Examples Of Resilience In Death Of A Salesman

There are many obstacles that get in the way of achieving a dream. But to overcome them requires a lot of resilience, which means having tolerance to the difficulties being faced. Some forms of tolerance may not be healthy in the long run, but it works to provide temporary esteem. Within the play, Death of a Salesman, characters are learning to cope through a change in society, resembling the time of the Great Depression in the real world, where the goal was always to achieve the American Dream. By analyzing the behaviour of characters in the play through a psychological lens, the concept of resilience is addressed through Linda’s love towards Willy despite his mistreatment, Willy’s hallucinations into his memories of success, and Biff standing

From the start of the play, Linda always knew that Willy had been depressed, mainly because he believes he is unlikable and therefore unsuccessful. One of the stages of Maslow’s hierarchy are social needs, which include love and belonging, and it is important because “in order to avoid loneliness, depression, and anxiety, it is important for people to feel loved and accepted by others” (Cherry, Kendra). By applying this idea to Linda’s actions, it becomes evident that Linda is choosing to be gentle with Willy in order for Willy’s love and belongingness needs to be met in hopes for him to leave his depressive state. But, Linda’s motherly attributes are also conditioned by the behavioural stereotype of the time the play is set, in which Linda possibly feels she has no choice but to abide by the expectations of a woman’s motherly characteristics. Resilience is also shown in Willy’s constant daydreaming. Willy, the protagonist, is an insecure man trying to reach wealth as the American Dream proposes. Willy continuously fails at attaining wealth, Willy begins to show frustration and then starts to daydream of moments in his life that had to do with success: WILLY. No! Boys! Boys! (Young Biff and Happy appear.) Listen to this. This is your Uncle Ben, a great man! Tell my boys,

Freud believes defense mechanisms “protect the conscious mind from contradictions between the animalistic id and the idealistic superego” (Cherry, Kendra). In Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the id is one’s desires, and the superego is the idealistic center of the mind (Cherry, Kandra). The rational part of the mind, or the ego, “is responsible for managing the impulses of the id” and often resorts to defense mechanisms as a temporary escape from the conflicts between the id and superego (Cherry, Kandra). The defense mechanism Willy uses is Fantasy, which includes daydreaming, and by applying Freud’s theory, Willy’s daydreaming is a factor that helps to repress the desire of becoming successful and the moral understanding of there being failure. Yet, this method of coping is more constant rather than temporary within Willy, causing him to steer more into having severe