‘What’s he doing out there?’ ’He’s planting the garden!’ Do they think my old age has made me deaf? Every word they speak is clear to me, in such high definition that I can feel the pity dripping from their voices. ’Carrots…’ I’m letting my family down. I am a failure as a husband and father. ‘Quarter inch apart.’ Time’s running out; I’m getting on, I haven’t enough time left to prove I can provide for my family. ‘Rows…’ Money. There’s no money. I’m a failure. ‘…one-foot rows.’ If my family had money, if they had even a fragment of power, they would gain love and respect. Why am I holding them back? ‘One foot.’ Why must they invest so much time and effort in worrying over me when they could be earning their place like I’ve always pushed them to? ‘Beets.’ Why am I the only one stopping my family from my own dream? ‘Lettuce. One foot—’ Ben begins to move slowly toward me. Am I delusional? Am I senile? ‘She’s suffered, Ben, the woman has suffered…’ she’s suffered because of me, because I’m failure as a man and as the provider for our family. ‘A man can’t go out the way he came in, Ben, a man has got to add up to something. You can’t, you can’t—’ He moves towards me further, as though to interrupt. ‘You gotta consider, now…’ More talk of money and propositions that will never come to be; my whole life has been a blur of dreams, propositions. Cowardly? Why? ‘Why does it take more guts to spend my life ringing up a zero?’ Is this all I am?
Yeah I tried to portray how brainwashed by Capitalism & the American Dream Willy is. Don't know if it worked. -CASSIE-
There was something deep and intense stirring inside the mind of Willy. The urge for release; yet the uncontrollable desire to have a part of him permanently embedded in the lives of others (a result of his insecurities.) This was why it came as no surprise to Linda when Willy was manically planting the seeds. She understood his mind, his fears and his lack of self-worth. Knowing that his mission was a search for freedom, Linda and her two sons came together waiting until the moment Willy was satisfied with his burying and they could offer comfort, reassurance and a sense of peace. That evening, they family breathed air of peace for the first time in their entire lives. Biff and Happy presented Willy with heartfelt speeches
Write an alternative ending for Death of a Salesman; keeping the events the same but from a different perspective. The ending must be ‘happy’ for at least one character.
Freudian views: the idea that one has subconscious sexual desire for one’s mother or father. Willy’s death could be seen as a relief to Linda and Biff; they can embrace their emotional relationship without the dominating presence of Willy and his jealousy. Willy’s death may be seen as his escape from the emotional turmoil he has experienced, whilst being the reluctant spectator in Linda and Biff’s close relationship.
Willy Loman carries a flashlight across his garden, lighting his path. In his left hand is a collection of vegetable seed packets. He kneels beside a patch of soil, and begins to measure quarter inch spaces for which to plant the beginning of new life. He drops the seeds in to equally spaced holes; precise, perfect yet pointless. His desperate efforts to leave behind something for his beloved wife are likely to go unnoticed; the crops will remain un-watered and wither with time, symmetrical to the pattern that his life followed. He started fresh, just as these vegetables would, yet suffered from the lack of essential love and compassion that all living organisms need for survival, whether in the form of water or attention. Willy plants the last seed, a tear rolling down his cheek. He merely wants to leave something that Linda could benefit from in the future, something to remind her of him and something that could support her, even if in such a simple way. He realises that he has not loved her enough, nor appreciated her gestures of pure devotion. He knows that this rejection of his wife is purely due to his cruel, bitter jealousy of his son, Biff.
The relationship between Biff and Linda has always been the source of much emotional turmoil for our anti-hero. She is quick to defend, comfort and protect her spawn; she is often seen to mollycoddle her eldest son. It is without question that this bond is more than a maternal connection; Biff once said that he wanted a girl who was steady, someone with substance. It was clear that this description matched Linda’s admirable characteristics, and so Biff’s desire for a woman not unlike his mother did not go unnoticed by Willy. After a life of failing to meet the expectations of others, this mother-son relationship was the penultimate reason for Willy’s suicide.
Willy sat silently in the driving seat of his car, his hands clenching the steering wheel. He thought fondly of Linda, of how he had never been able to make her happy or meet her expectations of him. He remembered all the times when she had smiled, laughed even, whilst in Biff’s company and his grip on the wheel tightened. He forced himself to smile, trying to convince himself that this was the only way he could set his wife free from the burden of his jealousy. The ultimate consequence of his love is the arrival of his death; this was the only path that he could take, the only way that could make Linda happy. His foot pushed gently on the accelerator, and a rush of adrenaline shot through him. He pushed his foot to the floor and the car sped from the driveway, the street rushing past through the windows. His final thought was of his wife; laughing, embracing her son and finally embracing their relationship.
Linda knelt on the grass, tossing her emotions into the neatly dug grave. Tears fell from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks and splashing onto the fine wooden box that held her husband’s body. However, this was not pure sadness, nor grief. There was a sense of freedom in her heart, and she smiled gently as her son wrapped an arm around her shoulder. No longer was there the shadow of her husband’s jealousy hanging over them.
THEME - CAPITALISM
ReplyDelete‘What’s he doing out there?’
’He’s planting the garden!’
Do they think my old age has made me deaf? Every word they speak is clear to me, in such high definition that I can feel the pity dripping from their voices.
’Carrots…’ I’m letting my family down. I am a failure as a husband and father. ‘Quarter inch apart.’ Time’s running out; I’m getting on, I haven’t enough time left to prove I can provide for my family. ‘Rows…’ Money. There’s no money. I’m a failure. ‘…one-foot rows.’ If my family had money, if they had even a fragment of power, they would gain love and respect. Why am I holding them back? ‘One foot.’ Why must they invest so much time and effort in worrying over me when they could be earning their place like I’ve always pushed them to? ‘Beets.’ Why am I the only one stopping my family from my own dream? ‘Lettuce. One foot—’
Ben begins to move slowly toward me. Am I delusional? Am I senile? ‘She’s suffered, Ben, the woman has suffered…’ she’s suffered because of me, because I’m failure as a man and as the provider for our family. ‘A man can’t go out the way he came in, Ben, a man has got to add up to something. You can’t, you can’t—’ He moves towards me further, as though to interrupt. ‘You gotta consider, now…’
More talk of money and propositions that will never come to be; my whole life has been a blur of dreams, propositions. Cowardly? Why? ‘Why does it take more guts to spend my life ringing up a zero?’ Is this all I am?
Yeah I tried to portray how brainwashed by Capitalism & the American Dream Willy is. Don't know if it worked. -CASSIE-
There was something deep and intense stirring inside the mind of Willy. The urge for release; yet the uncontrollable desire to have a part of him permanently embedded in the lives of others (a result of his insecurities.) This was why it came as no surprise to Linda when Willy was manically planting the seeds. She understood his mind, his fears and his lack of self-worth. Knowing that his mission was a search for freedom, Linda and her two sons came together waiting until the moment Willy was satisfied with his burying and they could offer comfort, reassurance and a sense of peace.
ReplyDeleteThat evening, they family breathed air of peace for the first time in their entire lives. Biff and Happy presented Willy with heartfelt speeches
Briony & Sophie:
ReplyDeleteWrite an alternative ending for Death of a Salesman; keeping the events the same but from a different perspective. The ending must be ‘happy’ for at least one character.
Freudian views: the idea that one has subconscious sexual desire for one’s mother or father. Willy’s death could be seen as a relief to Linda and Biff; they can embrace their emotional relationship without the dominating presence of Willy and his jealousy. Willy’s death may be seen as his escape from the emotional turmoil he has experienced, whilst being the reluctant spectator in Linda and Biff’s close relationship.
Willy Loman carries a flashlight across his garden, lighting his path. In his left hand is a collection of vegetable seed packets. He kneels beside a patch of soil, and begins to measure quarter inch spaces for which to plant the beginning of new life. He drops the seeds in to equally spaced holes; precise, perfect yet pointless. His desperate efforts to leave behind something for his beloved wife are likely to go unnoticed; the crops will remain un-watered and wither with time, symmetrical to the pattern that his life followed. He started fresh, just as these vegetables would, yet suffered from the lack of essential love and compassion that all living organisms need for survival, whether in the form of water or attention. Willy plants the last seed, a tear rolling down his cheek. He merely wants to leave something that Linda could benefit from in the future, something to remind her of him and something that could support her, even if in such a simple way. He realises that he has not loved her enough, nor appreciated her gestures of pure devotion. He knows that this rejection of his wife is purely due to his cruel, bitter jealousy of his son, Biff.
The relationship between Biff and Linda has always been the source of much emotional turmoil for our anti-hero. She is quick to defend, comfort and protect her spawn; she is often seen to mollycoddle her eldest son. It is without question that this bond is more than a maternal connection; Biff once said that he wanted a girl who was steady, someone with substance. It was clear that this description matched Linda’s admirable characteristics, and so Biff’s desire for a woman not unlike his mother did not go unnoticed by Willy. After a life of failing to meet the expectations of others, this mother-son relationship was the penultimate reason for Willy’s suicide.
Willy sat silently in the driving seat of his car, his hands clenching the steering wheel. He thought fondly of Linda, of how he had never been able to make her happy or meet her expectations of him. He remembered all the times when she had smiled, laughed even, whilst in Biff’s company and his grip on the wheel tightened. He forced himself to smile, trying to convince himself that this was the only way he could set his wife free from the burden of his jealousy. The ultimate consequence of his love is the arrival of his death; this was the only path that he could take, the only way that could make Linda happy. His foot pushed gently on the accelerator, and a rush of adrenaline shot through him. He pushed his foot to the floor and the car sped from the driveway, the street rushing past through the windows. His final thought was of his wife; laughing, embracing her son and finally embracing their relationship.
Linda knelt on the grass, tossing her emotions into the neatly dug grave. Tears fell from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks and splashing onto the fine wooden box that held her husband’s body. However, this was not pure sadness, nor grief. There was a sense of freedom in her heart, and she smiled gently as her son wrapped an arm around her shoulder. No longer was there the shadow of her husband’s jealousy hanging over them.