However, the opposite is also true for people like Howard Singleman. He simply got the role of THE BOSS because he was the son of Dave Singleman and in this sense success was achieved through who one knows.

Throughout the play, Willy finds himself having issues with new technology. His inability to use these machines further reinforces his outdatedness. In the scene referring to the refrigerator and how he states that they “time those things,” it becomes more ironic and symbolic of Willy’s life and his insurance. The aspect of his death occurring at the same time that the finally become “free” relates the two in the sense that they are both scene as commodities to the capitalist society. Furthermore, his inability to use the wire recorder shows his age and inability to conform to the future which becomes a hindrance to his life.

Both characters, Oedipus and Willy, have sort of a yearning for greatness that leads them to their loss of personal dignity. Oedipus wishing to dethrone the king and change his world finds out that he has committed incest to his mother and homicide to his father. Willy continuing the delusion of Biff’s greatness in order to achieve happiness within himself. In turn he goes against the moral code of suicide in seeking greatness for his children. These characters, in their own faults, end in a tragic demise caused by their own individual twisted society. Both wishing to be a part of the masses and wanting to revolutionize their world.

Charley had left Bernard to his own devices and did not blow him “full of hot air.” Unlike Willy, Charley had left Bernard to his studies and did not force him into football. This may have been the reason on why Bernard had become successful in the changing world. Willy wants Biff to be a saint in the salesman industry. Willy forces Biff into becoming a salesman and his failure to do so is what tears them apart. This, in contrast to Charley and Bernard’s almost professional relationship, is what may have brought the Death of a Salesman to such a lethal ending.

Well, the play makes it clear that one can simply walk into a jungle, find diamonds, and be rich, just like Willy’s brother Ben. What the play does not emphasize is the character of Ben--to where the audience cannot discern whether Ben was well-liked before he found diamonds. Willy claims that Dave Singleman lived a successful life and died with crowds of people at his funeral by the fact that he was a respected salesman. Willy always stresses that personality is the most important trait someone may have through his idolization of Biff, as well as repeatedly stating how personality is important to success. Yet, since Willy is a delusional character, the play tends to show that luck may play a large role to the attainment of “diamonds” as seen with Ben.

In contrast to other tragedies, the function of the requiem in the play serves as a recapitulation of Willy’s life through the perspective of his family, for example: Biff: “He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.” and “...there’s more of him in that stoop than in all the sales he ever made.”. This in turn causes the reader to see Willy without the lense of false pride, but for who he truly was.

The function of the requiem also to paint the picture of nostalgia, regret and exercising the idea of a “what if” scenario. For example, Happy exclaims “...We would’ve helped him.” even though he had many opportunities to do so yet he didn’t take it. This theme is evident throughout a great portion of the play. It is reinforced through the sound of the flute at the end, which symbolizes Wily’s potential course of action in life, which would have been more adventurous with nature.

The function of the requiem also serves to reinforce the theme once more, especially as the last statement the audience hears through Linda, that one may end up paying for something that may not end up enjoying fully due to their death/old age, as well as a form of catharsis where the audience can lay down their sorrow for Willy and acknowledge him in a manner more like Linda, remembering how he had cheated of Linda, much in the way life had cheated Willy through the Selling business and through payments of bills.

My interpretation of the play takes on the stance that it is not exactly a criticism to society, but a demonstration of where our society places its priorities. Through Willy, the audience can view areas of themselves that has been swayed by the "American Dream," and goals that most Americans lay out to achieve despite the cost. With Willy, he worked his entire life to sustain a family where he always hoped for things that would inevitably not grow into reality, just like the seeds he planted outside of his home toward the end of the play. “They time them so when you finally paid for them, they’re used up.” pg. 73. Willy endured what many endure, the meaningless life spent paying off a mortgage, bills, and things laid out to be necessary, yet got to the point of his life where he was too old and distorted to truly enjoy the fruit of his labor without anymore monetary worries and responsibility. It also shows our human trait that quivers at the thought of change, as seen in page 81, Willy becomes a salesman and Happy is on the same route--much like our culture that pursues to build off the predestined legacy that is to amount to what our fathers were before us. In a way, it encapsulates us because striving for new life directions may lead to failure, as seen with Biff, much in the way that one becomes captivated by having to pay for things they may not enjoy, simply to abide to norms.

The first notable contradiction Willy gives is when he describes Biff as being lazy on page 16, then after a brief subject-changing interlude, he declares Biff as having the notable quality, of which he is characterized upon, of not being lazy. This sense of contradiction shows how Willy can cover up/mask his fears of Biff through an assertion of his dreams/aspirations of Biff according to his past success in football, but failures at math. It shows just how he has been affected by the incident in Boston.

Willy also contradicts himself through the advocation of Biff needing to study when Bernard arrives, which turns into him later claiming that Biff is fine and is well liked with a great personality. Also shows instight to Willy’s masking of false pride and failure.

Willy is also boasts how he is well-liked at his selling spots yet later complains to Linda how people laugh at him and don’t take him seriously. This shows Willy’s rare ability to admit his faults and how to recover, the fact that he doesn’t admit his faults also shows his stern ability to mask his life to a facade that is acceptable to society's ideals.

Hailey Nowell, period 6

I do find some truth in this statement; however, it is not realized that the best way to live your life is to do what you want to do with your life and be who you want to be. Biff breaks through and realizes that the steps he is taking is not who he wants to be and he starts to think about who he wants to be and what he wants to do. For the entirety of the play Biff tries to follow in his father’s footsteps, but he realizes later on that he doesn’t know why he’s in an office and asks, “Why am I trying to become what I don’t believe?” Biff is pushed in the play to continually be someone who he doesn’t want to be by the standards and the expectations that Willy holds him against.

Stage props are used to help characterize Willy and Biff by demonstrating their strengths and weaknesses; for example one stage prop is a football and it is thrown between Happy and Biff and it helps to demonstrate both of their athleticism and how strong they are and Happy continually asking his father if he has realized that he has been working out. Will’s difficulty with his car, house, and Howard’s wire recorder help to illustrate his age and how his mind is going and that he is not up to date with recent technology because he needs to be ready to retire. The objects are symbolic because they represent what Americans dream of and obtain. Willy’s attitude toward his car and home, and refrigerator are love and appreciation, but he often gets frustrated with them and wants them to be in the best shape and form and cares for these objects.

I believe that Willy Loman's story is not pathetic, but that it is tragic because there was sorrow and it was a sad story, but much was learned from it. I do believe that toward the end of the play, Willy became more knowledgeable about himself, for he realized his fault in continually yelling at Linda to be quiet and asking her for him talk without being interrupted. Also, the heated discussion that him and Biff partake in allowed Willy to self reflect and understand the dreams that he had expected his sons to follow and that Biff really did love him and Willy is somewhat surprised by this and was at first hard to believe. Willy believed that he had wanted to give something back to his family for not making that much money and maybe why he killed himself was to leave some life insurance for his family; he finally realizes that he was not successful and he wants to make up for it by committing suicide and leaving his life insurance as he discussed in his conversations with Ben, his dead older brother.

Dave Singleman was an 84 year old man who earned his income by staying at home and making sale calls. He put a false idea in Willy’s head that made Willy believe that he may never have to retire and could be a working salesman for a long time, by this, he never worried about the future. Willy never planned ahead and lived day by day. Willy believed that Singleman was a role model who was living the “dream” life and believed that when Singleman died that there were hundreds of salesman and buyers at his funeral, but this is in Willy’s dreams, for he had this false idea in his head that Singleman was some sort of prodigy and had everything he ever wanted when in reality by the age of 84, most of your friends are dead and Willy most likely had more friends/family at his funeral than him. Singleman was false hope made Willy wish and want to be someone who he is not.

Period 4 Zachary Phillips

Willy struggles throughout the play to find any meaning to his life and added on to his constant failures within his job, he eventually makes the decision to kill himself. Willy killed himself to try and help his family as he believes they would have gotten his life insurance money after his death, but even that failed for Willy as they got no money. Willy realized that he was a failure both personally to his family as well as being a failure as a salesman, which led him to try and do one final thing which would help his family and even that ended up being a failure. His lack of understanding of how/why he has not succeeded while everyone else has been a success including his brother Ben and his neighbor Charley drives him crazy and eventually leads him to the decision of killing himself. Willy is unable to understand how other people have been more successful than him with Willy believing that he has worked harder than these people and therefore he wants to be just as or even more successful. The failure to reach absolution then causes him to try and help his family but even that doesn’t become a success which ensures his failures as a person.

I believe that Miller chose to add a Requiem at the end of the play to ensure that the audience understands Willy’s decision and that they are not angry at Willy for committing suicide. The lack of anger towards Willy is shown by Charley when he states, “Nobody dast blame this man.” Willy’s wife, Linda, also shows her understanding of Willy’s decision with her quote of “Attention must be paid.” Through the quotes of these characters, Miller makes it clear that he wants the audience to have sympathy for Willy Loman instead of anger. The use of a requiem instead of an epilogue shows how Miller wanted to have a final tribute to Willy and ensure that nobody felt angry with Willy once the play was over.

One other reason why the Requiem was added to the play was to give the audience hope and to show that Biff has learned from his father’s mistakes and he has realized how dangerous the American dream can be. This ending with Biff realizing he should not follow in his father’s footsteps can work as a happy ending to a certain extent.

Miller also shows through the requiem the false sense of friendship and love within the requiem through the lack of people attending his funeral and even showing that some of the people at the funeral were still disappointed and angry with Willy. This is shown through Happy, Willy’s son, when he states, “He had no right to do that” with the stage directions also pointing out that Happy was deeply angered while saying that.

Willy Loman’s story should be seen as a tragic story due to the fact that Willy represents many American people and was so desperate to help his family and was willing to do anything in order to help them. Willy’s idea of being able to work forever and never having to retire though resulted in many problems. He used the life of Dave Singleman to make himself believe that he would be able to work for the rest of his life, and that was important for him because he did not know anything in his life besides being a salesman. The integrity of Willy was shown because he was trying so hard to be successful as everyone around him was a success but he somehow managed to be a failure. Willy has come to some self-knowledge by the end of the play as he has seen that the life of a salesman was not going to be successful for him, so he then tried to help his family by killing himself believing that his family would receive money from his life insurance policy. Willy has also helped Biff realized the dangers of the American dream and that is one of the few ways that Willy was able to help one of his kids, as Happy is still ignorant to how dangerous the American dream can be.

Willy brings up memories of Dave Singleman while he is in Howard’s office, but Singleman gave Willy a false sense of reality. Due to Singleman working for his entire life and never actually retiring, Willy did not plan anything for his future and he was just living with no actual plan for his life except for being a salesman. The use of the name Singleman by Miller is significant as it represents many different ideas. It is clearly representative of Singleman’s life as he was by himself for his entire life and he did not have to worry about supporting a family like Willy did. One other idea that the name represents is the uniqueness of Singleman’s success and how he was a rare example of the success of a salesman. The uniqueness of his success made him a bad example of a person for Willy to try and use him as a role model, which Willy failed to realize until it was too late.

Willy’s claim that success in the business world is not based on “what you do” but rather “who you know” is supported by the play when Willy loses his job because he immediately had the opportunity to seize another job position based on who he knew. This was shown when Willy was obviously crazy and not in the mental state to hold a job, however, he was offered a job due to connections he had. Charley offered him a job position, but Willy didn’t take it because his character couldn’t take that demoralization.

Props can be used in this play to have double meanings with more depth than they appear to have. For example, the seeds represent Willy’s opportunity to show his worth; whether it be through his work or relationships. Another prop that has an additional meaning would be the diamonds. A strong desire Willy has always had is to give materialistic stuff to his boys. Therefore in the diamonds it can be interpreted they represent wealth and the ability to be capable of passing gifts down to offsprings.

I think Willy’s situation is tragic. This is due to the fact that he is mentally challenged and always having mental dilemmas in his head. However, I don’t think this weakened the plot of the play, but rather strengthened it. I believe this aspect of Willy’s character allowed the play to have depth and gave a reason to drive the plot of the play. I think Willy was self acknowledged at the end of the play because he realized his son loved him. This ultimealty made him realized how he is a burden on his family and therefore drove himself to suicide.

Charley is a realistic character, whereas Ben only appears to Willy in Willy’s mind. Furthermore, Charley was successful in his small town and able to relate to Willy more in this aspect; whereas Ben was more successful in the city setting. Additionally, Willy is often very pleased to see Ben when Ben appears in his imagination. However, when Willy sees Charley, he is not as happy; he sees Charley as a threat towards the end because Charley held a job position and Willy didn’t. Ben functions to show what Willy wants to hear and know, whereas Charley is a sense of reality.

Pd. 4 Sharadha Sreenivasa

Catharsis according to Aristotle is defined as an “emotional purification" through a tragic drama through the "evocation of intense fear and pity”. Pity is mostly prominent feeling thats brought upon the audience in this play due to the fact that Lowman's family parallels the hardships of an American family in many ways. Though this is a more hopeful outlook on the play, it still brings shows that a family has to go through all that just to live their lives being the best part of who they are. It highlights social consciousness and how it can prevent one from living out their lives authentically. This play shows Willy as the conformist or a commodity who sold his life just to realize how much of it he wasted. Though that quote is more hopeful, there are many deeper levels within the play that make it sad, pitiful, and tragic.

The most accurate way of looking at the timely structure for dramatic effect is the hallucinations that are the effect of the volcanic tendencies of his mind. Willy's memories were not flashbacks but hallucinations or recollections to convey the "bending of time" which allow of the construction of tensions with Willy's past and present. This dramatic structuring of the play interconnect Willy's social and psychic time to show the unraveling of Willy's mind. This shows the audience moments of "overlapping realities" which add to the dramatic tragedy of the play.

Miller’s quote is appropriate with both Oedipus and the King and DOAS because when Oedipus is presented with choices throughout the play, his arrogant and stubborn nature push him to impulsively make the wrong decisions, that ultimately lead him to his downfall. His main tragic flaw was temper which was the effect of his attempts to keep his personal dignity. However, in DOAS, Willy’s tragic flaw is that he built his life on denial to preserve his dignity and pride of him and his sons, which relates to how he is reluctant to take the blame or believe that anything was his “fault”. The wrong in his environment is his lies and deception that has burden his present from his past actions. His tragedy was his own making because he turned away from himself to match the ideology and image of the American dream. Willy’s personality was mainly the reason of his corruption, not much the society itself. His desire for material success, his egotistical behavior and his need for people to like him and label him the “right way”. He indirectly beats himself up for not meeting the qualifications of the society. But it was his choices in life that made him not “meet” the qualifications. He placed too much importance on it, unlike his son Biff, who realized it later. If Biff realized he was the reason of his own undoing, especially when he stole the pen, he stated. Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be . . . when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am.” If only Willy was willing to listen to his son when they were arguing about this topic, he would have been able to turn himself around. Again here, Willy’s personal dignity got in the way.

This quote is mostly true but it’s not that he can’t bear the “reality”, he can’t bear what he thinks reality expects of him. He does have the ability to change it, but he is so focused on how he failed to accomplish his American dream and he surrounds himself with denial and false hope. The structure of the play such as his “boxed in” home surrounded by towering apartments and buildings represents not only the physical boxed in environment the Loman family lived in as the rest of society progressed, but also the mental control that money had on their lives. It seems as if he was surrounded by others living the American dream while he was constantly reminded of his own failure due to his overactive mind. And the material expenses of the apartments vs. Willy's slowing deteriorating home which is ironic due to Willy's strive of material success and monetary success.

5th Christian Mahlstedt last question

Ben represents the unrealistic dream of Willy which is to make a fortune without ultimately taking a great loss and without demonstrating any particular skill rather be lucky. This dream related to his ideology about how if he is well liked he will ultimately be extremely successful despite not being exceptional at his profession. This is shown during his funeral when nobody he met during his work showed up and he was a salesman which meant he should have created a great amount of relationships. This pushes the argument that he was ultimately seen as irrelevant and unliked by the less important characters

6 Gabrielle Adekunle

“Death of a Salesman” described as a love story between a man and his son, and in a crazy way between both of them and America.” To me, this is the statement that holds the greatest truth from my reading of the play. The whole story is centered around Willy and his relationship with his son Biff. Even at the end of the story, he is intent that killing himself will be the greatest act of love for Biff that he could do. “Loves me,” Willy states. “Isn’t that a remarkable thing? Ben, he’ll worship me for it”, talking about his upcoming apparent suicide.
Everything he does in his life is for Biff. He pawns off his diamond watch in order to buy him a radio and continually engages in acts like this to keep Biff’s favor. The plot of the story is centered around the two “falling out of love” with each other and their lack of ability to communicate that they are actually still in love.

The requiem functions to show how Willy Loman was the common man and not at all what he delusionally believed he would become. The lack of attendance at his funeral contradicts the highly attended funeral of the older Salesman he had met earlier in life. This difference also parallels with Linda saying that she won’t cry but does indeed end up crying. Happy states that he is going to stay in town and pursue and succeed at what his father wanted. A delusional dream that Happy will end up failing at, as his life as the second, ignored son, parallels Willy’s.

I agree with the critic that failure is the only sin Americans will not forgive. We will do whatever it takes to receive a result, we maintain the mindset that the ends justify the means. But if the means weren’t good and the end result wasn’t as well it isn’t acceptable.
While I agree with this, I don’t believe that that is the premise of the play. Linda seems to forgive Willy for the failure that he was. Happy forgives him as well. Willy also forgives himself, but that is only when he finds out that his son Biff still loves him.

I agree with the critic that failure is the only sin Americans will not forgive. We will do whatever it takes to receive a result, we maintain the mindset that the ends justify the means. But if the means weren’t good and the end result wasn’t as well it isn’t acceptable.
While I agree with this, I don’t believe that that is the premise of the play. Linda seems to forgive Willy for the failure that he was. Happy forgives him as well. Willy also forgives himself, but that is only when he finds out that his son Biff still loves him.

Linda is a strong character in the play “Death of a Salesman.” She had to deal with probably knowing that her husband had an affair. Along with that she had to help by being a mediator between her sons and her husband. She also had to pretend that everything was okay even though she knew her husband was trying to commit suicide. She didn't say anything to him in order to help him maintain his dignity.

When Willy claims that business is more about who you know, he is rejecting Ben’s job offer, and he shares his success formula that he is committed to. He says that it’s more about your contacts and being liked that will generate your success. Ultimately, the play undersells this claim, as it is Willy's suicide that provides the finances for his family's dreams/ success even as it destroys their family. Willy is also obsessed with fulfilling the American dream. He refuses to acknowledge the consequences and regret of him not going with Ben to Alaska.

These objects symbolize how Willy has spent his whole life working to pay for a house, cars, and a refrigerator, without feeling that this is a game he can’t win. Eventually Willy seems to understand the absurdity of owning something only when it is no longer of any use to him, he maintains his belief in the worth and worthiness of being well liked. Willy not only has to deal with the inhumanity of free enterprise, but also with his inability to come to terms with the hopes he had for his life, versus the life that he has actually lived.

I think Willy Loman was intended to be a tragic hero. He believed the only way he could help his family was to die. After much defeat Willy reflected on his life and said that he was of more value dead than alive. Arthur Miller succeeds in demonstrating Willy’s tragic heroism. Willy has an inability to admit his mistakes and learn from them. His fate was tragic, symbolizing capitalist workers. Starting with many dreams and enthusiasm, but most ending up like Willy, worn out and defeated. Willy is despised by his own children and struggles to pay off their debts. His tragic flaw is his belief in the American dream.

Throughout the play, Willy contradicts himself several times. One is when he calls Biff lazy, and then says “there’s one thing about Biff, he’s not lazy.” Willy is somewhat unstable and also often has an inability to communicate his thoughts as he is confused. in Willy’s eyes, “a lazy bum.” When talking about Biff, Willy often becomes angered and frustrated, especially when thinking about his life and lack of success essentially. However, at the same time he also thinks Biff is great. Willy also says “And don't say ‘Gee.’ ‘Gee’ is a boy's word. A man walking in for fifteen thousand dollars does not say ‘Gee!’.” But then later says “Gee, look at the moon moving between the buildings!” Another contradiction is when he says “Chevy is the greatest car ever built”, but then comments “That goddam Chevrolet!”

1. Throughout the book Willy Loman, the central character in the play, struggles deeply with an ever increasingly delusional relationship with reality. Willy struggles mentally because he holds himself to a higher standard or on a high level than how society actually views him as a person and as a salesman. Continuously trying to bring himself validation, Willy reassures himself that he is "well liked" and that he is a good salesman although he is struggling financially and his boss ends up letting him go midway through the book. Willy wants to be the best father, salesman, person, that he can be but for one reason or another he struggles to meet the standard that he wants to reach.

I think the most accurate way to look at the structure of this play with regards to how time is a factor in the plot and how it elevates the plot structure is the idea that "The play takes place in Willy's mind so it travels through different definitions of reality, it keeps shifting." I think this is the most ideal way of looking at the structure of this play because it seems that the whole play surrounds the idea that Willy has numerous conflicts within his own mind. He has a complex relationship with his mind that causes the past to be brought up to reassure the present. This is the reason why multiple different time periods are brought up throughout the play simultaneously.

In my person opinion I think that Willy's story is not pathetic but rather tragic because he is clearly disabled by his inner conflicts in his every day life. I think that Willy truly wants to be the best that he can be, but he is never able to attain this leading to his inevitable death and making him struggle for the last part of his life. I think that there is nobility in what Willy is doing in that he never gives up throughout the plot and keeps pushing to achieve high aspirations. Some may look at this as pathetic because he thinks too highly of himself and does not know when to stop but I tend to look at characters such as Willy as more of tragic figures because their problems seem to surpass their own personal control.

In the scene when Willy is getting laid off of work by his boss for lack of production and instability, Willy brings up a past figure that he knew named Dave Singleman. Dave was a former salesman that Willy describes as a gentleman of stellar character who is also an excellent salesman. Willy remarks on the fact that Dave Singleman was very well liked. This idea contributes to the play because this seems to be one of the driving forces in the conflicts that occur in Willy's mind. He consistently has to reassure himself that he is a good salesman and a well liked individual because he compares himself to other people and the standard that he wants to reach. David Singleman is a main cause of this because he set the standards that Willy wants to live up to.

Period 6 Quinten Vansteenkiste

I believe that DOAS is about the paradoxes of being alive in a technological civilization. My reasoning for this selection is that throughout the play, Willy Loman struggles with the technology. He struggles to make payments on his cars and on other appliances in the household. the car he has is a Chevrolet. Chevrolet is a car brand which is symbolic of the American Dream. I believe that the car is symbolic because it is a piece of technological advancement, and Willy struggles with it because he cannot do is job of making long drives with his car. When Willy commits suicide, he takes the Studebaker instead of the Chevy. I believe this is symbolic of Willy giving up on the modern American dream as well. His job is changing due to technological advances in society, and this causes Willy to struggle. It is evident when he tells Howard he used to make almost $200 commission when he worked with Howard's father. Once that Howard was in charge and times had changed, Willy made far less.

The play supports this assertion well based on the portrayal of Willy's late brother Ben. Ben appears in flashbacks or memories that Willy has. He is always portrayed with a glowing aura, wearing a fancy white suit and hat, he has a charming personality, and he is very big in stature. When Ben was alive, he got rich off of diamonds. Diamonds are the symbol for risky but tangible wealth. Ben got rich off of diamonds when he was alive, and this is why Willy associates charisma and a good smile with diamonds. The diamonds are symbolic of wealth.

I find a lot of truth in this interpretation because I believe that you can watch or read DOAS, and take a valuable lesson from the play. The lesson that society can be toxic to your well being. In the play, it would have been best for Willy if he had been truthful with Linda from the start. About his job, his mental health, and his affairs. He builds up so much self hatred because he cannot live up to who society wants him to be. He puts all of this pressure and stress into his children, particularly Biff. He wants them to become the man that he could not become and he becomes angry when they do not live up to his potential. If Willy had lived his life authentically, he would have made his personal life, work life, and family life in the Loman household much more healthy and balanced, and most likely would not have killed himself.

"Willy, nobody's worth nothin dead" Charley to Willy. This is humorous because although it seems obvious, Charley can sense that Willy is not in a good mental state and is too caught up with meeting his own standards. "They know me up and down New England..." Willy to his kids. This is humorous because we know that Willy is exaggerating his popularity in New England, and he most likely does not know anyone there. A typical sign of stress or insecurity. "A man who can't handle tools is not a man. You're disgusting" Willy to Charley. Willy is trying to belittle Charley because he cannot fathom a character with the appearance of Charley to be more successful to him, and the whole process is comical. "Why boys, when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was 21 I walked out. And by god I was rich." This is funny because Ben is clearly superior to Willy and has no intentions to hide his superiority.

Ben serves as a father figure for Willy in certain aspects. He is the only older and successful male figure in Willy's life, and because of that he aspires to be just like him. He appears just as Willy begins to doubt his dreams, and sucks him back into his fantasies. Ben had found his riches and lived a dream that Willy wanted ever since he was a child, and for this reason Willy cannot let it go, even if his goals are completely delusional and unrealistic.