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Control In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

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The play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is about the protagonist Willy going through a rough patch of his life. Throughout the play, Miller uses various tones of characters to showcase the theme of control. His main character Willy shows this the best because in the play he makes a few mistakes that not only affected him, but others around him that soon lead to his death. Questions like “Why didn’t he get help?’, or “Why did he hide the truth from his own family?” pop up,the answer? control. However, he maybe the best part, but Willys wife; Linda and oldest son; Biff also play a key role in the idea of control. Therefore, control is both a good and bad thing, the person who has it decides their own fate. Willys having control of himself …show more content…

He maybe a sixty year old man, but that doesn’t mean he’s perfect just because hes older and wiser. From time to time, Willy would forget things due to his old age except these were a little extreme; because when he wakes up from his slumber and starts talking to Linda “ No, it’s me, it’s me- I’m going sixty miles an hour-I don’t remember the last five minutes. I’m-I can’t keep my mind on it” (13). He sounds lost, “it’s me” is mentioned more than once and the fact hes driving a car and doesn’t remember is a hazard. In the same way, hes’s not only to himself, but those around him. If the guy is not in control of his own mind, what makes you think he won’t cause any chaos. In the same way, towards the middle of the play when Willy is fired he starts talking to himself “ Pull myself together ! What the hell did I say to him? My god I was yelling at him” (82). He's’ not only barbaric, but sounds aggressive because he's yelling at himself and at the same time questioning himself. As a result, he doesn’t have control over his emotions which leads to more chaos for himself because he's practically mentally torturing him own self. This then leads towards the ending of the book, when his own son catches him having an affair with another women “ She’s nothing to me Biff, I was lonely, I was terribly lonely-I gave you an order (120-121). He starts accepting his faults because his voice shows

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