I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing,and that is that I know nothing.
- Socrates
Oct 30, 2022
Death of a Salesman is a very famous play that has historically been done with an all-white lead cast. This rendition of Death of a Salesman was the first all-black lead cast on Broadway. The play was absolutely gut-wrenching. The play overall was really effective in emoting pity, and sadness for the characters. It is about a struggling man in his 60s who struggles with success and being liked. In his old age, his mind is going and he remembers back to his younger days fantasizing about how he was “liked” when in actuality he wasn’t. The play is about a man struggling to keep his dignity as the people he watched grow up pull the rug out from under him and fire him in his darkest days. The actress who played Linda Loman successfully portrayed the loving mother and loyal wife struggling with her husband's mental health. The grace with which she plays the character is phenomenal.
I wasn’t thinking originally that this play is directly connected to the themes that we study in global studies, other than the arts. But looking closer into it I see the theme of human rights. We see the unfairness of a person who works their whole life at something only to be left cut and dry when he needs stability the most. Our country is so focused on money that we can’t think about the people we are affecting with our actions. For example, the man who fired Willy Loman was thinking about the bettering of his company rather than his employees. Now, I know that in order to create the best workplace environment and company, you have to fire people so I wonder when you think of other people and when you think of yourself and your company. This play really made me question this and made me think of the morality of firing people because I saw it in a scene that felt real. The play “Death of a Salesman” was an amazing monumental play and demonstrated amazing examples of our themes in Global Studies.