Most choices made today by people are based off of the opinion of others, and it is only to gain social approval. People make sure everyone knows what they are doing, posting status updates on social medias, idly wasting their time. Everyone seems to just want to show off what they are doing with the mindset of “making their mark on this world”, but how public is too public in today's society? Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman is an example of how the idea of fame dictates people’s lives and affects their perception of how public is too public. Using Willy Loman, Arthur Miller shows the varying affects fame takes on people obsessed with wanting to be known.
In the play Death of a Salesman the author uses Willy Loman as a character who is …show more content…
Throughout the play it was emphasized that Willy wanted to be “well-liked” and the only way to achieve that was to leave his old life to become a salesman. On page sixty-one of the text when Willy Loman is talking to Howard, he says, “‘Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?”, and this idea is parallel to what Jeff Jarvis says in his book Public Parts, “But we humans want attributes attached to our identities. We want to be known for something. We want the hallmark of our lives to live past us, with our reputations and creations as our legacies.”. They both have the similar idea of living life just to be remembered by others. Putting their lives out there, whether it is by becoming a salesman or writing a book, just to be known for a time longer than their own. In the play, Willy tries to convince himself that he is “well-liked” but how well-liked could he be if no one showed up to his funeral? At his