Perez 1 Dylan J. Perez Ms. Gervasi ENG4UQ-01 10 November 2023 Psychological and Personal Interpretations of Resilience within “Death of a Salesman” Winston Churchill once said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts”. Resilience measures a person's ability to continue pursuing their goal, regardless of the circumstance. Resilience is the measure of an individual's ability to quickly recover from difficulties, and is synonymous with toughness. “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller is a renowned American tragedy that explores the psychological conditioning brought upon America’s post-war society. Miller’s message about the “rat race” is able to transcend post-war society, as it still applies to today's livelihoods. Understanding “Death of a Salesman” through a psychological and personal response lens will provide the reader with valuable insights into the concept of resilience, particularly in what not to do when struggling with the artificial expectations of others. Firstly, applying the psychological lens to Willy Loman’s life will reveal fundamental aspects of his mentality that contribute to his lack of resilience. An analysis of Willy’s psychological state reinforces the belief that societal expectations strongly influence an individual's self-image. Willy’s unrestrained self-consciousness is exacerbated by his desire to fulfill an artificial misconception about success. His inability to appropriately handle failure is highlighted by his constant escape into fantasy. His overreliance on deluded, internal dialogues with his dead brother illustrates his lack of confidence in dealing with the pressure of society by Perez 2 himself, demonstrating his lack of resilience. When Willy says: “Nothing’s planted, I don’t have a thing in the ground.” (Miller, 90) he vividly describes his misconception about success, which is driven by the psychological conditioning that coerces citizens into believing that middle-class life is below average. Willy’s fixation on entrepreneurial success is invigorated by his exposure to societal expectations along with the former glory of his brother, Ben. Willy fails to realize that a fixation on a universally unattainable standard of success has the ability to destroy relationships. Although Willy is able to enjoy an admirable quality of life, society’s psychological conditioning continues to coerce him into believing that he is not “good enough” due to his inability to achieve higher wealth. Willy makes an underlying reference to this belief when he says: “I don’t have a thing in the ground”, which illustrates Willy’s ignorance to his own achievements along with his defeated mentality; implying that he surrenders to his internal struggle against the imaginary portrayal of his self-worth through society’s perspective. His defeated mentality collides with his emotional state, consequently inducing his suicidal thoughts. Miller uses Willy’s untimely fate to explain how the pressure of an obnoxiously meritocratic society psychologically limits an individual’s ability to resilient. Secondly, Miller wrote the play with the intention of exposing how the construct of Western society aims to demoralize a life of spiritual freedom, consequently altering people’s vision of happiness and success. The “rat race” is a concept that is not limited to the post-war American time period in which the play is set. The “rat race” continues to hold a firm grip on society’s values to this day, by directly associating success and happiness with extrinsic wealth. When readers carefully analyze how societal pressure affects Willy, the reader can conclude that chasing after the universally unattainable standards of the American Dream creates a situation where resilience alone is not enough to defy the hardship it places on the individual. Instead, the Perez 3 reader may be enlightened to realize that “resilience” can be redefined to be more appropriately aligned with a personalized vision of happiness and success. In contrast to Willy Loman, individuals can protect their mental well-being by abandoning the unrealistic expectations portrayed by social media and other instruments of culture. Still, Willy insists on romanticizing the corrupt ideas that corrode his self-esteem when he says “The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want” (Miller, 21). As mentioned earlier, Willy’s idea that success comes from the approval of society is in fact, a textbook example of his conformity to the American dream. From the statement, readers understand the dangers of this conformity, upon learning how it ultimately disintegrates his mental health along with his familial relationships. Readers learn from the futility of Willy’s situation, as he sacrifices relationships and his well-being to chase an irrational dream, refusing to acknowledge its impossibility. Willy fully concedes to society, allowing it to alter his perception of happiness, indicating his lack of personal resilience and spiritual fortitude. Ultimately, readers understand that dedicating oneself to satisfying others creates a situation where achieving happiness and fulfillment from it is objectively futile. Alternatively, the message reminds readers that there are better ways to be resilient within a capitalist society. An individual can be resilient by having the courage to challenge society’s expectations and by having the ability to independently affirm to oneself of what matters to them. This ability is characterized by toughness, confidence, and an unwavering determination to be resilient in finding one’s purpose, in spite of society’s demands. Willy’s hamartia is derived from his efforts to exert characteristics of resilience into futile tasks. In other words, equating society’s expectations to self-satisfaction is extremely unhealthy for the soul, as evidenced by Willy’s demise. Therefore, readers visualize how true resilience comes from having the ability to Perez 4 decide whether or not society should influence their mentality. In summary, readers can deduce that resilience in and of itself does not have to come from being resilient within the matrix of society’s expectations. Rather, an individual has the potential to be resilient by developing an ability to set boundaries that foster healthy, independent growth. Lastly, the psychological and personal response lens cooperate in encouraging the reader to think critically about where their motivation to be resilient derives from. The psychological lens addresses more objective themes about resilience by providing context and evidence that explain Willy Loman’s actions, and his state of mind. The personal response lens provides leeway for readers to better understand what resilience truly is within the scope of the post-modern, capitalistic society that they live in. It can be understood that both lenses build upon the information gathered from the other lens, providing the reader with an emphasis to equate resilience to personal, spiritual desires that are not necessarily synonymous with society’s expectations. To further explain how both lenses cooperate in forming meaningful definitions of resilience, Willy says: “After all the highways, and the trains, and appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive” (Miller, 71). The statement contains different meanings when approached through different literary lenses. When analyzed through the personal response lens, readers sympathize with Willy’s feelings of disillusionment that is accompanied by a life spent on pursuing the unrealistic expectations of society. Because of this, readers can deduce that this disillusionment and disappointment can be avoided entirely by viewing resilience as having the courage to redefine success in spite of the cultural norm, which consequently allows happiness to be adequately achieved. When analyzed through the psychological lens, it is clear that Willy perceives himself as a failure only because society has forced him to set his bar for success at an unreasonably high level. Objectively, Willy lives a good life with a healthy family Perez 5 and a nice home, but it is the fault of external psychological conditioning that leads him to believe that he is unworthy of happiness. Miller’s message about the psychological dangers of the rat race transcends post-war society and has the ability to influence the mentality of readers today. In summary, Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” is more than just a play. It comments on society’s unrealistic standards of success and its psychological influence. It also conveys a timeless message to readers that reaffirms resilience as something that should not be defined by anyone but the individual. This message can be deciphered appropriately by using the personal response lens in conjunction with the psychological lens. Through this, readers of today can understand what drives Willy Loman to act and think the way he does, and why it’s encouraged that individuals redefine what resilience means to them in the absence of societal influence. Redefining resilience to resonate with each individual is key to preventing others from going down the same path that led Willy Loman to his eventual demise. Perez 6 Works Cited . Freeman, G. “12 Winston Churchill Quotes That Encapsulates a Mindset for Success.” BSI, British Standard Institution, 16 May 2003, www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/blog/Lean-Six-Sigma-Blog/12-winston-churchill-quotes-that-encapsulates-amindset-for-success/ Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman: Arthur Miller. Spark Publishing, 2002.
