Social Pressure and Family Oppression in Death of a Salesman and Fences

Laia Vidal Mateu NIUB: 14751446 vidalmateu.laia@gmail.com Literatures dels EEUU dels segles XX i XXI

Abstract: In my essay I would like to see how two different plays of the 20th century Death of a Salesman (1949) by Arthur Miller and Fences (1983) by August Wilsondepict, quite similarly, different issues of the American society of the 20th century. More specifically, I would like to see how both plays show how social pressure relates to the interpersonal relations within the structure of the family. For instance, I would like to analyse the way in which the two authors tackle the issue of social class and draw a parallel between the two. In order to do so, I will analyse how the father of the central family in each play deals with class struggle and how social pressures affect them and their families. To end up, I would like to wrap it all up by seeing how many issues depicted there are still actual issues in todays capitalist societies.

Social Pressure and Family Oppression in Death of a Salesman and Fences Laia Vidal Mateu

Death of a Salesman and Fences are two plays that resemble each other in different aspects. They are both set in a family house and depict issues that may arise within American families of the mid 20th century. Although only the second seems to be concerned with racial oppression, both portray how class pressure can affect the citizens of a capitalist society and the family structure. More specifically, in both plays we see a family-father as a tragic hero who struggles to manage his family and who, probably worn out by social pressure, eventually dies at the end of the play. In this essay, my aim is to see the differences and similarities between the ways in which the tragic heroes are affected by this pressure and how this also affects their relationships with their families. Firstly, both plays portray how the heads of the families depicted have to endure a constant fight to provide food and shelter for their families. However, the main character of each play reacts and deals with it differently . On the one hand, it is clear that Death of a Salesman deals with class issues. As Nilsen puts it, Miller wrote a play concerned with the victims of the Capitalist system; those who never achieve middleclass security. In his article, he claims that the initial stage direction already suggests that this is the case of the Loman family, who live threatened and overwhelmed by tall buildings (Nilsen 153) that surround their house. Actually, throughout the whole play we can see the characters and especially Willy Loman, a salesman referring to economic struggles and the importance of or rather pressure for individual success in society. For instance, Willy has his own beliefs about how to be successful and he repeats them over and over. As he says, the essential characteristic to make money is to be liked: because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. (Miller 1.274) However, his problem is that, although he is not being successful, he blindly believes in his values, the American dream and this capitalist system that is suffocating his life. He sees

Social Pressure and Family Oppression in Death of a Salesman and Fences Laia Vidal Mateu

himself in the right to progress and prosper only because he is a well-liked US citizen, but he ignores the reality which is that he needs to provide for food and shelter for his family and he does not have the means or opportunities to do it. In addition, it is suggested that it is the social pressure that makes him insane and ultimately kills him. On the other hand, if we take Koprinces point of view that baseball has long been regarded as a metaphor for the American dream (Koprince 349) and that this is also the case in Fences, it can be assumed that this play also deals with class issues. More specifically, using baseball as a symbol for the American dream, this plays portrays the class struggle suffered by the black in a society with racial discrimination: an issue that becomes Troy Maxsons obsession. Actually, Troy was once excluded from the socalled organised baseball league, according to him, only because of his race. This had a great impact on him and, in many occasions in the play, he complains about the few opportunities the black have to play sports in the higher leagues. This can be observed when he claims that, The colored guy got to be twice as good before he get on the team. (Wilson 1.3.57) This baseball issue can be easily paralleled to his unrest as a black breadwinner in the American society. As Koprince claims, at the age of 53, Troy feels he has worked hard as a garbage collector to feed and protect his family, I do the best I can do, (Wilson 1.3.119) but his familys economy still depends on his brothers money. This clearly shows that he is in an outsider position in which he cannot meet the capitalist standards to be a successful man. In order to understand the system, he has, same as Willy, built his own beliefs about the society and the system. However, it is clear that he sees the problems that may arise within this excluding system and he complains about the pressure felt at different points in the play, for instance when he tells his wife, Just give me some room to breathe. (Wilson 2.2.110)

Social Pressure and Family Oppression in Death of a Salesman and Fences Laia Vidal Mateu

Secondly, both family fathers seem to be victims and victimizers at the same time, namely they try to impose their beliefs on one of their sons. In other words, they try to make of their sons what they understand as a successful man in the society where they live. Willy, in Death of a Salesman, clearly has an ongoing conflict with his son Biff. He wants Biff to follow his steps and become a successful businessman, as Willy himself has done, on the basis of being liked. A clear instance of this view is when Willy tells Ben about the way hes bringing his children up, rugged, well-liked, allaround. (Miller 1.512) The problem, though, is that there is a clash of ideas between father and son: Biff believes that his fathers values are wrong. He seems to be happier than the others by trying to find the truth in himself, thus, undermining capitalist values and the business world. He clearly expresses so when he claims that they do not believe to that world and that they should be mixing cement on some open plain, oror carpenters. (Miller 1.586) It is also suggested in the stage direction of act one that he is happier in his own way, and he tries to explain that to his father, why am I trying to become what I dont want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am! (Miller 2.515) However, Willy, not realizing of his own failure yet, seems not to understand the nature of his sons claims. In Fences, Troy also acts as a victimizer for one of his sons, Cory. Same as Willy, Troy tries to impose his beliefs on his son, with the effect of destroying his sons dream of accepting a football scholarship for college. In this case, though, what the father says that he wants is his son to move as far away from [his] life as he can get. (Wilson 1.3.111) However, as Rose claims at the end of the play, it seems that Troy wanted Cory to be everything he wasnt... and at the same time he tried to make you into everything he was. (Wilson 2.5.98) This imposition upon Cory shows, again a conflict

Social Pressure and Family Oppression in Death of a Salesman and Fences Laia Vidal Mateu

between father and son. As Koprince states, in this play unlike in Death of a Salesman, it is the son who seems to believe in the American dream, rather than the father. Cory believes that he can be successful in playing sports but his father clearly opposes this idea, I decided seventeen years ago that boy wasnt getting involved in no sports. Not after what they did to me in the sports. (Wilson 1.3.111) Although it may not be clear what the exact reasons behind Troys decision about the matter are, it is likely that the racial oppression he suffered as a young black athlete has left its mark on him. Later, the conflict even gets to the point in which, at the end of scene 4 of act two, father and son fight in the yard of their house, and, as a result, Cory is eventually expelled from his family house by his father, Go and get away from around my house. (Wilson 2.4.95) In sum, we have seen how social pressure seems to suffocate both tragic heroes, who find themselves excluded from the American dream. Moreover, it can be also claimed that this social pressure consequently affects one of their sons, in a way that we can read that Willy and Troy are victims of the system, but victimizers of their family at the same time. In my view, it is not surprising that such conflictive relationships arise in a capitalist society. I understand that, since Capitalism is clearly an excluding system, the outsiders of the system whereas they realize it (Troy) or not (Willy) have to endure a fight to survive that is completely anti-human. Therefore, the oppression or pressure that they project on their sons, seems to me just another manifestation that they do not fit nor understand the individualistic system they are living in. Unfortunately, nowadays, there even more outsiders of the different capitalist systems of the world, a fact that clearly means to me that a change of system is needed, before all the excluded Become tragic heroes.

Social Pressure and Family Oppression in Death of a Salesman and Fences Laia Vidal Mateu

Works Cited: Koprince, Susan. Baseball as History and Myth in August Wilsons Fences African American Review 40.2 (2006): 349-358. Web Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Group, 1976. e-book Nilsen, Helge Normann. From Honors at Dawn to Death of a Salesman: Marxism and the Eraly Plays of Arthur Miller English Studies 75.2 (1994): 146-156. Web Wilson, August. Fences. New York: Plume, 1986. Print

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