Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Death of a Salesman (Cliffs Notes) by Jennifer L. Scheidt ISBN: 0-7645-8665-3 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: November, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.94 (121 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Lore. Lies. Dreams.
Comment: At the beginning of the play, Arthur Miller establishes Willy Loman as a troubled and misguided man, at heart a salesman and a dreamer with a preoccupation with success. However, Miller makes equally apparent that Willy Loman is no successful man. Although in his sixties, he is still a traveling salesman bereft of any stable location or occupation, and clings only to his dreams and ideals. There is a strong core of resentment within Willy Loman, whose actions assume a more glorious and idealized past. Willy sentimentalizes the neighborhood as it was years ago, and mourns the days working for Frank Wagner, while his son Howard Wagner fails to appreciate him. Miller presents Willy as a strong and boisterous man with great bravado but little energy to support that impression of vitality. He is perpetually weary and exhibits signs of dementia, contradicting himself within his conversations and showing some memory loss.
Linda, in contrast, displays little of the boisterous intensity of Willy. Rather, she is dependable and kind, perpetually attempting to smooth out conflicts that Willy might encounter. Linda has a similar longing for an idealized past, but has learned to suppress her dreams and her dissatisfaction with her husband and sons. Miller indicates that she is a woman with deep regrets about her life; she must continually reconcile her husband with her sons, and support a man who has failed in his life's endeavor without any hope for pursuing whatever dreams she may have had. Linda exists only in the context of her family relationships as a mother to Biff and Happy and a husband to Willy, and must depend on them for whatever success she can grasp.
The major conflict in Death of a Salesman resides between Biff Loman and his father. Even before Biff appears on stage, Linda indicates that Biff and Willy are perpetually at odds with one another because of Biff's inability to live up to his father's expectations. As Linda says, Biff is a man who has not yet found himself,' thus using a euphemism to describe his string of perpetual failures. At thirty-four years old, Biff remains to some degree an adolescent, as demonstrated by his inability to keep a job. He and Happy are even at home in their old bunk beds; for Linda this is a reminder of better times, yet this is also a sign that neither of the sons has matured.
A major theme of the play is the lost opportunities that each of the characters face. Linda Loman, reminiscing about the days when her sons were not yet grown and had a less contentious relationship with their father, regrets the state of disarray into which her family has fallen. Willy Loman believes that if Frank Wagner had survived, he would have been given greater respect and power within his company. And Willy also regrets the opportunities that have passed for Biff, whom he believes to have the capability to be a great man, despite his repeated failures.
Miller uses the first segment of the play to foreshadow many of the significant plot developments. Willy worries about having trouble driving and expresses dissatisfaction with his situation at work, while Linda foreshadows later conflict between Willy and his sons. Each of these will become important in driving the plot and the resolution of the play.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Classic
Comment: I first fell in love with the work of Arthur Miller while I was doing my undergraduate studies several years ago. "Death of a Salesman" was among the assigned readings. I instantly fell in love with the story and wrote a paper about it. When I recently saw a used copy of "Death of a Salesman" for fifty cents, I seized the opportunity to enjoy this work again.
The main character, Willy Loman faces a hopeless situation. He receives no sense of fulfillment from his job, his sons are disappointments, and he is haunted my the missed opportunities of his life. The only opportunity to save Willy from his demise seems to be the poteantial of his sons to become successful. While their failure seems eminent, Willy sees hope in their attempts. When the sons attempts at success prove futile, it leads to Willy's demise.
Any person who feels underappreciated in life can empathize with Willy Loman. Statements that Arthur Miller made about the American landscape then are still applicable today. Some people would rather not succeed in life as long as they can enjoy themselves. Our missed opprtunities can haunt us for the rest of our lives. But Miller's loudest statement is that in spite of your work and dedication to others, it is possible that nobody will go your funeral. A sad but true statement about a fast paced society.
Rating: 4
Summary: Realistic and Timeless
Comment: After recently finishing The Crucible and now having read Death of a Salesman, I am in awe of Miller's talents as a playwright. In both works, he draws factual evidence from history to support the reality of his own experiences in creating what can only be called a masterpiece. Miller, through Death of a Salesman, affected the national psyche of his time. He based the play's central father-son relationship on that of he and his uncle and fashioned a summary of idealistic American notions of success and individuality. The use of prose and time-suited characters give his works a sense of realism that ultimately brings them to life for the reader.
Miller employs various devices within the play. The most obvious are perhaps flashback and stream-of-consciousness dialogue, which the reader sees through Willy. These elements can make it difficult to distinguish Willy's reality from his imagination by the text alone, but both add to the reader's understanding of Willy's past and the gradual decline of his mental stability. Miller also employs multiple instances of foreshadowing, including his choice of title for this play. If the reader pays close attention to detail, the play's conclusion can be predicted long before the last few pages are read. One major theme is Willy's interpretation of the American Dream - that a "well-liked" and "personally attractive" businessman will indubitably and deservedly acquire material comforts, as opposed to becoming successful through one's on skill and hard work. This outlook drives his urge to "die well," another of the play's primary themes.
I must say that Death of a Salesman contains one of the best looks at human life. This play illustrates the death of the American Dream. While literally portraying a man fighting to maintain mental stability, it symbolically shows how Americans have turned the pursuit of happiness into the pursuit of money. For me, this novel spoke volumes. It emphasizes the human obsession to "get ahead" in life, only to wind up farther behind - ultimately losing the battle of life. As an adolescent, the strained father-son relationship of Willy and Biff forced me to examine whether or not I live up to the expectations of my own parents and question the traditional cliché. Do parents indeed know best? Overall, the novel is a beautifully realistic portrait of a family not unlike those of today. Death of a Salesman contradicts the erroneous "perfect family" model, solidifying it as a timeless classic.
 |
Title: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne ISBN: 0553210092 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 March, 1981 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
 |
Title: A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams ISBN: 0451167783 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: August, 1989 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
 |
Title: The Glass Menagerie. by Tennessee Williams ISBN: 0822204509 Publisher: Dramatist's Play Service Pub. Date: January, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
 |
Title: Catcher in the Rye Mass Market - Paperback by J.D. Salinger ISBN: 0316769487 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: May, 1991 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
 |
Title: The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts (Penguin Plays) by Arthur Miller ISBN: 0140481389 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1976 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
