Living in the Past in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman...

Arthur Miller, A play writer in the twentieth century, wrote a play entitled Death of a salesman that won him the Pulitzer Price just a year after its release. In the play Miller expresses the life of a 60 year old salesman that undergoes through lack of success in his life and sees the same thing happening ,to his two grown sons now in their mid-thirties, as the American dream faded away being replaced by capitalism in the late 1940s. The play starts of by introducing Willy Loman, the protagonist, and tells the story of the final twenty four hours in Willy’s life all the way to his death and funeral. Between that time laps the audience is able to see Willies past thanks to his constant daydreams, along with his sons past and wife and†¦show more content†¦Willy is offered help by his friend Charley, a successful Business man, Willies all time friend and only friends he has left, when Charley offers Willy a job, yet willy full of pride and envious of Charley rejects it yet does not rejects it but continues to borrow money from him. This is due to Willies flaw in his desire of being higher in society than anyone else.Willy cannot let go of the past and continuously refers to 1928, when his career was at its peak. His withdrawal into the past is a defense mechanism as he refuses to come to terms with his failure as a salesman. His illusions of grandeur lead to fierce exaggerations of himself. He tells Biff to Go to Filenes go to the Hub, go to Slatterys, Boston. Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens! Big shot! (Miller, 62). He refuses to realize his personal failures and falsely believes that he is successful. Memories of a happier past Willy losing a grip on reality and on time escapes into the past. Despite his desperate searching through his past, The deep probing of dreams and memories in Death of A Salesman where quite important in illustrating Millers point. Willy is a man stuck in the past reminiscing about times when things whe re good fabrication of those times really were as good as he imagines them to be? Like his inflated dreams of the future, the past may well be embellished by Willys wild imagination. It seemsShow MoreRelatedDeath Of A Salesman And The Glass Menagerie1452 Words   |  6 Pagesintriguing concept. Arthur Millers (1949) Death of a Salesman and Tennessee Williams (1945) The Glass Menagerie both implement these concepts in different ways. Death of a Salesman is told through a man who is imagining his memories, while at the same time, living his everyday life. 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