Literary Response Coursework Example

Literary Response
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Introduction
The “Death of a Salesman” is artistic work which is centered on a man who tries to reach America and have a ride with his family. The main character, Loman lives a hectic and miserable life but he tries to be successful and live a happy life. Loman lives a life of dreaming of being successful one day. The problems the character encounters cause his death because of the stupidity and the desire to succeed. The Loman’s wife lived a life full of pains because he did know what he was able to accomplish. He lived a life with high expectations of succeeding one day and live a happy life. Linda lived pathetic life while trying to accommodate the desires of his husband (Marino 2015). Loman had unreachable goals in his life. The Loman’s children were brought up in a miserable life and they had bleak future. They put their future in jeopardy since their further was helpless.
The character of Loman is basically broken. This seems to be the author’s criticism of America because he is from communist society. Loman believes that success comes when one is liked by many people and has the charismatic character. Loman was a socialist and passed the charismatic character to his children.
Dramatic devices
The main themes that the author tries to portray are denial and contradiction. The author various dramatic devise to portray the themes. The author uses the dramatic irony to portray the two themes of the play. For instance, Loman reveals that his dream is to own a business and leave the dream of leaving his home to America.

At the start of the play, Loman comes from a trip and perhaps America. Willy never managed to achieve the dream of establishing his own business. In addition, Miller explored that the American dream was not achievable through hard work and dedication. This was contrary to what people believed. The Loman’s son grew up and became a professional drifter. The son was sacked from a job because the performance was not rhyming with the expectations of the employer. This is ironic because his father believed that success was measured by how popular one is but not the hard work. In the end, Loman’s dream becomes a nightmare. He builds a mere garage which is ironical to his dream. The thing that made Loman happy was only the dreams he had of being successful one day.
Again, the author uses symbolism to describe the theme of denial and contradiction. Loman claims that his work was rewarding and well liked. Loman boasts to one of his sons that he owns a car that is protected by the New England cops. Later Loman admits that the society does not take on him when he was talking privately (dialogue) with his wife (Marino 2015). He simply dismisses this by saying “don’t be foolish”. The author uses symbolism in the Loman’s actions of darning stocking. This was a symbol clear circumstances. It was an indication that he had accepted that he was a failure in his life. The audience now becomes aware of the Loman’s fatal flaw nature. This raised the suspense to the tragedy that unfolded. In addition, the Loman’s dream was a symbol of a desire or interest in certain lifestyle. The Lomans dream was to reach America. He believed that reaching America was a sign of success. America is also used as a symbol of success.
Conclusion
The death of a salesman is a play whose main theme is denial and contrast. The author uses several styles and dramatic device to describe his themes. The choice of the characters and the plot of the play is consistent to describe the themes clearly. He uses irony and symbolism as figurative languages to emphasize the themes of the play.
References
Marino, S. (2015). Arthur Miller-Death of a Salesman/The Crucible. Palgrave Macmillan.