Willy is seen talking to himself frequently which causes his family to think he is a lunatic. In Act 1 when Happy and Biff are talking to one another in their old bedroom Happy mentions Willy talking to himself more frequently. Happy says, “He just wants you to make good, that’s all. I wanted to talk to you about Dad for a long time, Biff. Something’s — happening to him. He — talks to himself. Page 12 Happy mentions to Biff that Willy is slowly losing his mind. He sees Willy talking to himself about things that happened in the past. Due to his crazy ramblings, Biff and Happy became embarrassed of their father’s behavior and did not want to be seen with him. Willys boss Howard disrespects him a few times through the play. In Act 1 when Howard takes away Willy’s salary and goes strictly on commission and Linda tells the boys they are outraged by Howard’s actions. Biff says, “He’s off salary. My God, working on commission!” Page 47 Howard places Willy on commission figuring that the old man would end up quitting the job since he wasn’t making any money on sales. Howard didn’t care what happened to Willy, he viewed him as a burden to the company he didn’t really like Willy at all. Willy even mentioned that his co-workers didn’t take to him. In Act 2 when Willy was asking for an office job, Howard completely ignored him for
In the play “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, the story begins as Willy Loman a traveling salesman from Brooklyn, New York is returning home from a sales trip that he could not complete. He tells his wife Linda “I am tired to the death” (963). He is an older man past sixty who is feeling worn down from the travels that he has taken over the years and is feeling enormous stress in his life. He has been demoted from a salary position to commission only and is worried about money and how he will pay his bills. He is concerned how he and his wife will survive. He is troubled by the paths that his two sons, Biff and Happy 's lives have taken. He has always expected more and cannot accept what they have become. All of this is taking a toll on Willy and has affected his state of mind. When a
Acceptance can lead to a lot of things one of which being belief. This belief can be very powerful wether it be religious, personal or work related. It can also be applied to Willy’s dream to be rich along with religious crusades, proving their similarities in particular their beliefs on happiness, relationships and success. One way in which Willy shows his different beliefs is through the ways he believes he will become happy. The only thing that motivates him throughout the play is his American Dream which for him includes money and being well-liked by people. Willy would only be happy if he were successful but his beliefs on what success means is different than many other people, he believes that success means money and popularity. In act
I implore Willy to talk to his boss, Howard, to permit him to work in New York City rather than traveling throughout New England. Willy, encouraged, exclaims how he will indeed have a talk with Howard. Pleased with conversation i happily tell Willy that the boys have reunited. Willy does not seem to think the same way I do. Willy touches on the subject of Biff not finding himself and at his age he should be able to find himself and if Biff has not it was nothing but pure laziness. I ask Willy with infinite patience to not contradict Biff in such a way. I succeed in convincing Willy that a Biff is just a very lost soul at the moment. finite patience to not contradict Biff in such a way. I succeed in convince him that a buff is just very lost. Willy tells me he will talk to biff in the morning. I tell Willy that if it nice and warm Sunday we could perhaps go on a stroll and open up the windows of the car. Willy responds to me with a confusing reply, that the windows do not open. I see it coming, Willy is beginning to shift into his own world, once again. I leave Willy in the world he has accustomed to. I return searching for Willy in the kitchen, i see Willy he insists on going for a walk. Biff comes down, i shush him, he could disturb
In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, an average man named Willy strives to be successful and make himself known to the world. As he approaches the age most men hope to retire, he stills tries to achieve his dreams of being rich and loved. His two sons, Biff and Happy, have been shaped by Willy’s ideologies and have learned much of what they know as adults from him. Despite his aspirations for them and the effort he has put forth to help them be prosperous, they have both not fulfilled his expectations. Biff has never had a steady job or girlfriend. While he is better off than Biff, Happy is still not very successful as he has a low position at a company and has not produced a family. Willy teaches his sons many things, one of them being that one should be well liked.
Willy says [nothing her mending] “what 's that?” Linda says “just mending my stockings. They’re so expensive” Willy says [angrily, taking them from her] “I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out”(Miller 26)! Willy got mad very quickly because he knew that he cheated on his wife; Willy had bought the woman some stockings, so when Linda said something about stockings, he went into a panic so he started yelling at her. In the play, it shows Willy is soft and insecure not just a crazy man. Biff, Willy’s son had caught his father cheating on his mother and that made him feel angry at his father. Willy did not know how his son felt; Willy says [directly to Biff] “what’re you doing? What’re you doing?” Biff says [crying, broken] “will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?...to bed” Willy says “Isn’t that isn’t that remarkable? Biff he likes me”(Miller 106)! So, Willy felt like Biff hated him, but Biff did not hate him; he was just hurt. Being soft and insecure is also equal up to men and
Willy cold heartedly believes in the American Dream which really messes with his life. The psychological of this vision for Willy blinded him is so many ways. This was hurrying his way of life as well as the people around him. Once Willy finally accepted the difference between the American Dream and his own life it becomes a little late. Willy directly connected his self-worth to the American Dream. The association is negative for Willy and really effects other characters like Linda, Biff, and Charley. The intention of the play is to show that people take things and let it consume them completely. This idea is meant to inspire others by taking ideas and dreams and using it to help aid in your journey to success. Charley and his son Bernard is a great example of
In many pieces of written work, one demonstrates the sentimental pity and distress towards a character’s misfortune. Throughout the course of ENG3U8, numerous pieces of written works are perused, and a few of the characters from these pieces of literature gain sympathy from the readers. For example, in Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, sympathy is most felt towards Macduff, because his innocent wife and son are executed for unknown reasons. Moreover, in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, readers show sympathy for Gatsby as his fantasy of Daisy gradually goes into despair. He spends his whole life attempting to get the girl he loves, but is unsuccessful at the end. However, the most sympathetic character is in The Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller. This character is known by the
Willy Jose Montañez Velilla is very complex to describe in just words, but as far as words can describe a man, he can be every adjective in the dictionary. Willy is every abstract idea whether good or less good, but never bad because “bad” is relative. He is an older brother, sometimes maybe even the father figure in his home. Due to this, he has grown to be independent, caring, loving, and every other quality an older brother or father contains. He like many others has goals for his life. What distinguishes Willy from the others is not only his dedication to pursue those goals, but the way he graciously knows he will achieve them without a slight doubt in his mind. He goes through life without a worry in the world because even if things seem difficult he never once doubts himself. He is confident, clever, and has an appealing sense of humor which are perfect qualities for the leadership he takes in everything he does.
For instance, Willy's best friend Charley grew up to be a successful businessman, while he was a salesman struggling to take care of his family. In fact, he doesn't make enough money to pay his bills, so he has to borrow the money from Charley. For example, Miller writes, ¨Charley, look … I got my insurance to pay. If you can manage it - I need a hundred and ten dollars.” (Miller 96) Because he has to constantly borrow money from others in order to keep his home, this shows just how unsuccessful Willy was. In addition to Willy, Biff also has a friend who grew up and was more successful than him. While Biff was still living at home well into his thirties, Bernard was a lawyer getting ready to present a case in the Supreme Court. For example, during his conversation with Willy, Charley talks about Bernard's accomplishment by saying, ¨How do you like this kid? Gonna argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.¨ (Miller 95) Willy was ¨genuinely shocked, pained, and happy¨ (Miller 95) and wondered why his son never grew up and made their family proud like Bernard did with his family. Similarly to the absence of a father figure, both Willy and Biff had best friends who had well paying and rewarding jobs, while they were
Willy Loman is a man who strives to pursue and achieve the American Dream. One day when Willy is returning from a business trip he almost crashes his car. Later he and his wife (Linda) decide that he should apply for a local office job in New York. Willy thinks he has got it as he is such a great salesman. However he actually has delusions of grandeur and instead of getting the job he gets fired. Willy arrives home to his whole family Linda and his two sons, Biff and Happy. Biff has just returned home after working as a farmhand. That night Willy starts talking to himself, loudly. Linda reveals to her sons that they have been struggling financially also that Willy is depressed and has attempted to kill himself. The whole family decides
William Loman is 63 years old. he relies on other people for support. he can also be known as unstable.
The contrast between Biff and Bernard, the standard for success, is staggering. Where Bernard is the prosperous son Willy wishes he had, Biff is the kleptomaniac failure of a son he actually has. Up until the end of the play, Biff does his best to follow Willy’s belief that popularity is the key to success, and it gets Biff exactly nowhere. At age 34, Biff is without a steady job, living with his parents in his childhood bedroom, and had been to jail at least once for theft (131). The failures of Biff directly mirror the beliefs Willy had instilled in him, such as Biff forcing himself to ignore his enjoyment of farm work in favor of Willy’s standards for success. The difference is that Biff seems to come to accept where his talents lie, at least after Willy’s death. This suggests that Biff may reach success in the future, as he will finally be chasing the right dream for him. Happy, on the other hand, is too much like his father in all the wrong ways. He takes Willy’s death as a challenge to prove to the world that Willy was doing the right things. If he continues to follow Willy’s ideals, however, he will likely end up no better than Willy, and potentially damn his family to an endless cycle of
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman focuses on the American Dream, and how Willy Loman goes about trying to figure his out. Willie is a salesman who is down on his luck. Nothing has been going right for him and his wife knows this more than anyone. He "bought into" the belief in the American Dream, and he has not had much success since. Willy could have been successful, but many things went wrong in his attempt to gain his dream. He raised his sons to believe in the same false American Dream as he had. Neither of his sons turned out to be successful in life and towards the end of the novel they figure out that Willy is to blame.
Like many Americans, Willy works his whole life trying to be a salesman to be able to provide for his family. Willy unwillingness to change, and over-relying on his charisma to lead him to become prosperous is the one of the primary cause of his downfall. The ideals of success that Willy pushes onto his sons seem preposterous. In Willy’s mind, neither of his two sons were able to live up to the expectation he had for them. From my point of view, I believe he wanted live through his sons and actually, have them fulfill his belief of success. Biff and Willy are obviously harboring dislike feelings towards one another because Willy been living in Biff shadow his whole life, but neither are willing to bring the reason into the light. Similarly to Willy, many of us share his dream of success. Being able to have Successful children, perfect and a happy stay-at-home mother these are all aspect that is associated with Willy’s story. Even though everyone knows that the children are not always successful, there are