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Noé BOUADROUNE -  Symbols and their meaning

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Noé BOUADROUNE -  Symbols and their meaning

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In the piece «Death of a salesman» made by Arthur Miller, there are a lot of symbols used to show the spectators / readers abstract ideas.

One of the symbol that is present for most of the play are the diamonds that Ben talks about when he appears while Billy is in a «dreaming» state. To Willy, those diamonds represents things that he is going for: authentic wealth and the validation of one’s labor. The diamonds also represent the fact that Willy missed his opportunity to become has rich and wealthy as Ben by not going to Alaska with him. The diamonds makes him remember that he failed at becoming a wealthy man whose hard work is valued.

Another symbol is the flute. The flute’s melody can be heard multiple times during the play, such as at the start or even before the requiem. This musical instrument represent the only thing that links Willy and his father. As we learn during the play, Willy’s father hasabandoned him when he was young. Willy’s father was a salesman who sold flute all around the country. But, contrary to Willy, his father was a successful salesman and was also very talented at building things with his hands. So, you could say that the flute represent the route that Willy didn’t take, which means following his dad and becoming successful.

The stockings are also a symbol present in the play. When Biff caught Willy having an affair with the Woman. He says «You gave her Mama’s stockings». Since this event, the stockings are, in Willy’s mind, a symbol of his betrayal towards Linda. That’s why Willy refuses to see stockings in his house and tells Linda to throw them away.

The seeds that Willy plants at the end of the piece represents the uselessness of his efforts. Willy plants them during the night, which means that they can’t grow. Especially in the area he plants them, a suburban area. This is a parallel to how Willy’s son, Happy and Biff did not grew to Willy’s expectation. This is also showed in act 2, when, after Biff and Happy abandoned him, Willy complains that he doesn’t have a thing in the ground. Which means he has nothing that can live up to his expectation anymore.

As you can see, there are a lot of symbols in Death of a Salesman, those symbols help us to understand better the play and the relations between the characters, especially the ones of Willy.

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In his play Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller tries to show his reader a pattern that mixes dream and reality with each other through consciousness. Furthermore we can say that it is based on the American dream that he tries to convey to us through the Lomans family. As a reader we will then question ourselves on the definition of this dream which seems like an escape from reality.

Let's first focus on the conception of this family; it is mononuclear, which first of all responds to the American dream.

The concise American dream at first glance is to be composed of a happy and supportive couple, with two or more children who are well brought up by their mother, whose main job is to take care of the house (cooking, cleaning...). The husband is a breadwinner, he is in charge of bringing the money home in order to provide for the whole family, he is the one who decides on the expenses. Their life must be partly peaceful, happy with a real family spirit in a beautiful house, then the children must start studies to ensure the lineage so take example from their father.

We see in this family a reality through this dream where Willy is very ambitious and hard-working by nature, he says that money and power and social status is a very important thing in a life. So he is looking for recognition. He passes on his words to his eldest son Biff who agrees and follows in the same footsteps. So we see a certain connection and bond between father and son as in the definition above.

However happy Willy's second son does not develop the same emotions and priorities. For him what is essential is to develop love for his family, then in his love life and to have some recognition from his father. But his father doesn't seem to be and excludes his son because he is not like his brother, which will create a certain jealousy towards his brother as time goes by.

For lack of dreaming and being in a fictional world that seems perfect with some small flaws, this will have an impact on future life because of the quests of each character that seem very different. So we will be moving towards a reality.

This reality behind this perfect world starts with willy who is constantly lying to his wife and children. He says that he is independent about his business, that everything works wonders by having multiple clients while the only money he "earns" are loans and then does not have a very extensive social life. He has been unfaithful to his wife for years, which may hide a kind of contempt and insecurity. He feels uncomfortable in his body, a certain disgust to follow through on his actions, he feels lonely. This lie becomes a real illness from which he suffers, this translates into crises up to suicide attempts because he has failed everything.

While destroying himself he destroys his family one by one, in fact biff discovers this extra-marital affair which in turn destroys him. He loses all hope, everything that his father had set up and passed on to him goes up in smoke. He no longer has confidence in himself because he no longer values this family and dreams.

At the happy level, he also suffers from a strong loneliness due to his father's neglect. These neglect is caused by a life that is also ruined, he has never been able to pursue his desires and dreams.

To conclude we can say that the centre of the problem is only Willy who is a miserable character who cannot fulfil his whole family. Arthur Miller puts forward the American dream which is a figure to be followed and an example that seems perfect, but by wanting to be perfect too much you get further and further away from it until you get a life based on failures.

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In the play Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller manages to make dream and reality flow into each other thanks to a stream of consciousness technique.     All through the play we feel a constant search for the perfect family which is part of the American dream at that time.                                                                                                          We may wonder if this is not a mere way to escape reality for most Americans ?

The Lomans family : Willy, Linda and their two boys, Biff and Happy may represent the archetype of the arevage American family.

Dreaming has always been a way of improving reality and boys are well-known for that !                                                                                                                                                        The American dream  was to have a family, a house with a garden, a car and a well-paid job. As we think about it, Willy had already made this dream come true.                                                                                                                                         However as many ambitious people, Willy the family’s breadwinner aimed at getting to the top in everything. Faithfull to the Marxist idea of achievement by work Willy thinks that money, power and social standing are the most important things in life. He puts that pressure on his eldest son : Biff, who shares the same aims. Father and son are both materialistic to the point of stealing like the episode of Bill Oliver’s fountain pen which symbolizes success and power : the essence of their dream. Biff is also looking for success through the work place even if with a different vision.                                                                                                                                                                All the boys of the play do not share the same dream.                                                                          Indeed Happy, the younger son doesn’t fit in the same mould. Since he dreams about love. The most important thing for him is to please his father. He is jealous of his elder brother who gets all Willy’s attention and interest.

So far two boys out of three dream of money and material success in life whereas the third one lives in a more emotional world in search of attention, recognition and Love.                                                                                                                                  The question is : what impact has their search of an idyllic life on reality ?

As far as Willy is concerned we may say that he has completely dreamt his life. Since the beginning of the play he lives in a state of false awareness just like Biff. Both are always lying ; they lie to the other as well as to themselves. Willy has always lied to his family about his business pretending he had customers and borrowing money instead of earning it.
He also lied about his trips to his wife while he had a relation with another woman.                                                                                 Moreover he used to say he had a lot of acquaintances and friends whereas he had none. To a certain extend he has been lying to himself.

Lies started to spiral him out of control right from the beginning. The effects of so many lies are numerous and destructive .

Willy has managed to cheat his family up to a certain point but when Biff discovered his extra marital affair it lead them to be estranged. This disruptive situation spoilt his exams and his whole life.                                                         Willy’s at the origin of all the sufferings of the family. Being obsessed by success he neglected  his youngest son Happy who didn’t share the same ideas. Hence Happy suffered from lonelyness and lack of recognition because of his father. A whole life spoilt !

Lying made Willy suffer from mental breakdown and depression which was obviously bad for his health as well as for his mental health.                                                                                                                 Unexpectedly Biff who lives the same dream doesn’t suffer from the same diseases. He doesn’t live in dreams but for them and he struggles to reach them in order to please his father and self-accomplishment.                                We surely can say that Willy pretends to be happy while he is miserable, so much that he will not come out of this state and will bring his beliefs to his grave.

As a conclusion even if everybody says dream is life, Arthur Miller showed us that dream can also destroy life when they become obsessions . Every protagonist in the play fails to achieve any success either professional or personal. Whe should try to fill the gap between dreams and reality with wisdom understanding and acceptance of our limits .                  Some dreams never come true  that’s why they are called dreams !

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The Characters : COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Biff/ Happy/ Bernard

Biff and Happy are the sons of Willy and Linda compare to Bernard who is their neighbour, the son of  Charley.

In high school, Biff and Bernard were totally different for example Bernard help Biff for exams and homework but Biff do nothing and only think about appearance like Happy. ( page 27 “Bernard: Listen Biff, I heard Mr.Birnbaum say that if you don’t start studyin’ math he’s gonna flunk you and you won’t graduate”)

Happy and Biff are not very educated. On the one hand, Happy is a liar, he talk about getting married but it’s fake and on the other hand, Biff  stole different things ( a ball in high school or the Oliver’s fountain pen and go to jail ) compare to Bernard who succeed to be lawyer.

Willy/ Ben/ Howard

Willy is the dad of Happy and Biff, he is a salesman at the end of his career. He really want his sons to succeed on the business world. He lie about the money that he have to hide all the failure in his life and the fact that they are poor and don’t have enough money. ( ex=  Charley lends Willy money and offers him a job )

Willy wanted to live like in the American dream where life is better and richer for everyone like Howard who is a successful and rich man Or Ben, the uncle of Biff and happy and the older brother of Willy who die. Ben became rich by finding diamond, he appears a lot of time in Willy’s hallucination because he represent what Willy always wanted to succeed but it never happens. (page 43 = “Ben: William, when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I walked out I was twenty-one. And, by God, I was rich!”)

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Arthur Miller, Historical context, sources and influences of the play

Arthur Miller :

Arthur Miller was an important figure in 20th century American literature and cinema. Born on October 17, 1915 in New York City, he was known to have written several plays such as The Crucible and Death of a Salesman, which were his major successes. But also for his short marriage to Marilyn Monroe. Born into a family of Polish Jewish immigrants, he lived in poverty for a long time, particularly because of the Great Depression. Throughout his life, Miller will have through his works to denounce facts of our society and to break the 4th wall that separates the fictional from reality. He died of cancer on February 10, 2005 at the age of 85.

Historical context, sources and influences of the play :

In order to create his play "Death of a Salesman", Miller was inspired by the American ideal present at the time, which was to achieve the famous American dream. The play premiered on February 10, 1949 at the Morosco Theatre on Broadway in New York City. In this play, he staged by showing that this American dream is not easily accessible by everyone without having to make compromises that can be dangerous. This quest for the American dream in the play is, as we have seen, very constraining for Willy Loman. Miller shows through the play that this dream can lead to the loss of a person's life. Miller highlights through the play that the characters are more important than the story itself. He describes reality in an often very precise way, which is why the play is still performed on Broadway today and has been awarded many prizes such as the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics circle award for best play.

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THE CHARACTERS / COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Biff - Happy - Bernard : Biff and Happy are the sons of Willy Loman. Biff Loman is considered as a constant failure (stealing at every job and even spending time in jail), but he is concerned about what his father thinks of him

Happy Loman is seemingly content and successful, with a steady career and none of the obvious marks of failure that his older brother displays. Happy, however, is not content with his more stable life, because he has never striven for any real measure of success.

Both of the brothers believes in apparences and are liars but at the end of the play Biff realises that his life is a lie and decides to tell the truth.

Bernard is Charley’s only son. He is intelligent and industrious but lacks the gregarious personality of either of the Loman sons. the Loman’s thought that this lack of spirit would mean that Bernard would never succeed in the business world as well as Biff and Happy would but Bernard prove himself as a grown man since he is a successful lawyer.

Willy - Ben - Howard : Willy is a salesman at the end of his career. He is a gregarious man with powerful aspirations to success. However, after thirty-five years working as a traveling salesman, Willy Loman feels defeated by his lack of success and lies to convince himself that he is not a failure.

Ben is Willy’s dead older brother. Unlike Willy, he is a person who made a “success” of his life by becoming rich (finding diamond). He often appears in Willy's hallucinations because he represents the fantastic success for which Willy has always hoped but never achieved.

Howard is Willy’s boss. He is a successful and rich men Although Willy was the one who named him, Howard is forced to fire Willy for his erratic behavior.

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In Death of a Salesman, it is fairly clear that a fair amount of arguments and discussions revolve around money, or being a self-made man. Both terms are often used when talking about the capitalist society, which can be defined as a system based on accumulation, production, and gains. In the play, the perfect example of the member of a capitalist society is Ben, Willy’s brother, the great man who achieved success, as he so often repeats ‘’William, when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I asked out, I was seventeen. And, by God, I was rich!’’ (p.43).

But, this system is far from perfect. Indeed, if we take the example of Happy, who seems to follow the dynamic of this system, he admits to feel rather unhappy, as said ‘’ My own apartment, a car, and plenty of women. And still, goddammit, I’m lonely.’’ (p.19). Furthermore, the capitalist system gives little to no care for the hardworking members of society, such as Willy himself. Indeed, when he asks for help to his boss, Howard, after working in the company for decades, the man answers with ‘’No, but it’s business, kid, and everybody’s gotta pull their own weight’’ (p.65), thus proving that in a capitalist society, happiness is not always granted, and empathy stops where business begins.

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Family relationships :

Husband and wife : -Linda Loman is an extremely loyal and devoted wife to Willy, and is very protective towards Willy’s emotions and dreams. She seems to be the only person who truly understands him, and sees through his lies and falseness. Linda loves and prizes her husband more than anything in the world, and chooses to remain blind to his fickle nature, frequent tantrums and lack of respect towards her.

-Willy seems to be too caught up in his chase for success to express any love for Linda. He is a grumpy old man and he is harsh with Linda, and speaks to her rudely, especially in front of their children. For instance, whenever Linda tries to speak, he immediately silences her, asking her to stop interrupting. Willy’s romantic affair with an other woman hints that he is also disloyal. He doesn’t return Linda’s love for him even though he is aware of it.

Father and sons : When they were younger, Biff and Happy admired and had so much love for their father but when they reached adulthood their realtion changed and a battle broke out between the father and the sons (especially Biff) but Willy Loman is like any father, he wants to be part of his son's life. Throughout his life he becomes passionate about becoming the absolute ideal father, so to speak. His actions and even his words show that all he wishes for his son is that they be what he considers successful. Happy when he is a little withdrawn, Willy doesn't pay too much attention to him. Willy's sons also don't like the way he talks to their mother.

Mother and sons : We notice that Linda’s behavior in front of Willy is different from her behavior with her children, she is actually a sensible, confident woman but in front of Willy she becomes submissive. She tries to educate her sons as well as possible and speaks to them frankly even if it means hurting them. She makes them aware of the worrying situation of their father (suicidal) and the harm they do him. Despite everything, they love them with all her heart and it is mutual on their side. They are respectful, protective and loving towards their mother.

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Movie adaptation by Volker Schlöndorff (First part with English subtitles)

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Movie adaptation by Volker Schlöndorff (First part with English subtitles)

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https://youtu.be/FCOC87R9Ub4

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Death of a Salesman -  Dustin Hoffman, John Malkovich. مترجم

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An essential reference to understand what makes Willy dream - and suffer...