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Willy the central character in this play is an unfortunate misfit in professional in both personal and professional lives, with a delusion of pomposity and attainment of great success. He is blessed to have a dedicated and committed partner in Linda, who protects his ego in an effort to maintain a semblance of an order in life. Willy, a failure sales professional, believes that he is central to the success of his company and that is the reason why the owner of the company had him on rolls for a long time. This is very powerfully portrayed by the author.
The enigmatic approach of the second generation management of the company seeming to be well described, especially differ in their opinion about his performance and made changes in the compensation structure. The ending of the play is a furtherance to the self-delusion that Willy is a great sales person and widely accepted and sought after in the society. This is a delusion that most failing and ageing professionals have about themselves. However this enigma is missing in certain sections of the play.
The play is a reality portrayed about what happens in the society. When young people start with great aspirations and meet with limited success and this feeds their sense of success and egos. This creates the delusion of great success and they start comparing themselves with highly successful professionals like Dave Singleman, who were successful because of their ability to strategize than their charisma or personality. The vacillation between the past and the present, reality and the unreal is well managed throughout the play. The serious psychological condition, where professionals begin to believe that they are more important than they really are to their workplace and families has been highly dramatized by the author and well portrayed. Unfortunately the truth is that they are not important to their work or their families.
Willy like adults lead most of their adult lives in a sense of make-belief reality constantly feeding their egos to believe that they are being very successful. They refuse to face reality and pretty much often they keep vacillating between the present and the past – a kind of a psychological condition. They refuse to accept their failures and inabilities that are a reality. This psychological delusion creates serious issues for them and they make terrible fathers. They fail to be good fathers in an inability to set the right examples for children and even at times encouraging them to do wrong things like stealing the wood and material for the porch. Many authors on the grounds of ethics do not portray such things directly in their works. The author has broken those boundaries and done it setting a trend in itself.
They often consider facing the final truth of life – death in an attempt that they could get glorified in death, unfortunately they are unwilling to face the truth. Nowhere in the paly does the author directly portray the death of the sales man, however, the situation of death is well laid out and communicated to the audience. The truth that no one really cares about them. They feel that in their death they would be glorified on earth with large attendance at their funeral. However, they are lucky not having to face the reality that no one really cares about their death and if the immediate family had a choice, even they would also opt out of not being there.
This is the impact they leave to their family and immediate community around them. No one really needs them or wants them and Willys of the world never gets to realize it! They live in a world of self-aggrandizement in a belief that they are the best and the even the greatest. They feel that they are making all the difference to the world and the opposite could never be truer.
- What topic do you wish to focus upon in your oral presentation and why? Why did the material and topic interest you?
The topic of interest to me in the entire essay is how a failure in life, both as a professional and a personal level actually lives in a sense of false security of success and in a way that leads him finally to death. This is a reality that they refuse to see and do not see even in their death.
- What is your thesis or argument about the choices the writer has made?
It is unfortunate that the elders have contributed to the lives of their children and loved ones, but their efforts seem not to be reciprocated in the days of their need. Unfortunate, but true.
- How will you engage the class at the beginning of your presentation?
“Willy the central character in this play is an unfortunate misfit in professional in both personal and professional lives, with a delusion of pomposity and attainment of great success.” This sentence is an impactful and direct.
- What will you do to make your conclusion memorable?
The fact that no one wants them is striking and makes an impact on the audience. This makes the conclusion memorable.
References
Younkins, E. W. (2014). Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman: A Case of Self-Delusion. Retrieved from Rebirth of Reason: http://rebirthofreason.com/Articles/Younkins/Arthur_Millers_Death_of_a_Salesman_A_Case_of_Self-Delusion.shtml
