Friday, August 29, 2014

American mentality

Many people in America can relate to the story of Willy's life because in so many ways there is direct correlations to the way we live, and the way our friends and family live.  The direct relations people have to him could be through him or his wife or kids.  He thought he was living the dream, leaving his mark on life, but after going full speed for so long he never got a chance to slow down and actually LIVE. Someone wrote in another post how success is happiness to them.  Willy clearly didn't get that memo, and so many people in America in the past, present, and future have or will also not realize this.
Another part of Willy's story is how is wife wasn't treated with respect, and his kids couldn't stand him. While I didn't like the disrespect given to her, I wished the whole time that the kids would realize what Willy was trying to do for them, or at least what Willy thought he was trying to do. 
Lastly when Willy killed himself he thought he was making life easier for his family by letting them receive his life insurance money.  Throughout his life Willy drove himself to death, then he literally drove himself to death.  While I believe in hard work and having a career, everyone needs to take the time and enjoy the truly important things.

5 comments:

  1. I totally agree with the first paragraph. People are just as delusional as Willy. They don't understand that happiness and success are not synonymous, they don't go hand in hand. Kurt Cobain was wildly successful, and he was unhappy. Thus a suicide. What makes he and Willy so different? They were both grasping different ideals of success. Willy saw success as the idea of life being perfect: money and happiness. On the other hand, there are successful people who don't find happiness in that. They just see their job, their position in society, as being unimportant, or even worse, as a negative influence towards their ability to be happy. The last line of the post sums this all up perfectly. Success may be nice, but it's not the most important thing.

    More people need to read Walden and go camping, jeez.

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  2. You brought up a good point when you mentioned that, in Willy's mind, killing himself was actually going to be better for his family in the long run. People who commit suicide can have such a low opinion of themselves that they don't realize just how broken and said the people they leave behind will be once they're gone. I can't imagine that Linda lasted much longer after the tragedy, the strain was probably too great to bear. I think it shows just how little Willy really knew about people, he knew them on a superficial, salesman level, he knew what they wanted - but not what they needed. Sure they could use the money and sure his deteriorating was hard on his family, but what they didn't need is for their husband and father to suddenly kill himself, no one needs that - and that's what Willy can't understand. He sees immediate problems and "sells" you a solution, not thinking of any long term effects.

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  3. You have made some really good points, I think. Your first paragraph is very accurate about people and how they seem to live. So many people do seem to think that its all about the money. They never slow down long enough to just enjoy what their money and success has brought them. Like Cory said More people need to read Walden and go camping.

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  4. I love your statement "he never got a chance to slow down and actually live." Diverting slightly from the story line of Mr. Loman and into today's society, I feel your statement is extremely relevant. The dream american's now hold is seemingly intertwined with technology. Although technology is not an issue during the era of Mr. Loman, I believe the allegory exposes a similar means of regression in society in terms of appearance. Mr. Loman took more time creating a false sense of being in hopes that his appearance would be thought highly of by his peers. Presently, just as in the time of Willy, people of all ages make a vain attempt to alter their appearance to the public via facebook, twitter, and a myriad of other social medias. In doing so, the population loses a large portion of their life (or living). Just as Willy misses the garden he never grew, people of our generation will one day realize all the natural freedoms they let pass them by as well as the happiness that coincides. Excellent post Landon and great commentary Corey, Eleanor and Sarah!

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  5. Unrelated but I wanted to point out that "Wooden Finger is me before I had my name changed - sorry for the confusion!

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