Significance of the Title: The Death of a Salesman

-

        As we wrap up Act 1 of The Death of a Salesman, I keep on trying to make sense of the title and its overall meaning in regards to the text. I think it is clear to say that Willy acts as the salesman that is being referred to in the title. From the beginning, he is portrayed as an older man who seems to think he has his life together. He claims he is this big shot, business man that knows the “key to success”. Although he is constantly seen running around, meeting with customers, trying to “make it” - it doesn’t make much sense! If he knows the “key to success”, why are we seeing him, as a 50-year-old man, bust around as if he were someone inexperienced and new to the business world? Simpler said by me than Willy himself, he hasn’t lived up to the American Dream he has strived to achieve. It’s as if he knows this, but doesn’t want to admit it to himself. When the title mentions the word “death”, it isn’t supposed to be taken literally. I could easily be wrong due to the fact that we have not finished the play, but I think the word “death” has more of a metaphorical take towards Willy and his career. As the play continues, I believe we will continue to see the fall in Willy’s career. With this fall, I think over time we will see Willy realize that he has failed to attain the American Dream which leads to the downfall, or “death”, of his character.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waiting

-
     Waiting has always held a negative connotation for me - it was linked to the feeling of uncontrollability. Even as a kid, waiting for something was one of the things I hated most because it was so irritating. Waiting for Santa to come Christmas morning or waiting for it to be your turn on the jump rope at recess were certain things that gave me an itch. You get tense in your hands, fingers, and toes, you can feel your heart beating out of your chest, and you can hear your subconscious screaming over just pure irritation, the time in which you have to wait is uncontrollable.       As I watch the movie more, Didi and Gogo remind me of my child-self. The impatience and annoyance that I’ve observed within their mannerisms is very childish: the pacing, petty arguments, foot taps, the crossing of arms, the random outbursts, etc. It’s very nostalgic to watch in a sense because I know the exact feeling of that childish impatience. Even as a young adult, I...
Read more

Spoken Word Poetry

-
Image
          The past few weeks we have been working with poetry. We have done many assignments and projects that have expanded my knowledge and allowed me to grow as a poet, one being the mentor poet assignment. For the mentor poet assignment I chose Shane Koyczan, a Canadian writer and spoken word poet.            I’ve always been drawn to spoken word poetry. I remember the first time I saw it being performed was in my eighth grade video tech class. Every Friday, my teacher would show us inspirational and moving videos that would hopefully open up our perspectives on certain things in our everyday life. He just happened one Friday to show this certain poet and his poetry and it has stuck with me ever since. “To This Day” by Shane Koyczan, is a spoken word poem about bullying. I remember when I saw it, I was instantly moved and gravitated towards it because of my past experience of being bullied. In his poem, Koyczan touches...
Read more