DOAS Reflection #2

(A portrayal of the scene between Willy and Howard. http://img.movieberry.com/static/photos/32731/poster.jpg)

      

 HOWARD WAGNER 

Towards the beginning of Act Two, we as an audience are given a more detailed perspective on Willy's work situation, specifically his relationship with the management of past and present. Willy approaches the current manager, Howard Wagner, and asks him to kindly put him in a job that doesn't require him to travel. As an audience we are positioned to want this as well, as we see the toll the extensive amount of driving is taking on Willy both physically and mentally. We see these effects through his various references to daydreaming and car accidents, as well as his angry outbursts and nostalgic illusions.  Throughout this scene the audience is positioned to see Howard Wagner as an antagonist. Miller does this by juxtaposing the behavior of Howard's father towards Willy.

 Miller reveals the close relationship that Willy and Howard's father had through certain references Willy makes, such as when he reflects on his times past in the workplace, saying "I was with the firm when your father uses to carry you here in his arms" (59). Willy also talks of being incorporated in the naming process of Howard, again emphasizing his seniority over Howard in age and experience. Howard continues to show complete disregard and a condescending attitude towards Willy, often ignoring his requests to discuss serious matters. For example, when Willy asks if he could have a word with the boss, Howard continues to be involved with his recordgin device, saying "Records things. Just got delivery yesterday" (57). These short, abrupt sentences demonstrate Howard's curt way of dealing with Willy, as opposed to the relationship that Willy had with his father, if we assume that Willy's account of their close relationship is accurate. 

 The recordings themselves are interesting-- they display Howard's desire (just as Willy once had) to show off his family, particularly his children. We see this through how he gets his children to perform for the sole purpose of being able to play it back for other people. Howard acts as one of the final walls that Willy butts up against before he gives up hope completely, and by Howard being the son of the employer he had during his "golden days", Miller creates another example of the new generation and the future he used to look forward to as having failed him totally and completely.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON 

  In the Requiem portion of this play, Biff states the answer to this question best saying “he had the wrong dreams, all, all wrong”. I believe that in this play Willy and his son approached life in the wrong way. Firstly, the father’s dreams were too focused and finalized. Secondly, by valuing popularity over the actual results in their work, the intent behind their so-called normal ambitions was corrupt and made them doomed to fail. 

  Willy had very specific dreams for his children, specifically Biff. In the beginning of the play, during the first flashback Willy talks about his sons in the future claiming to them “you are going to be five times ahead of him (Bernard)…Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world… is the man who gets ahead”(21). We see that Willy never mentions any career outside of the business world, and throughout the play we see reference to Willy guiding his children towards being salespeople as well. Willy even assumes that Bernard will go into business (which he does not, we later find out he is a successful lawyer), following the footsteps of his father before him. Willy also believes certain facts, like an acceptable wage is “thirty-five dollars an hour” and that the traits that should be valued are popularity and attractiveness (5).By being so narrow minded about the future of his boys, he limits his own potential for happiness. By limiting this potential Willy commits himself to a life that is full of feeling dissatisfied, which eventually leads him to his madness and suicide.

THINGS GET CHOPPY  

  I think there are several interesting things about the name of the restaurant. The name “Frank’s Chop House” can be associated with the concept of a butcher, which could be applied to many parts of his life that are being destroyed or “butchered”. The most obviously thing that is falling apart from the moment the restaurant scene begins is the business deal that Biff was trying to arrange.  Following that we see the sons distance themselves further from the father, eventually leading them to abandon him entirely in the restaurant. Willy is chopped in other ways as well. He has just lost his job, which not only severs him from financial gain but also disconnects him from the only career he has known. As Willy has aged his opportunities for starting over career-wise have slowly diminished, so that when he is terminated he is left with nothing but the hope of begging for money from his friends. His friend Charley offers him a position but Willy’s narrow-mindedness tells him that it is not acceptable to work for someone he considers beneath him.

 The final reference to “chopping” is the saddest, that in which Willy chops his own life short through the means of suicide. By naming the restaurant a place where animals are prepared to be killed, it signals the preparation of Willy to kill himself—the worst memories of his flood back to him in this place, and in combination with the bad news his sons give him about their failed business endeavor, Willy is pushed over the edge towards death. 

JUST PLAYING THE GAME

 As the audience learns quickly in this play, one of Willy’s priorities is being well-liked. This emphasis on popularity extends to his sons and their behavior as well. He pushes them specifically in the area of sports, urging them to achieve great things in athletics in order to be well-known and liked amongst their peers. Willy is obsessed with the public opinion surrounding his boys as well. He once asks Biff, “What do they say about you in school, now that they made you captain?”(19). Arthur Miller directly writes Willy to ask about not how being the captain is, but instead how the captainship has affected his reputation in school. This once again emphasizes how Willy above all other achievements seeks the acceptance and approval of others. When discussing the Ebbets Field game, Biff promises his father that he will break through and make a touchdown just for Willy’s sake (19). Even as Happy points out that the coach wants him to pass, Biff and Willy are caught up in the romantic idea of a miraculous touchdown dedicated to Willy that they disregard this concept entirely. This event points out to the audience that the glory exceeds the game itself in importance.

Charley on the other hand sees sports in a different light. Miller additionally constructs sports to symbolize immaturity in the play, or being stuck in an old dream. Charley asks of Willy, who is ranting about the Ebbets Field game, “when are you going to grow up?” (68). Besides this question, every other line in this scene delivered by Charley is in jest, emphasizing to the audience that sports are viewed as a hobby or childhood memory for someone like Charley, something distant. Charley provokes Willy in this scene, solely to show the audience how hyper Willy can be about sports or more, the prestige that comes along with it. Altogether the motif of athleticism in this play is more about Willy’s obsession with popularity and his fixation on the past and his legacy following him. 
FORESHADOWING  

WILLY: Funny, y’know? After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive.

CHARLEY: Willy, nobody’s worth anything dead. (76)

This quotation foreshadows the upcoming idea of Willy’s to kill himself in order to get an insurance payout. The reference to the word “highway” also foreshadows that he will crash his car again. Charley’s response is foreshadowing his worthlessness in death, as Willy’s death does not end in an insurance payout.

 WILLY [anxiously]: Oh, I'd better hurt. I've got to get some seeds... I've got to get some seeds right away. Nothing's planted. I don't have a thing in the ground. (96)

This metaphor of the seeds is foreshadowing of Willy’s actual anxiety over his lack of a legacy. The seeds are also a foreshadowing for Willy’s final moments, as he finally kills himself after he has planted his seeds in the ground.

“Will you stop mending stockings? At least while I’m in the house. It gets me nervous” (55).

This stocking quote is a reference to the woman with which Willy is unfaithful. The image of his wife meddling with the stockings (an image consistently associated with the woman) makes Willy increasingly uncomfortable, suggesting it brings up awkward memories, such as the one with Biff that we see at the end of the play.