Summary Of Redefining Failure By Julia Dolce Willy Loman

Julia Baird’s article Redefining Failure touches on the topic of failure by discussing how people’s perception and grasp on the meaning of failure can and has changed over time. Julia Baird constructs her argument by introducing a character known as Willy Loman whom she constantly uses throughout the text as a symbol of failure in the past. Baird throughout the text makes numerous appeals to authority and to the reader’s, which unfortunately fell short of its potential.

To introduce her argument, Baird describes a character known as Willy Loman from Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, “We’ve spent more than 60 years dissecting Willy Loman, the character artfully sketched by…”(par.1). The issue with this starting sentence is that she portrays

In a nation built on success and a gloriously entrepreneurial spirit, the prospect of failure can make people fearful and shameful, even when it's not their fault.”(par. 3). This effectively eliminates possible doubts the reader may have in her claims as they may have previously perceived her ignorant increases author's credibility in the fact that she isn’t ignorant to the negative outcomes of recession. Baird makes attempts to add credibility to her argument by adding Arthur Miller's words “There is a crash in every generation sufficient to mark us with a kind of congenital fear of failure.” Miller, is the guy who wrote the play with Willy. And then she goes on to mention that Miller was commenting on a book by Scott Sandage. To boost her argument that Willy Loman wasn’t a failure, she states a quote by Scott Sandage believed Willy. She is simply reinforcing her argument by stating the similar opinion of a historian who may be more qualified to make such claims, and this can be strong or take away from the argument depending on how you look at

Baird was extremely vague on Willy’s story; Surely there’s more to the idea than the fact that times have changed and perception of failure has changed, but what if failure is more than what people can perceive. Willy had his house paid for, a wife and kids, and had his career for 38 years, it’s hard to not feel like Baird left something out of the equation. Needless to say, Willy saw himself as a failure and he felt like a failure, while outside perspectives would feel otherwise, outside perspectives don’t matter. Willy defined himself as a failure. Baird’s argument falls because she limits her argument what is perceived, and not to the truth of how Willy felt. Baird may see a survivor but she needs to look beyond that, she needs to look at the emotions going on through the people, because failure is something that occurs on a personal level and shouldn’t be judged by outside