The Dream Sequence in Death of a Salesman - Essay Example

? The Dream Sequence in Death of a Salesman ‘Death of a salesman’ is Arthur Miller’s depiction of the success myth which America was haunted at the time of Miller. Being a self deluded man, Miller presents a tragic hero who lives in the past and present. Thus the powerful expressionistic technique presented in the drama makes the author a meticulous draftsman. Some critics like E. Schneider call the play, a play of dreams. The breakdown of the chronological time is a technique used by Miller to dramatize the realities in front of the protagonist .The technique is not a simple flash back, but a rather complete interrelationship of the past and present. Willy does not go back to the past. The past, in hallucination, comes back to him. The past comes to his mind as a an unconscious force, so Willy never agrees with the realities in his life. Willy Lowman lives wrapped up in the past. At crucial moments he recalls that he did or that happened to him in the past. A large chunk of the play shows Willeys’ adsorption in such reveries. It is extremely difficult for the reader to distinguish between reveries and reality in those contexts in which one sentence shows Willy talking to a real person and the very next sentence shows him swinging back to the past and talking with some non-existing person. Some of the figures recalled by Willy have no existence outside his reveries. Willey‘s elder brother who amassed a huge fortune in Africa and the unnamed women with whom Willey had a clandestine affair at a restaurant in Boston are both figures occurring only in Willey’s reveries. The young Linda carrying the washed clothes, Biff and happy in school uniform,. There neighbor Charley and his son Bernard , all these people occur not only in Willey’s reveries but having grown up bulk large in real situations also in the play . In the first reverie in the play we find Willey guiding Biff how he should behave with girls of his age () He asks Biff not to get into deep emotional entanglements with any girl. His is glad to learn from his second son Happy that only girls are crazy after Biff and spend money on him and it is never the other way about. The reverie also shows two sons cutting of the branch of a tree hanging over the roof of the house. This is a symbolic foreboding of the way the two irresponsible sons going to cause Willy’s suicide. Willy also shows his young sons the punching bag which he has bought for improving their physique. Happy evinces a keen interest in it. Biff appears with a regulation ball which he has stolen from the school locker-room. Willy does not condemn. Biff’s stealing tendency y but justifies it, saying that biff is a star player and he has got to practice playing with a regulation ball. Willy does not realize that this softness would only make a habitual thief. Then Willy talks of his intention to start a business of his own and outshine Charley who is liked but not as ‘well-liked’ as he is. He promises to take his sons out with himself when he starts his own business .Then, he brags of his importance. He says that he had coffee with the mayor of the city of the providence. He boasts that he is very popular in New England where the cops would take care of his car wherever he parks it. This statement shows how highly Willy thinks of himself. He lives wrapped up in self-delusion. Willy sees Biff practicing with the stolen ball. Hr is very happy because Biff has been made captain of the football team. Biff talks boastfully like his father and promises to play aggressively during the match on Saturday just to please his father: Just for you, I’m going to break through for a Touch-down .You watch me, pop, and when I take Off my helmet, that means I’m break in ‘out. Then watch me crash through that line. The reverie continues and charley’s son Bernard appears. Bernard informs Willy that biff is very weak in mathematics. Unless he works hard, he will get plucked and will not be able to graduate. Willy does not take Bernard’s warning seriously. He points to Biff sneakers (noiseless shoes) on which the words ‘University of Virginia ‘are printed. He says that Biff has already won the scholarships from three universities and therefore no teachers have the heart to fail such a promising student. It is a lie that universities are competing with one another to enrol Biff. Willy contemptuously dismisses, Bernard, calling him a pest and anemic. He says that Bernard can shine only in the classroom but not in the world outside, as he has no personality. He describes His sons as Adonis’s who can easily surpass the book –worm Bernard. Biffs’ commanding personality is in evidence when he orders his friends to sweep the furnace room and hang up the washed clothes that Linda brings. Both the parents are impressed by Biff‘s assertive and authoritative character. In this connection, Willy talks of himself as an irresistible salesman. He claims to have ‘knocked down’ everybody in Boston, meaning that he has won over customers without the least effort of his part. The first reverie thus highlights Willy’s chronic tendency to boast of himself and his sons. The next reverie occurs when Willy pays a tribute to his wife as the best he has got and that on the road, he sometimes wished to embrace her and kiss the life out of her ‘. The tribute revives in his mind the thoughts of the unnamed woman with whom he had a brief affair in a Boston restaurant. The woman appears smiling. She tries to wheedle money out of Willy by honoring him. She compliments Willy on his sense of humor and says that they have had a nice time together. She squeezes his arms and says that he is wonderful man …so sweet …such a kidder. Pleased, Willy promises to visit her during all his trips to Boston and presents her with a pair of stockings. He feels guilty of having lavished money on a worthless prostitute and left his sincere wife with old clothing. He asked her to throw away the old stockings and buy new ones. The next dream is a mixture of reality and dream. While playing cards with Charley, Will recollects his elder brother Ben who appears before him at once. Ben is a figment of Willy’s imagination. He is no more. He is visible only to Willy and not to Charley. Charley is puzzled by Willy’s conversation with the non –existing Ben. He stops playing with Wily and goes away. This reverie yields much information about Willy’s family background. Ben tells Willy about their father, a manufacturer of flutes who travelled with his family in his wagon across the country. , selling the flutes that he had made. Both Willy and his father is salesman with important difference that Willy sells other’s products and works under a tyrannical master whereas his father sold his own products, involving his entire family in the adventure of selling. Ben says that he left home at the comparatively early age of seventeen and reached the jungle of Africa where he stumbled on diamond mines and became a millionaire in a short period. He Prdicts that has a mock –boxing match with Biff in which he pulls Biff’s legs and makes him fall down. He advices Biff to be aggressive and unlawful and never to e fair with a stranger. This according to Ben , is the only way to emerge successful from the jungle of modern life . Willy wants to show Ben how strong his sons are. he advises both his sons to steal some sand from a nearby site from where they have already stolen some timber . Willy thus encourages Biff ‘s thieving habits . It is reported to Willy that the watchman is chasing Biff and might even hand him over to the police. Willy brushes aside the threats. Saying that Biff has got nerves of iron and can face any crisis . Willy then informs Ben that his job is not quite secure and that he feels “kind of temporary about himself . Ben quits and Willy’s reverie comes to an end. The third reverie is a very small one. It occurs at the end of the first act. Hoping that Biff will get a massive loan from Bill Oliver and start a business. Willy recalls Biff’s glorious career as a football champion at the school. When Biff the tallest of the players, entered the field, he looked like Hercules and was lustily cheered by the spectators. This reverie comes to an end with Willy hoping that such a star as Biff proved to be at school will not fade away in business. Willy’s young employer Haward dismisses him because he is too old to travel far and wide. Frustrated, Willy recalls his kind-hearted brother Ben who offers him a supervisory job in Alaska on a sumptuous salary. Willy is eager to go but Linda stops shim, saying that he has everything to satisfy him at home –loving sons , decent job and an understanding master-old Wagner-who has promised him a share in the firm . Willy is convinced and agrees to stay put. However, when Ben points out that Willy has worked long and with sincerely and yet has no achievement to his credit, Willy realizes the emptiness of his life and wishes to go to Alaska and make a mark there. Linda again intervenes and argues that a lot can be achieved in America itself, as the sixty –year –old salesman Dave Signalman proved by achieving a large volume of sales through mere telephonic contacts. Willy says that much can be done through ‘contacts ‘and an attractive personality. He says that it is not necessary to go abroad to the establish oneself. Willy says that Biff, with his handsome personality, is sure to rise to great heights. Willy repeats the lie that Biff has received offers of admission from three famous universities on account of his sporting powers and that, when he enters to office, his name will sound out like a bell and all the doors will open to him. Ben is disguised with Willy’s self –laudation and leaves. Now Bernard comes and announces that the decisive match at Ebbets Field is about to start. He considers it a great honor to carry Biff’s shoulder guards . Willy gets ready the pennants which are to be waved when Biff enters the field . Will is sure that by evening there will be dramatic rise in Biff’s status as captain of the All –Scholastic Championship Team of the City of New York. . Biff’s says rhetorically that every muscle is ready. At this time Charlie appears and makes disparaging comments. . He says that Willy’s excitement about the match is boyish. He asks Willy coolly. When are you going to grow up? Willy reports that after the match Biff will be recovered with glory and Charley will laugh out of the other side of his god dam face. He predicts that eight thousands people will gather to watch Biff’s game. At this point the reverie ends. We learn later the Willy’s hopes are all illusory. Biff loses the much –publicized Ebbets match and his career becomes dark and dismal. Contrary to his rosy expectations, Willy‘s life also grows from bad to worse. The next context in which the flashback occurs is very confusing because there is a mixture of the past and the present. Young Bernard representing the bygone school days, shouts to Linda that Biff has been plucked in the mathematics examination and that he has gone to Boston to meet his father. Linda hopes that her husband may succeed in persuading the mathematics teacher to sympathetically reconsider Biff’s case. A different flashback occurs now. Willy who has come to a restaurant to dine with his sons imagines himself to be in the Boston restaurant where he had an affair with the unnamed prostitute. He hears the prostitute laughing loudly and asking him to open the door and lets in the person who is knocking at the door loudly. Willy gets up to open the door. His sons think that he is going to the toilet. Biff goes out in a huff as he is disgusted with his fathers’ eccentric behavior. Happy follows him with two call girls, Miss Forshythe and Letta . The old flash back now continues. The place where Willy imagines himself to be now is the Boston restaurant where the unnamed call girl is staying with him. Somebody is knocking at the door loudly. There s a law in Boston prohibiting call girls remaining I hotel rooms. So the unnamed women hide her in the bath room and Willy opens the door .He is horrified to find Biff standing out side . Biff tells his father that he has been plucked in mathematics. He asks his father to influence he teacher to reconsider his case. Biff goes on to explain how he mimicked the teacher in the presence of all the boys and incurred his wrath. This makes Willy laugh. The woman hidden in the bathroom comes out laughing. Biff is horrified to find a prostitute in his father’s room. He is not convinced by his father’s explanation that she is decent woman who came to his room to bathe because her own bath room was being painted. After the woman goes away, Biff cries. Willy’s efforts to console him fail. Willy asks Biff not to attach too much importance to the episode. Biff is agonized. He calls Willy a phony fake, Willy is hurt. Biff walks out in anger. Willy keeps shouting to Biff to come back. The scene now shifts into the restaurant where Willy is to dine with his sons. Hearing him shouting for Biff, the waiter says that both his sons have gone away with the prostitutes. Towards the end of the second act, Willy imagines himself talking with Ben about his intention to commit suicide so that the insurance company will give Biff twenty thousand dollars . Ben objects to his proposition, saying that the insurance company will not honor if he commits suicide. Willy says that he worked hard like a coolie and paid the entire premium and so the insurance company cannot dodge. . Ben says that Biff will have only contempt for his father if he commits suicide. Willy replies that he is not contemptible. It will be proved by his funeral which will be attended by thousands of old-timers coming from different parts of America. With the insurance money Biff’s position is sure to skyrocket. After analyzing all the pros and cons. Ben approves of Willy’s plan to commit suicide. The reverie ends with Ben disappearing into darkness and Willy rushing away in his car to smash it and kill himself. The illusion aspect of the play is significant. Miller, through an expressionistic device makes it pointed and prominent. During his dream sequence Willy is not able to tell truth from fantasy. Willy himself has destroyed the boundaries between now and then. Thus expressionism is attuned to the experience of disintegration. The play is rooted in realistic conventions, but it extends the borders of realism without straining our credulity .The form of the play very well conveys the disintegrating mind of the protagonist. He is shown to be born between the past and the present, In short, he is in a schizophrenic state. Read More