1970. Choose a
character from a novel or play of recognized literary merit and write an essay
in which you (a) briefly describe the standards of the fictional society in
which the character exists and (b) show how the character is affected by and
responds to those standards. In your essay do not merely summarize the plot.
author's note: I hope it's not bad practice to include these every time I write a paper. I feel like I could explicitly connect my evidence more with my claims and also elaborate on the idea a bit more, I just don't know how right now.
The America in which Willy Loman lives in Death of a Salesman is one that prizes respect and success over all else. It is a society that believes a man is nothing if he is not well liked, a belief Willy holds strongly, and one that has caused Willy and those close to him a great deal of dispair. Having seen the great successes of his brother and Charley, Willy is in denial, avoiding the fact that he is not particularly successful, and he overexerts himself in an attempt to achieve all-star status. His internalization of society's measure of a man's worth takes a toll on his mental stability, and drives him to lash out at his son for not striving to conquer the business world.
Though mostly proud and boisterous, Willy shows his feelings of inadequacy a few times throughout the play. In Act One, for example, he confides in Linda: "I'm very well liked in Hartford. You know, the trouble is, Linda, people don't seem to take to me... I know it when I walk in. They seem to laugh at me." (23). Earlier, when announcing his sales, he stated a very exaggerated result and meekly decremented it down to his real numbers: "I did five hundred gross in Providence and seven hundred gross in Boston... Well, I - I did - about a hundred and eighty gross in Providence. Well, no - it came to - roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip... The trouble was that three of the stores were half closed for inventory in Boston. Otherwise I woulda broke records." (22). Willy is afraid of being judged for his less-than-stellar performance, so he exaggerates his abilities and makes excuses for his shortcomings, and often says he's more respected than he is. As the play progresses, Willy's mental stability deteriorates, perhaps because of his repressed feelings of inadequacy. After losing his job in Act Two, Willy's mental stability is almost entirely gone; he is forced to confront the fact that he is not as successful as he would like to believe.
Willy internalized this belief so firmly that he raised his sons by it as well. In Act One, he tells Biff and Happy "be liked and you will never want." (21). Biff says "I'm thirty-four years old, I oughta be makin' my future," which shows that the idea was at least partly instilled in him and his brother (21). So when Biff leaves for the West and becomes a drifter, Willy is unsurprisingly critical. He and Biff argue incessantly every time Biff comes home because Willy feels he is choosing to be worthless.
You made good points that respond to the idea of the prompt and used good examples in the second paragraph. I think you could elaborate on how Willy "lashes out" at Biff and the effects of this, and maybe add an example of this. It isn't completely necessary though. Again, your second paragraph is well-done, and I don't really have any criticism about it. Hopefully, someone else can help me out a little and come up with something; maybe its just perfect! I agree with the ideas you used to describe willy's internal struggles because that is a main concern of the play, and has a lot to do with why Willy acts the way that he does.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, in my mind, these are for books you don't have in front of you. In the AP test you won't have the book with you and can't quote directly from it, so please adjust accordingly, because your essay is truly almost half quotes, and thus, filler. I think your thought of America in this time is one that holds respect dear is true, but then Willy takes it to another level because he is a salesman and that is truly all he has, so you might to have wanted to conclude with that. You have a semi thesis statement, but it doesn't point out to where the essay is going at all, more just painting what the book does. You do a nice job of fufilling the essay requirements, but you don't wrap it up nicely. You could have put how this drives Willy to suicide and that would have been a clean wrap. Also, please put a conclusion that makes it clear where you essay ends and doesn't make the reader confused at the ending thoughts. You don't explain your ideas fully it feels like. You introduce them, and put a quote behind them, but then you don't go on to put how society is actually fully affecting this. This essay has much room for improvement.
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