Friday, November 18, 2011

Write about social realism in Death of a Salesman.

While not immediately considered to be a social realist, I
think that Miller fits the conditions of the social realism movement quite effectively. 
This is seen in Willy.  The depiction of his protagonist is one where Willy is an
example of how not to live one's life.  Yet the challenge, as Miller himself noted, is
that the conception of the American Dream and its emphasis on materialism compels
individuals to not have any choice:


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...the central matrix of this play is ... what
most people are up against in their lives.... they were seeing themselves, not because
Willy is a salesman, but the situation in which he stood and to which he was reacting,
and which was reacting against him, was probably the central situation of contemporary
civilization. It is that we are struggling with forces that are far greater than we can
handle, with no equipment to make anything mean
anything.



In Miller's own
configuration, modernity has configured a setting where individuals, despite having
choice and freedom, do exactly what they do not want to do.  In the pursuit of dreams
and material realities where there are greater chances of failures than successes and
where accompishment is never really recognized, Miller is calling attention to a problem
that he believes requires changing.  In depicting Willy in the manner he does, Miller is
demanding for individuals to visualize the world as it should be as opposed to what it
is.  In this, I think that a heavy emphasis on social realism is present.  Willy dies as
"someone," though it is not as he imagines.  For the social realist, Willy dies as a
symbol of how materialism can ruin lives and any "dream" built upon such a firmament is
fragile beyond belief.  Miller is calling for this state of affairs to change, and is
representative of social realism.

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