Sunday, October 14, 2007
Willy Loman's idea of success
Willy thinks that it takes one thing to become successful, and it is to be well-liked. He doesn't understand when someone is successful when they are not well-liked. I think it is really interesting that he is so stubborn about this. He can't wrap his mind around the fact that someone who is unpopular is successful. His popular, football star son was not nearly as successful as he had hoped that he would be. I have almost the opposite opinion on this matter. I think it is much more common for the nerdy, unpopular kids to be successful. The popular football players are not usually successful, unless they are amazing at football and play professionally. Nowadays, there is the stereotype that football players are not going to be successful unless they are extremely talented. It might have been different back when this play was written, which makes it an even more interesting thing to discuss.
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2 comments:
Hey Kendal!
I agree with you about how Willy is very stubborn. He only thinks people who are "well-liked" will succeed. He is so focused on his philosophy that he does not know what the reality is (that it is not about being liked or not to be successful). It seems that he is blind to what is really important when it comes to Biff. He rather has Biff focus on football than on his math grade, and because of this Biff can not graduate high school and go to college.
I agree with you about how "nerdy" people are normally more successful. However, I would not use the term "nerdy". It is more like the people who are self-driven and are motivated to do well in life. I think that the most successful people in life are probably not "well-liked". Some scientist, for example, are probably seen was introverts and they do not have many friends.
Lewis...
You have a nice little comment here. I do agree with you on a few things. First of all, the fact that he got so wrapped up in his idea of success puzzled me to. How can someone be so close minded? Anyways I don't know and like I said in my blog it's what ultimately ended up in his and in Gatsby's demise.
Secondly, haha. I totally agree with the fact about the nerdy people. Katie says we shouldnt call them nerdy and I can kind of agree, but hey, it's an established term used for smart people who don't "mingle" well. Usually it is these people that succeed in life. And it is, like Katie said, because they are self-driven and usually don't let anything keep in between them and the subject matter at hand.
Good Blog bud,
Derek
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