Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller is a representative of 20th-century American critical realist literature, such as "Death of a Salesman" and "Salem's Witch".
Arthur Miller, one of the most important American playwrights of the 20th century, produced a large number of realist plays. Along with Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams, he is known as the three great masters of 20th-century American theater.
Born in 1915, Arthur Miller grew up through the Great Depression and War in American history, an experience that had a great influence on his work. He is more aware than anyone else how vulnerable and insecure people are in modern industrialized society.
His father, a self-employed businessman, went out of business and went out of business, and his own academic performance was very average, and he even couldn't go to college because he couldn't afford to pay the tuition, and had to work in a warehouse for auto parts. During his work, he used his daily commute time to read a large number of books, which made him fall in love with reading and writing.
While working and living, he read, studied, and created, and finally succeeded. This experience at the bottom of society is well reflected in his work. For example, "Death of a Salesman.",
Death of a Salesman
"Death of a Salesman" is his most famous work and his most representative work. The story is not complicated, it is about the protagonist Willie Lohman, a low-level society, ordinary Americans who chase their dreams but are ultimately disillusioned.
Willie Lohmann is a salesman, he is a life-loving, shrewd, hard-working person, he is not a person without ideals, without values, on the contrary, he has strong ideals and ambitions. There is a strong desire to cross the class, to become a respectable person of the upper class.
Willie Lohmann has always seen his brother Ben and successful salesman David Singhmann as his role model. His brother Ben was a successful adventurer in the African gold rush; David Singhmann was a successful salesman who didn't have to work hard to run customers, he only needed a phone call to sell products and negotiate business.
Both men were people close to Willie Lohman, and the success of the two of them gave him a lot of confidence. Whenever he has doubts and hesitations about his work and life, he will use the legendary stories of these two people to encourage himself, let himself have confidence in life, do not give up, as long as you work hard, one day, you will also succeed and become a person like them.
So, did he become? It seems that there is none. He worked as a salesman for 36 years, from young to middle-aged to old age, consuming the most precious time of his life. In his 60s, he still works as a grassroots salesman, taking products out to sell every day, how many goods to sell, how much commission to take, just like a newcomer who has just entered the business at the age of 20.
His income was precarious and insecure, and as he grew older, he felt increasingly inadequate, physically and mentally inadequate. When driving out to sell, I often remember that fragments cause accidents, forget things, and greatly reduce my income. He is no longer suitable to be a salesman and faces the challenge of unemployment, but he still has to survive, and in the face of his family and wife, he must work hard to earn money to support his family.
Even when he had no income, he could not tell his wife the truth for self-respect, so he had to borrow 50 yuan a week from his friend Charlie to pay for the installment payment for the house, and said that he earned it himself.
When Willie Lohmann felt that he could no longer achieve his dreams, he pinned his hopes on his two sons. However, the two sons in front of him are in their thirties, one is a small clerk and the other is a farm worker. Apart from bragging, he has no ability, and he has no career to speak of.
What made him even more chilling was the discovery that his two sons did not love and respect him. When he felt uncomfortable going to the bathroom in the restaurant, the two sons not only did not take care of him, but instead said to others, "That's not my father," and they left with their new girlfriend, leaving their elderly father in the care of strangers.
His eldest son, Biff, had hope of making his mark because he was a star athlete in high school and was promised scholarships from three universities. Before the graduation exam, he thought that he had a chance to win, did not have to study, and offended the math teacher, making the math test fail.
Biff hoped that his father would go and intercede with the teacher, so he went to his father. Unexpectedly, I bumped into my father in the hotel and was having an affair with another woman.
Willy Lohmann's affair deprives him of a lofty image in the hearts of his son Beeve. Especially when Beaver saw that the stockings that Willie Lohmann was supposed to give to his mother were given to an unrelated woman, his anger and anger were beyond words.
In the end, Biff did not go to make up math and lost the opportunity to go to college. Not only that, but there was also an irreparable rift between father and son. This father-son conflict lasted for 15 years.
After that, Biff has been doing the lowest level of work, and his career is even more insignificant. Biff, who is in his thirties, wants to make a life counterattack by doing business, but he has no capital. So he expected Oliver, a big businessman who once had some friendships, to lend him money, but after waiting for 7 hours, he got Oliver's cold eyes. Oliver didn't even look at him.
Biff is both disappointed and angry, the business is hopeless, the capitalist is too realistic, friendship is just money, you can bring him benefits, there is friendship, no interests there is no friendship. An angry Biff left with a pen that was useless to him.
The hopes of the son Biff's side were dashed, and so was Willie Lohmann's side. He applied to his boss to work in the office, but was rejected by his boss.
After all hopes were dashed, Willie Lohmann was desperate. He drove aimlessly, remembering when he was young and driving to and from several states in New England to carry out sales business, seeing that he had been so enthusiastic and diligent in his sales career and full of infinite sense of accomplishment, and he occasionally saw scenes of him bringing huge profits to his boss more than a decade ago and establishing a sales network of friendship and trust for himself.
Thinking about it, he began to fantasize, he imagined that he could start a company on his own with years of sales experience, or at least become a partner in an employed company, and get options. Fantasized that his eldest son, Biff, had achieved career success with his athletic talents.
But as the car stalled, his fantasies stopped and he returned to the real world. He found that he had struggled all his life but had nothing, old age and weakness, and achieved nothing. The pressure of life, the meager income, the debt of the body, the bad parent-child relationship, the sons' incompleteness, the fiercely competitive society, the dazed future, the disillusionment of dreams, etc. all made him mentally broken, and finally he chose to end his life. Before his death, he also fantasized that his death would enable his family to receive an insurance payment to make his wife and children's lives better, and to practice his last value.
Willie Lohmann made millions of Americans see himself, which resonated strongly. They were ordinary people like Willie Lohman, or they had experiences and lives like Willie Lohman.
In short, "Death of a Salesman" created Willie Lohman who touched many Americans and made them feel empathy. In fact, in the United States, almost everyone has done or dreamed of the American dream, but there are only those who can realize this dream. Willie Lohmann was unwilling to face this reality, and had this dream all his life, and he pinned this dream on his sons. But it's all just dreams.
The illusory American Dream
The United States used to have dreams.
At that time, the first group of people who set foot in the United States came to this vast and boundless North American continent, with few people, rich resources, and weak social competitiveness, which was simply a blank, and everywhere was full of opportunities for success, so the early American pioneers only needed to rely on personal efforts to achieve amazing achievements in a short period of time.
"Equal opportunities, no matter how high or low you come from, everyone has a chance to succeed." This beautiful dream persisted after the end of the American Civil War in the 19th century, which cleared the way for large-scale industrialization, urbanization, and modernization. In the subsequent wave of industrialization, urbanization and modernization, a large number of new wealthy bourgeoisie rose.
All kinds of signs made later Americans see hope and see dreams. In the 1940s, the "American Dream" had already been implanted in the hearts of every American: they believed that no matter how ordinary they were, as long as they worked hard, they would succeed, they would get rich, and they would become a great person. Self-help god help, as long as you work hard God will help you, you will have a good house, a good car, your children will have a bright future. Instead, God will leave you.
With this "dream", we go back to that era.
The United States in the 1940s
In the 1940s, the world was still in conflict and war, and although the United States was not involved in the war, under the influence of the war, everything in the country revolved around the war. Moreover, the sequelae of the economic crisis still exist, and the laws of the capitalist market economy lurk with various social crises.
The economy is sluggish and prices are rising, which is beyond the capacity of citizens. Social resources are tight, and there are no channels to climb upwards. Even employment is difficult, and it is difficult for people to even find a subsistence job. Everyone is planning for themselves, wanting to keep their vested interests, afraid of strangers, afraid of change.
Fear and fear are inevitable, first there is an economic crisis, then there is war, there is also an economic downturn, the economic policy system can only be constantly adjusted, the social system can only be constantly changed, so that the social order can only be constantly reshaped, social contradictions are constantly prominent, and the fate of people at the bottom of society is worrying. This is exactly the phrase "Prosper, the people suffer; death, the people suffer."
Regardless of the evolution of civilization, social changes, adjustments to policies and systems, and reshaping order, people at the bottom are the most direct stakeholders who evolve, change, adjust, and reshape, and they are also the most bitter.
At that time, American society was full of chaos, which was very depressing. Under the guidance of utilitarianism, pragmatism, and the survival of the fittest values, the whole society is also permeated with an egoistic money ideology.
Money is the criterion for success
Americans have a strong sense of success, and "advocating success" is the main driving force behind the development of American society. The core of "success" is money, and money determines his power and position in society. Material wealth is the primary measure of success in life. Without economic success, it will not be approved by the world, recognized by society, and it will not be possible to talk about happiness in life. In real life, wealth and money are closely linked to power, status, dignity, and happiness.
To leapfrog and rise through the ranks, it is necessary to succeed economically, and money is the passport to high society. Therefore, every American is desperately making money, desperately making money, and using all kinds of means and methods to make money.
The values of "survival of the fittest"
Under the guidance of utilitarianism, pragmatism, and the survival of the fittest, Americans place special emphasis on individual struggle, and individualism, egoism, and selfishness are more prominent.
They believe that the law of "the weak eating the strong" in nature is also in line with human society, everyone must fight for their own survival, the strong can survive, the weak are eliminated, only in the competition to become strong, so as not to be trampled.
This promotion of the value of personal struggle makes American society particularly realistic, the strong always use the weak as a tool, between the government and the people, between the boss and the subordinate, the boss and the employee, there is value to use, no value to abandon.
There is a lack of positive energy between people, and human feelings have become quite indifferent. The system of free competition in the market makes people fight brutally for survival, and social competition is so fierce that people go crazy. In order not to be eliminated, in order to keep the job, people at the bottom of society must work hard, and there can be no half a mistake. In the fierce competition between you and me, more and more people are bullying and mercenary. The law of the jungle makes the whole society feel like a "man-eating world."
The ever-expanding desire to consume
The installment credit system has made people's desire to consume constantly expand, even beyond the ability to bear, hollowing out all the savings of individuals and families. So that the ability of individuals and families to fight fragility is very poor, any accident, error, uncertainty can instantly make a person collapse, debt-ridden, fall into the bottom can not turn over.
Arthur Miller used "The Death of a Salesman" to create the character of Willie Lohmann, which profoundly exposed the social crisis in the United States, the individual spirit behind the social problem, and the individual crisis is the epitome of the social crisis. At the same time, it also pierces the illusion of the "American Dream".