Kaylee Boren
ENGL 1302.142
Professor Tanya Stanley
26 Feb 2016
Death of a Salesman: Act 1 Reader Response
In Death of a Salesman, the Loman family demonstrates examples of relatable concepts that continue to affect families today, such as the American Nightmare and family strength. Through the characters’ hardships, psychological tendencies, and dreams the recurring themes found in act one are formed. These concepts prove to be extremely necessary for the plot and are responsible for providing the audience with insight to the thoughts behind each action illustrated through the play.
In act one, Willy Loman finds himself no longer a salesman with a salary, but only earning commission from his small amount of sales. Lacking money, Willy finds his American Dream slipping out of his reach. Before, the Loman’s neighborhood was nicely put away from the chaos of the city. When they purchased the house, there was open land for expansion, thus representing Willy’s available hopes and dreams for the future. However, the house is now completely crowded in by buildings, paralleling Willy’s self-conflict and self-disapproval. The Loman family’s condition has grown to represent the death of Willy’s …show more content…
Since he can not live out the life he desires, or provide for his family as he has expected himself to, he has grown used to creating his own fictional life in his mind. In fact, Willy often convinces himself that his delusions are an actual representation of his life and his family. After the audience becomes aware of this, they are able to better understand Willy as a whole and why he speaks contradictory to himself. The audience also realizes why there are broken relationships between him and the members of his family. Without this knowledge of Willy’s tendencies, the text becomes extremely confusing and seems disconnected to the
ENGL 1302.142
Professor Tanya Stanley
26 Feb 2016
Death of a Salesman: Act 1 Reader Response
In Death of a Salesman, the Loman family demonstrates examples of relatable concepts that continue to affect families today, such as the American Nightmare and family strength. Through the characters’ hardships, psychological tendencies, and dreams the recurring themes found in act one are formed. These concepts prove to be extremely necessary for the plot and are responsible for providing the audience with insight to the thoughts behind each action illustrated through the play.
In act one, Willy Loman finds himself no longer a salesman with a salary, but only earning commission from his small amount of sales. Lacking money, Willy finds his American Dream slipping out of his reach. Before, the Loman’s neighborhood was nicely put away from the chaos of the city. When they purchased the house, there was open land for expansion, thus representing Willy’s available hopes and dreams for the future. However, the house is now completely crowded in by buildings, paralleling Willy’s self-conflict and self-disapproval. The Loman family’s condition has grown to represent the death of Willy’s …show more content…
Since he can not live out the life he desires, or provide for his family as he has expected himself to, he has grown used to creating his own fictional life in his mind. In fact, Willy often convinces himself that his delusions are an actual representation of his life and his family. After the audience becomes aware of this, they are able to better understand Willy as a whole and why he speaks contradictory to himself. The audience also realizes why there are broken relationships between him and the members of his family. Without this knowledge of Willy’s tendencies, the text becomes extremely confusing and seems disconnected to the