English 4
Literary Analysis/ Research-based (drama)
Assignment: Focus on a formal element of one of the texts we’ve read this semester (such as characters, p.o.v., symbolism or setting), to analyze the element’s contribution to a greater theme of the text. To inform your analysis, research relevant literary criticism on the text.
[Instructor comments appear in bold, italic font within brackets below.]
The Power of Things
As children grow, they can become attached to certain items, such as security blankets, teddy bears, and favorite toys. As those children grow into adults, they do not realize that these items can have power over them. Within all of us are memories attached to certain items that evoke emotions. Throughout the play, Death of a Salesman, by author Arthur Miller, he makes reference to items that have symbolic power over the Loman family. This type of power is demonstrated through the use of cars, silk stockings, and a rubber hose, which seem to evoke feelings of pride, shame, guilt, status, and denial in the various family members. It seems that the more the Lomans try to hide their feelings regarding these items, the more the items haunt them. Each symbol seems to go deeper than what is portrayed in the play. [You can trust your analysis and take out the word “seems” in the last few sentences, but you’ve got a good specific topic to explore]
Each person within the Loman family has a different interpretation of what the items mean to them. For example, the silk stockings represent both shame and guilt. The car represents family closeness, status, pride, freedom, and escape. The rubber hose represents both secrets and lies. The fact that Willy hid the hose behind the water heater makes it even more powerful. Linda is ashamed to face the fact that Willy is suicidal; [when she does reveal the hidden device,] Biff is outraged, and Happy is shocked. This is a good example of the power that things have over people, and how the perception of each person is different. When the final climax of the story is reached, it is the rubber house that becomes the main focus of the truth. By focusing on the many connotations that come with using symbolism, you can see how each item helps to support the story regarding secrets, lies, and deceitful behavior of everyone in the Loman family.
Cars can symbolize family and togetherness. Since Willy grew up without a father, he feels an empty void in his life. Steven R. Centola, author of “Family Values in Death of a Salesman” writes, “Abandoned at an early age by his father, Willy has tried all of his life to compensate for his painful loss.” Ben reminds Willy how their father, a successful traveling salesman, was able to sell his homemade flutes across the country. This creates an illusion of a close-knit family that Willy misses. Ben says, “We would start in Boston, and he’d toss the whole family into the wagon, and them drive the team right across the country” (49). Willy sees a car as a means of bringing the family together. [Well put.] After a hard day on the road, Willy reminiscences back to the days when Biff used to look up to him by waxing his car. In a conversation with himself, Willy says, “Remember those days? The way Biff used to simonize that car? The dealer refused to believe there was eighty thousand miles on it” (19). Many men take pride in owning a well-maintained car, and Willy felt successful, loved and respected by his teenaged sons because they obeyed him. As Willy continues his conversation with himself, Willy says, “I been wondering why you polish the car so careful. HA! Don’t leave the hubcaps. Happy use the newspaper on the windows, it’s the easiest thing. Show him how to do it Biff!” (28). Willy also tells his sons that one day he will take them on the road. Willy says, “I’ll show you all the towns. America is full of beautiful towns and fine upstanding people. And they know me boys, they know me up and down New England” (31). Willy and his sons enjoy each other’s company, and all of this is wrapped up in Willy’s image of his family car.
Willy also uses his car to symbolize status and success. When Willy travels
from town to town, he brags to his sons about the importance of his status in
New England towns. Willy says, “I can park my car in any street in New
England and the cops protect it like their own” (31). Willy tries to give
the impression that he has gained status and respect when he travels. He is
using his car as a symbol of his success as a salesman. In reality, sales are
down, vendors ignore him, and his car is falling apart along with his life.
[Good observation!] Willy fails to take responsibility for his
current condition, and chooses to blame others for his state of affairs. For
example, Willy likes to own nice cars, but hates to pay for maintenance. When
Linda tells Willy that he owes Frank money for the carburetor, Willy says, “I’m
not going to pay that man! That goddam Chevrolet, they ought to prohibit the
manufacture of that car!” (36). Willy wants to feel like a success, but
he fails to pay the price to earn it. Willy is denying the fact that he cannot
fix the car himself, nor can he maintain his status as a successful businessman.
In shame, he blames the car to deflect blame from himself.
[Transition? “Even in the beginning of the play,”] Willy
is starting to realize that he is losing control over his car and his life.
Willy is starts to lose control of his senses while driving. When Linda asked
what is wrong, Willy says, “Suddenly I realize that I’m goin’
sixty miles an hour and I don’t remember the last five minutes, I can’t
seem to-keep my mind to it” (13). Willy is trying to find a way to escape
his life. Willy says, “I was observing the scenery. It’s so beautiful
up there. The trees are so thick, and the sun is warm. I opened the windshield
and just let the warm air bathe over me. I absolutely forgot I was driving”
(14). Linda tries to downplay her concerns by blaming exhaustion as the reason
behind Willy’s daydreaming. Willy feels like he has no control over his
life. He feels trapped without air, sunshine, or space. [Exactly
so! Like the seeds he plants, he can’t thrive, or even survive.] Willy
says, “The street is lined with cars. There’s not a breath of fresh
air in the neighborhood” (17). To many people, cars represent freedom,
adventure, open space, and control over a powerful machine. When Willy starts
to lose control over his car, his whole life starts a downward spiral into a
world where the only way out is to use his car for his final escape from his
guilt, shame and failure. As his life spins out of control, Willy makes an attempt
to regain control by using his car to make a point.
Willy’s use of his car to commit suicide is a last means of being in control. Willy kills himself in order to maintain the illusion that he has sacrificed himself to give Biff the money to fulfill his dream. Fred Ribkoff, author of “Shame., Guilt, Empathy, and the Search for Identity in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman” writes, “Driven by shame, he kills himself in order to preserve his dream of being ‘well liked’ and a successful father and salesman.” Willy felt that since it was his decision to end his life, he had gained control over his guilt and shame. [Ironically, he believes he can “gain control” by deliberately losing control of the car!]
Another symbol that takes over the family is the silk stockings in the story that represent guilt and shame between Willy and Linda. The silk stockings represent Willy’s failure to be able to provide his wife, Linda, with the things she desires. He is reminded of his inadequacy when he finds Linda sewing her silk stockings. Centola writes, “Financial prosperity is simply the visible sign that he is a good provider for his family.” Willy says, “What’s that?” Linda says, “Just mending my stockings. They’re so expensive.” Willy says, “I won’t have you mending stocking in this house! Now throw them out!” (39). Willy is reminded that he cannot afford to buy her silk stockings. Linda hides the silk stockings in her pocket only to bring them out later in the play as she continues to sew them (75). Linda feels shamed that she has to sew her torn stockings and feels guilty defying Willy by not throwing the stockings away. This clearly shows the contrast on how Willy sees women. He does not see his wife as a woman who has the right to feel sexy. He looks at her as his savior/saint. Willy says, “You’re my foundation and my support, Linda” (18). Meanwhile Willy had an affair with a woman and paid her for sex with silk stockings. [This is a strong analysis] L.M. Domina, author of “Overview in Drama for Students” writes, “In contrast to Linda, who frequently appears with stockings that need mending, this other woman receives gifts of expensive stockings from Willy.” ‘The Woman’ that Willy had an affair with makes him feel more like a man, by telling him what he wants to hear. The Woman says, “I’ll put you right through to the buyers” (39). Willy pays her to boost his ego with of a box of silk stockings. Ribkoff writes, “The woman makes him feel that he is an important salesman and powerful man.” Willy tries to use the silk stockings as a means of obtaining status with The Woman, but instead it becomes an object of betrayal when Biff finds out.
When Biff sees his father give away his mother’s silk stockings, he feels betrayed. When he catches his father, Biff says, “You gave her Mama’s stockings. You fake! You phony little fake! (121). Biff feels that everything his father has ever taught him is a lie. Domina writes, “The trust Biff had given Willy now seems misplaced. Yet, Biff shares this knowledge with no one; instead this secret becomes the controlling element of his own life.” He loses faith in himself, his dream, and the drive to be a success. From that day forward, Biff and Willy would never talk about their shame and guilt and how it slowly eats away at their daily life. [Good tie back to your thesis.]
[Again, place a transition word or phrase to direct the reader: “Similarly,”] The rubber hose eats away at the daily lives of the Lomans, because no one wants to confront Willy about it. When Linda finds the rubber hose hidden behind the water heater, she becomes terrified. Linda tells her sons, "I was looking for a fuse. The lights blew out, and I went down to the cellar. And behind the fuse box- it happened to fall out- was a length of rubber pipe-just short. There is a little attachment at the end of it. I knew right away. And sure enough on the bottom of the water heater there a new little nipple on the gas pipe” (59).
Linda feels ashamed that she cannot bring herself to confront Willy about the hose. She goes down to the cellar and removes the pipe, then puts it back before he gets home. She feels that she would be insulting Willy if he knew about her discovery (60). The rubber hose represents all of the lies, shame and deceit that the whole family has been involved in. Louis Charles Stagg, author of “Death of a Salesman: Overview in the Reference Guide to American Literature” writes, “Willy appears to see death as a means of avoiding the consequences of actions with which he can no longer cope.” Linda is supporting his belief by ignoring the fact that she knows what he is planning. Domina writes, This secret is hence ironically acknowledged by everyone except the one whose secret it is—Willy. When he does finally succeed in killing himself, his act can be interpreted as a culmination of secrets, secrets which are compounded through lies, because they have been created through lies.
Linda thinks that Willy has come to his senses because the pipe was missing. In a conversation with Biff Linda says, "You know that little rubber pipe I told you about? I finally decided to go down to the cellar this morning and take it away and destroy it. But it’s gone! Imagine? He took it away himself" (75).
Linda refuses to believe that Willy is going to kill himself. When Biff tells her that he removed the pipe, she is disappointed [that Willy didn’t remove it], but relieved. In the phone conversation with Biff, Linda says, “I’m not afraid anymore” (76). Linda has chosen to forget about the intentional car accidents of the past. Centola writes, “Without knowing it, Willy cries out for help and denounces the lie that has destroyed his family.”
In his last effort to regain his dignity, Willy discovers the importance of
his family and the lie that he has lived. Because the family has been lying
to each other for years, the rubber hose brings the truth right into their living
room when Biff lays the hose down on the table. Willy tries to pretend he doesn’t
know what it is. Domina writes, “This inability to acknowledge the truth
affects the family on many levels but most particularly in terms of their intimacy
with one another and their intimate relationships with others.” Biff is
tired of being blamed for the failures of the family. Biff finally comes to
realize that he cannot live his father’s dream. With the revelation of
the rubber hose, all of the secrets and lies that Willy has been feeding the
family spill out in Biff’s anger. Biff says, “We never told the
truth for ten minutes in this house” (131). Biff reminds his father that
he is a loser and to stop believing in his dream that he is going to save the
family. Biff says, “I’m not bringing home any prizes any more, you’re
going to stop waiting for me to bring them home” (132). When Biff breaks
down, Willy realizes that Biff always loved him, but Willy refuses to accept
Biff’s truth. Centola writes, “Seeing his failure reflected in the
lives of his sons further intensifies Willy’s guilt and hastens his decline.”
Willy sees no other way out. Centola writes, “He convinces himself that
only his death can restore his prominence in his family’s eyes and retrieve
for him his lost sense of honor.” Willy fails to see that his illusion
of success was a lie, even when Biff confronts him with the truth. When Willy
felt that he had gained back a part of Biff that was lost, he wanted Biff to
hold on to that and remember him under those terms. Willy felt that the only
way that that could be accomplished was to take his life on his terms, gaining
control, respect and the love that he felt he always deserved.
Everyone has secrets, lies, and deceits that are hidden within. It is only when
those hidden feelings start to cause self destructive behaviors and hurt others,
that we must take a closer look at what it is that we are searching for in order
to fill the void in our lives, instead of hiding behind denial and making up
lies. In Death of a Salesman, Miller takes a no holds barred approach in exposing
what many believe to be the image of success that is created through lies. I
have used examples of symbolism to focus on how a pair of silk stockings, cars
and a rubber hose can remind us of things that Willy needed to face. [Great
recap of your main points] In his failure to deny any responsibility
for his actions, he created a certain type of Hell within his mind. When the
door was broken down by Biff’s confrontation, he began to see the impact
that his lies had created. Rather than confront these lies, he took his own
life!
How can anything in your life make you feel successful if you have to lie about it? Each one of us must search within ourselves and define what success means to us. It is in truth that we shall find our greatest happiness. [A powerful paper!]
Works Cited
Centola, Steven R. “Family Values in Death of a Salesman”
CLA Journal 37, No. 1 September 1993 pg. 29-41. Literary Resource Center. Chabot
College Library, Hayward, CA 27 November 2004
<http://www.chabotcollege.edu/Library/abby/dblist.html#litcrit>
Domina, L.M.. “An overview of Death of a Salesman.” Drama
for Students, Gale, 1997. Literary Resource Center. Chabot College Library,
Hayward, CA 8 November 2004
<http://www.chabotcollege.edu/Library/abby/dblist.html#litcrit>
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Murray Printing, 1973.
Ribcoff, Fred. “Shame, Guilt, and the Search for Identity in Arthur Miller’s
Death of a Salesman.” Modern Drama, Spring 2003 V43: p48. Literary
Resource Center. Chabot College Library, Hayward, CA 2 November 2004
< http://www.chabotcollege.edu/Library/abby/dblist.html#litcrit>
Stagg, Louis Charles. “Death of a Salesman: Overview.”
Reference Guide to American Literature, 3rd ed. St James Press, 1994. Literary
Resource Center. Chabot College Library, Hayward, CA 27 November 2004
<http://www.chabotcollege.edu/Library/abby/dblist.html#litcrit>
Instructor end comment:
[Great work. Your research is thoughtfully woven in and your analysis is top-notch. You do have a couple of rough transitions and I question one or two of your statements, but these are minor criticisms. This is a very strong, well-developed, analytical paper.]