Death of a Salesman Essay AP English III
Death of a Salesman Essay Wily Loan is a symbolic icon of the failing America. He is representing a typical chaser of the American dream in the sass’s. He experiences a tragedy in his life where he was trying to find his place in his own life with his sons leaving, growing old, and an escalating sense of stubbornness. Wily was Just one of many Americans that experienced a great tragedy during this time which was a reason that led up to the great depression in 1929. This makes a symbolic icon of the failing America during this time.
Wily Loan had a life most people admired while his sons were still in high school. He had a Job and was very happy at that time. His son Biff was the high school quarterback and was very good at his position. This made Wily extremely proud and hoped he would see his son go off to play football at the college level. He was very content with his life at this point and this symbolizes the booming American economy before the Great Depression. Wily soon got too caught up in the idea of the American Dream, to be hard working and honest among other things.
He soon began to get greedy in the idea of the American Dream along with other things that went wrong. His pride soon escalated and prevailed in the worst way. Biff reveals to Wily that he has failed his senior math class and will not have enough credits to graduate high school. This incident highlights and really reveals Willis stubbornness for he Just thinks Biff could just go to summer school and get the credits he needed to graduate. It was not that simple as Wily soon learned. Biff then tells his father he is going to go to an interview or an important high paying Job and Wily is very excited for him to get the Job.
Biff ends up not going to the interview because he felt he was not able to get the Job. As he tries to tell his father what happened, Willis stubbornness again shows as he would not even let Biff explain what had happened. Wily keeps talking and interrupting his son saying things as if he got the Job. This causes very high tension between the two and leads to a huge argument at the end of the play that indirectly leads to Wily killing himself. Another incident that escalates to the tragedy that occurs in the play is when Biff catches Wily cheating on his wife.
Biff is heartbroken, in shock, and angry all at once and leaves the scene leaving Wily questioning what has become of him and started to realize his life was not what it used to be, but his stubbornness still prevailed. At the end of the play the whole family meets together at their house. A significant argument breaks out mostly between Biff and Wily about how stubborn and blind he really is. Wily ends up telling Biff to get out of his house and Biff says he never wants to come back. The argument was the deciding factor hat led up to Wily getting in his car and killing himself.
In the end, Willis stubbornness and pride led to things such as the arguments between him and Biff, him getting fired and refusing to take another Job out of pride, and lack of realization that he was slowly setting the stage for his own demise. Wily was Just another lower middle class American stuck in the idea of the American Dream. Along with many other Americans during the time, he symbolized the failing America of the Great Depression of the sass’s and even the digressing American economy of today.
