Analysis of Death of a Salesman by Miller - Assignment Example

2. Assess the operation of Eros and Thanatos in Death of a Salesman. Which is the more prominent drive? (For this question, you might like to evaluate and contrast how these drives operate in different characters.) Eros and Thanatos are drives that could be observed in the characters of Willy, Linda and Biff Loman. These members of the play showed audiences varying degrees of love and death motivating them into doing what they thought would be best for themselves and the people around them. In the case of Linda, eros is the more prominent drive as audiences see her stick to Willy despite all the failures and misgivings her husband had. Linda is depicted as a naïve woman and although she also shares her husband’s belief the American Dream is equated with material possessions, she knows that achieving it takes more than a pleasing personality. Linda also shows unconditional love for her sons and tries to help Biff mend the gap he has with his father. She continues to tell her sons to love and be patient with their father. With Willy, Linda stands by him like a loyal wife. One can say that thanatos also figures in Linda’s actions and words as she does not try hard to make Willy realize that his notion of the American Dream is flawed. Instead of making Willy see the real needs of his sons and family, she continued to support him which may have helped in Willy’s idea of ending his life as long as his family, specifically Biff, gets the American Dream with the insurance money. In the case of Biff Loman, one could say that eros was the stronger drive as well. However, the drive resulted to a negative effect on Biff’s life because his love for his father was too much that Willy’s extramarital affair destroyed Biff’s image of his father. Also, Biff’s love for Willy is also a reason why, even after the affair disillusioned him of Willy’s image, Biff continued to try and make a living for himself. In the end, Biff’s love for himself made him realise that he can be happy with his own American Dream; that is, living a simple life, doing the things that make him happy. Biff shares this revelation with Willy in their argument when he says, “… suddenly I stopped, you hear me? And in the middle of that office building, do you hear this? I stopped in the middle of that building and I saw—the sky. I saw the things that I love in this world. The work and the food and time to sit and smoke…. Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there… (Miller, A., 1949, p. 98)” In the case of Willy Loman, one could say that it was eros more than thanatos motivating him to do all that he did in the story. Willy Loman loved his family. However, this love was greatly influenced by his hopes of having a good and easy life. Because of this, the steps he undertook to have that life managed to destroy his relationship with his son Biff, cost him his job and ultimately cost him his life. His love for his family was even manifested in his suicide because he was willing to die for them. Thanatos was also represented by Ben, Willy’s dead brother. Ben was an inspiration to Willy. Even if he was dead, Willy often spoke to Ben in his head, conferring with his dead sibling. In the final minutes of his life, it was Ben who seemed to guide Willy to go ahead and commit suicide. In the end, it was thanatos or death which persuaded him to go ahead with his plan if that meant his family would have the American Dream he had always envisioned of providing them. 3. In what ways does Death of a Salesman champion, comment on or criticise the idea of the “American Dream”? Use appropriate evidence from the text. The American Dream in this play is believed to be that of an easy way to riches and ones pleasures which is a far cry from the real American Dream; that is, working hard to achieve ones desires. This misinterpretation of the American Dream is mostly criticised by Biff while championed by Willy and Happy Loman. There are several instances when characters in Death of a Salesman criticised the idea of the "American Dream". In Biffs case, it was whenever he tried to explain to Willy that he was just leading a normal life, and not the "ideal" life Willy was expecting of him. This is evident when Biff says: "I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you. You were never anything but a hard-working drummer who landed in the ash can like all the rest of them! Im one dollar an hour, Willy! I tried seven states and couldnt raise it. A buck an hour! Do you gather my meaning? Im not bringing home any prizes anymore, and youre going to stop waiting for me to bring them home! (Miller, A., 1949, p. 98)" In another instance, the older son also begs for his father to stop believing in the notion of the American Dream because he could see what it was doing to his father and their family. Biff says "[Crying, broken.] Willy you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens? (Miller, A., 1949, p. 99)" On the other hand, Willy’s younger son, Happy, champions the American Dream because of his characters need to satisfy his father and be the focus of attention for a change, as Willy seemed to be bent on just praising and noticing Biff, the older offspring. When Happy says, "He had a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have—to come out number-one-man. He fought it out here, and this is where I’m gonna win it for him", he is telling the audience that he acknowledges Willys notion of the good life (the American Dream) is attainable. Of course, the character who champions the American Dream would be Willy Loman. He believes that the American Dream, albeit a distorted one, is one that is comfortable and easy to achieve as long as he is well-liked and attractive. However, this wrong belief in the American Dream brings about his downfall because he lets it eat him up and eventually ruin his relationships with his children and wife. Willy thinks that his dead older brother Ben has the American Dream and this is what he desires for himself, Biff and Happy. This is why Willy is often seen conversing with Ben during the play. Although Ben appears in Willys daydreams, the play shows Willys character mistakenly thinking he is having a conversation with Ben where the latter encourages him to pursue his ideal life. In the end, it is Bens voice Willy hears in his head, egging him to continue with his plan of killing himself so that Biff could use the insurance money to make a better life for himself as a salesman. Comments on the idea of the American Dream are also evident in how Willy envies the success of his neighbor Charley and the latters son Bernard. Willy thinks that Biff should have the same life as Bernard and is frustrated that the boy he used to think of as a nerd is now successful but his son Biff is not. It is also manifested in how Willy seems very amazed that Bernard’s friend has their own tennis court because Willy mentions this over and over again. 4. How does Freuds theory of repressed memories operate in Death of a Salesman? How do repressed memories contribute to certain characters “fatal flaw”? According to Sigmund Freud, a person can have an experience that is very traumatic in nature they unconsciously forget about it or supress it so they would not think about it anymore. This is called repressed memory. This was later on associated as one the several defence mechanisms of an individual so as to avoid getting hurt again. (Erdeyli, M., 2006, p. 500) In Death of a Salesman Freuds theory of repressed memories was the reason for Bills and Willy Lomans characters to validate their actions toward each other. In the case of Bill Loman, the repressed memory was the sight of seeing his father having an affair with another woman. The incident served to bring about the change in Bills purpose in life. Because of what Bill discovered when he surprised his father in Boston, Bills view of his father changed and the young man decided to veer away from the promising path and the life his father wanted for him. This was explained to Willy by Bernard when the latter says that Biff was very angry upon returning from his trip to Boston that he even removed his most-loved sneakers and burned them. (Miller, A., 1949, p. 68) Eventually, Biff lets out his resentment and anger towards his father’s infidelity in the climax where the two have an argument and Biff breaks down, telling his father to let go of the American Dream and accept Biff for who he was. (Miller, A., 1949, p. 98) In the case of Willy, the repressed memories are of his pains in life. These memories have made him the kind of weak and idealistic person that he is in the story. He dreams of having success the easy way like his dead brother Ben. Willy describes Ben as, “a genius… a success incarnate… knew what he wanted and went out and got it. Walked into a jungle, and comes out, the age of twenty-one, and he’s rich! (Miller, A., 1949, p. 28)” Repressed memories contributed to Willy’s fatal flaw because it made him strive for something that was not real. He had misinterpreted what the American Dream was. This was his fatal flaw as it led to his suicide. Because he thought that one need not work hard to have the American Dream he missed out on many opportunities for him to have the real American Dream. He failed to acknowledge his skills in crafts and that he had two sons and a wife who loved him. He failed to see that he had a job where other people did not. He failed to respect the individualities of his sons and as a result pushed them away from him. As a result, he believed his sons, especially Biff, did not like him. He did not work hard in his job because he thought he could be successful if people just liked him a lot. He tried to ignore and bury his failures in his head and instead focused on how he can achieve his notion of the American Dream. Works Cited: Erdelyi, M. (2006). The unified theory of repression. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 29. Retrieved from http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~wegner/pdfs/Erdelyi%20(2006)%20in%20BBS.pdf Miller, A., (1949). Death of a Salesman. London: Penguin Books. Read More