May 31, · Reality and Illusions in Death of a Salesman. There is a substantial contrast between reality and illusions. Many characters in literature find themselves struggling with the inability to establish the difference between the two, leading to a conflict with themselves along with the character’s family. This is no exception to Willy Loman, a failing salesman in New Throughout Death of a Salesman the concept of Reality Vs Illusion can be seen very frequently. The family has a hard time seeing what is true because Willy wants them to live in a reality that is not true Illusion vs. reality The two protagonists of “ A Streetcar Named Desire” and “ Death Of A Salesman” try to escape the realities of their lives by creating an ulterior reality for themselves. Blanche and Willy flee the reality of their physical existence and decide to mentally live in an ulterior world in an attempt to escape the cruelty of their lives especially the insanity and the deaths
Death Of A Salesman Illusion Vs Reality Misc Death of a Salesman, Essay - on Study Boss
Death of a Salesman takes place infour years after World War II has ended. The overall situation may seem a bit far-fetched to present-day Americans, but it must be remembered that those times were tempered by three main disadvantages — racism, communism and the formation of status groups. The Lomans live in Brooklyn, a busy suburb of New York City.
Miller creates contrasting characters of Willy and his wife Linda in order to depict and demonstrate different social and personal values typical of those times. In spite of the fact that Willy and Linda live together for many years, they have different worldviews and values. He totally believes in the American Dream, and when he finds constant disparity between it and his status in life, he becomes disoriented and starts increasingly taking comfort in imaginary situations that are favorable to him and his family.
He even resorts to drawing up comparisons with mythological Greek figures, likening Biff to Adonis and Happy to Hercules, fondly believing that his sons have the same level of perfect attractiveness and power as the fabled Greek mythological heroes. In contrast to Willy, Linda is a realist and materialist. She is a practical woman who accepts their family situation as it stands. She tries her best to help her husband with his work problems, such as suggesting he asks his boss Howard Wagner for a New York based job that would not involve lengthy sales trips that tended to exhaust him.
Willy is depicted as a cold man who values money and personal success more than family happiness and family relations. He is so immersed in disillusionment, that he cannot recognize the warm love his family offers him. Willy is intolerant towards his family members. Willy is particularly intolerant towards Biff, whom he criticizes throughout the play for not developing a good life.
Willy is also not too tolerant of his second son Happy, whom he considers too lowly employed. Linda is a positive representation, and sometimes an ideal, of the nurturing wife and mother.
Willy and Linda have different family and parental duties. Linda is a housewife whose duty is to look after children and her husband. So little do many men understand their role as a father and so little do they take that role seriously that many a father has experienced some difficulty in thinking of himself as such, except in the narrow technical sense.
Instead, with the best of intentions, such fathers often think of their children as pals, buddies, and friends. As a father, Willy does not have an active part in upbringing, choosing instead to pay more attention to his work and personal ambitions. In contrast to this, Willy is a portrayal of ambitious father who cares about social recognition and personal image knowing nothing about his sons. In contrast, Death of a salesman reality vs illusion essay is aware of the problems faced by her sons but can do nothing to change their false values and unachievable dreams.
Willy misses the respect, comradeship, and gratitude that had been a vital part of the business relationships. Willy acts as the family provider, while Linda takes a subservient back seat, and Hap and Biff struggle to make it big.
The main similarity between the characters is that they do nothing to change their family life and false hopes and values. Similarly, Linda could well have taken up employment to supplement the family income. Even given the fact that she was most probably illerate, she could very well have found a job as a seamstress or as a factory hand drawing a low emolument, at least until her husband got another job.
The death of Willy at the end of the play is a dramatic act which shows that dreams ruin family happiness and life of all family members. In contrast, Linda is alive but she is unable to live without support of her husband. In sum, Miller depicts two different types of people: Linda the realist, a housewife and a keeper of home values, and Willy the illusionist, a salesman who believes in false values and importance of social recognition and success as epitomized in the American Dream, death of a salesman reality vs illusion essay, but fails to achieve them.
This contrast allows Miller to depict a typical American family and criticize the basic elements of the American Dream showing that people like the Lomans believe in dreams and ideals created by the society and unable to evaluate and predict possible consequences of their actions or inactions, death of a salesman reality vs illusion essay.
Arthur Miller does well to portray the stark reality in American during those days, and it is highly fitting that he was rewarded by the Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman. Miller, A. Death of a Salesman : 50th Anniversary Edition, Penguin Books; 50th Anni edition, Reality vs. Illusions: Death of a Salesman Analysis Essay.
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A Streetcar Named Desire Analysis
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death of a salesman illusion vs reality and other kinds of academic papers in our essays database at Many Essays/5() Death Of A Salesman Illusion Vs Reality Analysis. Throughout Death of a Salesman the concept of Reality Vs Illusion can be seen very frequently. The family has a hard time seeing what is true because Willy wants them to live in a reality that is not true May 31, · Reality and Illusions in Death of a Salesman. There is a substantial contrast between reality and illusions. Many characters in literature find themselves struggling with the inability to establish the difference between the two, leading to a conflict with themselves along with the character’s family. This is no exception to Willy Loman, a failing salesman in New
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