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Themes In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

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PROMPT: According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightning.” Using Death of a Salesman, discuss how Willy Loman’s character is a tragic figure, and how this tragic figure functions as an instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole

Throughout the history of America, many common themes have been identified. A few themes in particular have been made famous by the early to mid 1900s. Themes like the American Dream, Father dominance, and Idealism are studied due to their inaccuracy at times and their impact on America during this time period. Masked happiness, false dreams, and unhealthy relationships are just a few examples of the countless ways these themes affected Americans. In “Death of a Salesman”, Arthur Miller explores these themes of America in the late 1940s through the use of a tragic hero, Willy Loman, and the characters around him who were affected by his actions. First, a tragic quality of Willy that affected his younger son, Biff, was his mindset that what other people thought of him was more important and would make him better
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