Prompt #3 - Two Contrasting Places

1991. Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.

America: The Dream vs. the Reality

In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, the audience sees the struggles and eventual downfall of an average man as he strives for the one thing all Americans long for sometime in their lives: the American Dream. Willy Loman is a salesman in his sixties, getting older and more worn out with each working day. Though his life is nothing short of glamorous, he never loses hope that someday, he and his sons will become the successful, wealthy men he has always imagined they would be.However, the affluent world Willy dreams of is a very different place from the middle class world he lives in, and tragically, it is the opposing forces of these two worlds that lead Willy to his ruin.

Willy Loman and his wife, Linda, live with two grown sons, Biff and Happy, in a tiny house in New York City. The play takes place in 1940s post WWII America, a time when many migrated to the cities, hoping to make it big. The whiff of the American Dream was in the air, and Willy Loman was no exception to it. All his life, his only goal was to be successful, for himself and for his family. He longs for it even more when he sees the lives of others who have made something of themselves, like his neighbor, respectable businessman Charley, and his lawyer son, Bernard.

Willy’s role model had always been his deceased older brother, Ben, who adventured into the wilderness of Alaska to find their father, only to, out of complete luck, strike it rich in Africa on diamonds. One of Willy’s deepest regrets has always been missing out on the chance he had to go with Ben on his adventure, a regret he carried with him until the end. Throughout the play, there are many moments when Willy has “talks” with Ben, whom he imagines is standing right there, next to him. Ben often lures Willy to join him, to find “diamonds” in the “jungle”, only adding to the fire of Willy’s hopes and imaginations of a life of prosperity.

However, the reality of the world he and his family live in is very different. Their small house is wedged in-between tall apartment buildings on all sides, crowded and uncomfortable. Willy works as a traveling salesman, making long, exhausting drives to New England, with a job that barely pays enough to cover all of his family’s bills. He feels old, overweight, and not liked by others around him, always making up grand stories to tell, hiding behind a wall of lies. This life represents the confinement and poverty that Willy desperately tries to escape.

The clash in his mind between the world of the rich (the American Dream) and the world of the middle-class (the American Reality) takes a toll on Willy, who longs for the former but is stuck in the later. Using the conflict between these two worlds, the play expresses the conflict many average, middle and lower class Americans face. Whether it is back then in the 1940s or now, in the 21st century, they all have hopes and dreams for a prosperous future but are held back by the circumstances they find themselves in. Some overcome these obstacles and achieve success, but some, like Willy, never see their dreams become reality. Ultimately, his misery and desperation overcome him; he takes the advice of Ben and goes headfirst into the “jungle”, where Ben says it is “dark but full of diamonds”, taking his own life and bringing his tale to a tragic end.