РефератыИностранный языкThThe Attempts Made Essay Research Paper The

The Attempts Made Essay Research Paper The

The Attempts Made Essay, Research Paper


The Attempts Made


Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, is a play depicting one man, Willy


Loman, in his attempt to achieve the American Dream while living amongst his


wife and children. Throughout the play the reader is introduced to many


characters, some who are dynamic and some who are static. In any good literal


work there is a balance of both of these types of characters, and Death of a


Salesman is no exception that Willy Loman, his wife Linda, and their two


children, Biff and Happy, create these characteristics.


Willy Loman is focused on his primary goal to achieve the American


Dream through hard work. At the beginning of the play Willy had declined to


travel with his brother, he insisted that he would achieve his dream. Four years


later his brother stumbles upon a diamond mine and is instantly rich. Willy runs in


to some tough times, and is constantly asking his friend Charlie for money.


Charlie has offered Willy jobs on several occasions, and Willy constantly refuses.:


CHARLEY. I offered you a job. You can make fifty dollars


a week. And I won?t send you on the road.


WILLY. I?ve got a job.


CHARLEY. Without pay? What kind of a job is a job


without pay? Why don?t you want to work for me?


WILLY. What?s the matter with you? I?ve got a job.


CHARLEY. I am offering you a job.


Smelser, 2


WILLY. I don?t want your goddamn job. (1683)


Willy is still determined to achieve his dream in his own way, as a salesman. He


refuses to earn it any other way. Even in death he endeavored to achieve his


dream by dying the death of a salesman.


Biff Loman is a dynamic character, because unlike Willy he eventually


realizes the unfairness of society. In the beginning of the play Biff is much like


his father, living in the world of, ?if you work hard you?ll achieve the American


Dream.? Biff is supporting his father in his dream world. Eventually Biff runs


into some difficult times; he can?t hold down a job, and he no longer trusts his


father. On the day following the sporting goods store incident, he realizes the


flaws in his father?s dream. That day he fails to get the loan, the man, Oliver, who


had loved Biff did not even recognize him. The following day Biff cursed Willy


for being a fool and a dreamer. He states,


?You?re going to hear the truth-what you are and what I am! Pop


I?m a dime a dozen, and so are you! I am not a leader of men, Willy,


and neither are you. You were never anything but a hard-working


drummer who landed in the ash can like all the rest of them! Willy


you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens??


(1

703)


Biff is upset with his father for being so arrogant and unrealistic. He wants


Willy to realize that they are not leaders or rich men and to understand that is


okay. Biff had it with Willy filling him up with hot air. By the end of the play


Biff had gained this understanding, and in this aspect had changed. He matured to


realize the faults of his ways.


Smelser, 3


Happy Loman was also a dynamic character. At the beginning he was less


renowned than Biff, he usually was in Biff?s shadow. He was constantly trying to


get attention from his father. He once states, ?I?m losing weight, you notice,


Pop?? (1647) He does everything he can to get acknowledgement from his


parents but it usually fails.


HAPPY. I?m gonna get married, Mom. I wanted to tell


you.


LINDA. Go to sleep, dear. (1668)


But, throughout the play it is Happy that is successful, more popular, and it is he


who has all the women; there is not a woman in the world he could not have.


Linda Loman was the most perfect example of the static character. It


seemed as if her primary purpose in the play was to support Willy. She is


constantly making excuses for him.


WILLY. I suddenly couldn?t drive any more. The car kept going


off onto the shoulder, y?know?


LINDA. Oh. Maybe it was the steering again. I don?t think Angelo


knows the Studebaker.


WILLY. No, it?s me, it?s me. Suddenly I realize I?m goin? sixty


miles an hour and I don?t remember the last five minutes. I?m-


I can?t seem to-keep my mind on it.


LINDA. Maybe it?s your glasses. You never went for your new


glasses. (1638)


She doesn?t want him to blame himself for anything, she continuously strives to


put him on a pedestal. Even when he is blaming himself, she tries to redirect the


blame. This is consistent in her character throughout the play.


Smelser, 4


The characters in the Loman family are evenly balanced in the aspect of


their static and dynamic characteristics. Willy and Linda are static; Willy does not


deter from his American Dream rationale, and Linda does not stop putting him on


a pedestal. Happy and Biff are the dynamic characters; Happy becomes the more


successful and more well-liked, while Biff becomes the spitting image of his


father, eventually realizing his father?s faults. Arthur Miller does a wonderful job


of keeping a balance between static and dynamic characters within Death Of A


Salesman.


Bibliography


Work Cited


Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Literature: An Introduction to


Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Giola. 7th ed.


New York: Longham, 1999. 1636 – 1701.

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