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"Paul's Case" and Death Of A Salesman

Comparing Paul's Case and Death Of A Salesman

The story “Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather, and the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller both feature characters discontented with reality. Consequently, these characters, Paul and Willy Loman, respectively, exhibit similar behavioral patterns and elicit comparable reactions from their environment. Paul and Willy strive for an unattainable dream of wealth, power, and elegance, and fill their lives with lies in order to mislead themselves and others into believing they possess these attributes.

The main protagonists in these literary pieces battle an ongoing tendency to create delusions within the world in which each reside. Willy Loman constructs an atmosphere where he feels that he is powerful and important. He thinks of his sons as well liked, unique individuals who have the ability to awe others; he sees himself as a successful businessman who never has to wait in line (2. 1237). His false confidence in himself shelters him from realizing the “low man” that he really is. Similarly, Paul surrounds himself with beautiful things and loses himself before symphonies and paintings (198). He has a strong aversion “for the flavorless, colorless mass of everyday existence; a morbid desire for cool things and soft lights and fresh flowers” (200). Both characters share a desire to be amongst the upper class and opulent people. As a result, they continually fuel their delusions by losing themselves in fantasy and misleading perceptions of reality. When Paul steals the money, he goes to an affluent part of New York where he spends recklessly and surrounds himself with lavish items (205). “These were his own people, he told himself” and he muses that he has never known a placed called Cordelia Street where commonplace folk and ugliness exist (208). In moments of desperation, where Willy finds cold hard reality crashing down upon him, he loses himself in flashbacks of a better time and place where his hopes and dreams still held their promise. Biff’s dramatic outpouring to Willy of the years pointlessly wasted in misleading themselves to believe they are above the “dime a dozen” status is met with a deluded “that boy is magnificent” (2. 1309). Willy continues to believe the Loman name carries with it a certain prestige long after Biff has renounced all participation in proving himself to the world.

Amidst their delusions, Willy and Paul fail to claim accountability for their actions....

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