Stockings in Death of a Salesman

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的essay代写范文- Stockings in Death of a Salesman，供大家参考学习，这篇论文讨论了《推销员之死》中的长筒袜。在小说《推销员之死》中，长筒袜是推销员死亡最重要的因素之一。长筒袜不仅象征着威利的背叛、不忠和有外遇的罪恶感，还象征着威利的职业、社会身份以及他对社会认可的渴望。这不仅来自他的家庭，也来自外界。另外，长筒袜代表着父子关系的破裂和威利死亡的导火索。

In Death of a Salesman, the tragic life of Willy Loman is presented to the audience. As one of the most important works of Arthur Miller, the play tells the story of Willy’s death after chasing his dreams for the entire life, and finding only sense of misery and defeat. One of the most important features of the play contributing to its success is the use of symbols in it. Symbols are the connection between physical objects that appear in the play with the central theme behind. The stockings are chosen to be the object of analysis in this essay. It has appeared multiple times in the play, indicating the different mindsets of the characters. Stockings in Death of a Salesman are more than a symbol of Willy’s disloyalty in marriage and betrayal to his wife Linda, but has multiple layers of meanings. It has become a haunting image for Willy and a source of mental pressure that finally contributed to his death.

Stockings is a symbol for Willy’s disloyalty to his wife, his integrity, and his beliefs, for having an affair. Majoring in Greek literature (Thompson 277), Miller has installed certain qualities in Willy that map to the authentic mythologies of the western culture, such as his pleasing physical appearances, his aspirations of the peaceful rural life, and his desire for the aspiration from others (Thompson 278). These conflicting qualities have inevitably set the tragic fate of Willy. Stockings appear as a gift for the woman Willy has an affair with. Therefore, the basic layer of symbolic meaning for the stockings are betrayal and disloyalty. When Willy finds out that Linda has to mend the broken stockings often to save some money, his sense of guilt becomes much heavier. The earliest appearance of stockings is as Linda “goes into the kitchen and starts to dam stockings (Miller 23).” Such an unusual object can only be inserted by the writer with a purpose.

Stockings also symbolizes Willy’s desire for social recognition and admiration from outsiders. As a salesman that isn’t very successful, Willy craves the respect and recognition from the society. Although he is already getting such respect from within his family, but the sense of accomplishment may have diminished long ago. Apparently, the encouragement from Linda and the reinforcement from himself are simply not enough, that the woman became an external source of verification (Thompson 280). The unnamed woman is a proof of Willy’s social recognition and attractiveness. By having an affair, Willy is partly trying to get some mental affirmation of his values in the society.

The gesture of “giving away” the stockings as a gift resembles the letting go of family responsibilities. Essentially, this is an exchange. By sacrificing the close relationships with the family members and the respect from his son, Willy got a temporary realization of his dreams: the status of being admired, the vanity of being successful and being “capable” of having an affair. “You just kill me, Willy. (He suddenly grabs her and kisses her roughly.) You kill me. And thanks for the stockings. I love a lot of stockings (Miller 25).” Apparently, such reactions from the woman are exactly what Willy needs. However, in exchange for such an affirmation, Willy loses his most important values, honesty and loyalty. To make things worse, his loses the respect from his son. Seeing his son as the continuation and extension of his own life, the affair finally becomes the trigger of his death. “You gave her Mama’s stockings! (His tears break through and he rises to go) (Miller 89).” Feeling betrayed by his father, Biff disappears for ten years, and the father-son relationship reaches a freezing point.

The symbol of stockings is not static in the play, but transforms through the scene, adopting different meanings of the writer himself. Firstly, stockings hint on the profession of Willy, a salesman. In studying the numbers and letters that appear in the play, it has been found that the letter “s” in Death of a Salesman is commonly associated with the profession of salesman itself. There are stores, brands, and objects from the play that start with the initial of “s” (Ardolino 179). The silk stockings are also one of these objects. As a form of payment for their sex, the brand-new stockings for Miss Francis form a clear contrast with the old, broken stockings of Linda. This is why Willy reacts so strongly every time he sees Linda mending her stockings: “I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out! (Linda puts the stockings in her pocket) (Miller 26).”

The meaning of stockings is further extended with the use of synonyms. This layer of meaning is much more implicit and often goes overlooked by the readers. The “s” in stockings further extends to “sheers,” when Biff spots Willy with the woman. As the woman says: “You had two boxes of size nine sheers for me, and I want them! WILLY: Here, for God’s sake, will you get outa here (Miller 88)!” Here the name of stockings is replaced with sheers, which sounds identical as “shears,” meaning to cut off (Ardolino 180). This symbolizes that the respect of Biff for his father is all gone. The author has noticed another object, “a rolled-up hose (Miller 84)” that Willy plans on using for suicide. It is probably no coincidence that hose is yet another synonym of stockings (Ardolino 180). It can be seen that stockings have become a symbol of much more than guilt, but also the shattering (shear) father-son relationship and the desperation of Willy to seek suicide (hose).

From Willy’s wife, Linda’s perspective, stockings are a sign of the role Linda plays in her marriage with Willy: always the mender of cracks in their marriage and in Willy’s mind. Linda seems to be the perfect life companion for him, who dutifully carries out her duty to take care of her husband and sons. However, Linda also plays the encouraging role for Willy to pursue the unrealistic American dream. By telling Willy that working hard regardless of the context and method will finally lead him to success (Otten 294). Meanwhile, Linda is also the person who defended the vanity of Willy. She has successfully made Willy fall into her own web of lies. If Linda could help Willy face the truth and abandon his fake vanity, despite the painful process, the ending of Willy would not be so horrible. As a woman who has little desires of her own, Linda’s submissiveness and tenderness are exacted what Willy needs. However, the price to be paid for satisfying his falling ambitions and vanity is very high: it costs his life.

Although this may be a point to argue about, stockings can also symbolize Linda’s control over Willy, through the weapon of guilt. The image of Linda is quite deceiving, but she is never intended by Miller to be just a subordinate role in the play. With the gesture of mending the broken stockings, Linda has become the source of pain and pressure for Willy gradually. Whether she does so on purpose or not is still up to debate. However, she seems to repeatedly target Willy directly with the stockings: “Just mending my stockings. They’re so expensive... (Miller 25).” Even when Willy is pleading with guild and agony, “Will you stop mending stockings? At least while I’m in the house. It gets me nervous. I can’t tell you. Please (Miller 53),” Linda still only put the stockings away, but never threw them. With such a powerful tool of control, manipulation, and even retribution, Linda also played a part leading to the tragic reunion of Willy and Biff (Otten 295), and to Willy’s death indirectly.

In conclusion, the stockings are one of the most important symbolic objects in Death of A Salesman. First, it symbolizes the betrayal, disloyalty and sense of guilt of Willy for having an affair. Second, it symbolizes Willy’s profession, social identity, and his aspiration for social recognition, not only from his family, but also from outside. Thirdly, the stockings represent the shattering of the father-son relationship and the trigger of Willy’s death, with the synonyms of sheet and hose. Finally, from Linda’s perspective, stockings are both a symbol for her role in the marriage, and a form of manipulation, pressuring weapon and even retribution (maybe), that eventually contributed to Willy’s death. The ability of Miller to install so many differnet layers of meanings in a single object, without interfering with the main plot, is what makes him one of the greatest playwrights of the modern era.

Works Cited

Ardolino, Frank. ""I'm Not a Dime a Dozen! I Am Willy Loman!": The Significance of Names and Numbers in Death of a Salesman." Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 2002, pp. 174.

Miller, Arthur. Death of A Salesman. http://www.pelister.org/literature/ArthurMiller /Miller_Salesman.pdf. Accessed 1 Dec 2017.

Otten, Terry. "Death of a Salesman at Fifty - Still 'Coming Home to Roost'." Texas Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 41, no. 3, 1999, pp. 280.

Thompson, Terry W. ""Built Like Adonises": Evoking Greek Icons in Death of a Salesman." The Midwest Quarterly, vol. 57, no. 3, 2016, pp. 276.

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