In class, we discussed briefly the meaning of the title Death of a Salesman and how it relates to the play while containing two completely different meanings. I found myself wondering about the actual death of Willy (ie. at the end of the play when he is no longer living) in addition to his death as in his ultimate demise as a person in life, and what that does to his character.
I think that a title reveals a lot about a play or piece of writing, and Death of a Salesman is no exception. There are many causes of Willy's "death" as a person throughout the play that contribute to his true, physical death. Willy is slowly dying throughout the play because of his failure to accomplish what he set for himself as goals and standards.
Contributors to Willy's mental death (as apposed to and actually leading up to his physical one) include his many missed opportunities, regrets for himself and his family, and his jealousy of other's successes. It is apparent that he takes his job very seriously, or at least the idea of his job seriously. When he finds out that not only is Howard not granting his location request but also firing him altogether, a part of him dies.
Willy also counts on his sons to become the successful men he is not. When Biff tells him that he has failed math, Willy is not willing to accept the truth. This is in part because he has other mistakes of his own on his mind, like the fact that his son knows he is cheating on his mother with another woman, and part because he trys everything possible to make sure Biff and Happy are successful, including telling Biff to cheat off of Bernard.
Willy is so desperate for approval that his own desperation actually backfires on him and pushes him further and further away from family and friends until he can no longer find happiness within himself, his job, and the life he is living.
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5 comments:
Dear Janey,
Your blog is quite interesting. I especially like your use of quotation marks within quotation marks in the title of your entry. I really like your analysis of the title of the play as well. It is important to note that he dies before he physically kills himself. His death seems slow and inevitable, and the title reinforces the inevitability of this fact.
Janey,
I really like your analysis of the play's title and how there are many meanings in relation to Willy's death. I agree that his mental death does relate to the missed opportunities and his obsession with other's success.
Good blog-- it was clearly written and had great points!
Very good blog Janey! I liked many things, specifically: your discussion of physical death versus his spiritual death and the line "It is apparent that he takes his job very seriously, or at least the idea of his job seriously." Very profound. Willy likes the idea of being a salesman so much, but we never really see that he likes the act of selling.
And Jack, blogger automatically adds quotation marks to the title, so Janey's original post was with only one pair of marks. So yeah. Good job Janey.
Very good blog Janey! I liked many things, specifically: your discussion of physical death versus his spiritual death and the line "It is apparent that he takes his job very seriously, or at least the idea of his job seriously." Very profound. Willy likes the idea of being a salesman so much, but we never really see that he likes the act of selling.
And Jack, blogger automatically adds quotation marks to the title, so Janey's original post was with only one pair of marks. So yeah. Good job Janey.
Great Job Janey!! I like how you explained Willy's death both mentally and physically. I also feel that his need for approval helped push people away. I also feel that his need to fulfill the American dream contributed to that as well. I really enjoyed your blog!! :)
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