Marriages in Death of a Salesman v Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Two great play writes, and two famous plays. Both plays have been criticized, critiqued, and praised for decades. They have been presented in Broadway, and in high school auditoriums. They have been lauded as great works, and condemned for their content. This paper will not argue which one of these authors is greater, nor will it try to convince you which play is better. The only goal of this work is to compare and contrast the marriage relationship of Willy and Linda Loman with Big Daddy and Big Mama Pollitt. To accomplish this fully a brief synopsis of both plays will be offered, followed by a comparison of Willy Loman with Big Daddy Pollitt. Then a comparison of Linda Loma with Big Mama Pollitt is offered before comparing and contrasting the marriages of the Lomans with the Pollitts. Only then can one fully get into the mindset of the authors and their characters.

Death of a Salesman mainly takes place inside of Willy’s “disturbed, faltering brain, as he relives crucial scenes from the past even while groping through present-day encounters.” Althou

Big Daddy and Big Mama’s relationship is different from Willy and Linda’s in the ways the women treat the men, and how the men feel about their spouses. “[Linda] patiently accepts Willy’s rudeness with remarkably good grace.” Linda “loves her husband deeply, and feels that even if he is collapsing now he deserves respect as a person.” Willy considers Linda “his source of strength.” “With Linda, by contrast, [Willy] sometimes lowers his guard.” “Linda speaks affectionately and admiringly of Willy.’” Linda strongly affirms her love for Willy…” Although Big Mama claims to love Big Daddy, it becomes painfully obvious with the way she throws away money and tries to assume control of the plantation that she is really in love with Big Daddy’s money. Big Mama, unlike Linda, shows no real concern, or love, for Big Daddy. She doesn’t try to comfort him, nor make him comfortable. She doesn’t try to ease his pain now, nor will she be able to use the morphine as Doctor Baugh suggests. Although she accuses her younger son, Gooper, of being “determined” to see his father die, one may wonder if she, too, doesn’t look forward from being out from under her husband.

So we can see that although both men act in similar fashions, as was traditional at that time, they lived their lives in different fashions, and will face the end of their lives in different ways.

Willy and Big Daddy have a lot in common. They both are in their sixties and suffering from maladies that will kill them. Both men treat one of their sons indifferently and the other son as something special, despite the fact both favorite sons have serious problems. These problems worry both men. Both Willy and Big Daddy are short-tempered, and resort to yelling when they feel they are not being listened to. Seeing as both plays are set in the 1950’s, these men act as most men of that time, as kings of their castle, lord of all they survey, and they firmly believe what they say is law.

However, Linda and Big Mama are more different than similar. Big Mama is mentioned as “garrulous,” “shrill, well-meaning,” “tasteless, rowdy and feather-brained in a horrifying manner.” Linda is shown “to be patient, tactful, and considerate.” At first the reader may think Big Mama is the strong one, and Linda is too passive, Linda“is shown from the first to possess a realistic awareness of the true situation. Her remark that Willy’s “mind is overactive” is shrewdly perceptive,” while Big Mama proclaims that there is “[n]othin’ a-tall wrong” with Big Dad

Some topics in this essay:
Linda Mama, Willy Daddy, Willy Linda’s, Mississippi Willy, Tin Roof, Death Salesman, Willy…” Mama, Nile” Daddy’s, Gooper Brick, Happy Willy’s, willy daddy, mama pollitt, lomans pollitts, linda mama, daddy mama pollitt, marriages lomans, control plantation, characters fictional, son brick, similar mama, doesn’t try, cat hot tin, marriages lomans pollitts, willy linda loman, hot tin roof,