An illusion is just a figment of your imagination, where your subconscious takes a form to explain a situation to you but it doesn’t necessarily have to be the right decision (don’t know what you mean, rephrase) . The imagination is a powerful tool and has been with humans ever since inception; it just becomes repressed by the reality of society. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk both have literary characters who create illusions to have a sense of acknowledgement to reinforce that their choice was the correct one. They show the characteristics of a person who is living a life to just consume the materialistic things. Once they fall into this perpetual motion of relying on the illusion there is no way to
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They seem crazy and show signs of schizophrenia, and the people they are with feel like they need help. Willy Loman, from Death of a Salesman, lives in the late 40s where it is tough for someone his age to keep working the way he does and not getting any help from his children. His children are still living with him and the promise that was in his children’s lives is gone as they are working basic jobs. He attempts to sustain his lifestyle by working at his age when he should have retired but no one is willing to help him. This is when he reverts back to his memories and creates an illusion to himself that only he can see and causes him to live in a limbo between reality and the imagination. Willy once makes mistakes Charley for his brother Ben as Charley questions him. “Good, keep playing; you’ll sleep better. Did you just call me Ben?” (Miller, 44) Willy is mistaken by calling him Ben at first but then he just brings up an illusion of his brother Ben that causes him to live in a …show more content…
Fine specimen of a lady, mother.
Willy, to Charley: Heh?” (Miller, 46)
This illusion is one of the earlier ones he has in the book and is not completely reliant on him yet as he still is paying attention to Charley. You can tell though that he is fighting to communicate over to his brother and doesn’t care about Charley, as he is questioning him but he doesn’t even care to answer his question. The appearance of Ben allowed for Willy to escape the situation he was in with Charley. The harassment he received from Charley was enough of a strain on Willy that he snapped and caused himself to move away into the illusion. The buildup of these situations causes further problems to his mental state. The problems reached an extent where his illusion started having its own sadistic thoughts and tempts Willy with the profits of suicide.
“Willy, calling into the kitchen: Yes! Yes, Coming! It’s very smart, you realize that, don’t you, sweetheart? Even Ben sees it. I gotta go, baby. ‘By! ‘By! Going over to Ben, almost dancing: Imagine? When the mail comes he’ll be ahead of Bernard again!
Ben: A perfect proposition all around.
…
Ben, looking at his watch: the boat. We’ll be late. He moves slowly off into the darkness.” (Miller,
They seem crazy and show signs of schizophrenia, and the people they are with feel like they need help. Willy Loman, from Death of a Salesman, lives in the late 40s where it is tough for someone his age to keep working the way he does and not getting any help from his children. His children are still living with him and the promise that was in his children’s lives is gone as they are working basic jobs. He attempts to sustain his lifestyle by working at his age when he should have retired but no one is willing to help him. This is when he reverts back to his memories and creates an illusion to himself that only he can see and causes him to live in a limbo between reality and the imagination. Willy once makes mistakes Charley for his brother Ben as Charley questions him. “Good, keep playing; you’ll sleep better. Did you just call me Ben?” (Miller, 44) Willy is mistaken by calling him Ben at first but then he just brings up an illusion of his brother Ben that causes him to live in a …show more content…
Fine specimen of a lady, mother.
Willy, to Charley: Heh?” (Miller, 46)
This illusion is one of the earlier ones he has in the book and is not completely reliant on him yet as he still is paying attention to Charley. You can tell though that he is fighting to communicate over to his brother and doesn’t care about Charley, as he is questioning him but he doesn’t even care to answer his question. The appearance of Ben allowed for Willy to escape the situation he was in with Charley. The harassment he received from Charley was enough of a strain on Willy that he snapped and caused himself to move away into the illusion. The buildup of these situations causes further problems to his mental state. The problems reached an extent where his illusion started having its own sadistic thoughts and tempts Willy with the profits of suicide.
“Willy, calling into the kitchen: Yes! Yes, Coming! It’s very smart, you realize that, don’t you, sweetheart? Even Ben sees it. I gotta go, baby. ‘By! ‘By! Going over to Ben, almost dancing: Imagine? When the mail comes he’ll be ahead of Bernard again!
Ben: A perfect proposition all around.
…
Ben, looking at his watch: the boat. We’ll be late. He moves slowly off into the darkness.” (Miller,