Welcome to Online Learning!
In order to acclimate ourselves with our new discussion format, please cite what you deem to be a significant line from Act 1 of Death of Salesman by 3:00 on Friday, March 20th.
All I am expecting is a comment that looks like my following example:
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WILLY: "I don't want a change! I want Swiss cheese" (17).
All I am expecting is a comment that looks like my following example:
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WILLY: "I don't want a change! I want Swiss cheese" (17).
Willy: "I don't know the reason for it, but they just pass me by. I'm not noticed” (36).
ReplyDeleteThis quote illustrates Willy's struggle with the big idea of "failure". In the context of this quote. Willy and Linda are discussing Willy's business. Willy owes people money, and they have bills to pay but Linda makes a point that right now they have insufficient funds. Willy blames his lack of business on that "people don't seem to take [him]"(36), and they "seem to laugh"(36) when he's around. In this part of the scene, Willy's insecurities become very prevalent-- he calls himself fat, says he talks too much, thinks he isn't "dressing to advantage"(37). Despite Linda's attempts to reassure Willy that he is wonderful, not foolish, and idolized by his sons, Willy maintains his inferiority. This provides a lot of insight into the later revelation of Willy's suicidal tendencies, and adds to the drama of his struggle with Alzheimer's. Willy obviously feels like a failure and even though he tries to brush it off with a laugh, this big idea is consistently construed through both Willy's internal and external battles in the play. This also provides evidence for why Willy pushes Biff and Happy so hard to build successful lives for themselves. Though Willy may not have the best methods of expressing affection, he feels like he is a let-down and wants a different, better life for his sons.
DeleteBiff: "To suffer fifty weeks of the year for the sake of a two-week vacation, when all you really desire is to be outdoors, with your shirt off" (22).
ReplyDeleteLINDA: "A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man" (56).
ReplyDeleteThis quotes signifies the idea of success/money because following this part of the quote, Linda goes on about how Willy has worked for the same company for 36 years, but "now in his old age they chose to take his salary away." (56) Willy has emphasized the idea of making a lot of money and being successful, whether it be talking about how Biff isn't necessarily successful because he isn't making a lot of money, or when Willy is talking about how he is the most important employee in New England. This idea of money and success in the book is important because it shows the true importance of these idea to the two characters and are emphasized greatly throughout the book.
DeleteWILLY, wildly enthused to Linda: Stop interrupting!
ReplyDeleteWILLY: "Not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace!" (16)
ReplyDeleteThis quote alludes to Willy's fears and failed attempt at raising his boys to be successful adults. Failure versus success is based upon being well liked and having a "personal attractiveness" in social standings to Willy. He uses his sons to boost his self worth, while at the same time questioning if he's done enough as a father and he's "afraid that" he's "not teaching them the right" way (52). He set a bar for how success should be, only assuming his brother Ben had automatic success. Ben supposedly said to Willy, "I discovered after a few days that I was heading due south, so instead of Alaska, I ended up in Africa," (48). This means that in Willy's mind, he does not want to acknowledge that there's no possible way of this happening, as there's an ocean between North America and Africa. He set the bar for success so high that anything below what his brother accomplished is not enough when it comes to Happy and Biff's lives. Not finding yourself early on is the worst thing imaginable for Willy, because his brother made it at seventeen. Ironically, he was not the one to succeed, so he was the failure in comparison to his brother, which means he can only succeed if he believes what he's doing is his way of success. Though he is not successful, he's still better than anyone else because pride is his number one downfall. Pride destroys his relationships, and therefore his hope for success.
DeleteThis quote illustrates the immense pressure placed upon Biff to become prosperous and make a lot of money; thus relating to the big idea of "success." Ever since Biff was introduced, Miller makes it apparent that Biff is not particularly content with his life. Biff claims that "I've always made a point of not wasting my life, and everytime I come back here I know that all I've done is to waste my life" (23), clearly in distress about where exactly he wants to be, especially now that he is thirty-four. He knows he is stuck in a rut; however, Willy's criticism only weighs more pressure on Biff, always "a twist of mockery on his face" (21) whenever his son speaks. To Biff, though, success does not equal reeling in the big bucks. He claims to Happy that "if you were with me I'd be happy out there" (24), explaining that success to Biff was never necessarily money, but experiencing genuine happiness with his brother by his side. However, life does not always work like that, which is why Willy is constantly ridiculing Biff to get his life straight.
DeleteHAPPY: "You don't raise a guy to a responsible job who whistles in the elevator!" (60)
ReplyDeleteBiff is wrongly harassed for his attempt in enjoying himself because of Happy's own definition of success. Happy believes, even though he himself is miserable, that the only way to climb the corporate ladder and to be what he believes success is is to sacrifice everything about yourself, all your thoughts and feelings, to make a respectable pay. It's the only way to live the lifestyle he wanted: "[his] own apartment, a car, and plenty of women" (23). Success is not equated with happiness or content, because after all he is "all alone" (22). Happy is so terribly lonesome but never attempts to resolve that issue because to do so would jeopardize his success. It is a truly miserable life that Happy poorly attempts to justify by noting his various accomplishments in life. However, being happy is not one of Happy's accomplishments.
DeleteLINDA: "He's been trying to kill himself." (58)
ReplyDeleteThis quote emphasizes that Willy feels like a failure not only to himself, but to his family as well. Willy is extremely disappointed in his son, Biff, because he does not have a consistent job or a job that has decent pay. For instance, he often speaks poorly about Biff, calling him a "lazy bum" (16). This illustrates how Willy is frustrated with the lack of motivation Biff exhibits. Willy feels like a failure because his job as a father is to raise strong, hard working men and Biff does not show these characteristics. Because of this, Willy is afraid to be seen as an embarrassment in front of his friends and acquaintances. This makes him extremely depressed and therefore, he tries to commit suicide. Additionally, Willy is caught cheating on Linda with another woman. He immediately feels remorseful and tells her, "I'll make it all up, dear" (39). This proves that Willy knows cheating on his wife was wrong and he is upset at himself for hurting Linda. He, again, feels like a complete failure as a husband and believes that his family would be better off without him.
DeleteWilly strives for success yet has not been a very successful man himself. He fakes his pay by borrowing “fifty dollars a week” because he is a bad salesman and wants to hold onto his pride (57). He continually stresses to his sons about the importance of riches, yet he cannot attain any himself. Success is something that makes a man in his eyes and without it what is he? Willy has “been trying to kill himself” and this illustrates his drive for success and the failure that accompanies it (58). The key part of this quote is how he is “trying” to end it all. Indeed success rules his life, it is his driving force and he is desperate to achieve it anyway possible. The irony of this comes in when he is not even successful at ending his life. He has attempted suicide multiple times with a car which were made to look like accidents. However, it was revealed that the accidents “weren’t--accidents” (58). He was driving along and had “deliberately smashed into the railing” yet made it out alive (59). Success has evaded him multiple times in everything, so no matter what he does he just cannot win. This is a very dark quote that highlights the underlying amounts of failure Willy Loman faces in his life.
DeleteLINDA: "No. You can't just come to see me, because I love him" (55).
ReplyDeleteWilly: "A man who can't handle tools is not a man. You're disgusting."
ReplyDeleteKobe Greeley's reply:
Delete"This quote illustrates Willy's attempts at making himself feel more successful and important. If he can see even one fault in someone, he'll exploit it to boost his own self-worth. He uses belittlement to make himself feel better, such as when he insults Biff for "not finding himself at the age of thirty-four," (16) which in his eyes represents someone disgraceful and unwilling of the Loman name. He wants to feel like a very prosperous person, and so he sees Biff's struggles as a defilement of his image. Willy wants to find some solace in his own failures, so he lowers others to make himself feel better about his own situation. Later on, when Charley offers Willy a job, it's easy to see his pride took a hit. He responds with, "What the hell are you offering me a job for?," and "Don't insult me," (43) as he feels that, by taking handouts or offerings, he's failing. He's a lesser person to the world. A failure. Despite this, Willy continues to take fifty dollars each week from Charley, in order to hide the fact that his life is a downward spiral. He acts as if it's his pay. He doesn't want there to be any inkling that he's struggling financially or otherwise. Willy's pride is one of his most sacred attributes, and there is no way in hell anyone is gonna make him feel like he is anything less than an astounding success.
LINDA: "When he has to go to Charley and borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend to me that it's his pay?" (57)
ReplyDeleteWilly’s exhibits an unhealthy sense of pride that denies him success. Willy measures a man’s success with how much money he makes. For example, Biff could be the happiest of men working on the farm but since, “he has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week!” (16) he is seen as a failure in Willy’s eyes. Adding to this distorted image of success is the denial of help. Willy knows that he is doing poorly in his job however when Charley offers him a job he still questions, “what the hell are you offering me a job for?”(43) proving that a successful man can fend for himself. Along with the denial of help comes the accompanying lies that Willy does to shield his pride from Linda. The definition of a man is his eyes is a man who can make money and support his family and the fact that he is unable to do those things answers why he is so unhappy. By going behind Linda’s back and accepting money from Charley proves his desperation within himself, however he will never let his family see this sense of incompetency.
DeleteThis quote illustrates that despite whatever things Willy may say all he really cares about is not seeming like a failure, and in that having the approval of his wife. Willy is at a point in his life where he really only has one person he has to get the approval of. His kids have grown up and he's left on needing to care for his wife yet he can't. It's such a simple task all he needs to do is care for one person but he can't even do that anymore and to Willy that makes him feel like a failure. He doesn't want his wife to think of him how he thinks of himself so he gets money from Charley in order to seem successful. Yet despite the kind gestures from Charley he still is rude to him. When Charley tries to help Willy with his money problem by offering him a job Willy says "What the hell are you offering me a job for"(43)? Charley is one of the few people that is completely aware of Willys failures and Willy knows it, yet he acts like it doesn't happen and talks down on Charley “A man who can't handle tools is not a man. You're disgusting” (44). Even with these failures staring him right in the face he refuses to acknowledge them and rather ignores them hoping they'll just go away. In the past Willy got approval from those around him for example his kids who always looked up to him and wanted his approval “I’m losing weight, you notice Pop” (33)? It was so easy then but now when he needs it from only one person he's unable to and this fuels his desperate attempts to try and uphold his successful legacy, but sadly to no avail.
DeleteThis quote demonstrates the extent Willy goes to in order to “bypass” failure. Willy can not accept the fact that this wife knows he is not the best salesman. Rather than talking through their financial troubles and admitting failure, Willy would rather cover it up and act as if he earned the money. Will’s obsession with success and traumatic fear of failure is most prevalent during his episodes when his mind takes him back to when Biff was a success. In one of Willy’s episodes, Biff explains how “[Willy] keeps congratulating [his] initiative all the time” illustrating how often Willy praises Biff for being a success (30). By seeing Willy only praise Biff (a success) and not Happy, Miller validates Willy’s fixation with success. Along with success, failure is also depicted in one of Will’s episodes. When talking to Linda about his day’s work, Willy starts by saying he “was sellin’ thousands and thousands”(34) but when Linda further questions, he folds and admits he made “seventy dollars and some pennies”(35). This scene further confirms Willy’s phobia of failure. He would rather lie to his wife in hopes that she believes him at face value, than admit he is a failure of a salesman who lives paycheck to paycheck.
DeleteLINDA: "I'm-I'm ashamed to. How can I mention it to him?" (59)
ReplyDeleteWilly: “Don’t be a pest, Bernard!” To his boys: “What an anemic!” (33)
ReplyDeleteWilly: "I gotta overcome it. I know I gotta overcome it"(37).
ReplyDeleteThis quotes shows Willy's determinism to achieve anything. We see him knocked down time after time and all he does is get back up and fail again. This illustrates Miller's big idea of failure. He believes he is "vital in New England" (14) even though he hasn't made a significant sale there in forever. This shows he is determined and driven, but his hard work will never help him produce the success everyone is expecting from him. Linda is the only one that sees his effort, she tells Happy that "a small man can be just as exhausted as a great man" (56). This only emphasizes how Happy and Biff only see their father as a failure despite his efforts to succeed. All of this only goes to show that failure for Willy is inevitable inevitable.
DeleteLinda: "He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him."(56)
ReplyDeleteThis quote recognizes that although Willy is battling a life threatening illness, Biff still shows no remorse for his father. The only way that Biff will truly respect Willy, is he he seems that same action back. Whenever Biff comes into contact with his father, he feels that everything he says becomes "a twist of mockery"(21) on Willy's face. Biff puts the blame on Willy that sine they never has a close relationship, that cause Biff to never succeed. Biff's never ending grudge towards his father is the reason why Biff will never feel sorry for him. Linda on the other hand, longs for the day when Biff earns respect towards his father. However, every time Biff comes home, "the more shaky he gets"(54). Will alludes Biff to his failures and causes Willy to face reality. This is causing Willy to become more weak and even more depressed. Linda recognizes his sorrow, and hopes that her family will forgive Willy. Furthermore, Linda wants Biff to look at his dad as a weakened sick man, instead of the failing strict dad that he truly is.
DeleteLinda: "Life is a casting off. It's always that way."(15)
ReplyDeleteThis quote exemplifies Linda’s understanding of Willy’s struggle for approval, especially with his family. If she were to make Willy aware of her understanding of his suicidal acts it would be the straw that broke the camel's back. Willy’s insecurity is prevalent throughout many of his interactions with his family and most notably with his recollections of Ben. Willy desperately tries to prove himself to his brother with his broken reasoning hunting snakes and rabbits being “why [he] moved out here” (50). Willy is so hopelessly insecure that he begs Ben to tell him how to raise his kids as he looks for any way to have the approval of his family. With his fears being tied to family Linda knows how risky it would be to remove Willy’s last connection to a sense of self ownership. If Willy knew that his family had wholly lost their respect for him his insecurities and withering mind would completely collapse. Ending with Willy spiraling down into more self-destructive actions.
DeleteAmerica's reply:
DeleteThis illustrates the big idea of “change” in the book and the difference in perspectives. Willy hates change, no matter how big or small. He wants things his way as shown by the whipped cheese. In contrast Linda seems to understand that in life change is inevitable. Things come to an end and you must move on and focus on the next step in life. Linda lives “from day to day” (60) and focuses on the problems facing them at that moment. Willy’s dementia causes him to stay in the past and focus on the problems of the past. Because of this he holds a grudge towards Biff for what he could have been. Their different perspectives show their handling of change and how this benefits or hinders them.
Willy: "Oh, sure, there's snakes and rabbits and -- that's why I moved out here." (50)
ReplyDeleteThis quote demonstrates Willy's unrelenting need to prove himself in the eyes of Ben. After getting rich in Africa when he was young, Willy thinks of Ben as the epitome of success, doing everything he can to prove to Ben that he is just as successful as him. On top of lying about business being "murderous" (51) to everyone except him, he also asks Ben to stay even longer because "you're just what I need here" (51). Willy tries further appeasing Ben by trying to say that they moved to Brooklyn for the wildlife and game that's there. Ben is very much interested in hunting and nature and seems to disapprove of Willy's move to Brooklyn. Thus, Willy has to backtrack and make up an excuse for how Brooklyn would appeal to someone like Ben who isn't interested in the city. This desire for Ben's acceptance drives the conflict between him and Biff, for Willy sees Biff as a failure, similar to how Ben sees Willy as a failure. Willy finds it impossible to look past his shortcomings in himself. This shame causes him to displace his feelings of failure onto Biff in an effort to feel more like Ben who acted the same way towards him. Furthermore, this wedge in their relationship is why Biff refuses to accept the fact that Willy has a mental illness. Rather, he thinks Willy is just a overbearing, failure of a father.
DeleteBiff: "You're a success, aren't you? Are you content?" (23).
ReplyDeleteWilly implemented a false sense of success into his sons. He showed them that having a career in business is the only way to achieve success. Happy begins to see this isn’t always the case when he sees that he and his brother aren’t happy. Although Willy implemented his own idea of success into his children, they each develop their own sense of success, and seem to fail at that version of success as well. Miller’s contrast of failure and success in close relation to each other illustrates that each is relative to the person. For example, Willy, despite his ideas of success in business believes, “not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace” (16). This illustrates that although Willy is disappointed in Biff for not reaching self-actualization, Biff has different ideas of success. While Biff and Happy are trying to discover what happiness means to them, Willy grapples with his parenting. Willy’s insecurities flourish as he questions if he is “teaching them the right” (52) things to help them be successful. Willy’s relationships with Biff and Happy are rooted in each others’ successes and failures as Biff and Happy strive to be successful, but fail in Willy’s eyes.
DeleteAlthough to Biff “there’s nothing more inspiring” than his work and life on the farm he can’t help but deem himself a failure. (22) In the eyes of society success is measured in money leaving Biff wanting to abandon his contentment and chase after a life of “keeping stock, or making phone calls, or selling or buying.” (22) Especially by the standards that Willy had raised Biff and Happy, the two struggle to reach the expectations of success. Biff only comes to the self realization that all he has done on the farm is “waste [his] life” when he returns home to his father, comparing his farm job to the businessman expectations set for him. (23) Willy has expressed how life in business will lead to money and success, but when his sons’ paths don't align with his vision, not only does he see them as failures, but they view themselves as failures too.
DeleteWilly: "It's not what you say, it's how you say it-- because personality always wins the day." (65)
ReplyDeleteThe majority of Willy's life has been focused on his job in marketing and what he sees as success is defined by that. Willy wants his son to be successful in this business endeavor so he tries to instill his definition of success in his own sons. When he is talking to Ben, who Willy sees as the definition of success, Ben says that he went into a jungle at seventeen and "when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God I was rich." (48) What happened in the "jungle" that Ben got rich from was lucky. Yet Willy sees it as Ben having the personality and attitude of a successful person so he confirms that all his sons need is a good personality and some bravery to be successful.
DeleteBiff: "Stop making excuses for him! He always, always wiped the floor with you. Never had an ounce of respect for you" (40).
ReplyDeleteThis quote illustrates approval, as Linda is always looking for her husband's approval. Although she may not know it at this time, she is constantly trying to win Willy over. He never really gives a second thought to her, he always pushes her out of every conversation telling her to "shut up", and he always just disregards her in general. Linda loves him, that much is obvious. But her desire to please him goes deeper than love. She is trying to prove to him that she's better than he thinks she is, so she's constantly putting his failure and his faults on herself and attempting to justify them for him. She always puts herself in the middle to prove that she's more than just a wife for show, and she desperately wants Willy to see that too. So, even in the face of his faults and failures, she invents excuses for him that may or may not be true. Linda's love for him isn't rooted in the love itself, or even in Willy himself, but rather in the complete and total need to be accepted by him.
DeleteLinda: "He's dying Biff." (58)
ReplyDeleteBen: "When I walked out I was twenty-one. And, by God, I was rich!" (52)
ReplyDeleteThe sudden change of Ben's life that was catalyzed by his sudden run in with money illustrates Willy’s false sense of the American Dream. All of Willy’s life he believed that with enough hard work he would eventually become rich and achieve the American Dream; however, no matter how hard Willy works, his efforts are futile and he maintains his impoverished life. Ben’s story of his achievements resonates with Willy and his prior beliefs are crushed by this new idea that hard work does not ultimately lead to success. Willy lies to himself saying “there’s snakes and rabbits and—that’s why I moved out here”(50) even though he knows that nobody would move to a place because of the snakes or rabbits. His need to validate himself in front of Ben to convince others and himself that he is living the American Dream. The realization Willy has that his life will never reach Ben’s level of satisfaction causes his view of success to be forcibly changed from hard work invoked the American Dream to unreplicable luck.
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