Success. The idea of success has been the main topic of our class's discussion relating to "Death of a Salesman" this week. Therefore, I have no real option but to blog on the idea of success.
In the play, Willy Loman is the catalyst for our discussion of success. He lived his life as a salesman, and probably a mediocre one at that, and is now at a point where he is no longer effective at the job he has chosen and can no longer make a living as a salesman. He is old. He is washed-up. He is fired. At this point, the reader cannot help but see Willy's life as a failure--the opposite of success. But even were Willy a less awful salesperson, his impossible ideal of a successful salesman would prevent him from achieving any sort of satisfaction from his job. He sees success as a salesman as the adoration of every buyer and seller that one ever comes into contact with. He sees success as popularity and memory after death. But the fact is that even a good salesman is not going to be particularly popular nor his death mourned by many.
So there it is. Willy could not achieve success even were he competent due to his high standard for success. This brings into the discussion the relativity of success. Success is completely subjective, so whether or not one acheives it is an entirely personal phenomenon; however, we can posit that one constant in the achievation of success is satisfaction. That is really the important part of success: achieving satisfaction.
Once again, satisfaction is a completely personal condition, and what each person needs to gain satisfaction is completely different. But we can be one-hundred percent sure that with success comes satisfaction, although perhaps satisfaction can come without success.
So what we can conclude is that success cannot be easily defined as making a certain amount of money, or befriending a certain number of people, or anything along those lines: success can be defined as the completion of life goals that is rewarded with personal, lasting satisfaction.
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10 comments:
That is so true. Success is dependent on satisfaction. And people can only be satisfied and happy by their own standards. People must make themselves happy, no one else controls someone's emotions.
Mr. Fram,
As usual, I have to agree with your insight into the human condition and remark that this is yet another well-written and informative entry. However, I will have to agree especially with one aspect of this blog. I am more than confident that your own personal goals for success involve making the MOST money and befriending the MOST people, therefore making success completely relative.
Schooner, I do believe it's Dr. Rev...What an insult.
Anyway,
Eric, very nice blog. I liked how you related our discussion of success to Willy and how you attributed his failure partially due to the fact that he "aims too high," so to speak. It's an interesting observation that I don't think was brought up in class and I must say, I do concur. Nice work.
Zach
Yeah, disregard the fact that my last comment claims to be posted by Erica. I explained this to you.
Good day sir.
Zach
Eric, bravo. You wrote a very well-written blog, and I agree with all your statements of success. You could not have echoed my own ideas in a more perfect way doctor, and I applaud you for that. Great job.
I must reiterate what Matt said in class that if we scale success along the lines of personal happiness, then everyone can be successful because there will always be some little thing that an individual can delve out of their worthless lives that make them happy, therefore making them successful. This problem is quickly remedied by the standardization of the measure of success along the Greenberg scale, as we introduced to the class. If we just remain along these lines, the standardized unit of success will allow scientists globally to work together towards further progress in research.
Eric,
As always, your blog is both well-written and amusing. I agree that Willy's idea of success is unreachable because it is unrealistic. I thought it was interesting that you talked about personal satisfaction more than of acceptance in society. well done!
Eric, old sport, I find it refreshing to read your blunt concession of the subjectivity of success. While we may attempt to do our best at objective quantification of the notion through such measures as the Greenberg Scale, ultimately our attempts too subjective.
I also appreciate your blog for your assertive language (i.e. not introducing each point with "I believe" or "I think").
Great blog Eric! Very interesting. He is kind of always going to hit a glass ceiling considering his dreams are so high that he can't even come close to achieving them. I also like how you talked about what a personal and subjective experience success is. Additionally, your blog is very eye-catching. Nice.
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