Blog #1
By: Chris Kilcourse
While reading
"Death of a Salesman", I have picked up on a couple different themes.
The most important theme that I found was the idea of continually leaving
things or better known as abandonment. Willy is left at a young age by his
father, which leaves it to just Willy and Ben. That is until Ben leaves Willy
to go to Alaska. The idea of abandonment shapes Willy for how he is when he is
older with a family. Not necessarily a bad thing, but Willy’s fear of abandonment
is what makes him strive towards the “American dream.” All of the abandonment
that Willy had to go through in his childhood really messed with his head, and in
result made him want to have perfect sons. Unfortunately as Willy is striving
towards the American dream; he does not realize that he is tearing apart his
family. Willy’s adult life really starts going downhill when his son, Biff,
leaves him after finding out that Willy has committed adultery I chose the picture
of the abandoned house for a couple reasons. The first reason is that he was
left by his father and Ben when he was a child leaving him all alone at his
house. The second reason is similar to the first reason with the same idea of abandonment.
The difference is that the run down/abandoned house represents Willy’s house
when he’s older and how his American dream ended up backfiring and ruining his
life.
I had never noticed the constant leaving in Willy's life. It makes me recall how he felt Biff abandoned him. Even though he kicked him from the Loman household. As well as how, Willy continues to get into accidents; maybe wanting to "leave" his life. Which is backed by Mrs. Loman who tells Biff and Happy privately the it was possible Willy was trying to kill himself.
ReplyDeleteI had never noticed the constant leaving in Willy's life. It makes me recall how he felt Biff abandoned him. Even though he kicked him from the Loman household. As well as how, Willy continues to get into accidents; maybe wanting to "leave" his life. Which is backed by Mrs. Loman who tells Biff and Happy privately the it was possible Willy was trying to kill himself.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of the American Dream is success but Willy is only seeing success. He's going down the road to success blind. He blocks his family out for not having the same mentality of him, which is only hurting them all in the long run.
ReplyDeleteWilly also seems to want to "abandon" reality. His daydreaming is an escape from the real world since, obviously, there's barely anything good there offered to him, so he retreats to fond memories. His suicidal tendencies are also another form of abandonment since reality is deeply troubling him, so death is a form of escape for Willy, to truly abandon everything.
ReplyDelete