Comparing Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences...

Comparing Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences by August Wilson Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences by August Wilson have similar themes of conflicts between fathers and sons, conflicts between husbands and wives, and the need to focus on a small unit of space in order to achieve success. In the process of developing these themes throughout the two plays, three similar symbolic elements are used including the insecure father figure, the other woman, and the garden. The fathers in the two plays are comparable because they both have conflicts with their sons as a result of living in the past, and they die in the end. Willy, in Death of a Salesman, is never respected for his occupational status, so he†¦show more content†¦Afraid I was gonna be better than you. All you ever did was try and make me scared of you (1913). Although Cory is a skilled baseball player, Troy always discourages him from playing professionally. Troy is never given the chance to play because he is black, but athletics is a field that is fully open to blacks later, when Cory is ready to play. His father is unable to recognize this fact because he always lives in the memory of past events; he pressures Cory to be much better than all the white baseball players. This conflict is never really resolved because even at his fathers funeral, Cory feels much resentment towards his father and almost does not attend the funeral. He has not yet separated himself fro m his fathers dominance and is just beginning to find a way to get rid of that shadow (1918). Therefore, both of the insecure father figures make unrealistic demands on their sons until their sons are forced to separate themselves completely from their fathers influence. While the role of the insecure father figure is to generate conflicts between fathers and sons, the role of the other woman is to spark another kind of conflict between husbands and wives. In Death of a Salesman, although Linda never finds out about the Woman, her relationship with Willy is still affected by the Woman. For example, Willy says, Will you stop mending stockings? At least while Im in the house. It gets me nervous. I cant tell you (1745).Show MoreRelatedComparing Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences by August Wilson 1403 Words   |  6 PagesFences written by August Wilson and Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller are two plays that could be considered very different in terms of their plot. The plots of both plays contain two very different cultural backgrounds which affects each protagonist differently. If the reader or audience looks past the plot into the theme and symbolisms used they can see that the plays are more similar than they are different. In spite of the different cultural backgrounds of each protagonist they bothRead MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 PagesConflict 375 SKILL LEARNING 376 Int erpersonal Conflict Management 376 Mixed Feelings About Conflict 376 Diagnosing the Type of Interpersonal Conflict 378 Conflict Focus 378 Conflict Source 380 Selecting the Appropriate Conflict Management Approach 383 Comparing Conflict Management and Negotiation Strategies 386 Selection Factors 386 Resolving Interpersonal Confrontations Using the Collaborative Approach A General Framework for Collaborative Problem Solving 391 The Four Phases of Collaborative Problem Solving