Death In Mitch Albom's Death Of A Salesman

Death is an insurmountable force with greater effect on a man in course life than at its culmination. The actions taken in life reflect the various effects of the societal construction of death on a man and a man’s perception of reality. Societal views form the way life and death are perceived by the collective of humanity and are reflected in the actions taken by humanity in life by reacting destructively to these social pressures, succumbing to and breaking from these pressures, and directing actions taken in life to fulfill the societally accepted definition of a successful existence. The true nature of the condition of humanity is exposed in litterateur through Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, and

Exploring life and death in literature exposes the dark truth of society’s hold on the beliefs and actions of man in life and a man's desperation to escape these pressures in death. Delusions of inflated self worth and lofty ambitions causes self destructive behaviours and ultimately an unsatisfying death. Societal pressures cause an inflated sense of self worth and delusions of greatness. The weight of societal pressures on man warp the perception of reality leaving man deluded and dangerous. Expectations of man in society only have become innumerable and by extension simply impossible to be achieved in a lifetime. Having a successful career in addition to a fulfilled family life in addition to a healthy internal life in addition to an extensive knowledge of the world in addition to a great wealth is not feasible. Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman is blinded by societally propaganda to the impossibility of this dream and is left broken and deluded by his attempts to achieve it. Willy believes that his career is successful as he need only say his name and he would “never have to wait in line to see a buyer”. Time and again this is proven not the case. Willy fails to accept that he cannot achieve this dream of society that “a man has to add up to

With a similar view, the acknowledgment of self deluded ideas causes self destructive actions. The slow and perhaps unconscious realization that that his self image may be false leads Willy to take the ultimate self destructive action in taking his own life. Willy believes that he is a great family man and that he can save his family through the insurance money but this too is folly. That is what his actions were “supposed to do, make a hero out of [him]”(104). Society’s expectation of the man of the household lead a weak man such as Willy Lowman to believe himself capable of self sacrifice in the name of his family. This attempt at self sacrifice is not in face self sacrifice but is instead another delusion of Willy’s, that in death he will be free, in death he will be remembered as a great man. In contrast, the true nature of man’s impact or lack thereof is revealed in how a man is treated in death. Willy’s view of death has been greatly influenced by his