In Miller's Death of a salesman the theme of individual powerlessness is re-occurring. The entire play is based on the life of a man who has basically failed at everything he has done. All this bad fortune is not just Willy Loman's fault, he has to face the cruel reality for the world and try to cope with it. Unfortunately Willy fails at his attempt of coping with the real world. The theme of individual powerlessness and alienation is not just re-occurring in Death Of A Salesman. Individual powerlessness is a very common theme in modernism. Many other modern poets and writers show this same theme in their work. E.E. Cummings is a great example of a modern poet who shows the theme of individual powerlessness and alienation.
Miller does a wonderful job in showing the theme of individual powerlessness and alienation that Willy goes through in Death Of A Salesman.
Arthur Miller, American playwright
Actor Dustin Hoffman with Lee J. Cobb, who origina...
Death of a Salesman (1951 film)Willy has a very hard life, which leads him to do several stupid acts. Willy is faced with so much grief that he attempts to commit suicide several times by crashing his car. To some extent Willy is not the one responsible for all the bad things that have happened to him throughout his life. Society has rejected Willy and his old fashioned thinking. Society, at this point has evolved so quickly that Willy has not been able to catch up. So in a way, society is the one responsible for alienating Willy. He has not been able to recover from this new change in the world. Willy is seen as a loser, a no-body, someone who has not accomplished anything in his life. Willy's last action of powerlessness was his suicide.
E.E. Cummings, along side of Arthur Miller, both wrote modern literature. Both these authors showed...