Dead End Job

I vastly enjoyed reading the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and found the relationship between Willy and his old boss Mr Wanger and his son Howard Wagner who has taken over the business in which Willy works. Willy is under the impression that if the Mr Wanger was still alive and in control of the company, he would be in charge of the New York section. However this is not the case and Willy is working a sales in out in the middle of nowhere.

It is evident that Willy has spent his whole life working this job in hope that he will be promoted and moved up the Hierarchy of the company. However, due to the change of leadership this never occurred and he is now 63 and stuck in the same dead-end job. This particular part of the play drew my attention and made me start questioning my future.

I always took the optimistic approach that things would always work out alright. But in this play Willy simply seems to never succeed and almost become crazy in a sense. What is it to have a dream or a future goal? What is it we really want and why do we want it? This play has provoked many of these thoughts into my head and the only real answer I can put to them is family. The reason I feel I do most things is for my family. I think Willy’s family is very fragmented and this is the reason for the fighting and constant indecisions thought-out the whole family.

Across the world

While reading the play “Fires on the mirror”, a section by Norman Rosenbaum called “sixteen hours difference”, caught my attention. The section is about a young man who receives a call from his wife asking him to come home as there is problem. He rushes home to be informed by his good friend that his brother has been killed amongst the riots in Crown heights, Brooklyn, America.

I found it intriguing that it hadn’t even entered his mind that his brother could have been harmed. His brother was on the other side of the world and got caught up in the wrong crowd and payed the ultimate price. I went on to read the other sections, “My Brothers Blood” to find his brother was murder for being a Jew. Not because he had done someone wrong but because he had a different belief system. Norman now seeks revenge not just on the people who killed his brother but also every American who represents the injustice justice system. Only 1 of the 20 people who attacked his brother was arrested.

This section really drew my attention because I am also 16 hours away from home and also have a brother. The thought that I could possible get a random phone call with this kind of news, simply scares me. It was only in 2005 when the Cronulla riots (also racially motivated) broke out in Queensland (where I live) and 23 people were injured. We think ourselves as invincible and our family will always be there but happens when uncontrollable circumstances occur? Where do we turn? What action do we take?

I have read my syllabus and accept the terms of the course