Compare Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and The Metamorphosis by Essay

Compare Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and The Metamorphosis by Frank Kafka - Essay Example This occurs as they both spend their lives dedicated to their work and then come to understand their isolation. However, while Gregor’s family manages to find a means of surviving without him, Willy’s family seems headed for disaster by the end of the play. In both stories, the main character remains disconnected with his loved ones because he must work and travel to support them. Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman spends his life traveling from town to town selling and ranking his importance in life to the number of people he knows. However, this gives him little satisfaction and no sense of connection to his family. â€Å"Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there’s nobody to live in it† (Miller, 1949). This statement reveals the emptiness Willy has found in his effort to provide his family with a home of their own as his sons prepare to leave again. As Linda tries to soothe him, he reminds her â€Å"some people accomplish something† (Miller, 1949). In the same way, it can be argued that Gregor’s transformation in Metamorphosis is a literal indication of his feelings of separation from humanity, including from the members of his own family. Even in his own home, he has taken up the h abit of locking his bedroom doors â€Å"as if in a hotel† (16) and he continues to follow the rules and regulations set forth by his father even though he is the sole breadwinner of the family. In both stories, the main character’s isolation is brought forward as a result of this occupational need. As Willy travels through his territory, he evidently makes numerous friends, as he boasts to his boys in the play’s many flashbacks. However, at the present time in the play, none of these friends seem available and even his family has retreated from him to the point that his wife must remind their son, â€Å"He’s the dearest man in the world to me, and I won’t have anyone making