Once the dream was shattered, his life shattered with it. In the end, this quotation relies on the image of the dream. And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could. This is the same mythic quality Willy saw in Singleman. Death of a Salesman Quotations and Analysis. He paints Willy as a victim of his profession, and attributes to Willy the mythic quality which Willy aspired for in life. He waxes poetic about the life of a salesman as he eulogizes Willy. A salesman is got to dream, boy.”Ĭharley says this at the end in the requiem. “He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine . . . Willy erases any trace of good character and separate identity from Biff’s life. Willy makes Linda and Happy want to change Willy, while Willy makes Biff want to change his own self. These are things Willy never had the courage to do, and Biff shows Willy that he is a failure. In Biff’s words: Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens. He takes a stand to identify himself on his own terms. Biff defies this and by doing, he cuts Willy’s sense of self and purpose. For Willy, life means to fit into a prescribed roles in order to succeed. That Biff expresses a desire to be who he truly want to be is utterly mystifying and infuriating to Willy. Biff attempts to explain to Willy why he cannot fit into Willy’s expectations. This is from Act II when Willy and Biff have their final confrontation. when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am.” And I looked at the pen and I thought, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be. The work and the food and the time to sit and smoke. “I saw the things that I love in this world. He cannot see the reality of this man and wants only to see his own life be characterized by recognition and “being liked.” The shallow and deluded way that Willy sees the world is evident in this quotation. He also fails to recognize that Singleman was working in his 80s and was almost certainly struggling financially. Willy places emphasis on being liked and being helped by others rather than the substance of his or Singelman’s life. He sees this man as an ideal, someone who worked until he was 84 and died on the road living the life of a salesman. ’Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?”įrom Act II, Willy romanticizes the legendary salesman Dave Singleman. “And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. Literature Guides Death of a Salesman – Quotations and Analysis Quotations and Analysis
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |