Saturday, August 30, 2014

Linda Loman Ultimate Betrayal

Linda Loman's misguided idea of love ultimately betrays Willy.  In her version of love she wants to live in a world of denial.  She is never really able to see Willy as he is-unhappy at his job.  At one point Willy says people don't seem to take to me and Linda responds,"Oh, don't be foolish."  She cannot confront Willy about his suicide attempts.  Instead she asks the children to kind to their father.  She wants them to continue to perpetuate the myths and lies that have been a part of the household for years. She has no courage or character to deal honestly with what is happening around her.  She encourages Willy's distorted dream of success and contributes to his death.  She is just as caught up in the desire for material goods as Willy.  She needs to encourage him so he will continue working so they can afford the luxuries. Maybe, if Linda had been able to confront Willy openly about his suicide attempts there might have been an honest discussion about what was happening to Willy.  But Linda chooses to turn a blind eye and not deal with reality.  Could she have done more to stop the suicide? How much responsibility do the family members, of a suicide victim, hold? Can a suicide be stopped? Or will that person find a way?

4 comments:

  1. I see Linda as a victim of long verbal and even physical abuse from Willie. She is in such a pattern of wanting everything status quo. She does not want to rock the boat. I think that the portray of Linda was probably influence by the stereotypical wife of the late 40s.
    she might see herself as an extension of her husband.

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  2. Vanessa is right that maintaining the status quo definitely stems from a history of emotional abuse. When Willie was pacified, whether it was with work success, Biff's success, or with another woman - Linda was better taken care of. He (like so many other alcoholics and tough husbands) was kind to her when things went well for him, when he felt like things were going his way. When his work started to deteriorate and his sons weren't what he wanted them to be, he couldn't take it out on them because they weren't home, and he certainly couldn't blame his job because of his fierce loyalty to his postion. The only person he felt he could blame (and this happens all too often) was his wife. For any number of reasons men in his position will find ways to say that their wives were the ones at fault, and because an aging housewife in 1949 had little to no resources, who was she to believe she WASN'T at fault? By keeping Willie happy, she kept him off of her.

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  3. Wow what a loaded question but I love it, could Linda have done anything to stop Willy Loman's death? Honestly I don't think so and that's because I truly believe that when someone wants to kill themselves, not when it's a cry for help or when they just need attention, that they will do whatever they have to to make that happen. And ultimately it is no ones fault but their own. You can only be responsible for your own happiness in life, Willy Loman chose to be the way he was, he chose to see the glass as half empty and Linda chose to see it as half full. I think he small encouragement's were her way of trying to help her husband. Trying to show him that everything wasn't as bad as he saw it. That they had two sweet boys that were healthy and that they were about to pay off their home loan. That might not seem so awesome but my husband and I are in the process of buying our first house and I must say it's a huge part of your marriage and for them that should have been a huge celebration. But instead Willy chose to end his life. There was obviously the factor of Willy's mental status that played into all of this and often with suffers of depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses suicide tends to seem a more favorable outcome than continuing on with life. But I don't think Linda should be blamed. She loved her husband and she did what she could, but in the end Willy Loman chose to die and once someone makes that decision for themselves no one else can stop it.

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  4. I totally agree with Vanessa. Over time, I think for anyone to live with someone like Willy, would be a little worn down. She was a wife of the 40's, or even the 50's, or the 60's. She had to maintain her family, and sacrifice her life in order to tend to them. She definitely suffered his aggressions, and although she doesn't seem so empathetic towards Willy, why should she be? I think her "blind eye" is just being so done with Willy. It's rough, but, these aren't exactly the most lovable characters Miller is portraying. They're all very broken.

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