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1、English Translation 0810807032034 杨清Material Possession and Real SuccessbyYang QingUnder the Supervision ofYao YingSchool of Foreign StudiesNantong UniversityApril 2011 ContentsAbstract31 Brief Introduction32 American Deram or American Nightmare3-52.1 The Fate of Willy42.2 Brief Analysis53 The Purpo
2、se of This Play54 My Own Thoughts6-75 Conclusion7Reference8Material Possession and Real SuccessAbstract: Arthur Millers most famous play, Death of a Salesman proves to be a power-packed tale of desire, betrayal, and ultimate abandonment. Willy Lowman, an aging salesman whose best years are far behin
3、d, leads a frustrating and futile existence as he attempts to chase after the most money and most success. Millers portrayal of Willy and his underachieving sons provides a powerful warning to those who prefer popularity and likeability to hard-work and perseverance.Keywords: American dream; tragedy
4、; success; family; reason1 Brief IntroductionWhen Arthur Miller wrote his play, Death of a Salesman, he knew that he was creating a story that would be applied to every generation. In reading the tragedy drama Death of a Salesman, the readers may eventually and subconsciously come to evaluate their
5、own past. The story includes many issues that many Chinese face every day. For example: adultery, and stealing, lying, debt, extramarital love affair, depression and suicide. It seems to me that Millers play is meant to keep the audience on an emotional roller coaster while following the salesman, W
6、illy Lowman, through the best of times and the worst of times (Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities). Miller creates the story of a typical New York salesman, through a character called Willy Lowman. Mr. Lowman travels all over New England, trying very diligently to sell his products. He seems to have the
7、perfect American life. He has a house, a working automobile, two healthy sons and a gentle-spirited wife. Yet, when you look closer into the life of Willy Lowman, you can see that he had past hurts that he never dealt with in childhood, and as a result, his life is falling apart. 2 American Dream or
8、 American NightmareWilly was the son of a flute maker who had gone to Africa to find diamonds. He had been too young to go along then, but his brother, Ben, had gone. Willy grows up and his father dies, but his brother offers him a job in a diamond mine. Being hurted that his father and brother had
9、left him behind, Willy starts his post as a salesman. All through his later life, Willy Lowman lies to himself and everyone he loves. He goes from place to place, trying to convince the buyers to purchase his products, while being careful to be friendly and amiable. 2.1 The Fate of Willy Willy becom
10、es old and starts to feel that he is worthless and unloved by friends and family. This prompts an affair with the woman, who seduces him with words of admiration and devotion. Knowing he has a wife at home, Willy feels a bit suspicious one day when a knock comes to the door of his Boston hotel room.
11、 He opens the door and sees his eldest son, Biff, who then finds out about his fathers affair and his life of lies. This causes Biff not to pursue any career, but to essentially quit life. Feeling quite hopeless in his future, Willy turns to the past to recall the happy memory. He reenacts scenes fr
12、om his golden days aloud in public places without realization of it. Willy Lowman then was fired by his boss, so he borrows fifty dollars from his neighbor, Charley, every week, which puts him into an extreme debt, both physically and emotionally. As time went by, he realizes that his sons are now i
13、n their mid-thirties and still living at home with some bad habits of promiscuity and stealing. He becomes very angry and acts out his memory plays even more frequently by talking with Ben, his dead brother. When his sons try to make life better by selling an idea to an important sportsman, Willy be
14、comes very excited. However, he the n falls into a deeper depression when it doesnt work out and he feels Biff doesnt love him and never did. He plans out his suicide so that a 20,000 insurance policy would go to Biff and that he could see that millions of people adored him by coming to his funeral.
15、 The funeral day comes and only five people attend his funeral. Willy Lowman dies , alone and essentially forgotten.2.2 Brief AnalysisTo me, Death of a Salesman is a form of parable that reminds people of their unresolved pasts and their debt to all of the people who have really loved them in their
16、lifetime. The character of Willy Lowman shows the audience that family is the most important thing that one can possibly own. Wealth, possessions, worldly success, and social importance are only a whisking wind that passes faster than they can blink. Family is what gives love, support and importance
17、 when life is at its worst. Yet, family members will disappoint you because they are not perfect. However, God will never leave you nor forsake you, He will be there when times are good and when times are bad. 3 The Purpose of This PlayHere I want to share my opinions about the purposes why Arthur M
18、iller write this play. I believe Arthur Millers main purpose in writing this piece was to brutally share his opinion of the American Dream. In Willys mind, the American Dream is one where the most likeable and most handsome will succeed. Yet, this is unrealistic and unattainable. Willy inflates his
19、worth through self-delusions of grandeur, and constructs an alternate reality for himself and his boys. He is convinced that his worth is decided on how much money and new appliances he brings home. Although he may have been content to work with his hands and be with his family, he must excel in the
20、 business world, or else he is a failure. It seems to me that his desire to succeed is an attempt to get the recognition that he never received from his father, who abandoned him, and his eldest brother, who made a fortune in South Africa and recently died. Willys search for happiness never came and
21、 all he had done didnt amount to anything when everything was said and done. Willy worked and worked, driving to Boston each week, hardly making enough money to cover the gas he spent on his trip there, for the satisfaction of his customers. Years passed and his customers were now either retired or
22、dead, but Willy holds on to the faith that this new generation will give him the respect he needs and deserves. He is wrong and Willy is crushed by the harsh reality that he is a no one now and he feels useless and that his life is over, because he no longer received his smile or a shoeshine.4 My Ow
23、n ThoughtsI have learned a lot from it. To be specific, I have learned something from each specific main character. From Willy, I have learned to be grateful for the family I have no matter how bad it may be. After all, without their willingness to serve, my family would not be what it is today. I h
24、ave also learned to live each day to the fullest and to do what I love with my life because it will be gone before I have truly experienced happiness if Im not careful. From Linda, the sweet and caring wife, I have learned to be more straight-forward with my concerns. She kept a lot of issues from W
25、illy because she was afraid of hurting him, I noticed in my life I have that problem too, hoping and wishing it will go away but not taking action myself. She has taught me to be more aggressive with issues I face. Biff and Happy, I have a lot to say about them. I want to say that being successful i
26、s not about being well liked, but about being content with what you do. At the beginning, Biff seems somewhat happy with his current job even though he feels like he is failing his dad. Happy has gone out and has started to make a living through the American Dream. He has been somewhat successful in
27、 this but when Biff asks him if he is content he says no. Happy doesnt know what he is working for but believes that once he has more money than anyone else, he will be happy. Biff has taught me to do what I want with my life- it is up to me what I will be and how I will succeed and that I shouldnt
28、have to live in the shadow of anyone who has gone before me, whether they are a parent or close friend. Happy has taught me to not try to please others so much. It was ridiculous in my opinion to read about him competing for attention form his own father, but in the end, he was the one trying to ful
29、fill his fathers dream. To use a simple sentence: if you follow that path you will work all your life to achieve a virtually unreachable goal. However, if you just try to be content with what you have, you will be successful in your own right.5 ConclusionIn the end, I want to give you two specific r
30、easons why I like this play so much. First, it fills me with emotion. What that emotion may be it based upon the readers. It could be anger at Willy for not raising his children well, it may be joy in the possibility that Biff and Harold are going to make their parents wealthy, or it may even be sor
31、row after Willy commits suicide. Still, whatever the feeling might be, it will be present in every reader. Secondly, the story guides the readers into seeing what is really important in life. It shows that material things pass away and that a good name is better than riches, which Willy did not try
32、to obtain in his lifetime. Over all, Death of a Salesman remains one of my personal favorites.References：1 Library of Congress. American Memory. What is the American Dream? Retrieved August 26, 2010.2 Death of a Salesman. http:/ Retrieved 6 March 2011.3 Christopher Lloyd stars in Death of a Salesman
33、. NYT. http:/ Retrieved 2010-09-08. 4 A Brief Chronology of Arthur Millers Life and Works. The Arthur Miller Society. http:/www.ibiblio.org/miller/life.html. Retrieved 2006-09-24.5 Arthur Miller Files. University of Michigan. Retrieved 2006-10-01.6 李月棉 , 魏贵娟. 从马丁伊登和了不起的盖茨比看“美国梦”的幻灭J. 石家庄学院学报 , 2005,(02)。7 戴婧婷. 阿瑟米勒 美国梦已碎J. 中国新闻周刊 , 2005,(07)。8 张素凤. 论推销员之死的悲剧美D. 天津师范大学 , 2007。 8 / 8