Exposing Truth in Arthur Millers, Death of a Salesman and Henry David Thoreaus, Walden Pond :: Death Salesman essays

Exposing Truth in Arthur Millers, stopping point of a Salesman and Henry David Thoreaus, Walden kittyPoor Willy, the reader bemoans, he just couldnt get his act together. Willy Loman, Death of a Salesmans central character, is one of Arthur Millers most intriguing personalities. He spends the unharmed play vacillating between two dreams his saintistic wish for achievement and worldly gain, and his unconscious desire for a simple life in the country. This internal conflict results in the destruction of this most unheroic of heros. Miller demonstrates the advantages of constraint over complex and competitive success. In an earlier era, Henry David Thoreau tough this same theme in his opus work Walden, which recounts his life in the woods. The moral of both works is the same -- how we can transcend sheer existence and really live -- but they teach this lesson in really different ways Walden is an experiment in successful living, whereas Death of a Salesman is an example of livi ng a failure. Examining how Thoreau independently viewed lifes meaning in a manner synergetic to Millers illuminates the truths that Miller presents in his play. In this process Willys fall transforms into the embodiment of Thoreaus warnings.With beautiful mornings, stunning scenery, and revelry in the simple and strange banalities of life, Walden is an experience in living. Thoreaus purpose for writing Walden is clearly stated As I have said, I do not propose to save up an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, stand on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up (Thoreau 168). Its purpose is to help us to realize what we are missing in our everyday existence, and rise to our potential. Walden provides an ideal for true and simple living that can be juxtaposed against Willys hokey and common city life. This contrasting pedagogy is immediately apparent in the settings of the books. Both stories occur in New England, yet in drastically different l ocalities. Walden Pond is a sheltered, wooded chunk of paradise where a philosopher can do his business. Willys Brooklyn, with its growing population, seems to tighten a choke prepare on him as his dreams evaporate. When Willy started raising his family, their spacious home and garden was on the edge of a city full of opportunities, yet as his crisis approached he found that his city was crushing him. The gradual change is a reflexion of Willys choices and their effects.