Symbolism in Millers Death of a Salesman Essays - Free Essays

Symbolism in Miller's Death of a Salesman Essays - Free Essays Symbolism in Miller's Death of a Salesman By: Sam Stillwell Mrs. Carol Hake English 101-503 23 April 2017 Outline Thesis statement: The symbolism of the seeds, the tennis racket, the fountain pen, diamonds and the stockings are all essential for the general concept of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses common objects as symbols between the main characters in his play. Women's stockings and their holes symbolize the failing relationship between Willy and his wife. Seeds in a garden symbolize Willy's declining sense of self-worth and his need to leave something significant behind after his death. The tennis racket Willy observes when he chats with Bernard in Charley's office is a symbol of Bernard's success and Biff's failure. Finally, the fountain pen is a symbol of the burden Willy's son Biff carries as he tries to live up to his father's image even though he never wants to inhabit that role. Linda is always sewing her old stockings to fix their holes. The holes resemble the things in her life that are broken. Willy gets frustrated with Linda when she tries to fix the old stockings; he feels she should throw them out. He says: "Will you stop mending stockings? At least while I am in the house. It gets me nervous. I can't tell you. Please" (75). Willy's reaction to the sewing suggests the guilt he feels for having an affair - he gave a pair of Linda's stockings to his mistress. To Biff, who witnessed that transaction, stockings represent betrayal and deep hurt. "You-you gave her mama's stockings" (121). Biff becomes aware that his father is messing around with another women and becomes very emotional. It almost seems that the stockings are the reason for Biff's anger. It also important note the new stockings are important for Willy's pride in being financially successful and thus able to provide for his family. The seeds that Willy constantly talks about throughout the entire play are very significant to him. Seeds represent for Willy the opportunity to prove the worth of his labor, both as a salesman and a father. Willy is afraid when he dies he will have nothing to leave his family. Willy thinks that when he dies that there will be no one to put food on the table, so the vegetables are his attempt of doing so. Throughout the play you can notice Willy is always talking about the seeds and seems as if he is in a rush to plant the seeds, I think that is because every time he talks about seeds he is closer to the time he plans to commit his suicide. The seeds also symbolize Willy's sense of failure with Biff. Willy planned on raising Biff to be a smart salesman, but Biff got into trouble for stealing and Willy blames himself for raising his son, in what he thinks is the wrong way. The fountain pen symbolizes dishonesty and greed in the business world. After Biff steals the pen and he is on the stairs, he thinks to himself that he doesn't want to be in the same position as his dad and be unhappy and miserable in his life. Biff comes to understand that the American dream only creates emptiness and frustration. The fountain pen also stands for a changing point for Biff and he returns the pen to the office and leaves. You can see this because at the end of the play Biff wants to reconcile with his dad and not argue like they always do. Especially since Biff already knows about his father's affair with the mistress, he does a good job of changing his attitude and keeping cool. "Every time I've left it's been a fight that sent me out of here" (128). This just simply shows that Biff and Willy constantly get into fights and Biff wants to actually change that. "The Jungle is dark but full of diamonds" (85). The diamonds are the second biggest symbol in this play. Ben rubs the diamonds in Willy's face throughout the play. Willy is frustrated because he doesn't have any tangible evidence to show for his achievements in sales, while Ben can physically show his diamonds off.

8 Quick Tips for Writing Under Pressure

8 Quick Tips for Writing Under Pressure You have 25 minutes to compose an SAT essay, two hours to write a final exam paper, less than half a day to finish a project proposal for your boss. Heres a little secret: both in college and beyond, most writing is done under pressure. Composition theorist Linda Flower reminds us that some degree of pressure can be a good source of motivation. But when worry or the desire to perform well is too great, it creates an additional task of coping with anxiety (Problem-Solving Strategies for Writing, 2003). So learn to cope. Its remarkable how much writing you can produce when youre up against a strict deadline. To avoid feeling overwhelmed by a writing task, consider adopting these eight (admittedly not-so-simple) strategies. Slow down.  Resist the urge to jump into a writing project before youve thought about your topic and your purpose for writing. If youre taking an exam, read the instructions carefully and skim all the questions. If youre writing a report for work, think about who will be reading the report and what they expect to get out of it.Define your task.  If youre responding to an essay prompt or a question on an exam, make sure youre actually answering the question. (In other words, dont dramatically alter a topic to suit your interests.) If youre writing a report, identify your primary purpose in as few words as possible, and make sure you dont stray far from that purpose.Divide your task.  Break down your writing task into a series of manageable smaller steps (a process called chunking), and then focus on each step in turn. The prospect of completing an entire project (whether its a dissertation or a progress report) may be overwhelming. But you should always be able to come up with a few sentences or paragraphs without panicking. Budget and monitor your time.  Calculate how much time is available to complete each step, setting aside a few minutes for editing at the end. Then stick to your timetable. If you hit a trouble spot, skip ahead to the next step. (When you come back to a trouble spot later on, you may find out you can eliminate that step altogether.)Relax.  If you tend to freeze up under pressure, try a relaxation technique such as deep breathing, freewriting, or an imagery exercise. But unless youve had your deadline extended by a day or two, resist the temptation to take a nap. (In fact, research shows that using a relaxation technique can be even more refreshing than sleep.)Get it down.  As humorist James Thurber once advised, Dont get it right, just get it written. Concern yourself with getting the words down, even though you know you could do better if you had more time. (Fussing over every word can actually heighten your anxiety, distract you from your purpose, and get in the way of a larg er goal: completing the project on time.) Review.  In the final minutes, quickly review your work to make sure that all your key ideas are on the page, not just in your head. Dont hesitate to make last-minute additions or deletions.Edit.  Novelist Joyce Cary had a habit of omitting vowels when writing under pressure. In your remaining seconds, restore the vowels (or whatever you tend to leave out when writing quickly). In most cases its a myth that making last-minute corrections does more harm than good. Finally, the best way to learn how to write under pressure is . . . to write under pressureover and over again. So stay calm and keep practicing.