DOAS critics Flashcards
(28 cards)
TATCM: ‘The revolutionary questioning…
…of the stable environment is what terrifies’.
This is what Willy cannot confront.
Critic: ‘sacrificing himself to provide Biff…
… a secure future provides Willy with a ‘noble stature’.’
Robert Martin
Sheila Huftel: ‘Loman fell from only an…
…imagined height’
What does Ardolino Frank suggest the ‘two beautiful elm trees’ represent?
Biff and Happy
Bliquez: ‘To overlook the part Linda had in her husband’s pathetic downfall is…
…to miss one of the most profound levels on Miller’s subtle structuring of his tragedy.’
Bliquez: ‘It demonstrates how a fear of the…
…responsibilities of knowledge can lead only to ruin’
What is significant about the cheese?
Men consume whatever women produce
How is Linda (at least partly) culpable for Willy’s death?
- Gardening scene
- Her reassurance that he is ‘well-liked’ and ‘doing well enough’ is destructive, as it perpetuates his illusion; this will eventually kill him.
- She encourages him to find a new job, but of course a new job would not solve his crisis.
- She, like Willy, romanticises the past to such a degree they cannot face the present.
- Instead of confronting the painful truth of his issues, she shields him from them which contributes to his demise. She suggests the faulty steering on the Studebaker, as well as Willy’s glasses, as possible reasons why can’t drive.
- ‘She has developed an iron repression of her exceptions to Willy’s behaviour’
How did Miller dismiss critics who saw Willy as merely a foolish man?
- He said: ‘they themselves are living in obedience to the same law that killed him’
What is the inherent contradiction of Willy’s character regarding the sale/ownership of goods?
- He has one set of values as a consumer, and another as a salesman. He is frustrated by goods, such as the car and fridge, which fall apart, but peddles his own shoddy goods.
What do opposing social forces cause in Willy’s persona?
- A lack of a stable foundation/consistent core.
- The feeling of being ‘temporary’ about oneself was something Miller himself experienced.
How did Miller combat the accusation that Willy had no grand ideals?
- ‘Had Willy been unaware of his separation from values that endure he would have died contentedly while polishing his car… But he was agonized by his awareness of… the hollowness of all he had placed his faith in’ Yet he could not take the final step to confront and overcome it, and so he is ruled by it
- His death becomes the only way he can succeed on his terms; the only way he can die and leave something ‘in the ground’
Why is it difficult to pity Willy?
- He desperately asks Ben, Charley and Bernard what the secret is, and despite being told there is no such thing he persists.
- He ultimately pays for this mistake.
Why did Marxists find DOAS problematic?
- It depicts a man who brings disaster on himself, rather than social conditions crushing him.
Raymond Williams (paraphrased): ‘Willy has sold himself for so long that…
…he has begun to sell himself.’
he sells himself to Linda and the boys by overstating his importance and how much money he makes.
What is Willy’s false consciousness?
- His inability to perceive his exploitation or his excusing of it.
How can Willy be described during the conversation with Howard?
- Acquiescent, he is drawn into praising it.
- Tells a rambling, emotive tale which is entirely uneffective.
What did Arthur Miller say about Biff vs Willy?
- He was sorry that ‘Biff is not a weightier counterbalance to Willy’s disaster in the audience’s mind’
- This implies he is the embodiment of hope at the end.
What do Happy’s sexual endeavours reflect about his character?
- He wishes to undermine and compete at every available opportunity.
- Without even knowing of his father’s infidelity he is replicating it.
- An ideologically-rooted problem.
What does Biff’s kleptomania represent?
- A misguided dissatisfaction with Willy’s model of success and his growing desire for fulfilment.
What are Nietzsche’s metaphors for nihilism?
- Twilight, the bottomless abyss, madness and death. All are shown by Willy.
- Willy’s ‘will to power’ is perhaps his choice to take his own life, or perhaps he simply doesn’t achieve one.
How is Willy controlled by hegemony?
- Gramsci, a Marxist, defined hegemony as the condition whereby a state maintains control of its people by subtly maintaining a dominance of the ideas which are popular.
- An example of this in Willy’s case is ‘competition’
What does Willy’s desire for Biff to dependent of him convey?
- An adherence to the capitalist concept of the family as a web of dependence, not as a thing of love and virtue.
- Engels believed the family to be a crucial part of the capitalist model which allowed people to be further enslaved to it.
How does the depiction of the Woman demonstrate Miller’s relative disinterest in female characters?
She is described only in so far as she is relevant to Willy e.g about the same age, rather proper looking etc
