Comparison Between of Mice and Men and Death of a Salesman

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Both Steinbeck and Miller portray America as a bitter place by exploring how a solution to loneliness is impossible and it is inevitable for them to end up lonely. For example, the theme of relationships does not defeat loneliness in either texts. Curley’s wife feels lonely and isolated from the rest of the ranch and her relationship with Curley is not established as a happy one. She stills feels lonely even when she has a partner. Similarly, Willy feels lonely even when he has Linda supporting him throughout the events of the novel. Both Curley’s wife and Willy are subjected to prejudice. For Curley’s wife, she is constantly disliked because of her gender and is insulted by various members of the ranch. On the other hand, Willy is disrespected because of his age and loses his job because it is believed by his co-workers that he is unfit for the job.

As Candy ages, Steinbeck implies that his life has become meaningless and finds that he is powerless, because the society around has neglected him. Therefore, his importance in life has diminished as he grows older. He finds that his purpose in life is solely on achieving his dream of owning a ranch and being respected by the other ranch members. This is implied in the quote, said by Candy: “I wisht somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won’t have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs.” Candy compares his own life to that of his dog. He is admitting to wanting a fate similar to his dog, so he could escape the pointless life of working to no reward. Furthermore, Steinbeck’s intentions was to illustrate the dog as symbol to suggest that only the strong survive during the Great Depression—the period between 1929-39 where the stock market crashed causing unemployment to escalate. Likewise, the dog further represents what occurs when someone outlives their reason for living. Candy is the humane representation of his dog as he is aging to a point where he becomes a nuisance for those around the ranch. For instance, “I won’t have no place to go.” suggests that the old men are discarded like items that are no longer needed, because they have outlived a helpful purpose. No one will accept them because they are a burden. Also, to the ranch members, Candy represents the destiny that will occur if they are unable to achieve the American dream. He is the living embodiment of the American reality as he gives an insight into how the American dream is impossible. This links with ‘Death of a Salesman’ and how Willy’s memories represent the American dream but the reality of the dream is impossible

While, in ‘Death of a Salesman’, Miller takes a darker tone than Steinbeck as he demonstrates how Willy’s value in life has decreased and has become useless as he has grown older, this inevitably leads to his downfall. On the other hand, Candy from ‘Of Mice and Men’ does not die at the end of the novel but instead Steinbeck implies he lives a pointless existence. But Willy kills himself at the end as he believes it is the only way to escape his insignificant life. Willy’s importance in life is questioned multiple times because society have rejected him because of his age. Likewise, he has never achieved the American dream or managed to earn enough money for his family. Although, at the start of the play, he avoids the fate of his death through his self-pride. But as the novel progresses, he finds his life has no purpose or value. The quote: “Business is bad, it’s murderous. But not for me [Willy], of course.” shows his initial self-pride at the beginning of the novel. The word “murderous” is ironic as the worsening situation of his business, combined with his loneliness and dementia leads him to kill himself. Miller is illustrating foreshadowing of Willy’s death in this quote. Additionally, Miller is trying to portray Willy as a tragic hero. Every tragic hero is described as having a fatal flaw, or hamartia. Willy tragic flaw is his depiction of himself and excessive pride (hubris). Throughout the first act of the novel, he views himself as important and well-liked and throughout the second act, these dreams become real through his delusions. Miller attempts to portray Willy as a tragic hero throughout the first act, as Willy tries to save his family from their debt and the harsh cycle of consumerism. But throughout the second act, Willy’s mind constructs a battle between his the American dream and the American reality of not achieving much.

On the other hand, I think Willy understands his financial predicament in the second half of the book and notices that his life is worth less than the twenty thousand dollars that his family could gain as an insurance policy. This is shown in the quote: “Can you imagine that magnificence with twenty thousand dollars in his [Biff] pocket”. This line is spoken in a conversation to Ben, about Alaska and how it is full of wealth. Ben is an illusion formed in Willy’s imagination, in the form of a memory. However, this line also has an underlying meaning as twenty thousand dollars is the exact figure that Willy could gain for the insurance policy if he died. In this quote, he is contemplating suicide so his family could lead a better life. Miller’s intentions was to produce a vision of America; full of despair that could lead anyone to death as a type of escapism from the capitalism and consumerist lifestyle. Willy finds that he is consuming more items than the money he is producing, this becomes a vicious cycle and he doesn’t know how to escape from; except from killing himself.

America is portrayed as being full of obstacles; that refuses to fulfil their dreams. In ‘Of Mice and Men’, Lennie’s childish and unpredictable behaviour is a burden to George. To Biff, Willy a burden as he uses him for a depository for his hopes and dreams, that he was never able to achieve himself. Both authors portray a world where it is challenging to work together and achieve common goals—but instead it is everyman for himself trying to earn, and becoming successful in life.

For George, Lennie is an obstacle for both of them as his child-like behaviour causes him difficulty with understanding how to act in certain situations. Some of the ranch members, look at Lennie with pity, as his disability is looked down on by society. He will never be considered a suitable owner of a ranch as something will go wrong. For example, when Lennie touched the girl’s dress in Weed, or when he killed Curley’s wife. Ultimately, George feels responsible for Lennie and thus others view him as strange, that he would endure Lennie’s companionship.

Lennie is viewed as a burden to George but his actions are also a burden to himself. This is evident in the quote: “ain’t gonna do no bad things like you did in Weed, neither.