The Essence of Story
 
       Assignment 6

    Protagonist Is His/Her Own Worst Enemy

                                                              Level: Beginner

1.    I have chosen, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller as my example for this assignment.

2.    Main Characters are:
 
        Willy Loman - Protagonist
        Linda Loman - Willy's wife
        Biff Loman - Willy's eldest son
        Happy Loman - Willy's youngest son
        Charley - next-door neighbour and friend
        Ben - Willy's dead brother

3.    Internal Conflict - Willy Loman has dreamed of success all his life. Throughout the play, Willy flashbacks to dreams of his persuit for success and at other parts he realizes the truth…he has failed to reach his measure of success. Also, the relationship between Willy and Biff is crucial to the play. Willy 'worships' the young Biff (when Biff was a star football player in high school) and Willy believes he will be a success through Biff being a success. Unfortunately, Biff drifts through his life as a failure and never meets Willy's dreams.

4.    Theme - There are two themes that stand out in this piece of work. The primary theme is success. This is the primary theme because it is the conflict and the thing that moves the action. The secondary theme is love. Linda shows her love and devotion throughout the play and Willy shows his love for his two sons and Biffs love for him…"Isn't that-isn't that remarkable? Biff-he likes me!"

5.    Actions

    a. The theme and the conflict are stated right at the outset: Linda: "You didn't smash the car, did you?"... Willy: "I'm tired to the death. I couldn't make it. I just couldn't make it, Linda.";

    b. Biff and Happy are introduced. Biff knows that his life is not going in the direction he wants and Happy appears successful but there are hints that he is a 'shallow' man;

    c. In the past, Willy has built himself up in importance in the minds of his boys. They are young and Willy's truth of his success becomes their truth. This illusion of importance that Willy has built in them will crumple in the latter part of the play. The past also shows a time when Willy was happy. This is in stark contrast to his present life and the life he has been leading for years;

    d. Willy has set the boys up for a falsehood that shapes their adult life. He 'preaches' that a smile and shined shoes are more important than honesty and hard work;

    e. Willy knows that he is a failure and Linda makes excuses for him, thus aiding in his illusion of importance and success;

    f. Willy has an affair with another woman. This affair strokes his ego and makes him believe that he is the success that he has dreamed for himself. But this also leads to tragic events. The affair is also ironic because she is probably more interested in the stockings that Willy promises her than in Willy, himself;

    g. Up until this point, Willy's past has always been portrayed as beautiful and happy. However, we now see that the past was not all rosey i.e. Biff stealing the football, Biff not studying for an important exam and Willy wondering 'what-if' he had followed his brother to Africa;

    h. Willy loses his job and his pride does not allow him to accept a job offer from Charley. However, Willy continues to take a free handout of money, something that he has done for a long time. Linda knows that Charley has been giving Willy money and she deceives Willy by not telling him the truth i.e. the truth is that she knows where the money came from. She is also to blame, in part, for Willy's illusion of his own success. Willy's illusion of past happiness has been crumpling and now his present life has hit an all-time low;

    i. Biff finally sees through the illusion and tries to tell Willy the truth. However, Willy does not want to hear the truth and Happy wants to keep the illusion as well;

    j. Biff saw his father with another woman and Willy realizes the negative affect that this has had on Biff. However, Willy never blames himself for the way he raised his children and the false ideas he filled them with; and

    k. Willy seems surprised to learn that Biff loves him. When he realizes this, it restores the illusion of his success and he decides this is the time to commit suicide and leave behind $20,000 insurance money for Biff to use to become a success.

Note: Willy had several auto accidents, hinting that these were previous attempts at suicide. I wonder why Arthur Miller did not close with the insurance company not honoring the claim. This could have shown that even in death he will not be a success.

6.    Conclusion - Willy's life has been a failure and this springs from his philosophy that good looks and a smile will win over hard work. He tries to compensate for his failure by living his life through the success that he thinks Biff will have and indeed has a right to have. Unfortunately for Willy, Biff does not live up to Willy's expectations. - Linda is a kind, loving and dedicated wife. However, she is not able to speak the truth to Willy and this does not help Willy and the reality of his life. - Biff is the one character that changes for the positive. At the end, he dispels the illusion that Willy has created for him. Biff may eventually have the success that Willy had dreamed for him. - Happy doesn't change. He lives the illusion and will probably die…happy

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