Death is the end, or is it? Death means something and represents something different to almost every single person and culture in the world. To some death represents the end of a life, which some see as necessary while others are scared of it and revere it, to others it represents an actual figure like the grim reaper and to others such as the ancient romans and greeks it represents an actual god such as Thanatos, Hades or Pluto. This variation of views on death is common throughout history and it is no different in the two plays I am about to write about. In this paper I will explain what death means in each play in contrast with what it means in the other, those two plays are Death of a Salesman and Fences. To accomplish this I will explain
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Willy was a salesman, and that is all he ever did for the 34 years that he was with the company. Being a salesman was vastly important to Willy, which is evident from the title of the play. Troy’s job’s are slightly more interesting than Willy’s because of the fact that he played sports. Troy was a member of the Negro Baseball League where he missed out on the chance to be able to play in the majors because of the racial segregations of the time. After his time in the Negro League Troy got the best job that he could find, which was generally one of the better jobs that a uneducated felon that was an African American could get at the time. Troy was just a trash collector until he filed a complaint with the Union and was then allowed to drive the trash truck (even though he did not have a license or car of his …show more content…
Death was not just an idea but was in fact a real tangible thing that could be in a sense, controlled. The reason I say that is due to the fact that Troy actually says in a conversation with Bono, his best friend, and Rose that he actually wrestled with death for a couple days and at the end he claims that he had beaten death and then went on to boast that Death could not take him until he was ready. As I previously mentioned Troy killed a man so that was also an interaction with death in a sense.
The last thing I will be discussing is how each character died. Willy did not die The Death of a Salesman like the title might imply. In fact he died in what is believed to have been suicide after attempting to do it multiple times beforehand. The book implies that he died in some sort of car crash. Troy’s death has some mystery around it due to the fact that it does not directly say how he died in the play, however it does describe him taunting death so there is some possible irony in that.
As I said at the start, Death means something and represents something different to almost every single person and culture in the world and that was no more evident than in these two plays. In one play it represented how to die honorably and in the other it was something that could be physically fought. I truly believe that death is something different in everyone’s
Willy was a salesman, and that is all he ever did for the 34 years that he was with the company. Being a salesman was vastly important to Willy, which is evident from the title of the play. Troy’s job’s are slightly more interesting than Willy’s because of the fact that he played sports. Troy was a member of the Negro Baseball League where he missed out on the chance to be able to play in the majors because of the racial segregations of the time. After his time in the Negro League Troy got the best job that he could find, which was generally one of the better jobs that a uneducated felon that was an African American could get at the time. Troy was just a trash collector until he filed a complaint with the Union and was then allowed to drive the trash truck (even though he did not have a license or car of his …show more content…
Death was not just an idea but was in fact a real tangible thing that could be in a sense, controlled. The reason I say that is due to the fact that Troy actually says in a conversation with Bono, his best friend, and Rose that he actually wrestled with death for a couple days and at the end he claims that he had beaten death and then went on to boast that Death could not take him until he was ready. As I previously mentioned Troy killed a man so that was also an interaction with death in a sense.
The last thing I will be discussing is how each character died. Willy did not die The Death of a Salesman like the title might imply. In fact he died in what is believed to have been suicide after attempting to do it multiple times beforehand. The book implies that he died in some sort of car crash. Troy’s death has some mystery around it due to the fact that it does not directly say how he died in the play, however it does describe him taunting death so there is some possible irony in that.
As I said at the start, Death means something and represents something different to almost every single person and culture in the world and that was no more evident than in these two plays. In one play it represented how to die honorably and in the other it was something that could be physically fought. I truly believe that death is something different in everyone’s