Similar Ideas In The Plays Fences And Death Of A Salesman
“In order to succeed, your desire for success, should be greater, than your fear of failure” -Bill Cosby.In the play ,Fences by August Wilson,Troy let fear consume him, instead of trying to push himself more toward his dream, he dragged his son Cory down with him,crushing his hopes and his dreams for his future. “A person has to remember that the road to success is always under construction. You have to get that through your head. It’s not easy becoming successful.” - Steve Harvey. In the play,Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman had a theory and believed that if you were well-liked ,you were automatically successful. We see that his son Biff was an all-star in sports and was well-liked by the ladies and everyone, unlike Bernard, but one mistake Biff made was letting it all go by not passing math, causing him not graduate, were as we see in fifthteen years that Bernard is a lawyer, who is married and has children ,where as Biff has nothing. Success requires effort, in order to be achieved.
Willy Loman, is a man who desperately wants to be successful. He, like most others, has both positive and negative personality traits. The way Willy sees himself, as well as the way others see him changes between the beginning and the end of the play.
At the beginning of the play, Willy sees himself as being successful and well-liked. This is partly because he is trying to maintain a successful image for the sake of his friends and family. Willy puts great emphasis on his theory that one is more successful if they are attractive and well-liked. According to him, he is well known throughout New England and can sell things to many people there, even going as far as to stay that he is vital there. Willy is also very proud of the fact that he averages one hundred and seventy dollars in sales in 1928. When he looks at these accomplishments, he feels successful and well-liked.As the play goes on, Willy begins to see himself as a failure in his job, as a father, and in his marriage. “No man needs a little salary.”(Charley, Requiem) “Where was all the people he knew?” (Linda,Requiem)
Troy Maxson, is a man who was unsuccessful to move on from the past leads him to abandon his dreams, and in turn, drag down the dreams of everyone else along with him.When Troy is first notified of the college coach coming to see him on behalf of Cory, he is sitting talking to his friend and co-worker Mr. Bono after their payday like they do every week. Though this seems like an amazing offer, Troy disapproves. He claims that it’s “the white man” that’s going to keep Cory from putting together any type of a career playing football. Rose and Bono try to tell Troy that the game has changed: “Times have changed since you was playing baseball, Troy. That was before the war. Times have changed a lot since then” (Act I, Scene i, page 9). This statement gets Troy very riled up about his playing career in the Negro Leagues, in which he felt he deserved to play in the Majors. This segregation, however, is long past, but Troy is unwilling to see it because he cannot accept that he was never able to live his dream. Now that Cory is being recruited, Troy is being obstructive because he doesn’t realize, or doesn’t want to realize, that black players can be successful at all levels of the game.
Troy and Willy have failed to realize ,what the true meaning of success is, one doesn’t simply gain his way through be being well-liked ,while the other must strive for what he is truly passionate about. In order to achieve success, one must work to his greatest potential, reaching the pinnacle of the desired goal or dream.Success requires effort, in order to be achieved.
