Success is like fame, it has the potential to only last for a brief moment, and Willy was trying to hang onto his success when was younger and just starting out as his measure of what the future would be. During the interim period, Willy forgot that he was getting older, slower and the world was changing, nor did he see that in business the new ideas always win out. Like so many people who get stuck in one profession for most of their lives, Willy had painted himself into a corner and he just could conceive of trying to reinvent himself as do a lot of people which makes this play all the more powerful. In contemporary times we have plenty of professional athletes, musicians and actors who suffer this same fate. Willy Lomax reached the point in life when everything was unsatisfying to him and nothing he does seems to add up, (add quotes about the car and fridge).
He thinks that it is impossible to progress with the ideas of racism and social class, and that we can’t move forward until these issues are neutralized. Dalton argues that these issues are giving Americans false hope of achieving the American Dream. Dalton’s argument is based around what is currently happening in America today. Brooks, on the other hand, believes that America is a country grown and based off imagination and that progress is only achieved by looking to the future. He believes that imagination is the sole reason we have progressed as a nation in the past.
This means that I better not say no to my education because without education my future is doom. Also, this proverb tells me to never let myself say no to my work because work brings perfection. Euripides not only means a lot to me, but to everyone who has read it. Euripides’s implication of his proverb has a huge meaning. It is for one who actually wants to become someone in life to live by it or to just ignore it like people
Fitzgerald tells us of his first life regrets as a young man. He says that his two regrets are that he never was “big enough (or good enough) to play football in college, and at not getting overseas during the war”’ (“The Crack Up” 1). He was still a successful man at the time, starting his journey to fame and success, but couldn’t forgive himself for not being able to get to his goals. He says that he would think about those things, and turned them into daydreams of personal heroism of running into the end zone in the Princeton Orange and Black, fantasies that he thought were good enough to fall asleep to on a stressful night (“The Crack Up” 1). Later in his first essay, he finally talks about how it is that he finally “cracked.” One of his lines reads “ten years this side of forty-nine, I suddenly realized I had prematurely cracked,” because he had spent the past few years simply not caring (“The Crack Up” 2).
Stephanie Tsandelis Ms. Wessely December 19th, 2012 ENG 3UI The Great Gatsby vs The Bluest Eye Dreams and Illusions Have you ever caught yourself comparing yourself to others and thinking, “What If”? Thinking about the different clichés and social standings and wishing you were a part of a more popular group? Having any sort of dream or goal in your life that you know is probably never going to happen or is close to impossible but continue to have hope in reaching it? It is crazy to think of what our society is becoming nowadays. It is much easier to think of something that would benefit ourselves then to think of the more important things that we should be worrying about.
Willy has a dream that he refuses to give up even when it becomes clear that his dream is shallow, unrealistic and unattainable. The American Dream, a belief that any man can achieve material greatness and subsequent happiness if he works hard enough, if he fights for it, had a personal connotation for Miller, whose uncle was a travelling salesman, and whose father was a wealthy manufacturer before losing his wealth in the Great Depression. His family’s ongoing struggle with poverty certainly influenced this particular work, and others. Willy genuinely believes that that personal attractiveness (constant references to the importance of being “Well liked”) and hard work is enough to guarantee success. His view of success was inspired by Dave Singleman, who at the age of 84 could sell anything to anyone from his hotel room and whose funeral was attended by hundreds of people.
Steven had been uncritical that he realized too late and best of him has been lost on delusion of global grandeur. Even though he realizes his inner troubles, he fails to get in a position of critical perception or to grasp from earlier mistakes. The narrative ends with his swear devote him again to automated, emotionless, professionalism and loyalty, as he declares in the end, “I have already devoted much time to developing my bantering skills. I will begin practicing with renewed effort to pleasantly surprise Mr. Farraday” (The Remains of the Day, 258). The fact that Stevens’s new employer Mr. Farraday is an American indicates the existing cosmopolitism, which depicts the changing realities that circles him now.
Reflective Essay When I started at Philadelphia University, in the Accelerated Degree Program, I knew that the process ahead would be difficult yet I was full of optimism and hope at the future that a bachelor degree would afford me the chance to have a better life. Though I was optimistic, the thought of having to complete all of the required courses instilled some fear into me. I felt like I lacked the confidence and skill to perform at a satisfactory level. Theodore Roosevelt once stated “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed” (Roosevelt, 2012), remembering this, I knew that I had to place my fear aside and try my hardest to accomplish my goals in order to get where I wanted to be in life. Initially, my reasons for going back to school was to set an example to my younger siblings that education is a lifelong process and it’s never too late to pursue your dreams of wanting more out of life.
Out of these times, rose the representation of The America Dream. This expression instils a sense hope, longing, desire and creates an image of a better future for the lower or middle classes. This is Miller’s main point of contrast in the play. No one is more aware of the American Dream in the ‘Death of a Salesman’ than Willy Loman, a sixty-three year old failed salesman. Although it soon becomes apparent that Willy’s understanding of this is extremely restricted.
This irrational parental logic held me back for a time but did not keep me from eventually attending college on my own. Now, with approximately seven to eight years left until retirement, I still feel college is important enough to go back to finish what I started! Working for my Bachelors degree couldn’t be more poignant to me than it is right now. My desire to get a college education was in defiance of my father’s view of a woman’s place. My father was difficult and hard on my two brothers and me.