Death Of A Salesman - Symbols
Arthur Miller is recognized as an important and influential playwright, not to mention essayist and novelist. Although he has had plenty of luck in his writing career, his fame is the product of his ingenious ability to control what he wants his readers to picture or feel. As one of his critics states, "Miller writes ingeniously, conveying the message that ‘if the proper study of mankind is man, man’s inescapable problem is himself (Brown, 306).’" Miller accurately puts into words what every person thinks, feels, or worries about, but often has trouble expressing. By the use of symbolism, Arthur Miller portrays Willy’s (along with the other Lowmans’) problems with family ...
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clerk, and a cargo-mover; consequently, these odd jobs bring him close to the working-class type people that will later be the basis of many characters in his plays. It is while he is involving himself in these jobs that Miller forms his love for literature; he is greatly impressed by Fyodor Dostoevski’s The Brothers Karamazov because it questions the unspoken rules of society, a concept he often wondered about, especially after the Great Depression. He believes that American society needed to be made over; for this reason, many of his earlier plays show sympathetic portrayals and compassionate characterizations of his characters. In 1956, Miller marries the eminent Marilyn Monroe. This event significantly affects his writing in that he focuses on female characters more than he had formerly. He also looked back at his prefigured themes in past stories and expanded or reconsidered them (Rollyson, 1336-7). Clearly, the roots of his works are the result of important events ...
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relationship to falter. After this point in the play, Biff no longer tries to be "successful" like his father. A symbol that also relates to Willy’s infidelity is the stockings. Because he gives the stocking that are meant for Linda to his mistress, they become a symbol of his infidelity. Every time Willy sees Linda humbly mending her old, torn stockings, he feels guilty for what he’s done; therefore, the stockings are also a sign of his guilt and her humbleness. One of the largest symbols relating to family worries is the mortgage on their house. In the requiem, Linda says, "…I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there’ll be nobody home ...
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Death Of A Salesman - Symbols. (2007, May 18). Retrieved April 19, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Of-A-Salesman-Symbols/65043
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"Death Of A Salesman - Symbols." Essayworld.com. May 18, 2007. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Of-A-Salesman-Symbols/65043.
"Death Of A Salesman - Symbols." Essayworld.com. May 18, 2007. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Of-A-Salesman-Symbols/65043.
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