02 Jan 2011
Sample Essay: How Does Society Define Failure
The modern American society defines failure as something related to non performance of things that are ought to be done and are very crucial. Failure, today, means not meeting the intended individual objectives. Modern American society defines failure, with relevance to an individual, who is incapable to be successful by achieving the specific goals that are ought to be achieved.
Death of a salesman is a twentieth century novel which predominantly speaks about the life of the modern man in this modern era which is highly developed in many facets including technology. The significant objective of the play is that it depicts as to how money has become an obsessions to most people of the world and how the life of a modern man is determined through the amount of his daily or monthly earnings. The protagonist of the play Death of a Salesman is Willy Loman is a salesman by profession. However, the author Arthur Miller portrays him to be unsuccessful in his professional career which leaves him dissatisfied and discontented in life provoking him to commit suicide by the end of the play. Interestingly, the character of Willy Loman has for sure a few redeeming traits. Willy is confronted with the biggest challenge or rather a bitter truth which is a very big deal both for him and his family members. With this discontentment and dismay, the depressed salesman Willy Loman commits suicide (Shvoong.com).
Charley compares the salesman to a valiant, brave sailor, “out there in the blue (Spark Notes),” who is left with nothing to direct him and dominant forces against which he is supposed to compete. He also points out the immense difference between the vastness of the salesman’s duty and the trifling tools with which he is prepared to do his duty: Willy actually was believed to have had only the flimsy smile on his face and buff of his shoe with which he had to sell himself. Repeated breakdowns faded his smile and made his shoe filthy, which made it even harder to sell himself as a salesman.
Strangely, his obsession with the apparent qualities of charisma and likeability is probably with a more courageous and more gratifying understanding of the American Dream that recognizes hard work without criticism as the important key to success. Willy Loman’s elucidation of likeability is apparent from the fact that he dislikes Bernard in a childish manner since he considers him to be a nerd. In this book, it has been masterfully portrayed how the life of a salesman, who is dejected on his luck, unhappy with life, and at the end of his life, resorting to suicide as he perceives it to be the only way to cope with his shattered life. The play is stunning and disastrous, magnificent and horrible, displaying the dichotomy of intuitive real life.
In conclusion, it can be said that the great American dream was initially about detection, uniqueness, and the quest of happiness. The era of the 1920s was trouble-free wealth and comfortable communal values have resulted in the American dream getting extremely corrupted, particularly on the East Coast of the nation. The capacity to create significant symbols constitutes a vital constituent of the American dream, as the early Americans invested their brand new nation with their own individual principles and morals.
Works Cited
Shvoong.com. Summary of the Death of a Salesman. 15 September 2009. 26 December 2009 <http://www.shvoong.com/books/1874963-death-salesman/>.
Spark Notes. Character Analysis. 2009. 26 December 2009 <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/salesman/canalysis.html>.