Monday, 5 March 2012

Does Linda gain a sense of self-awareness by the end of the play?

  In my eyes, Linda doesn't really gain a sense of self-awareness by the end of the play. Nothing in the way she behaves towards Willy or the rest of her family changes. She continues to be passive in relation to Willy's madness -treating him the same way she treated him at the beginning of the play -and mollycoddling him devotedly. There is no evidence that she has learned anything about herself or her situation in life. Happy is still ignored and Biff is still put second when it comes to him and Willy.
  I believe that this in itself is a bit tragic. In the end, she loses Willy -who her whole life seems to revolve around- and gains absolutely nothing from her experiences or from the experiences of others around her. That she must continue her life now without Willy or the comfort of a new purpose or self-awareness is truly tragic in a sense.