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Death of A Salesman
Death of a Salesman - Willy Lomans tragedy is due more to his own flawed
character than to societies flaws
Advancements in science throughout this century have led to
tremendous advancements in industry. Advancements in industry, however,
have not always led to advancements in living. For some, society has
created mass wealth. For most mass society has created a standard of
living unparalled throughout histort. For Willy Loman, however, mass
society has created only tremendous greif and hardship, agravated by the
endless promise. For these reasons, his tragidy is due more to societies
flaws than to the flaws in his own character.
Willy Loman was host to many flaws and deficiencies ranging form
suicidal tendencies to phychotic disorders. However, these shortcomings
did not account for his tragic end, not by themselves anyway. Soviety is
to blame. It was society who stripped him of his dignity, piece by piece.
It was society who stripped him of his lifestyle, and his own sons who
stripped him of hope.
The most obvious flaw in society is greed, the desire to get ahead of
the next guy. This malady is present on a national level. It is the
philosophy of business and comprises the dreams of man. Sometimes, this
can drive man to great things, sometimes it can drive a man to ruin.
Willy was driven to the latter. (Not his own greed for he was a simple
man with simple dreams, but by the greed of others.) The developers who
took away the sun and gave birth to shadows, his boss who reduced him to
commission and his sons which reduced him to a failure.
The next largest flaw in society is a lack of compassion. This could
be as a result of almost overwhelming greed, the main culprit being big
business.
"I'm always in a race with the junkyard! I just finished paying
for the car and it's on it last legs. The refrigerator consumes belts
like a goddam maniac. They time those things."(Act 2, page 73, lines 16-
19)
Willy's belief in this statement drew him to believe that big
business lacked compassion. It is because of this that he is abandoned
by Biff and disowned by Happy, left babbling in a toilet. It is this flaw
which allowed him to die a slow death and played the greatest role in his
eventual downfall.
The third largest flaw in society (particularly American society) is
the lack of a social safety net. A net which identifies people in trouble
and seeks to remedy their situations. A body identifies people who are a
danger to themselves and others and treats or sedates them. Couple this
with a pension plan and medical care, and Willy Loman might not have met
his premature end. He would have had no reason thanklessly for a company,
in a capicity that was "killing" him. Instead, he could have received
psychiatric help and recovered from his condition.
It was the direct result of the flaws in society which led Willy to
his undoing. It was the greed that was ever-pervasive around him that led
to his unhappieness. It was the lack of compassion from society which
allowed his unhappieness to flourish and which eventually consumed him.
In the end, it was the lack of a social safety net which failed to save
him from himself.
by Mike Lesage
Word Count: 598
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