So I'm attaching the Eudora Welty story "Death of a Traveling Salesman", which Arthur Miller suggested inspired Willy Loman (note how the opening scenes are rather similar). I'd you to read this story as extra credit and comment on this blog post by focusing directly upon the tone of the protagonist, how he views his hosts, and the emotions he feels at the end of the story. What particular message is Welty making about the protagonist's perception of success and happiness? How can we compare this tale to Death of a Salesman?
Additionally, I am including a link to the Radiolab podcast from today. If you have time, I encourage you to listen to any of the Radiolab episodes, but if I had to suggest any of my personal favorites, I would say "Emergence" is up there. We'll be listening to "Time" and "Choice" in the future.
Very interesting. I especially like the Voyager segment. It seems like the scientists are yearning for the day the spacecraft escapes as if they themselves are escaping. And the final picture's shocking perspective reminds me of this: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/589217
ReplyDeleteWhen we were all still incoming freshman, I remember Teitel telling us "At Stuyvesant, you can only have two of the three: sleep, friends, or grades." In this context, the main characters in the short story all seem to just have one of the above. In this analogy, the sleep would be good health, friends would be a social life or love, and the grades would be success and financially comfortable. Bowman has the latter while the farm couple has the love, and the "happiness." Although, Bowman is rich, it came with a cost, his heart has problems, both literally and figuratively. He has health problems, and his heart feels empty as well. When he sees this couple, although they are extremely poor, they have their love for each other which as corny as it sounds, makes them rich. The wife also reminds me of Linda, because although she is "stupid," it is evident that she loves her husband, and there is a strong connection between them; I am sure she would do anything for him. In Death of a Salesman, the American Dream is to be financially wealthy, to make it big. Willy Loman did not achieve this but he had happiness in his family which he neglected. In contrast, in Eudora Welty's perception, she believes success to be found in happiness and love, rather than in dollars. It is ironic that Loman does not get his American Dream of making it big, but has a family. Bowman on the other hand has the career and they money but lacks the happiness.
ReplyDeleteThe protagonist in this story reminds me a lot of myself -- jealous of everything that everyone else has, and has very little himself to be proud of. The whole story, it seemed that he'd look at Sonny and his wife and thin, "Wow, I wish I could do that," or "I wish I had that." This is especially apparent when he finds out about the baby. He's jealous of Sonny and his love life. There are also those little things that bring him down as well, like how Sonny refuses to take money for the job he did in saving the car, showing how proud he is, along with the fact that the job was almost like child's play to him. All of these little things remind Bowman of how little he has to be proud of, other than his money and job. Unfortunately, Bowman's attempts at showing pride (refusing to ask for directions) only ended with him getting lost, which I guess would be Welty's way of saying that one should not show pride if they have nothing to be proud of. Either that, or the fact that it's okay to get help sometimes (this is also the main idea of The Beatles song "With A Little Help From My Friends"). This would also emphasize Welty's idea on success -- love, friendship, and happiness. Bowman is constantly on the brink of tears, and always because he realized that he has none of these factors of success, yet these two people in front of him seem to be happier than he'll ever be.
ReplyDeleteBowman reminds me a lot of Willy. Willy's goal throughout the play was just to show himself and his family that he's successful and that he's worth something. Bowman too does the same thing (well, to himself, since he doesn't have a family). He gets upset when he realizes that he's not successful. In the end, his heart gives out and he has a heart attack. Likewise, after Willy realizes that his children are leaving and that he raised them the wrong way, he goes and kills himself. Both characters value their pride and success over everything else, which is really their ultimate flaw. There's a famous expression that fits in here really well: "Pride always comes before a fall."