The Death of a Salesman (Ending)

THE DEATH OF A SALESMAN

Ending

The ending of The Death of a Salesman is a very sad one, and nothing happy came from the play. Willy Loman decides to kill himself towards the very ending of the play. I guess the fact that he had lost everything his job, and Biff never got money to start his Florida business. He believes that the money from his life insurance will be able to make Biff idea's become a reality. Willy Loman also talks to a ghost and speaks of how great his funeral is going to be, and all the people from his work will come, but in a sad reality no one from his job showed up. In one of Biff's last conversations with his parents he realizes that becoming a businessman is something that he never truly desired and was only put in to his head by his father. On page 103 Willy says "May you rot in hell if you leave this house!" after biff admits he doesn't want to become a salesman. I believe this is one of most kids fears to actually tell their parents what they want to do, after all their lives kids are filled with people telling them they have to go to college, they have to become successful, and they have to be able to provide for a family, while few parents tell their kids to do what makes them happy. If we only have one life I don't know why anyone would want to waste years doing something they don't enjoy just to end up regretting it. How do you feel about the situation, do you feel that people should try to live their lives to the fullest without regrets, or try to become successful doing something they don't enjoy?

Death of a Salesman (Middle)

Death of a Salesman (Middle)

After the characters go to sleep in the end of act I the next act begins with Willy waking up and feeling excited about the idea of working in Florida. Biff and Bill have already left and Linda and Willy are the only two in the house. They have a conversation about getting a garden for the yard before Willy heads out to go to another day of work. Today Willy is going to ask his boss if he can have a non-traveling job because it is causing to many problems for him and his family. As Willy is driving to work he is excited that his son's invited him to dinner before he arrives at work he enters his boss's office nervously and asks for a non traveling job and a raise. His boss disrespectfully declines his wish and treats him like a kid, even though Willy has been with the company longer and even helped his boss's father name him. Willy's last hope of earning a raise and better job position is fading and he decides to tell a story on why he thinks selling is the greatest job for him. His boss leaves the room and Willy began screaming and having a fit in the room. Willy's boss fires Willy and says he can no longer work for the company and know Willy must rely and live off his son's money and Willy is frightened by this and does not want to accept his loss and begins to find a way to fix the situation. I don't know why Willy had to handle his situation so unprofessionally and have a fit like a child when his boss was ignoring him. I Understand it was rude of his boss to disrespect him but when you have priorities to take care of and things to pay for, yelling at the man who pays you is not a smart thing to do, under any situation. I hope Willy is able to regain his composure and get his job back, but I do not see that happening in the future of this story. What would you do if you were in Willy's shoes?

Death of a Salesman (Beginning)

Death of a Salesman (Beginning)

The Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller is a play about the salesman's life and problems. The salesman Willy is a father of 2 sons and a husband to Linda his wife. They live in the suburbs outside of New York. The play takes place in the depression of the 1930's in America. 

In the beginning of Act One Willy arrives home to a worried Linda Loman and you can tell by their conversation a few things about their family, and relationship. Clearly the reader can tell Linda and Willy Loman are not getting along very well, and the author hints at the fact that Willy may have a mental problem because of his accidents he has had with cars, and that they argue over what kind of cheese Linda bought. You also find out about there son Biff Loman a hardworking, attractive male in America and that he is lost in his life unable to find work or take up a career that he is interested in. This troubles Willy tremendously and he decides he will have his son get a job being a salesman with him. Another problem in the Loman's life is that Willy has to travel far to New England because he is no longer needed in New York by his company. Biff and Happy are brothers and are troubled by their father's driving "accidents" and talk about how they are back living in their old house again and have a conversation about women in their life. Willy also tells Billy about his dream of living in a ranch and then he can finally have a job he likes to do. Willy tells Biff and Happy about his idea to bring them into the salesman business and exaggerates his job in New England saying things like "I have friends in New England. I can park my car in any street and the cops protect it like their own." And America is filled with beautiful towns and fine, upstanding people." (Pg 19.) Biff and Happy are elated to go and promise to go with him in the summer, they'll even carry his bags for him.  After being told by Biff's friend Bernard that Biff is failing math and may flunk the year Willy flips out and forces Bernard to leave and argues with Linda about it. Charley offers Willy a job and feels offended and the two argue slightly before Uncle Ben comes and has a conversation about his job in Alaska to both of the boys. Ben, Linda, and Willy are talking about a diamond watch and then Willy goes outside in his slippers and Biff talks to his mom about Willy's problems and she says they shouldn't do anything about them. Biff, Linda, and Happy begin to argue about Willy and Linda try's to defend him while Biff says he treated her like crap and never had any respect for her. Linda calls him a bum and Biff promises to get a job and says he won't argue wit Willy anymore. Readers also find out that Willy kicked Biff out before and that Linda misses the old times. Readers also discover that Willy's lost all his responsibilities in his company since the older men who use to run it died. Willy overhears the argument from outside and is offended and tells Biff that he needs to grow up or get out. And the conversation ends as everyone heads to bed and Willy and Linda have a conversation in bed before the curtain falls and Act One is concluded.

Blog Post III "The Stolen Party"

            Liliana Hecker is the author of the short story "The Stolen Party" a story about people dehumanizing others when they don't know anything about them. The story also talks about the problems of ascribed status and gender roles. The girl in the story is secretly described as a monkey because she is clueless to the fact that the other wealthy people at the party do not like her, and she is helping to do maid and cleaning work for the richer people. Her own mother refers to her as her pet and pays her $2 instead of giving her a toy basket because she knows that the girl needs the money more. The whole story the girl is "playing" with the other children but does not realize that the other children seem to avoid her since she never got caught in tag and "won" the sac race. A blond girl with pigtails (whose name is not said because she is rich and being rich makes her name irrelevant) questions the girl if she is truly one of Luciana's friends since she knows all her friends. 

"That one's not your friend. You know what you are to them? The maid's daughter. " 

This is a quote from Rosura's mother who knows that the rich girls are not her friends and she is just invited to the party to clean not to play.

Blog Post II "Danger of A Single Story"

          In the speech "Danger of A Single Story"  by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie the speaker talks about the effects of people who are not open to different views points of life and how if we are stuck with one story to describe something we begin to define people, races, and individuals without knowing their whole story and can stereotype them as poor, greedy, smelly, or anything else. 

"Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity." 

         This quote shows that stories are a double edge sword. Stories can be used to describe something but not knowing enough information, or getting all your stories from one source can lead you to stereotype people.

Blog Post I : "Girl"

The short story "girl" is about a mothers life advice to a growing daughter, and she warns the daughter about men and when to get rid of them if they can't treat her well, or support her. I believe the reason this author wrote this piece is to show female stereotypes in a group, and show that even though times are changing women are still doing these things. The author makes the tone of the text get stricter as the  story goes on, and this is to show how the girl progress's  from a child to woman. The mother in the story in the end teaches her daughter how to hook in a man she wants and get rid of them if she feels unhappy. " This is how to catch a fish, this is how to throw one back you don't like." The mother says 3 times to try and warn her daughter about not becoming a slut, but when at the end she says that she has already become one by following her mothers instructions. Her mother basically shows her how to maintain the reputation of a lady but in reality be a slut. The girl does not speak until the end  which makes the text feel like a lecture.

"this is how to catch a fish, this is how to throw one back you don't like."