Death Of A Salesman Literary Analysis

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Tragedy in Death of a Salesman
There are a million reasons to enjoy life when everything is going your way. But there is something that has held back humanity for so long during our known existence. Throughout life, we are set through difficulties and harsh periods of time which is really what defines and eventually separates us from inadequacy and boldness. In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller exploits the use of setting, metaphors, allusions, and symbolism in order to express the characters feelings/thoughts and its general theme.
Surprisingly, Miller uses setting as an important rhetorical technique especially as the novel begins. It starts off with family man Willy Loman arriving home from a failed sales trip after a very long and exhausting day. …show more content…
The jungle, or woods, represents the chaotic yet rewarding nature of life. Ben tells Willy, "the jungle is dark but full of diamonds" (Miller). So like Ben, Willy hopes to strike it rich in the business world of New England. Yet Willy never finds the diamonds (success/happiness), and he leaves life without fortune or fame. This symbolizes the inherent impossibility of Willy's strategy for success. Willy doesn't believe in working one's way up the ladder of success; he thinks that since he is a Loman he should be automatically granted managerial status. Thus Biff, following the example of his father, hopes to "steal" his way to the top instead of working for it (Griffin). Miller also gives a sense of symbolism in mentioning the tennis racket in which he observes while chatting with Bernard in Charley’s office since it may be a symbol of Bernard’s success but Biffs failure. Hysterically, the use of symbolism was sought to promote a powerful feeling of his low morale and declining mental

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