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Similarities Between Willy Loman And Gregor Samsa

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Gregor Samsa and Willy Loman seek comfort only in the reality they make up in their mind to free themselves of the difficulties of real life, resulting in their psychosis. The two sees no point in living in the real world when their is nothing left for them there. After failing at their careers as travelling salesmen and failing at their father-son relationships, they are driven to hysteria. Willy Loman and Gregor Samsa are driven into alternate realities by similar internal and external forces, such as the pressure of their secrets, failure of their relationships, and rejection, that further worsen their psychotic state.
Willy Loman and Gregor Samsa have the burden of financially supporting their families since the other members do not work …show more content…

They are forced into their own realities after life out of and in their homes go awry. The external force of having damaged familial bonds is too much for them. Willy Loman’s son Biff no longer believes in his father and does not look up to him like he did when he was younger. Biff say “I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you!” (II). Biff telling his father that he nothing more than ordinary is the last straw. Willy wants the flashback to take over and fully submerge himself in his own reality from when he had a good relationship with his son. Gregor’s relationship with his family also deteriorates throughout the book and he becomes more insect-like because of it. Gregor is paying his father debt, but his father is no longer grateful after his transformation, which weakens their relationship. The book says “No plea of Gregor’s helped, no plea was even understood: however ever humbly he might turn his head, his father merely stamped his feet more forcefully.” (Kafka 18). His father did not care how hard Gregor was trying to fix things, all he cared about was that the creature that is his son return to his room and stay there. Willy Loman and Gregor Samsa have weak familial relationships, making them feel alienated and causing them to want to enter their made up

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