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Why is it that when ever you go to a park or one of the most oldest public monuments, you " ll see something carved in it or around it? Wether it says: "Janet & Mark ' 87 " or "Samuel. L ' 74 ." These carvings were found on a huge rock formation in Wildcat Canyon National park. What motivates these people to do this? Do they just like to write thier names in strange places? Maybe for some people it is, but my explanation is that they want to be remembered.
They want people to walk around there and read the carvings, and ask questions and think of them to themselves like: "I wonder who they are" or if people know already who they are they " ll ask "Wow, I remember them! Gosh, its been so long, I wonder how they are, if they " re alive." This act is a need for immortality. They want something they made to be remembered by the public, and possibly influence them to add thier names to the oversized historical autograph pad. The universal definition of immortality is to live forever, although no one can actually achieve it unless your some sort of superior human being, which I doubt anyone is. You may not live forever but other people's memory of you might.
Great stories, passed down from generation is a way, making a national monument that represents you is another. Immortality is very hard to obtain, and Willy Loman from the play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller is proof. A lost man who thought he can leave a mark in the world by being a salesman. He had a dream to become loved, and known, which would be the American Dream, but this dream led to his own death. As Arthur Miller would put it when he was talking about the play, obtaining immortality is like inscribing your name onto a cake of ice, on a hot July day.
Like his concurring dreams, its futile. Thats why its a greater need than hunger, sex and thirst. Its something so difficult to accomplish that its almost impossible. Willy Loman has failed, unlike his role model Dave Singlemen, He tried so hard to be remembered and loved like Dave that he practically blinded himself from the truth. If you made a hand print in wet cement, will it stay there forever?
It will eventually get paved over, given time. That doesnt mean you can't do it, people are actually becoming immortals every day and that form of immortality is called birth. Mothers around the world are giving birth to new people everyday. When you give birth, your child is a part of you, a miniature version of yourself. You can call that immortality too, because your child's memory of you will live on forever, until he / she has his / hers own child, which your memory will continue. Immortality can be the simplest need to obtain, and yet become the hardest if you think about it.
Arthur Miller made this point very clear, that Willy doesn't know that he already achieved his goal, Biff and Happy is his immortality, but he wasn't intrested in that, he wanted the whole world to know who he is. As he would put it in his own words "What can be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty four, into twenty or thirty cities, and pick up a phone and be remembered, and loved, and helped by so many different people?" Willy wants that, he thought that Singlemen can do it, and he can do it easily. He dreamed of being a salesman, a person that every other salesman, and every customer will remember forever, he lived up to part of it and had a blindfold covering his eyes at the same time. His own dreams led to his downfall, he found that he hated it, and that it wont help him achieve his dream, so he pursued a new one, with the help of his sons and his brother Ben. Watching it turn to failure, he soon's starts to contradicts himself about everything thats wrong, he blames others at first, then himself. He tries to hide himself from his family, making everything sound great, then slowly bringing it down.
Its not easy when your Willy Loman. In the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakuer, a biographical story, about a young man that was found dead in Alaska, it relates with this topic and also in some way, it also relates to Death of a Salesman. Alex McCandless and Willy Loman are alike in many ways. They both have a goal to find themselves, Alex however expresses it differently, by doing what I think is completely stupid, but to him its like a spiritual journey. Chris McCandless, who later's changed his name to Alex, leaves his great life to become a drifter. He decides to move around city to city, meeting new friends.
Although Chris did not reach his goal, he got a lot closer to achieving immortality than Willy Loman did. At least he left a mark at the places he visited, people knew him, became friends with him thats one of difference between them. Alex never sold products, no, he sold his academic skills and his hard working abilities in order to go on farther. He wanted to get out of his previous life and go into a harsh environment, where things weren't so easy, like Willy Loman, his dreams killed him.
While some people who disagree with Arthur Miller's statement, ("The Need for immortality is greater than hunger, sex, and thirst") I support it. Who wouldnt want to be remembered? Of course, in due time, strangers will eventually forget you, if you havent done anything important. It doesnt have to be history when it comes to being immortalized, it only matters to the people that care about you. Your family, friends, your boss, or anybody who is close to you will always remember who you are and what you " ve accomplished, even if its not saving the world. You may not live forever, but as long as the people who remember you, you " ll live on in their minds.
On the day of your funeral, which no looks forward to, there will be probably dozens of guest, most who you probably don't even know, but the ones who are crying, and sobbing are the ones who will remember you, because to them, you " ll live on.
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Research essay sample on Death Of A Salesman Willy Loman
