Growing a Garden in Death of a Salesman - 746 Words

Growing a Garden In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses motifs and symbols to express some of the problems of the main character, Willy. Miller motivates Willy to start a garden in the backyard of his apartment, even though the garden won’t grow. This showed Willy to be the type who does not accept defeat, as he believes he can grow a garden, but to the reader, it’s obvious that he can’t. Although filled with the desire to grow a garden in order to start anew, Willy is unable to do so due to his apartment and his thoughts. To start off, Willy’s inability to grow a garden is majorly due to the environment his apartment is placed in. In this story, the apartment is a tool of symbolism used to develop the idea of the modern world. The apartment that blocks the sun into his backyard limits Willy’s ability to grow a garden. This modern society shadows over his house, keeping the sun away, also keeping him in the past. This leads to the way the modern world is run, an d because it is different than what Willy can handle, he cannot adapt to modern society. The modern world restricts Willy from starting anew, but the irony being that not only does Willy not have the money to move on from his house and into a place where he could grow a garden, he simply doesn’t want to. He wishes to stay, but needs money to pay off the house. His lack of money is expressed as Linda mentions for him not to â€Å"forget to ask for a little advance† (53). What Linda is referring to is that WillyShow MoreRelated Comparing Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences by August Wilson1267 Words   |  6 PagesComparing Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences by August Wilson Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences by August Wilson have similar themes of conflicts between fathers and sons, conflicts between husbands and wives, and the need to focus on a small unit of space in order to achieve success. In the process of developing these themes throughout the two plays, three similar symbolic elements are used including the insecure father figure, the other woman, and the garden. Read More The Conflicted Linda Loman in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman762 Words   |  4 PagesThe Conflicted Linda Loman in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman  Ã‚   Watching a solitary blade of grass will never tell you the direction of hurricane, just as one characteristic can never describe Linda Loman. In Death of a Salesman, Linda Loman is a woman torn between guilt, retaliation, and pity. Her guilt stems from the fact that she prevented Willy from pursuing his true American Dream; she retaliates in response to Willys failure; she feels sorry for Willy, because he is a pitiful loneRead MoreEssay about Using Time Lapses in Death of a Salesman1122 Words   |  5 PagesUsing Time Lapses in Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller wrote â€Å"Death of a Salesman† in 1949. 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