Success In Arthur Miller's The Death Of A Salesman

Superior Essays
Every morning when my dad dropped my sister and I off to school, he would say, “Be good. Do good.” I never took this seriously because I felt it was pointless. For me, it was just another tedious comment he would say. I would ignore many remarks he would say because I wasn’t paying attention much or I just did not seem to care.
I soon realized after middle school, he was right and I was wrong. These four words actually meant something. It means that if you work as hard as you can and push yourself, you can become successful. I take what my dad said to me and use it as a motivation in high school. If I do good, I can become successful toward reaching a goal for the future.
In the play, The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, hard work and dedication leads to success. The Lomans faced many issues, but somehow weren’t successful.
People can work hard to achieve what they want. For example, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, mastered this concept. Some may frown upon the fact that Jobs went from being a college dropout to owning one of the world’s most profitable companies, but everyone’s path to success is different. He created the world’s first ever personal computer out of his parents’ garage. He spent countless days and nights working on this. It turned out to be a huge success. He also created the IPod which allows
…show more content…
An example would be Biff from The Death of a Salesman. Biff was on the football team at school, and he could have played football in college. Instead, he failed math and this led him to not graduate high school. If Biff passed math, he would have gotten the scholarship to go to college. He did not become successful because he did not try. He thought that if he was just good at football, he would be able to get anywhere he wanted to be. He did not work hard to overcome his math grade, so he did not prove to himself that he could work to his full

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    "Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty and persistence" I have had many ups and downs over the course of my life thus far. One specific example of this took place during my freshman year of high school. When I started high school it was very challenging for me, partially due to the fact that; during this time, I was lazy, unmotivated and did not really take school seriously. This by far is one of my biggest regrets to this day. Who would ever think that not trying during my freshman year would continue to follow me throughout the course of my academic career.…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Path to Success People have different views and perceptions on how they think they could succeed in life. Some people think they need to force opportunities to come their way, while others think they should let the opportunities come on their own. Some are optimistic, and some are pessimistic. In the stories “My Name Is Asher Lev” by Aaron Posner and “The Sculptor” by Scott McCloud, we can see how that is true.…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    There is a story that is usually told about extremely successful people, a story that focuses on intelligence and ambition”- Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell, the author of Outliers, views success as granted opportunities and advantages that not everybody is given by fate. Luck dictates how successful a person can be. Luck is achievement or failure supposedly brought by accident rather than through one’s actions. Most people are born without a great amount of luck which makes them work hard to reach their goal while others are born with a lot of luck.…

    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Many people have their own input or opinion on how people become successful. They're millions of reasons people could have as to why so many people are successful. A certain individual Malcolm Gladwell wrote a nonfiction text the Outliers by talking about convincing cases of how successful people arise from opportunities. In the general world today, majority of people come to think that the element of success are within the personality and character of the individual.…

    • 76 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    oss Misrepresenting reality can have serious consequences ‘Reality is defined as the state of things as they exist, opposed to the idealistic or notional idea of them’ and is that which remains unchanged through eternity like no other. The idea of indulging oneself in a world of unreal, euphoric fantasies is often an excuse to escape the harsh, daunting nature of reality in this world. More often than not, we skew our lenses and limit our perceptions to that which is beautiful and enthralling to us. We create small, magical worlds of our own that only exhibit the bright, enchanting facets of human life. As we mesmerize in this beauty, we become oblivious to the harsh realities which would have otherwise been recognisable.…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Self-Misperception through Adversity in Death of a Salesman Everyone will encounter several times of adversity through his or her life. Different people react in distinct ways to overcome the difficulties. Some people can act in a positive and brave manner to deal with difficulties. On the other hand, some individuals might blindly follow their goals despite of the hardship in reality. In the modern play, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman is a character who tries to ensure his independence, but create a lot of adversity for himself and his family.…

    • 1061 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the tragic play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller there is a man by the name of Willy Loman who happens to be a traveling salesman who extremely headstrong. The play is a prime example of how men in that time and still today feel the need to provide everything, including all the luxuries of life for their families. Willy’s character has many flaws in the play with his pride and stubbornness seen through out getting in the way, poor parenting and husband skills, and never learning that running from your problems can’t solve them. Willy eventually faced with having to confront failure in a society that is driven by success, represents what we see all the time in America on a day to day basis, with someone who wants to succeed so bad…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Willy’s death is avoidable. He fills himself with imaginary thoughts that are distinctively different from the world of realities. He lives in a wishful world rather than focusing on the present situations. This is illustrated by his desire to give in to the pressures of modern America, characterized by material things such as new appliances. Willy’s proud and selfish nature largely contributed to his ultimate death as well, as he cannot accept his failures.…

    • 1134 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Death Of A Salesman

    • 2198 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Does success constitute only of monetary wealth, power, and fame, or is there something more? The question as to what success really entails and how it is achieved is profoundly explored and critiqued in Arthur Miller’s 1949 Pulitzer winning play, Death of a Salesman. Ironically, Death of a Salesman follows the unsuccessful and dysfunctional relationship of the Loman household and the problems that arise as the two Loman brothers strive aimlessly to obtain success through completing the so called “American Dream”. The story features Willy Loman, the old and senile father of Biff and Happy Loman, who consistently urges his children to settle down and be the accomplished young men he has always envisioned them to be. After Willy loses his job…

    • 2198 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The individuals we surround ourselves with in our life often have an influential sway on our behaviour and motivations. Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is no exception to the impact others have on our lives, however the people in Willy’s life do not influence him positively, but rather act as people for him to blame despite his faults being only his own. The people in his life, the secondary characters to his tragedy, all work to provide better depth and perception of Willy Loman as he strives to achieve the American Dream. He surrounds himself with people who are all meant to help him in being successful however their efforts are proven to be wasteful as Willy acts on his own mind. He ignores the advice of others and his…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Growing up, I loved sports, watching, playing, and listening. It didn’t matter how or where, if there was a game on I was most likely watching it. As I grew even older I began to play the sports that I loved so much, football, basketball, and baseball. Being a three sport athlete my entire athletic career, I have seen the benefits that one sport brings to another. It also brings a certain level of sanity being a multi-sport athlete.…

    • 1716 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Impact of Willy’s Expectations in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman “Blessed [are] [those] who expect nothing, as [they] will never be disappointed” (Alexander Pope). In the playwright Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman is a mercurial salesman who contemplates suicide due to the emptiness in his life. Despite his hard work, the Loman family survive with only minimum income, causing Willy to hold his sons, Biff and Happy, to unhealthy pressure that hinders their mental wellbeing. Therefore, Willy’s unrealistic expectations lead to the mental downfall of Biff and Happy, which is proven through their denial, anxiety, and dishonesty. Both sons are lead into a state of denial as Willy pressures them to be financially successful.…

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Death of a Salesman” is one of the most important plays in Twentieth Century American Theatre. Arthur Miller creates tragedies that are easily relatable for Americans. For instance, his play “Death of a Salesman” uses the idea of a dysfunctional family through out to support its plot. The play is centered around its protagonist, Willy Loman. Willy is a salesman, but also an old man, and from the title of the play the readers of the play can easily conclude what happens to him by the end of the play.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Every accomplished person will tell you that failure and success are one in the same. Shakespeare wrote “nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so,” Many people don’t know how to deal with failure when they don’t reach their goal. Often times people will give up on reaching their goals. In Malcom Gladwell’s book David and Goliath,…

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Success comes in different forms Success is within the mind of the individual. A large portion of one’s life is spent working to be successful. Everyone is told throughout their childhood to work hard to become successful and make money, but success comes in many different forms. Everyone has different interpretations of what success means to them. For some, success is measured by social status and for others success is determined by happiness.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays

Related Topics