Success is something that every person looks at differently and in America it is something that is strived for every step of the way by most typical people. The idea of success is planted in our heads at a very early age and is embedded in our culture as a part of the American Dream. Ways that success is approached are different depending on what drives a person, whether it's competitiveness or a strive for greatness. A competitive approach to success is described in Margaret Mead's essay The Egalitarian Error when she writes, "For many Americans, the concept of success is a source of confusion. As a people, we Americans greatly celebrate and admire the one who gets the highest grades, the one voted most attractive or most likely to succeed.
People have different views on what success really means. Some say success is based on money or fame. If you have a lot of money or fame you're "definitely" successful. Others say success is based on your fulfillment and overall happiness in your life. Alfred Brooks, the protagonist in the novel
“The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead” (33). In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses foil characters to elucidate Willy’s flaws that ultimately prevent him and his family from succeeding. The contrast between Charley and Willy and Bernard and Biff serves to highlight how Willy’s obsession with achieving his version of the American Dream impacts both his life and his children’s. His poor values are passed on to his children producing even more failures. ¬¬¬¬Both Charley and Willy work as salesmen, however Charley represents what Willy desired to become – successful.
Death of a Salesman Analysis In the play by Arthur Miller, the main character Willy Loman is a man in his 60’s. He is dressed in a drab coloured, ill-fitting suit. Willy shows early signs of dementia, as he spends much of the play having flashbacks or incorporating the past into present day situations. Through this the viewer learns much about Willy and his past.
After a forced evacuation from their house in a condemned building in Tehran, the couple of Emad and Rana relocate to a small flat recommended by Babak, a fellow actor in their theatrical adaptation of Arthur Miller’s, “Death of a Salesman”. However, what Babak failed to say, was that Ahu, the previous tenant, was a rather promiscuous woman whose belongings were left behind with the intention to remove them in the near future. When Emad stays late for a rehearsal, Rana returns home to wait for him and then, the unspeakable happens… Waiting for Emad, Rana unwisely opens up the main door and goes for a shower, while a stranger looking for Ahu enters the house and attempts to violate the poor woman.
Death of a Salesman was written in the year 1949, this was the period when World War II ended and it was when Americans started a period of unparalleled national prosperity. This was the period when American businesses invested a lot of money in new business materials and revolutionized old equipment with new equipment. The number of independent nonfarm businesses grew by about a third. Housing and construction of buildings expanded rapidly. This all created high inflation and prices of everything went high.
Success is a noun which comes from the latin root word, successes, meaning, "an advance, succession, happy outcome.” Success can therefore be defined as an accomplishment of a desired end (dictionary.com). Everyone has his or her own interpretation or definition of what they think success is, but in this interpretation, there is always a common goal at the end. That goal is to have a happy and good outcome. Willy Lowman’s definition of success was skewed, and for this, he did not achieve a happy and good outcome like he may have planned.
Through Biff Loman, Miller illustrates the failure of the American dream through the paradoxical relationship between him and his father, Willy Loman, presenting the notion that the secret to true happiness and success lies outside of the confines of the typical American dream of wealth and materialism. Molded by his father’s unrealistic ambitions, it became near impossible for Biff to assimilate as a functioning member of the
Willy conducts his whole life based on the belief that any man who is good-looking, charismatic, and “well-liked” deserves success and will naturally achieve it (1.30). He attempts to make his mark by working as a salesman because, according to him, “selling [is] the greatest
I, nevertheless, hold that success not merely means money, statue, and reputation; it means that pursues what you wholehearted want, then making your pursuit is accessible, and enjoys this process. Some people suggest that owning a great deal of money is success, which has become the symbol of success. I
So many people, who are, turn out to reveal themselves differently. A truly successful person could be a completely average human being. They may not be advertised in the media or on the front page of magazines. These people are successful because they wake up everyday with a love for life. Many of these people are living simple lives.
Tragedy can spread. In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is the protagonist, however he not the only person in the play who’s story ends tragically. His view on life spreads to those close to him. Primarily, Willy teaches it to his children who look up to him while his wife simply attaches herself to him, rooting for him in blind support while really she should be waking him up to the cold and dark reality that is their life. Throughout the play, the Loman family evolves differently.
But does possessing a lot of money or having fame really mean success? Success isn’t really getting there, success is making a decision that you are going to get there and move towards it. Success is a journey, not a destination. It’s like the kids in school, getting “C” grade as an average but they are working hard to get “A” and “B”, and they are giving everything, they have got.
The definition of success is not the same to everyone and it can’t be the same for anyone because everybody has different values on what they count as success. I think of success as more of a long-term goal. If I forget to do my Economics homework one night, that doesn’t mean I am not successful, I can still pass the class and learn the same amount or even potentially more and still succeed in the class. Another example would be if I am bowling, If I throw a 160 game, I know that I can go throw a 230 average the rest of the day and do well knowing that I still have more games to make it up and succeed. Success has no definite definition.
Thesis The father and son relationship is a fundamental theme that resonates across literature, often serving as a source of conflict, growth, and emotional exploration. The protagonists of both plays deal with their own struggles from their relationships with their fathers as they explore themes of expectations and pressure, struggles for personal identity and the consequences of unresolved emotional bonds. The work below seeks to clarify the meaning of these interactions and how they impact the lives of the characters by exploring the similarities and differences between the two . Expectations and Pressure
