Will Lowman Essay, Research Paper

No one has a perfect life. Everyone has conflicts that they must

face sooner or later. The ways in which people deal with these

personal conflicts can differ as much as the people themselves. Some

insist on ignoring the problem as long as possible, while some attack

the problem to get it out of the way. Willy Lowman’s technique in

Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, leads to very severe

consequences. Willy never really does anything to help the situation,

he just escapes into the past, whether intentionally or not, to

happier times were problems were scarce. He uses this escape as if it

were a narcotic, and as the play progresses, the reader learns that it

can be a dangerous drug, because of it’s addictiveness and it’s

deadliness.

The first time Willy is seen lapsing off into the past is when he

encounters Biff after arriving home. The conversation between Willy

and Linda reflects Willy’s disappointment in Biff and what he has

become, which is, for the most part, a bum. After failing to deal

adequately with his feelings, he escapes into a time when things were

better for his family. It is not uncommon for one to think of better

times at low points in their life in order to cheer themselves up so

that they are able to deal with the problems they encounter, but Willy

Lowman takes it one step further. His refusal to accept reality is so

strong that in his mind he is transported back in time to relive one

of the happier days of his life. It was a time when no one argued,

Willy and Linda were younger, the financial situation was less of a

burden, and Biff and Happy enthusiastically welcomed their father back

home from a long road trip. Willy’s need for the "drug" is satiated

and he is reassured that everything will turn out okay, and the family

will soon be as happy as it was in the good old days.

The next flashback occurs during a discussion between Willy and

Linda. Willy is depressed about his inability to make enough money to

support his family, his looks, his personality and the success of his

friend and neighbor, Charley. "My God if business doesn’t pick up , I

don’t know what I’m gonna do!" (36) is the comment made by Willy after

Linda figures the difference between the family’s income and their

expenses. Before Linda has a chance to offer any words of consolation

Willy blurts out "I’m Fat. I’m very–foolish to look at, Linda" (37).

In doing this he has depressed himself so much that he is visited by a

woman with whom he is having an affair. The woman’s purpose in this

point of the play is to cheer him up. She raises his spirits by

telling him how funny and loveable he is, saying "You do make me

laugh….And I think you’re a wonderful man." (38). And when he is

reassured of his attractiveness and competence, the woman disappears,

her purpose being fulfilled. Once again the drug has come to the

rescue, postponing Willy’s having to actually do something about his

problem.

The next day, when Willy is fired after initially going to ask

his boss to be relocated is when the next journey into the past

occurs. The point of the play during which this episode takes place is

so dramatic that willy seeks a big hit of the flashback drug. Such a

big hit in fact, that he is transported back to what was probably the

happiest day of his life. Biff was going to play in Ebbets field in

the All-Scholastic Championship game in front of thousands of people.

Willy couldn’t be prouder of his two popular sons who at the time had

everything going for them and seemed destined to live great, important

lives, much more so than the "liked, but not well liked" boy next

door, Bernard. Willy’s dependency on the "drug" is becoming greater by

the hour, at this rate, he cannot remain sane for much longer.

Too much of anything, even a good thing, can quickly become a bad

thing. Evidence of this statement is seen during Willy’s next

flashback, when the drug he has been using for so long to avoid his

problems backfires, giving him a "bad trip", quite possibly a side

effect of overuse. This time he is brought back to one of the most

disturbing moments in his life. It’s the day that Biff had discovered

his father’s mistress while visiting him on one of his trips to ask

him to come back home and negotiate with his math teacher to give him

the four points he needed to pass math and graduate high school. This

scene gives the reader a chance to fully understand the tension

between Willy and Biff, and why things can never be the same.

Throughout the play, the present has been full of misfortune for the

most part, while the opposite is true for the past. The reader is left

to wonder when the turning point occurred. What was the

earth-shattering event that threw the entire Lowman family into a

state of such constant tension? Now that event is revealed and Willy

is out of good memories to return to. With the last hit of Willy’s

supply of the drug spent, what next?

The comparison between Willy’s voyages into the past and the use

of a narcotic is so perceptible because of it’s verity. When Willy’s

feeling down, or life seems just too tedious and insignificant, or

when things just aren’t going his way, why not take a hit of the old

miracle drug, memories. The way he overuses his vivid imagination is

sad because the only thing it’s good for is enabling Willy to go

through one more day of his piteous life, full of bitterness,

confusion, depression, false hopefulness, and a feeling of love which

he is trying very hard to express to his sons who seem reluctant to

accept it.

"The Glass Menagerie" is set in the apartment of the Wingfield

family. By description, it is a cramped, dinghy place, not unlike a

jail cell. It is one of many such apartments in the neighborhood. Of

the Wingfield family members, none of them want to live there. Poverty

is what traps them in their humble abode. The escape from this

lifestyle, this apartment and these relationships is a significant

theme throughout the play. These escapes may be related to the fire

escape, the dance hall, the absent Mr. Wingfield and Tom’s inevitable

departure.

The play opens with Tom addressing the audience from the fire

escape. This entrance into the apartment provides a different purpose

for each of the characters. Overall, it is a symbol of the passage

from freedom to being trapped in a life of desperation. The fire

escape allows Tom the opportunity to get out of the apartment and away

from his nagging mother. Amanda sees the fire escape as an opportunity

for gentleman callers to enter their lives. Laura’s view is different

from her mother and her brother. Her escape seems to be hiding inside

the apartment, not out. The fire escape separates reality and the

unknown.

Across the street from the Wingfield apartment is the Paradise

Dance Hall. Just the name of the place is a total anomaly in the

story. Life with the Wingfields is as far from paradise as it could

possibly be. Laura appears to find solace in playing the same records

over and over again, day after day. Perhaps the music floating up to

the apartment from the dance hall is supposed to be her escape which

she just can’t take. The music from the dance hall often provides the

background music for certain scenes, The Glass Menagerie playing quite

frequently. With war ever-present in the background, the dance hall is

the last chance for paradise.

Mr. Wingfield, the absent father of Tom and Laura and husband to

the shrewish Amanda, is referred to often throughout the story. He is

the ultimate symbol of escape. This is because he has managed to

remove himself from the desperate situation that the rest of his

family are still living in. His picture is featured prominently on the

wall as a constant reminder of better times and days gone by. Amanda

always makes disparaging remarks about her missing husband, yet lets

his picture remain. Tom always makes jokes about his dad, and how he

"fell in love with long distances." This is his attempt to ease the

pain of abandonment by turning it into something humorous. It is

inevitable that the thing which Tom resents most in his father is

exactly what Tom himself will carry out in the end…escape! Through

his father, Tom has seen that escape is possible, and though he is

hesitant to leave his sister and even his mother behind, he is being

driven to it.

Tom escapes reality in many different ways. The first and most

obvious is the fire escape that leads him away from his desolate

home. Another would be the movies that Amanda is always nagging him

about. She thinks he spends too much time watching movies and that he

should work harder and find a suitable companion for Laura. The more

Amanda nags, the more Tom needs his movie escapes. They take him to

another world for a while, where mothers and sisters and runaway

fathers do not exist. As the strain gets worse, the movie watching

becomes more frequent, as does Tom’s drinking. It is getting harder

and harder for Tom to avoid real life. The time for a real departure

is fast approaching. Amanda eventually pushes him over the edge,

almost forcing him out, but not without laying overpowering guild

trips on him. Tom leaves, but his going away is not the escape that he

craved for so long. The guilt of abandoning Laura is overwhelming. He

cannot seem to get over it. Everything he sees is a reminder of her.

Tom is now truly following in the footsteps of his father. Too late,

he is realizing that leaving is not an escape at all, but a path of

even more powerful desperation.

Williams uses the theme of escape throughout "The Glass Menagerie"

to demonstrate the hopelessness and futility of each character’s

dreams. Tom, Laura and Amanda all seem to think, incorrectly I might

add, that escape is possible. In the end, no character makes a clean

break from the situation at hand. The escape theme demonstrated in the

fire escape, the dance hall, Mr. Wingfield and Tom’s departure prove

to be a dead end in many ways. Perhaps Tennessee Williams is trying to

send a message that running away is not the way to solve life’s

problems. The only escape in life is solving your problems, not

avoiding them.