His father needs someone to take care of him in his old age. He tells Art that his wife, Mala, will come back and stay with him only if he gives her 100,000 dollars. Art insists on hearing his father’s memories. He asks about Anja but his father tells him he knows only that she got back to Sosnowiec before him. He tells him that the train he was on stopped short of the border, and they told were that the Americans would be in the next town and they would take them.
Political views aside, most can agree that Barack Obama is an influential and very effective speaker. He is able to inspire masses of people with his simple, yet articulate use of words. He always speaks with a sense of smooth confidence, yet never near the spectrum of arrogance. Most importantly, he is so effective because he accurately knows his audience before performing the speech. Obama is truly talented in his ability to make people identify with him, because the audience feels as if he walked a mile in their shoes.
In conclusion, “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller is a heartbreaking play which sees Willy’s beliefs get the better of him as he takes his own life. The challenges Willy faces throughout the play are conveyed by Miller through his use of dramatic
His pathological visions of being successful and his ungrateful acceptance of his own American Dream push him to cause arguments within his family, envision suicidal thoughts and ultimately take his own life. Willie envisions his son, Biff, as this successful salesman that was a great football player, but Biff returns from the west as a confused bum. Willy becomes irritated by Biffs visit because of how he pictured Biffs’ life and the reality that he’s not a salesman. Charley and his son, Bernard, both become successful throughout the play and Willie troubles himself on what went wrong with his two boys. Why didn’t his sons become successful?
Dreams play a vital role to the development of plot and character within Death of a Salesman; it drives the main characters with their need to obtain their aspirations to a point of obsession that dominates their lives. This never ending pursuit of a non-existent perfection is what leads Willy, Biff and Happy and those around them into a false idea of happiness. They believe that wealth and reputation are the path to success, unfortunately this road leads to only poor and selfish choices leaving everyone unsatisfied and full of regret. Willy’s dreams for himself and his sons set the stage for the novel’s sequence of events. They are the reason that Willy cannot seem to find success, and when he cannot meet his high expectations for himself, he lies and cheats in order to keep the unachievable ideal alive instead of being satisfied with less than perfect.
For Willy, it is apparent that reality and truth are too harsh for him and he would rather deal with lies instead. He conjures up ideas of what he wishes were real because to him being successful is the most important thing and what he needs people to believe. One of the main examples of this is when Willy says to his sons “they know me down in New England..” (page 19). Although he is clearly an unsuccessful salesman, he holds himself accountable to be extremely well-known and well-liked. Willy also encourages Biff to be unaccountable by telling him “coach’ll probably congratulate you on your initiative” when Biff steals the football.
Francis Adeola A.P English 11 10/19/12 Character Analysis of John Proctor In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor- a farmer at Salem- is portrayed as a main character that dies sacrificing himself for his friends, family and the hysteria. John Proctor, an honest, responsible and well-respected married man, had a flaw-which was his secret affair with Abigail Williams`- that led to his downfall. John Proctor pride also led to his downfall. In Act one, Proctor was introduced as a highly respected common man. Arthur Miller stated, “He was a kind of man-powerful of body, even tempered, and not easily led”.
Full Pocket? Sometimes people want something, but once they have it they realize they were better off without it. In the short story, “Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket" by Jack Finney, the main character, Tom Benecke, is a young man who is obsessed with work, recognition, and success. Tom allows these obsessions to take over his life and they become his priorities. Through a dangerous circumstance, Tom Benecke risks his life trying to fill his empty pockets; however, he learns what he should have been filling his pockets with all along.
Not only was he competitive and overbearing, but Willy Loman sought after an ideal that he could never become: the greatest salesman ever. Determined to make money, Willy became uncontrollable and somewhat insane. Through his dialogue and actions,
This leads to Willy fatal flaw in Aristotle’s definition of a tragedy – his hamartia throughout the play – his self delusion. He is obsessed with living the American Dream, with being successful, with materialistic success and being well liked – the whole American Dream. He fails to see that he is the opposite. As Fletcher says in Death of a Salesman ‘ Miller dramatically presents the complex moral world of mid-nineteenth century American values and beliefs’. Juxtaposed to this is his older brother Ben.