1990. Choose a
novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure)
and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the
conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work.
Avoid plot summary.
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a primarily character driven play and most of the conflict is between Biff Loman and his father Willy Loman. Willy has unrealistic expectations of life and refuses to hear the truth about his son while Biff has come to terms with the person he is and the world around him. The two's differing ideas lead to conflict that ultimately communicate Arthur Miller's voice, criticizing the falsehood of the American Dream.
In Death of a Salesman, Willy holds the idea that his son is bound to be great and successful. His idea of success is society's definition, that success is measured by money and success in the business world. When Biff can't hold a white-collar job or become "successful" as thought by Willy, Willy thinks he does it out of spite. Biff, however, realizes that he is unhappy in the business world Willy wants for him and wants to take on a blue-collar job out on a farm. Willy refuses to hear this from Biff and is adamant in thinking that he was born to rise in the business world, and much conflict comes from Biff unsuccessfully communicating his self-realization. Willy himself never even finds success in the business world, instead fired after decades of faithful service to his sales firm. Through the conflict and dialog between the two characters, the reader is forced to question what it really means to be "successful." Biff finds himself most happy in a place that is not what the American Dream defines as successful (money and the business world), thus the reader must decide if success is determined by happiness or material wealth. If indeed success should be defined by happiness, society's American Dream is false.
A major event in the play is when Willy gets fired from his job of several decades. Even after faithful service, he is hung up to dry in the end. Biff sees that he is another victim of the American Dream, being used by the people at the top never being able to rise, and that it is simply not for everyone. He points out that he was always good with his hands (Willy adds several renovations to the family house by hand) and that pursuing a job in the business world was a confusion of what he really wanted. Willy criticizes Biff by claiming that manual laborers are not worthy and are not successful. Again, they are at odds and fighting because of their different views. The reader can see through their arguments and the points that Biff presents that the American Dream may be false as it failed Willy Loman who worked hard his entire life. Yet again, this communicates Arthur Miller's opinion of the perpetuated American Dream.
In conclusion, the conflicts between father and son, Willy and Biff Loman, stem from differing viewpoints of what success is and how reality is. Ultimately, this communicates Arthur Miller's viewpoints of that the American Dream is a false and superficial one.
I think you did a good job connecting your analysis of the father-son relationship of Willy and Biff to the overall meaning of the work. Your examples of Death of a Salesman are very powerful and help to support your thesis. You do a good job of explaining how differing opinions lead to the two being unable to understand each other. I think this essay is very effective and communicates your opinion well.
ReplyDeleteYou did a really nice job making your point. The second body paragraph was the perfect balance of summary and argument. My only criticism is the first body paragraph: I think it is a little too much summary. But really nice job! You get your point across and support it with a sufficient amount of good evidence.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to disagree with Samantha and say you need less summary overall--or more analysis. The best way to balance the two is to avoid separating them into the first half of a paragraph and the second half.
ReplyDeleteI think you could have answered the prompt more fully if you had a paragraph dedicated to "analyz[ing] the sources of the conflict" as the prompt requires. This would give you more room for argument instead of being forced to repeat yourself or say "yet again, ..."
Noah Symanzik