The misconception that is Willy Loman’s life makes it so that the Loman family exist in a state of constant friction, the culmination of which constantly resides with Willy and his eldest son Biff. Willy Loman lives his life in a dream, believing himself to have the ideal American Dream existence. Even though his passions lie in working with his hands, he pushes on. He constantly dreams about going with his brother to a new frontier where he and his family can live simply, but he never admits to himself that his dream lies outside of his chosen path. He works long hours at a job he’s not good at and doesn’t truly enjoy, and he expects this kind of life for his sons.
Duddy’s grandfather influenced Duddy with respect to his goal of getting land in life. The Boy Wonder influenced the way in which Duddy attained his land. Duddy Kravitz grew up without much support from his family: his mother, Minnie, died when he was about six years old, and he doesn't remember anything about her, and Max, his father, clearly preferred Lennie, his older son, to Duddy. Max loved to tell his friends stories about the local gangster, the great Boy Wonder over and over again. "Be like the Boy Wonder", he said to Duddy, encouraging him to become a gangster.
He only cares about making money and he will do anything to get it. Whatever he earns goes straight into his wallet that he keeps close to himself rather than give it to the church. The Pardoner lives off of scamming people of their money. He is a good preacher, but unlike the Parson, he does not follow what he preaches and he doesn’t care whether or not if anyone
Even though Dave does earn money from plowing fields he never sees any of it because his parents demand that the money is given to them. This starts to show how Dave’s parents deprive him of love and nurturing and why he needs to break away from his current life to grow into an adult. His parents not only demand all of his wages but also not once do they comfort Dave in any way or tell him that they love him. On the contrary, there is textual detail that shows that Dave has been physically abused by his father and is afraid of it happening again. His father screams, “Yuh wan me t take a tree n beat yuh till yuh talk!” (172).
He was a fine sailor, but was a selfish man. All he wanted was gold and to be known for it. Columbus died always thinking he traveled to India when he was always traveling to America. He was a failure and was known for being cruel. When Columbus died, no one cared for him because he proved failure instead of achievement.
His constant negativity towards Rudy only seems to make Rudy stronger in his convictions. When Rudy brings home his first good report card from junior college and tells his father and brother that next year he will be playing for Notre Dame his brother says, “Do we still have to listen to this?” The more Rudy is rejected by his family the more he wants to prove everyone wrong. There were several mentors in Rudy’s life that help supported him in following his dream. This paper will touch on just a few of the majors. The first one was Pete.
He was never a man to take the blame but rather say that his actions were just reactions of unfortunate events that others caused. Even though he too, along with Daisy, was not loyal to his partner, he never once admitted he was wrong. He would proceed to lollygag with Myrtle and come home to accuse Daisy of her unloyal actions towards him. A man with that much fortitude cannot be happy with whom he is or he would not be accusing anyone of anything.”…and as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate were slipping precipitately from his control.”(p.119) Tom knows that Daisy only married him for his money and although she has developed feelings for him, he fears that if he leaves her for Myrtle she will turn to Gatsby.
We learn that Tadgh’s older brother Shamie took his own life, because the pressure working the field for the rest of his life was too much for him. The only problem is that Bull is too set in his traditional ways. He is so much so, that we see him physically deteriorate when what he has could be potentially lost. There is also a break in tradition when Tadgh decides that he is in love with a Tinker girl. At the time in Ireland there was to be no association between the “normal” Irish people and the lowly tinkers.
By placing his faith in man rather than God, he does not receive "any more comfort" (Everyman 304). The same discouragement greets Everyman after his talks with Cousin and Kindred. After Kindred and Cousin leave him, Everyman realizes that "fair promises men to me make, / but when I have most need they me forsake" (Everyman 370-371). Since man will not help him, he turns to goods. Everyman realizes that the goods he has loved his whole life do nothing but hinder his eternal happiness.
Even in the darkest hours, family is the one constant that will give support and love. The story of “The Prodigal Son” is about the love that a father has for a child even after that child has sinned against him. The younger of his sons wanted to live his own life, so he asked for his portion of his father’s estate. His father complied, and the son took off to a foreign land, where he wasted the money on parties and living extravagantly. After the money was gone, the son was abandoned by the friends that he met along the way.