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Death Of A Salesman Dialectical Journal

Satisfactory Essays

1. Title Death of a Salesman (Consider at least two different meanings)

The title has two significant meanings to it, considering the words “Death” and “Salesman”. The death foreshadows that Willy will die somehow in the story or it could also represent him losing his career. Later in the story you find out both these things happen to him. The second meaning is the salesman. Willy always pursued being the best salesman. Part of being a salesman is selling your self and later in the story Willy believes he is worth more dead than alive therefore he is metaphorically selling himself to death.

2. Tragic Flaws (Consider at least three or four for each character.)
• Willy
1. Tragic Hero — Even though I thought Willy was a coward for committing …show more content…

Denial — Willy denies reality which turns his life into a big delusion that he later suffers from
3. Suicidal — Willy had suicide problems earlier in life however those are kept hidden from reality.
• Biff
1. Lazy — Biff Does not like to study or do anything related to hard work other than farming. This is because he grew up being taught you only need to be popular to be successful. Things might have worked out for him even with believing this illusion, however he flunks math and loses all his scholarships.
2. Stubborn — Biff does not like to have a boss. He cant hold down any type of job that involves working for someone else than himself.
3. Thief — Biff grows up stealing without being punished and in result he steals from all his employers as an adult with even getting jailed once.
• Happy
1. Competitive — Happy cannot resist using his good looks to seduce all of his friends girlfriends and fiancées into sleeping with him. He thrives of this gratification, as it is a part of his illusion, similar to Willy’s.
2. Lies — Like his father, Happy also lies to himself and others to create an illusion of success.
3. Idealist — Happy follows in his fathers footsteps by setting many unrealistic goals and dreams.
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Discrete — Linda was the only person that new Willy was suicidal which is mainly why she cares for him greatly however she was the reason for Willy’s death. If she would have told someone else Willy could have got the help he needed before he was driven to kill himself.
2. Weak — Linda fears nothing more than loosing her husband however this is the very cause of his death. This lets Willy stamp over her with ridicule but according to her Willy is “only a little boat looking for a harbor”.
3. Linda treats everything like its inevitably going to happen. She goes with the flow and lets everything go against her. This is one of her major flaws is not defending her self or the actions of others that oppose her view.

3. Ben’s Purpose in the Drama (Consider how his appearances give meaning to the drama as a foil* to Willy.)
Willy admires Ben as his older brother and tries to be everything like him, however he lacks some of the characteristics like self-esteem. Ben’s success creates an illusion for Willy to be connected to him somehow. Most importantly ben represents all the fantasies of success that Willy desires for himself and his sons. Ben eventually leads willy into committing suicide to receive the insurance money because by making him believe money is

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