1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.
One very famous play that comes to mind when thinking about conflicts between a parent and their child, is Death of a Salesman. Willy Loman doesn't approve of his son, Biff's, actions, and Biff doesn't believe that Willy, Happy, his brother, and he can make it out in the business world. These father-son conflicts began at a young age, and have become worse since then. The conflict between Willy and Biff puts a huge weight on the rest of the family, and forces them to see the truth about who they really are.
Willy and Biff's problems started after Biff graduated high school when Biff went to Willy, who was on a business trip in Boston, about failing his math class. This was when he caught Willy having an affair. Things weren't the same since. It wasn't just the fact that Willy was cheating on Linda, Biff's mother, though. Biff felt betrayed by the person he loved most in the world. He looked up to his father so much, and on that day when he found out his father's secret, he realized that everything his father had told him since he was young, was a lie. Willy was not as good a man as he talked himself up to be.
The affair was definitely a source of the conflict, but another source would be how Willy tried to teach Biff and his brother, Happy, his superficial idea of the American Dream since they were young. Willy always told them that as long as they were well-liked, then everything would work out for them in life, and they would be rich. He also told the boys that they were the best out there and no one could tell them what to do. Biff believed this, but it backfired on him. He realized that he is nothing special, he is just an ordinary man like everyone else in the world. No one can make it to the top without working hard. Biff even says to his father in the play that what Willy had been telling him was all wrong, and that this dream of his should stop before someone gets seriously hurt.
Biff and Willy disagreed on a lot of things, but the main one, was about Biff going out West and working. Willy had always dreamed that his sons would both become big, successful businessmen; just like he imagined himself to be. Although Happy did go into business, he wasn't too successful, but just like his father, he thought he was the best. When Biff came back from out west, he tried to please his father by trying to get a job in the city, but when it didn't workout, it blew up in every one's face. The whole family was forced to face the truth that the Loman men, were indeed "low men" and there was no escaping it. This put a lot of pressure on Linda too because she was constantly trying to mend Biff and Willy's relationship, but ended up just getting pushed to the side.
All in all, Biff and Willy's relationship, or lack of relationship, put a tremendous amount of pressure on the family, and pushed them to the breaking point. It showed how wrong Willy's idea of the American dream really was, and how he had unrealistic expectations of life. They shouldn't have tried to be what they were not just to be well-liked, because that clearly did not help any of them in achieving their ideal American Dream, or becoming a closer family.
I think Death of a Salesman fits perfectly with the prompt so great choice! One thing that I saw happen a lot throughout this essay was summary, I think you need to do less of the "what" and do more "why". For example when you talk about how Willy teaches his kids about the superficial idea of the American Dream I think you should talk about how and why that affected his already messed up relationship with Biff. Also I think you should have a conclusion paragraph that's more encompassing of the idea of your essay rather than an opinion on Willy's character. Overall I think you picked out solid pieces of evidence, and with a little more analysis I think this would be a really good essay!
ReplyDeleteMehar, I think you need to focus more on the "meaning of the work" mentioned in the prompt for this essay. I think that your ideas are good, but there should be a sort of progression from the thesis to conclusion in your essay, where the thesis is sort of a road map for the body paragraphs in which you need to keep making progress in your analysis of the book towards the point where you have said all you have to say about the meaning and given sufficient evidence.
ReplyDeleteYour claims, evidence and warrants mostly seem to pertain to conclusions about the book and the plot or characters in Death of a Salesman. I think that the meaning of the piece should be shown in a way that is more generally what the author is trying to say about the world, and that you need to show how he says this with literary techniques.
As a side note, there were only a few details that jumped out to me as wrong (a couple little grammar things, Biff didn't actually graduate high school which is important) and you did a really good job with that!