"DEATH OF A SALESMAN" (ARTHUR MILLER).   Term Paper ID:22037 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Use of naturalism & expressionism in portrayal of Willy Loman's losing struggle against social, familial & economic forces.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Use of naturalism & expressionism in portrayal of Willy Loman's losing struggle against social, familial & economic forces. Paper Introduction: This study will examine naturalism and expressionism in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. The study will argue that the play employs both naturalism and expressionism in the author's portrayal of Willy Loman's losing struggle against social, familial and economic forces beyond his control, and that these literary and philosophical approaches are used to show the break-up of Willy and the family (an expressionistic effect) as well as the cause of that break-up (through expressionistic devices). At the same time, Miller was not restricted by the traditional uses of expressionism and naturalism in this play, choosing instead to use those approaches according to his own needs and interpretations. Although there are many varieties of naturalistic writing, in all of them there is a strong sense of the individual as the Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Now when you kick off, boy, I want a seventy-yard boot, and get right down the field under the ball, and when you hit, hit low and hard, because it's important, boy. She does notunderstand how Will could have taken his life when they were on the vergeof finally paying off the mortgage on their house. Therefore, we find in Act Two the scene in whichWilly pleads with Howard for a job paying barely enough to live on, andwhen, in the midst of the scene, Howard exits, "the light on [Howard's]chair grows very bright and strange." Willy recognizes he has been yellingat Howard and is shocked at himself. Willy may realize he is alone, a basic naturalistic situation, but hestill does not comprehend how he came to be alone, especially when he sawhimself as the head of a family who is operating according to the mostbasic principles of society. The suggestion is that thecapitalist system, as a force of the naturalistic outlook in the modernworld, does not begin to address the deeper needs of human beings, but, byconcentrating on the economic actors of life, leaves the human beingalienated from life, from others---including his loved ones---and even fromhimself. Therefore, it is not so much that Willy suddenly disintegrates as aresult of his failure, as it is that he suddenly is no longer able to denythat failure. The play is clearlymeant as a statement of ethics as well, but Miller chooses to describethese ethics---or at least the results of unethical choices---inexpressionistic terms, rather than in a more didactic or rhetorical form.While we might align ourselves with Biff in his apparent forgiving of hisfather, Miller nevertheless demonstrates both realistically andexpressionistically the destructive results of Willy's choices on bothhimself and his family. Heis enough of an individual to begin to define himself separate from thatfakery. A major factor of expressionism is the factor of disintegration---disintegration of ideas, relationships and personalities. (1 8). Also, in thepenultimate scene, expressionism is used in the breaking of the "fourthwall," when Willy speaks directly to the audience, as if it were the peoplein the stands at the football game Willy is imagining (1 8). It is also telling that all of these "nice" memories have to do withWilly's activities working separately from his family, rather than withactivities of warmth and love among the family members, and especiallybetween Biff and his father. However,society has deceived him because in the naturalistic framework of the playhe is not the recipient of society's rewards but rather the victim of itsfalse promises. . Biff's recognition of the truth of Willy's life---and death---is asign from Miller that there is at least some realistic hope that humanbeings can break free from the naturalistic forces of society and economicsto pursue---if not fully attain---a more significant dream than "to comeout number-one man" (111). Also, Biff is already in a stateof semi-rebellion against his father's professed ideals before he finds outabout his father's lies and infidelities. He never knewwho he was" (11 -111). Miller, then, effectively uses both naturalism and expressionism inthe play, shaping those literary and philosophical approaches to fit hisspecific dramatic needs. . However,when the characters---or at least Willy and Biff---recognize that thestruggle has been futile and that the naturalistic forces will inevitablycrush them, then the non-realism and disintegration of expressionismemerge. Atthe same time, Miller was not restricted by the traditional uses ofexpressionism and naturalism in this play, choosing instead to use thoseapproaches according to his own needs and interpretations. . For Biff, the disintegrationis not of his personality, for Biff has not invested his entire being inthe ideas with which his father does wholly identify. You fake!" (95). ? . . For example, Willy cannotaccept the possibility of failure. . . How you put your hand on my shoulder,and Frank . . . In reality, the line between the two are not so clearly drawn.Nevertheless, it is a fair statement that the effects of Miller'snaturalistic overview of human life (as being primarily shaped andcontrolled by society, the environment, and one's own past experiences) areto be found in the various disintegrations previously described. To know oneself is the goal of life, Biffsuggests, despite the socioeconomic forces aligned against one to preventthat knowledge. Biff certainly expresses Miller's naturalistic views when hesummarizes Willy's life, noting that the importance of Willy's life isfound in the little apparently inconsequential things he loved to do,especially things which solidified his connection to his home and family:"There's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he evermade. . . . Ben, how do I . Hemight have simply declared that he was feeling profoundly stressed andfrightened by his dwindling professional and economic possibilities. We seeexpressionism, for example, in the dream and flashback sequences. Willy and Linda simply do not understand the forces they were upagainst in trying to carve their little happy lives through persistence andhard work. You see what I mean? Happy says, "I think the fact that you're notsettled, that you're still up in the air" (15-16). Miller leaves no doubtwhatsoever that Willy himself has learned nothing from his experience.Whatever recognition he might have won of his helpless predicament, Willyis shown at the end of the play to still be under the spell of the dreamwhich has driven him his whole adult life, the dream that the individualcan indeed triumph. The exhortation to his son also reveals hisdesire to please others ("all kinds of important people in the stands") andhis faith that if one performs well, those important people will make surethat he is amply rewarded. . When Biff says that his father does not know himself, he isessentially describing the dis-integration of Willy's personality. We do not know what is in storefor Biff, but we do know that he is at least willing to accept his father'sfailure, to realize the personal and social roots of that failure, andprobably to take the steps necessary to avoid those particular pitfalls. This denial is manifested in hissuicide, which, in a distorted sense, can be viewed as an act of liberationfrom both his own and society's failures. Miller is dealing with characters most of whom find it difficult isnot impossible to express themselves honestly, with people who areessentially driven not by self-awareness but by passions beyond theircontrol and their knowledge. . New York: Penguin, 1978.----------------------- 9 Miller's approach to the naturalistic elements of his play are alsoprofoundly colored by this sympathy---or empathy---in terms of the Willy'smotivations. This is dueto the fact that he has wholly identified his human significance with hissuccess in the world of business. Although there are many varieties of naturalistic writing, in all ofthem there is a strong sense of the individual as the victim of natural orsocial forces. In this sense,we might say that Miller's use of expressionism begins where naturalismends. There's all kinds of important people in the stands, and the first thing you know . He had the wrong dreams. . However,as with the naturalistic elements, the expressionistic elements also areused unconventionally by Miller. . Obviously, then, these unarticulated passionsare most effectively described through action rather than verbally. In his own eyes, in a sense, he is merely bringing to physicalreality what had already existed psychologically and spiritually for a longwhile. " Will is frightened and shouts for Howard(64-65). We might even considerthat Willy's suicide was a sign that he may have seen at last in someinarticulate way that the promise of the system was indeed a false promise.But to live in the face of such an awareness would have meant that he alsohad to accept the meaninglessness and futility of his whole life, which hecould not bear, whether or not the mortgage on the house was finally paidoff. Itis telling that Willy frames this exhortation in the metaphor of theAmerican sport of football, where the individual with talent and hard workcan emerge victorious: I always knew one way or another we were gonna make it, Biff and I! If we have any doubt about this change in Biff---which symbolizes thehumanistic coloring in Miller's naturalism---it is removed in the "Requiem"which demonstrates Biff's tender feelings for his father: There were a lot of nice days. . . " Willy then accidentally turns on a tape recorder andHoward's son's voice adds to the expressionistic picture of Willy's panickydisintegration:" . Miller's indictment of the capitalistic emphasis on having a joband making money as the source of happiness is found in Charley's line, "Noman only needs a little salary" (11 ). . Death of a Salesman. Had no character learned anything from Willy's tragedy, the readerwould be free to see the play in more purely naturalistic terms, but Biff'sgradual awakening---beginning with the discovery of his father'sextramarital sexual involvement---gives the play a more humanistic color.Also, had Biff shown nothing but bitterness and a sense of moral andfatherly betrayal toward his father, as he expressed after that discovery,the play would similarly be far more naturalistic than it is. This is expressed in a number ofscenes. . At this time especially. You fake! He has always been dis-integrated. Similarly, Biff's own experience with the disintegration expressed inMiller's use of expressionism (the flashback to the infidelity scene, forexample), is manifested through a sudden awareness of facts which he hadpreviously denied or simply been unaware of. Of course, when he does finallysee this at the end of the play, he literally disintegrates through self-destruction. The question of the play, then, considering Miller's sympathy forWilly and his family, is whether Miller holds out any hope for changingthat socioeconomic system which has crushed Willy. This is demonstrated in his exhortation to his son. . For example, even Happy recognizes that Biff lives a life separatefrom his father's ideals. The primary naturalistic element ofthe play is found in Willy's belief that if he works hard he and his familywill be rewarded with a good life. The formwhich these facts take in the telling of their story is alternatelyrealistic and expressionistic. . of New York is Albany. . It does not destroy him, then, when he discovers thefakery of those ideals and that way of life. To hell with whose fault it is or anything (1 1). Don't touch me, you---liar! The realistic elements of naturalism prevail as long as thecharacters accept the definition of life presented by society. ? . Animportant facet of expressionism is the simultaneity of events from thepast and the present. He only needed a little salary. . When he does begin to recognize that hislife has been "fake" as Biff claims, he can respond only with self-destruction. You phonylittle fake! . There is a certain degree of determinism in everynaturalistic approach, therefore, but Miller can hardly be considered oneof the most strict adherents of naturalism in this respect, for he isprofoundly sympathetic toward Willy and his plight, and many readers haveseen in Miller's play the suggestion that the capitalistic system, ratherthan some immutable natural force, is the culprit in Willy's tragedy. In that context, we find expressionisticelements not only in the dream and flashback scenes, but also in the scenesin Howard's office, the barroom, and the "Requiem" finale. Hemight have launched into a didactic critique of the cold-heartedness of thecapitalist system and its alienating and crushing impact on individualworkers who can no longer carry their weight. Thereis a profoundly humanistic sense to Willy's play, which undermines thepessimism or even cynicism of many naturalism-based works, even thosecritical of society and economic forces. They wouldn't blame him."In that "Requiem," we also see that Willy's wife is still under the spellof society's promise: I can't understand it. We see suchdisintegration in ideas (capitalism, hard work, fidelity, truth-telling)which Willy has failed to live up to; in relationships (both in the familyand between the family and the outside world, especially between Biff andWilly); and most dramatically in the personality of Willy. He has worked hard his whole life and end up with nothing toshow for it. There is acertain stability to the play and to the world the play portrays---as longas the characters continue to accept their role in wrestling with thosenaturalistic forces---as long as they believe that such struggling willyield the fruits which society promises. In other words, the changes in sales have left Willyout in the cold because, to himself, he is sales, he is the old days ofsales. . First time in thirty-five years we were just about free and clear. Instead, Miller chooses todemonstrate these effects expressionistically through a series of non-realistic devices: the strange light on the empty chair, Willy's speakingto a dead man as if he were present, the switching on of the tape recorder. When he'd come home from a trip; or on Sundays, making the stoop; finishing the cellar; putting on the new porch; when he built the extra bathroom; and put up the garage (11 ). The further suggestion is that to know oneself is truly adangerous pursuit in a society which wants the individual to be an obedientcog in the economic system. BibliographyMiller, Arthur. Nevertheless, the humanism and hope symbolizedby Biff's tender memories suggest a naturalism on Miller's part which isfar from the kind of cynicism and determinism which marks the more strictforms of naturalism. Willy believes heis free to make decisions and pursue goals which society will allow him toachieve because that is what he has taught by that society. However, Miller clearly suggests thatthe socioeconomic system which has shaped Willy's aspirations is also theforce which prevents him from fulfilling those aspirations. To let go of his false image of sales would be to let go of himself.To stop seeing himself as defined by his role as salesman would mean thedisintegration of himself in his own eyes. [suddenly realizing he is alone] Ben! Upon makingthe discovery of his father's infidelity, Biff is enraged because Will isexposed as a hypocrite---raising his sons according to moral principleswhich he himself has failed to live up to: "You-you gave her Mama'sstockings! . In other words, Biff has already begun to reject his father's idealsand way of life. He cannot live with the fact of his own failure as a salesmanbecause that will mean he has been a failure as a human being. He is in the midst of an emotional andpsychological disintegration: "Willy breaks off, staring at the light,which occupies the chair, animating it." Willy approaches the chair andspeaks to a dead person as if he were present: "Frank, Frank, don't youremember what you told me that time? Biff is young enoughto accept the disintegration of his father's ideas and ideals withoutexperiencing such disintegration himself. However, Biff moves through his rage and bitterness and comes to aplace where he can begin to forgive Willy, or at least cease blaming him.This change occurs more as a result of self-knowledge than any profoundunderstanding of his father: Today I realized something about myself and I tried to explain it to you and I---I think I'm just not smart enough to make any sense out of it for you. After all, as selfish as Willy certainly is in hisextramarital dalliance, and in his desire to be a success as a salesman, henevertheless is doing what society has taught him is the right thing---towork hard and provide for his family. . Biff does not disintegrateexpressionistically, as does Biff, when those ideals begin to crumble. If we have any doubt about Miller's sympathy for Willy, it is surelydispelled by Charley's response to Linda's consideration that the peopleWilly knew did not attend his funeral because "maybe they blame him":"Naa," says Charley, "It's a rough world, Linda. The effects of these central facts on thoselives is often described expressionistically as well. Biff may understand this fact, but Linda cannot. The capital of Ohio is Cincinnati, thecapital of Rhode Island is . One of the major differences between naturalism and expressionism isthat naturalism tends to focus on the realistic elements of human life, andexpressionism tends to focus on the less realistic aspects. The overall picture of Willy's disintegration is accomplishedexpressionistically rather than realistically precisely because Millerwants to demonstrate that disintegration directly and dramatically. . They don't knowme any more" (63-64). Another suggestion of hope from Miller is thatthe acceptance of one's failure---and society's failure---is a liberatingact. All, all wrong. Will hasbeen unable to "integrate" the parts of life he cannot begin to controlwith the parts which he imagines he can control. Even in the moments in the middle of the play when Willy has aglimpse into the truth of capitalism's crushing and dehumanizing effects,he is not able to use that awareness to break free because he identifieshimself wholly with that system. . This study will examine naturalism and expressionism in ArthurMiller's Death of a Salesman. Even in the midst of his own failure, Willy believes he can overcomethe forces aligned against him by imagining the success of his son.Ironically, of course, Biff is the only one who sees utterly through thefalse promise of society. The study will argue that the play employsboth naturalism and expressionism in the author's portrayal of WillyLoman's losing struggle against social, familial and economic forces beyondhis control, and that these literary and philosophical approaches are usedto show the break-up of Willy and the family (an expressionistic effect) aswell as the cause of that break-up (through expressionistic devices). Willy recalls the "respect, andcomradeship, and gratitude" of the old days of sales, and argues that"Today, it's all cut and dried, and there's no chance for bringingfriendship to bear---or personality. The actual facts which form the foundation of the lives of Willy andhis family as well as the foundation of the play are naturalistic. To whatever degree Willy sees his own failure and recognizes, he iscompletely incapable of accepting it. He was even finished with the dentist (11 ). His entire life, however, contradicts such hopesand dreams. Biff asks, "Why does Dad mock me all the time."Happy vaguely recognizes that Biff has invested a great deal of hope inBiff: "He just wants you to make good, that's all." Again Biff asks whyWilly is hard on him. Ben, where do I . Miller,therefore, employs a sociological version of naturalism. . . If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.