Modern American Drama - Essay Example

?Consider how modern American drama presents the self as fragmented and insecure in Death of a Salesman and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. As fine pieces of literature, both Death of a Salesman and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof demonstrate the dreadful lives of men in this distressed world. Both of them provide a vivid picture of some common features of modern American drama such as selection of theme, plot, characterization and literary techniques. As prominent figures of Modern American drama, Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams have successfully amalgamated the theme of self and insecure existence of the modern world in their works. Negative impacts of the depression era and the evil of capitalism have played a pivotal role in the life of American middleclass people. American dramatist Arthur Miller and his followers have often experienced the evil of depression and capitalism (Bryer & Hartig 2010, p. 363). Increasing insecurity in sexual relation among the people also provide contributory causes for insecure existence in modern world. Willy Loman, the central character in Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman fails to understand the real pulse of the society. Therefore he does not find success both in his personal and professional life. He is a self possessed and self-contained man who fails in his personal life and the same failure directs him to his tragic death at the end of the play. Tennessee William’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof presents the conflict of a Southern family. Brick, the husband in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof lead a self possessed life and likes to continue his homosexual nature. At the same time, his wife Margaret leads a miserable life to catch her husband’s attention even in the midst of her husband’s negligence. As eminent figures of Modern American drama, Arthur Miller and Tennesse Williams successfully take up the theme of ‘fragmented self’ and ‘insecurity’ in their works Death of a Salesman and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Osgerby 2001, p. 71). Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller portrays the real life of a typical American middleclass man who dedicates most part of his life in a private company. The concept of ‘self’ and ‘insecurity’ are described as the leading themes of Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Miller’s hero Willy Loman believes in the great American myth of success and he gives more importance on making money than anything else in his life. The playwright portrays the failure of the American success myth and the insecure existence of the personal and financial life of an American middle class man through the character of Willy Loman in Miller’s play (This is just a close reading of the text and you do not need to provide a reference here!). Willy Loman, the central character of the play fails to understand the real pulse of the modern materialist society as well its people. He is a total failure in his personal life as well as in family life and it is this failure that leads him to his tragic death at the end of the play. It is his self-deceptiveness and his blindness to reality that leads him to a world of conflicts. Unable to cope with reality Loman convinces himself that he is successful and the same self acts as an obstacle in his way to reveal his mistake. Death of a Salesman exemplifies the theme of self and insecurity through the despondent life of the protagonist Willy Loman and the other members of his family. Each member of Willy’s family feels emotional frustration and insecurity. Willy Loman isolates and alienates himself from his wife, his sons, his fellow beings, and the society because of his conscious efforts to justify his self. In Death of a Salesman Willy’s wife Linda is portrayed as a completely accepting wife and a good mother. It is simply unintentional that Loman’s elder son Biff became the victims of Lawman’s illegal relationship with a prostitute. Biffs’ unhealthy appearance and self-destructive nature haunts Loman as a nightmare but at the same time his distinctive self prevents him to confess his fault. Michelle, in this respect, observes that; “He thinks the way to bless his sons is by giving them riches in the only way he knows how” (Michelle 2011). In the end, the whole family experiences the insecurity brought out by Willy’s fragmented self. Analysing the character of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, one can find the fact that he always thinks of making money and he is not fully satisfied with his earnings as a sales executive in a private institution (This is just a close reading of the text and you do not need to provide a reference here!). He gives more emphasis on his family responsibilities and believes that, as a responsible father he has the duty to provide financial benefits for his children. He always tries to keep the status of an ideal father and a responsible family man. Analyzing the character of Willy one can find that in his effort to make money, it is his self possessiveness that forces him to keep the status of best father and a best husband in front of his family members as well the society. His notion about ‘self’ prevents him to reveal his secret affair with a prostitute to others and therefore he fails to solve his family crises (Bloom 2002, p.4) Willy’s thoughts and actions are presented as a fragmented one in Death of a Salesman. It always disjoints Willy’s connections (both personal and emotional) with his own family members and he often fails to fulfil his responsibilities towards his family through the society. Even Willy has a tender attitude towards his children and his wife; he is always caught by the clutches of his own self. It prevents Willy Loman from admitting the reality that surrounds him. Eric J. Sterling examines the character of Willy Loman in detail and makes some relevant observation about the effect of ‘self’ in Willy’s character. Sterling makes clear that Willy instills in Biff an “inflated” sense of self worth, which causes him to disregard other members of his team, leading to the destruction of his own Loman team-his family” (Sterling 2008, p. 168). As a result of his self possessive nature, Willy Loman always tries to hide all his faults and failures from his family members as well the society. Sometimes he criticise his sons as a means to hide his guilt feeling. His wife often chides with her husband, Willy Lawman for his ill-treatment of their son Biff. But he responds, “I simply asked him if he was making any money. Is that criticism?” (Miller 2007, p. 10). These words bring out the fact that Willy makes conscious efforts to show his fatherly affection and consideration to his children. Through the character of Willy Loman, Miller presents the wretched condition of a man who does not have a grip on the torments of his life. In the concluding part the reader can find that Lowman became helpless when he knows his inability to face the harsh reality and he receives death. The emotional conflict between the father and the son in Death of a Salesman endow with some emotional and psychological backdrop with Freudian colouring (Bloom 2002, p.92). But in this context reader can come across the fact that in Willy’s case father’s self possessiveness prevents him to disclose his own thoughts in front of the family and he carries the guilt feeling to the end of his life. Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman’ clearly discloses the failure of American success myth through tragic fall of the protagonist Willy Loman and his family. The struggles of a middle class family man who live in a competitive world are brilliantly portrayed in the form of Willy Loman in Miller’s Death of a Salesman. The issue of insecurity is visible in Miller’s play in different ways such as financial insecurity, insecurity in family relationship and insecure modern existence. Both Willy Loman and his son Biff is victim of the maddening world of competition. His long service in a private marketing company with a nominal income is not sufficient for recovering his financial insecurity. His son Biff also led a submissive life in this competitive modern material world. He painfully realizes that he does not lead a structured life that his father expected. In this competitive world Willy Loman felt isolation and his removal form the company raises some relevant questions about the insecure existence of modern man. Miller’s words sometimes hurt the followers of capitalism because Miller presents his heroes as victims of capitalism and against the background of both financial insecurity and loss of individuality. As a believer in socialist ideologies, Miller presents a clear picture of the trials and tribulations of middle-class people in America. Theme of insecurity in family relationships, material existence and financial stability are starkly portrayed in Death of a Salesman. The protagonist Willy Loman suffers from these financial, emotional, and personal insecurities and they lead him to an existence in which his realities are compromised by his fantasies. As Alice Griffin obverses; “Willy’s many contradictions reflect his inability to distinguish between the dream of success and the reality of the world around him” (Griffin 1996, p. 56). In the end, Willy Loman commits a futile suicide and proves for his son Biff that his life and long service as a salesman were spent following a dream which was equally futile. Willy had expected that the insurance money twenty five thousand pound is enough for his son Biff to pick up his business. Willy had bought into the modern capitalist attitudes which could give the value of twenty five thousand pound for a human life-even his own. Willy’s comments about his compulsory retirement reveal this dehumanising tendency of capitalist society. He says; “You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away – a man is not apiece of fruit” (Miller 2007, p. 27). Capitalism always requires maximum profit and minimum investment. In Loman’s case the company utilizes Willy’s professional value to its maximum level and then they simply expel him. Willy’s pathetic end reminds us of the insecure modern existence in a world dictated to by the primacy of capital. He finds the way of committing suicide and escapes from his trials and tribulations. Tennessee William’s play explores such themes as ambivalence in sexual orientation emotional and sexual dissatisfaction and the difficulties in maintaining human relationships. The play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof explores the life of Brick, a self possessed and self contained man and his wife Maggie. Brick and Maggie in William’s play are demonstrative of an extreme self confidence which is challenged by events. Brick demonstrates himself as an archetype of masculinity and always acts as a self contained man. He lives with the memories of his sporting success, but also of his friend Skipper. His self possessive nature forces him to avoid the needs of his wife Maggie and the ambiguous nature of his relationship with Skipper as he throws himself in to a world of isolated loneliness. Harold Bloom, rightly comments that; “Like Skipper, Brick is an over-the-hill athlete, a sexually insecure, guilt- ridden man who can neither understand nor deal with his deep attachment to his football teammate” (Bloom 2002, p.76). Brick’s realization about his own inability to engage in a normal heterosexual relationship with his wife Maggie reveals the underlying struggle of sexual insecurity in his life. Brick’s negative attitude towards his wife and others makes known his helplessness in creating healthy relationships. His habit of drinking pulls him back to the world of emotional conflicts.  He argues that the relation between him and Skipper was deep and real and must be respected, but at the same time there is an underlying resentment and anger because of the sexual ambiguity and betrayal in that relationship. His wife Maggie is desperate for her husband’s affection, and admits that his friendship with Skipper was one of those beautiful and ideal things they comment about in the Greek legends, but Brick has diverted his resentment for Skipper onto his wife, who he holds accountable for that ambiguity and betrayal, and for his own feelings of sexual insecurity. Like Brick, Maggie also feels a sense of sexual insecurity through her life with Brick, but unlike Brick she confronts those insecurities head on. Brick never admits the suggestions of Skipper’s sexual feelings for him, or the potentially sexual nature of his own feelings for Skipper. His fellow beings and he hides his sexual impairment. Brick ignores others comments about his relationship with Skipper. Reader can unearth the fact that his dislike in discussing his relation with Skipper reaches its zenith when he scolds Maggie and Big Daddy. Brick cries;” One man has one great good true thing in his life. One great good thing which is true! I had friendship with Skipper. You are namin' it dirty!” (Williams 2010, p. 37). Brick cannot escape from either his own self-depended masculinity, from his insecurities, or from the reality of his increasing dependence on Maggie. Instead of changing his attitudes he seeks to escape from facing those insecurities through drinking. Here audiences can easily comprehend the fact that Brick is undergoing severe problems because of his uncertainties and insecurities. His unique controlling self always stands straight (in both independent and sexual terms) and expels all chances to change his existing attitude. Thus, he refuses to solve his problems using other alternatives and indulges himself in self-pity.   Brick’s sexual refusal makes Maggie’s life harder, nervous and bitter. In Maggie’s part we can see her sincere effort to lead a successful married life. Brick simply avoids his wife’s demands to become a mother by asking how she could think about a baby from a husband like him? But Maggie demonstrates a determination to bring Brick back into a binding relationship with her. Dean Shakelford argues that “Maggie’s comments on Brick’s appearance are often repeated –as are her pleas for sexual fulfillment in and revitalization of their marriage” (Shackelford, p. 106). Dramatist portrays the character of Maggie as a symbol of many people who lead a miserable life because of sexual insecurity. Maggie struggles with not only her husband’s rejection of her, but also with her cousin’s greedy attempt to win Big Daddy’s wealth. Maggie became shocked when she notices the discussions of Gooper and Mae about Big Daddy’s inheritance. Here Maggie needs support from her husband but she did not get it properly. Brick’s revulsion against Maggie is reached its maximum level when he realizes that Skipper’s relationship with Brick led directly to his Skipper’s death and increases his disgust towards Maggie. Maggie often chides Brick for his foolish behaviour and his exceeding drinking habit. Her attempts to impress and sometimes seduce her husband gives to the readers the image of a woman who lived in the world of insecure sexual relations. The evils of capitalist ideology and increasing financial insecurity among the life of middle class people require maximum attention from the readers who analyze the features of modern American drama (Miller 2007, pp. xxii-xxiii). Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman and Gooper and Mae in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof represent the competitive modern world that makes existence, insecure, and drives people to think of even family connections as commodities whose value is measured on a material scale. Brick’s ‘exceptional friendship’ with Skipper questions conventional ideas about his own sexuality ,but Maggies practicality demands that their pretence of marriage should be sustained because of the financial security it provides them both with. Brick’s alcoholic need and his sexual confusion demonstrate a crisis of individuality. Williams questions the concept of a predetermined or fixed sexual identity and dramatise the personal conflicts involved in change, and the clash between personal conflicts and material need. Family relations life in William’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof are insincere loveless and unsatisfactory. Both husbands and wives in William’s play fail to express their real nature to each other or their emotional conflicts and see their relationships more in terms of practical arrangement than an expression of sexual or emotional truth. William’s play explores the real tension about insecure sexual relationship of the era perfectly. As Nicholas De Jongh comments; “Williams is thus indicating that sexual identity cannot necessarily be gleaned by signs or even by behaviour” (De Jongh, 1992, p. 74). Conflicts between the homosexuality among the men and heterosexuality among the women are clearly demonstrated in William’s play. Both of them have created anxieties and frustration. A comparative study between Death of a Salesman and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof lets us understand the fact that the self is portrayed as a fragmented one. But this theme of insecurity has a different form for Miller and William. William’s play concentrates mainly in sexual relations. Miller’s symbolizes the struggle of middle class people who lived in the United States. Loman suffers with insecurity in personal, professional, and emotional life. Brick and Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof lead a depressed life because of insecure sexual relationship. Conclusions In conclusion, it is evident that the plays of Miller and Williams present the self as a fragmented one in Death of a Salesman and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Insecure modern existence is revealed as an important theme in both plays. The self possessed and self-contained attitude of the characters of the play forces them into lead a miserable life of denial of their own realities. Human relations are shown as disjointed, and create obstacles to changing the the existing nature of the human beings. Themes of insecurity are visible in the life of middle class people who lead a despondent life. Willy Loman, the hero of Miller’s play is a victim of extreme self-possessiveness and insecure existence. As a follower of American success myth Willy Loman faces severe financial crisis because of economic insecurity. Each member of Loman’s family struggles with an insecure existence of modern world and feel isolation. Brick and Maggie in Tennessee William’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof struggle with sexual and emotional insecurity and self-possessed nature. Both Willy Loman and Brick represents the miserable life middleclass American man who live with the belongings of great depression period. Emotional and economic insecurity of the middleclass people who live in America is successfully revealed through the character of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman whereas Brick and Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof symbolises sexual insecurity. Works Cited Bloom, H 2002, Tennessee Williams's Cat on a hot tin roof, Infobase Publishing. Bryer, J.R & Hartig, M.C 2010, The Facts on File Companion to American Drama, 2nd revised edn, Infobase Publishing. Death of a Salesman-Arthur Miller 2011, Penguin Group USA, viewed 6 April 2011, < http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/death_of_a_salesman.html>. De Jongh, N 1992, Not in front of the audience: homosexuality on stage, Illustrated ed: Routledge. Griffin, A 1996, Understanding Arthur Miller, Univ of South Carolina Press. Michelle, A 2011, Nothing More Than a Dream: Death of a Salesman Analysis, Hubpages Inc, Viewed 12 March 2011, < http://hubpages.com/hub/Nothing-More-Than-a-Dream-Death-of-a-Salesman-Analysis>. Miller, A 2007, Death Of A Salesman, Pearson Education India. Shackelford, D, The truth that Must be told: Gay subjectivity, Homophobia, and Social History in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Tennessee Williams Annual Review, Viewed 12 March 2011, . Sterling, E.J 2008, Arthur Miller's Death of a salesman, Rodopi. Williams, T 2010, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A&C Black. Osgerby, B 2001, Playboys in paradise: masculinity, youth and leisure-style in modern America, Illustrated edn, Berg Publishers. Read More