The Internal and External Conflicts of Willy Loman Essay

Individuals explore their responses to conditions of internal and external conflicts throughout literature. Going in depth to a character allows the reader to better understand that character’s internal and external conflicts. Arthur Miller uses this technique in several of his plays, including Death of a Salesman. Miller portrays the character of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman through his internal and external conflicts. The internal conflict begins with Willy’s expectations for his sons and The Woman. Willy struggles throughout the play with having extremely high expectations for his sons, Happy and Biff. Happy and Willy get along well because they are most alike of the two sons. Happy has the same materialistic mindset as†¦show more content†¦The reader can see this when The Woman says, â€Å"I’ll put you right through to the buyers,† (Miller 39). Thus, Willy has multiple expectations for his sons and The Woman. The internal conflict continues with Willy’s dreams. The beginning of the play tells us that it is about dreams (Eisinger 2). Willy dreams of the American dream and family dreams. Willy characterizes the American dream as success, which creates conflict within himself. Willy longs for the dream so much that he focuses solely on achieving this goal that he loses desire for anything less. Willy interprets his desire for success when he defines Dave Singleton: And he was eighty-four years old and he’d drummed merchandise in thirty-one states. And old Dave he’d go up to his room, y’understand, put on his green velvet slippers – I’ll never forget – and pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without ever leaving his room at the age of eighty-four, he made his living. And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. (Miller 81) Dave Singleton is a model for Willy because he shows that a salesman can be remembered, loved, and helped in many different places in the country (Eisinger 4). The success of Dave is the American dream that Willy desires. The American dream of having everything one wants. Because Willy wants this corrupt dream so much, he longs for his family to have the same dream. Happy does however,Show MoreRelated Willy Loman, Jay Gatsby, and the Pursuit of the American Dream798 Words   |  4 PagesWilly Loman, Jay Gatsby, and the Pursuit of the American Dream Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, and Arthur Miller, author of Death of a Salesman, both tell the stories of men in the costly pursuit of the American dream. As a result of several conflicts, both external and internal, both characters experience an extinction of the one thing that they have set their sights on.... The American Dream. Jay Gatsby, a mysterious, young and very wealthyRead MoreCharacters Influenced by Traumatic Internal Events: Hamlet, and Death of a Salesman1018 Words   |  5 PagesDemonstrating a link between internal thoughts and external action, characters in both William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman harness Aristotle’s philosophical ideology. In both plays, a main character becomes so overwhelmed by mental or psychological events that their actions become reflective of them. Although set in different time periods and involving entirely different circumstances, the fates of both Shakespeare’s Ophelia and Miller’s Willy Loman reach a climax in self-inflictedRead More Importance of Self-Image in the Loman Family1483 Words   |  6 Pages Published in 1949, Arthur Miller’s Death of Salesman is a post Second World War American drama that highlights the plight of isolation and desolation experienced by the common man, as symbolized by Willy. The play deals with the society, life’s absurdity, various internal and external conflicts, death and above all, the tragedy of existence. It is located in the industrial society of the twentieth century where the pressure to succeed and the financial difficulties seem insurmountable. The playRead MoreArthur Miller s Death Of A Salesman And The Crucible2615 Words   |  11 PagesSince the beginning of the human race, struggles and conflicts have been a constant. As individual people and as a world, there have never been perfect times. Arthur Miller’s writing style focuses on how his characters deal with external and internal problems and how their reactions to these problems reflect their characterization. Arthur Miller uses external conflict, internal conflict , and indirect characterization, in Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, to show how ideas of society do not alwaysRead More The Presentation of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller2049 Words   |  9 PagesThe Presentation of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller Willy Loman is presented as both a tragic hero and an unconscious victim in Death of a Salesman. Death of a Salesman is very much based upon the American Dream, and whether we are slaves or conquerors of this dream. This is an idea that the playwright Arthur Miller has very passionately pursued both through Willys own eyes, and through his interaction with the different characters in the play. Read MoreAnalysis Of The Play Death Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller1612 Words   |  7 Pagesplay follows the Lomans, a lower-middle class family, who are struggling throughout the end of the 1940s. There are vital relationships within the story, as the audience notices the main character, Willy, longs to live vicariously through his eldest son in particular, Biff. The protagonist, Willy supports his family by being a travelling salesman. In any era, this is a very difficult way to make a living. This struggle is felt throughout the play through the tension between Willy and his wife, LindaRead More The Character of Uncle Ben in Death of a Salesman Essay2550 Words   |  11 PagesArthur Millers Death of A Salesman serves a complex dramatic function.   He is Willy Lomans real brother, the idealized memory of that brother, and an aspect of Willys own personality, and these distinct functions are sometimes simultaneous.à ‚   Through his aggressive actions and vibrant speech, the audience is given a strong contrast to Willys self-doubt and self-contradiction.   In addition, the encounters between Ben and Willy serve as an extended examination of professional and familial morality.   Finally

Swords to Ploughshares The Social Causes of Violence

Human beings aren’t killing each other as much as we used to. Violent crimes such as murders, rapes, assaults etc. are on a statistical decline, not just in the United States, but on a global average as well. While still far from that ideal utopia mankind dreams of, we have come a long way since the days of World Wars, rampant racism, and wonton infliction of agony. Have we just grown bored of all pillaging and raping? Are we now realizing that violence is not the answer but the problem? Or have men like Mahatma Gandhi and women like Arundhati Roy challenged our intellect and ushered us onto the path of peace? Certain political theorists have been so influential in history that their teachings completely change the course of human destiny†¦show more content†¦Even if a person is fortunate enough to live in a community like the Bay Area, where most people do not face great chances of death and bodily harm every day, if we take a moment and look around us we realize tha t violence has permeated so deep into our lives that the roots are invisible. The lack of racial diversity in communities like Blackhawk and the Berkeley Hills, the presence of police officers armed with 9-millimeter handguns walking amongst teenagers and young adults on campus, and even the threat of traffic fines for improper parking all challenge the notion that we are truly free. These examples are trivial compared to colonization or racial segregation, but the acknowledgment of them is the same process these theorists advocate. When a people become so complacent in their own oppression that they willingly submit to it is when violence manifests itself. After analyzing the different forms of violence present and accepted within ones surroundings, the mentality and approach to this violence need to be challenged in order for something to change. Identifying a problem is the first step in solving it. Think of all the violent phrases we use in everyday conversation: â€Å"Take a s tab at it†, â€Å"Pull the trigger†, even the phrase â€Å"rule of thumb†

Police Discretion Free Essays

Discretion is defined as the authority to make a decision between two or more choices (Pollock, 2010). More specifically, it is defined as â€Å"the capacity to identify and to document criminal and noncriminal events† (Boivin ump; Cordeau, 2011). Every police officer has a great deal of discretion concerning when to use their authority, power, persuasion, or force. We will write a custom essay sample on Police Discretion or any similar topic only for you Order Now Depending on how an officer sees their duty to society will determine an officer’s discretion. Discretion leads to selective enforcement practices and may result in discrimination against certain groups of people or select individuals (Young, 2011). Most police officer discretion is exercised in situational situations with individuals (Sherman, 1984). Discrimination can lead to legal problems for an officer of the law. If discrimination due to an officer’s use of discretion results in a violation of due process it is a violation of the law (Young, 2010). Due process is the constitutionally mandated procedural steps designed to eliminate error in any governmental deprivation of liberty, life, or property (Pollock, 2010). One of the main concerns with using discretion is the possibility of it leading to a violation of due process by racial profiling. Types of Negative Police Discretion Racial profiling occurs when a police officer uses a â€Å"profile† as reasonable suspicion to stop a person with the intent to obtain consent to search their belongings (Pollock, 2010). These stops are usually traffic stops and the officer is looking to obtain consent to search the individual’s automobile. The â€Å"profile† used is based on race. In these cases, an officer is using their discretion to target minority groups because they believe they are involved in criminal activities. The concern with using this profile is that racial stereotyping of minority groups will lead police to crack down on minorities more than on other groups. While police see the action of racial profiling as a normal police tactic, minority groups see the actions as racist (Young, 2011). Although most studies on police officer discretion is focused on racial profiling, it has also been shown that officers patrol hot spots. Hot spots are areas known to have a high rate of criminal activity. Focusing on hot spots is an officer’s discretion, because they are ignoring other areas that could potential produce criminal activities. All surveillance and enforcement efforts are focused on the â€Å"hot† area. Not only are officers ignoring other areas, but they have determined those areas are not as important as the hot spot. Hot spots can prove to be problematic if the criminal activity located in the hot spot before it was being patrolled is moved to a new location. The new location is prone to no police surveillance because all resources are focused on the old hot spot (Mastrofski, 2011). Discretion and the Use of Force Police have the uncontested right to use force when necessary to apprehend a suspect. If the force exceeds that which is necessary it is defined as excessive force and is illegal. An officer’s discretion on use of force is a based on judgment. They do not know if a judge will later rule an instance of use of force as excessive or not. There is a fine line between what is considered acceptable force and what is considered excessive force. All an officer can do is use their training to determine what is and what is not excessive force for the given circumstances (Pollock, 2010). The use of force is highly resistant to change, even after the Rodney King incident. Rodney King was a subject of police brutality. He was repeatedly beat with a baton by Los Angeles police officers, while other officers stood by watching without attempting to stop the excessive force. The pattern of excessive force may be so ingrained in some police department cultures that it remains unaffected by other high profile excess force cases, such as the Rodney King case. This pattern is termed the â€Å"culture of force. † The culture of force is also subject to an officer’s discretion. The culture of force is detrimental to a department. The Los Angeles Police Department in the 1980s and 1990s would act on a tip and destroy homes by breaking toilets, ripping sofas, and spray painting â€Å"LAPD Rules! † on the walls. These acts by the Los Angeles Police Department prove the culture of the department will have an influence on the individual officer (Pollock, 2010). Police departments have use-of-force policies that specify when force may be used and the proper level of force to be used under given circumstances. Most departments use a continuum-of-force approach that allows proportional force to the suspect’s resistance. The level of force by an officer increases in direct response to escalating resistance of the suspect. Policies such as this one have been put into place following many humiliating acts of excessive force. The policies are in place in an attempt to prevent future acts of excessive force (Pollock, 2010). Studies on Police Discretion National studies on police behavior have failed to adequately address the issue of police discretion. Due to the lack of important research data, analysts have developed suggestions on how to improve an individual officer’s discretion by educating the entire department on proper use of discretion. The current suggestions are focused on officers in higher ranks developing an educational program for their department addressing areas of needs they have observed. They are the eyes of the department, and it is there job to know what their officers needs entail. Each department will have different needs based on the ethical viewpoints of their individual officers (Mastrofski, 2011). A study on police discretion conducted in Canada was implemented to try to eliminate negative police discretion. The study first mandated that all reported violations of the law be recorded. The results of the study had effective but temporary results. There were more records of assaults, robberies, thefts, and mischief. However, the study had no effects on reports of burglaries and car thefts. It is estimated that during the one year study police recorded 13,000 extra crimes. Although there was an increase in records, detection and reporting rates remained the same. The extra recordings were determined to be ineffective because the community reported that they did not notice a difference in the policing styles (Boivin ump; Cordeau, 2011). Ethical Dilemmas in Police Discretion Ethical dilemmas are â€Å"situations in which it is difficult to make a decision, either because the right course of action is not clear or the right course of action carries some negative consequences. † Ethical dilemmas entail the individual struggling with personal decision making, and sometimes results in a personal dilemma. Departmental policy can lead to personal dilemmas as well if it means going against an individual officer’s ethical system beliefs. This can lead to the officer seeking a change in law to match their own person views on the issue (Pollock, 2010). Utilitarianism is â€Å"the ethical system that claims the greatest good is that which results in the greatest happiness for the greatest number. † Utilitarianism therefore argues racial profiling is ethical because the â€Å"end† of drug interdictions justifies the â€Å"means† of harassing and inconveniencing the group. An argument against this justification is that when an officer uses racial profiling in decision making, the officer’s motives obscured. They do not concentrate on what is important for investigations. Behavior is what is important, not demographics (Pollock, 2010). Ethical formalism states that â€Å"the only thing truly good is a good will. † This ethical system does not agree with the idea of racial profiling. According to Pollock, it would mean that everyone should be stopped in the same way, so everyone would have to agree to be stopped numerous times every week. Since society most likely will not all agree that everyone should be stopped the same, racial profiling would not be an accepted practice in the ethical formalism system (Pollock, 2010). It is difficult to apply ethical systems to the use of deadly force and tasers. This is because each situation involving the use of force is different. At times an officer may benefit from the use of a taser, but other times the use, or threat of use, of a deadly weapon is more effective. Officers may argue that tasers do not always benefit the suspect because tasers do not always stop people. Departmental policies usually overrule ethics in the use of force. This is because officers have a duty of protection, so if they can accomplish their task without hurting the individual their duty would require the lesser use of force. Every officer has a duty to prevent crime. If they feel an individual is a criminal based on race, then formal policies are going to conflict with their ethics. In other words, if an officer believes racial profiling is an effective method of policing their ethics are going to conflict with formal policies. An effective method to correct this conflict has been to educate officers on evidence that proves stopping minorities based on their race are less likely to result in criminal activity than stops based on behavioral-based criteria. Even with education, an officer’s ethics can still prevail over evidence learned in training. This is because the officer’s ethical standards still tell them racial profiling is more effective (Pollock, 2010). Training to Eliminate Unethical Police Discretion Practices Efforts to eliminate racial discrimination in the police culture are in the form of new officer recruitment and training and taught through patrol work. These measures are taken to eliminate negative discretion, such as racial profiling, by developing better relationships with the community regardless of the racial composition. The goal is to make police-citizen interactions more frequent, varied, and dispersed throughout the community (Mastrofski, 2011). A suggestion was made on how to police hot spots by Mastrofski. He suggested that instead of having officers stationed in hot spots with full personal discretion on how they police the area, they should be told how long to patrol the area or told what tactics to use in the area. This will eliminate complete personal discretion by the officers patrolling the hot spot areas. The time limit of policing the hot spot is to reduce the amount of neglect other areas in the community experience due to the policing of hot spot areas. The goal of this plan is to continue with the crack downs in hot spot zones without neglecting other areas in the community (Mastrofski, 2011). Conclusion Although this research paper focused on the negative effects of police discretion, there can also be positive effects. Things such as giving offenders of minor traffic violations less of a punishment or giving first time youth offenders less of a punishment to let them learn from their mistakes are examples of what can be termed positive police discretion. However, what is considered positive discretion to one person could be negative discretion to another. Every person has their own opinions about how police discretion should be handled. Some may think police should not be entitled to use discretion and every department should have policies the officers should follow instead. Other people may like that police have the use of discretion which could lead to a warning for a minor traffic violation instead of a fine. The topic of police discretion in relation to ethical dilemmas is also a heated debate. Since people have different ethics; every police officer will patrol a little different. It has been suggested that police departments educate their officers to be more uniform in their policing. Not only would this eliminate some of the negative discretion practices officers may have developed, it would also put all the officers on the same page with the way the department would like to have the community policed (Mastrofski, 2011). The concept of police discretion is a large topic of conversation among researchers. The problem I see with the topic of conversation is there is not a lot of research done on the actual affects of the individual discretion of each officer compared to a department that has been educated in following policies more than personal discretion. In fact, from what I saw there is not much research on the effects of discretion at all. It seems like it is a topic that is overlooked when researching the effectiveness of a department. I feel like before more solutions are found on how to correct the problem of discretion, more research needs to be done on how discretion plays a role in every day policing. Until this research is conducted, all the articles published are on theories of discretion causing problems, and all of the solutions mentioned are methods to correct a problem that has not even been proven to be an issue yet. How to cite Police Discretion, Papers Police Discretion Free Essays Running head: POLICE DISCRETION Police Discretion CJA/342 University Of Phoenix Police Discretion Police discretion is an important tool in police work due to the law sometimes being too vague or ambiguous. Police officers are trained on different scenarios that one may come across while they are at the academy. The problem tends to arise when a police officer comes across a situation that they were not trained for, and since the academy cannot cover every possible scenario that one may come across. We will write a custom essay sample on Police Discretion or any similar topic only for you Order Now Therefore, police officers must use his or her discretion when put into a situation where they need to make a choice on how to enforce the law. There are however, several scenarios where police discretion is either used or in some instances where even mythical aspects are involved. Some of these cases include: domestic violence, public intoxication, trespassing, disorderly conduct, traffic enforcement, hate crimes, mentally ill, use of force, and prostitution. Domestic disturbances is also categorized and more commonly known as domestic abuse. Domestic abuse occurs when a family member, current partner or an ex-partner tries to control the victim physically or mentally. Since domestic violence knows no boundaries it can occur with any race, gender, and class and perpetrated by both women and men (Domestic Violence, n. d. ,  ¶ 1). This situation for a police officer to come across is probably the most difficult due to the laws being vague in this type of situation. In these types of cases police discretion is typically used where they separate the couple even to the point where an arrest is made for the abuser for a 24 hour cool down period. The police officers can also help the victim by given them support pamphlets as well as suggest counseling for both couples to attend. Yet, as the laws change over time most states have laws regarding this type of case that result in mandatory arrest when there happens to be physical violence present. Public intoxication considered a minor misdemeanor and depending on the state where the person is cited there can be fines that come with possible jail time. Public intoxication, which is also known as drunk as disorderly occurs when a person demonstrates belligerent behavior towards oneself or others, and when the person demonstrates physical or mental impaired due to alcohol or drugs in the system. When police discretion becomes involved with situation like public intoxication is because a complaint is involved. Police have a couple of choices to make they can both cite the person and have them spend the night in jail which is usually the option most commonly used. Or the police can assist the individual by taking them home or release them to another individual who will then claim responsibility for them. This choice is not usually implemented because police do not know if the intoxicated person will stay at home after the effort was made to bring them to the person’s home. There is also the possibility of harm caused by the intoxicated individual if the person lives alone. For instance, they try to do things while intoxicated like cooking a meal in which would require supervision. If not supervised the house could burn down which would lead to detrimental effects to the person’s household as well as neighboring homes. Another option is to take the intoxicated person to approved treatment facilities, which in most cases the person has to be willing to part take in for it to be effective, in which most cases they are not at the time. Thus, the jail option is most commonly used because of the lack of alternatives pertaining to the situation. The overall decision however, depends on the behavior of the individual as well as the complainant and the officer’s own feeling towards the situation at hand. Trespassing is very straightforward and is not up for interpretation of the law. Essentially if a person is caught in a place where the person does not belong the police officer should follow the laws against trespassing to the fullest extent. Disorderly conduct discretion is applied when the person feels as to what is disorderly. For example, the person phone’s in the police because their neighbors are playing loud music. If the music is playing at an appropriate time frame and not passed certain hours the neighbors might have to deal with the noise if there is no other commotion involved. If the music is playing at an unreasonable time then the police can exercise discretion and confront the loud neighbor and request them to stop playing the music at a loud decibel or face a citation. Traffic enforcement is noted to be an area where discretion is most commonly used. Speeding for example is a legitimate reason to receive a traffic citation from the officer according to the law. Still, the law is not always enforced in some instances where the officer uses discretion on how the initial interaction with the driver is perceived. In some cases the officer will use his or her judgment on whether to issue a citation or give a warning pertaining to the traffic violation severity. Hate crimes be defined as criminal acts that are motivated by hatred or intimidation of particular person or group because of their beliefs, disability, race, and sexual orientation (FindLaw, n. d. , p. 1). In the instance of a reported hate crime the police are accustomed to protecting everyone’s rights despite the officer’s principles or values. The situation is at hand is up to the police discretion on how serious the hate crime is either considered to be an annoyance or on a larger scale a community threat. When encountering the homelessness situation the cause can be intermingled with alcohol, drug abuse, and mental illness. When police decide on how to use discretion with dealing with the mentally ill the police generally let the homeless stay on the street if there are no proper facilities to take them to. However, if there is enough complaints designated towards the homeless because they are begging or trespassing the police can forcibly relocate the homeless elsewhere. When dealing with the use of force police discretion was once a broad area on how police handled situations that required the use of force when arresting an individual. Nevertheless, over the years the use of force has been under scrutiny by citizens who have complained causing civil liability which have caused police officers to become more prudent when using force. According to (Dantzker, 2003, chap. 7) Many police agencies are reducing the amount of discretion an officer has through policies allowing police to use only the force necessary to effect an arrest. Improved training and teaching officers methods of control using limited force or verbal commands have also been put into use by police agencies. With that most police agencies today prohibit the practice on using force unless the officer is in a life or death situation. Finally, there is prostitution, which is considered to a crime against morality and public order. Prostitution is considered to be a victimless crime where both parties involved are willing and consensual when the crime is committed (, 1/16/04,  ¶ 11). Police agencies that have specialized divisions such as vice have trained officers that use the opportunity to enforce his or her desired discretion towards the situation. Discretion plays a vital role in a police officer’s ability to do his or her job, because there is not always a law for all situations that one may come across. It is up to the police officer to use their training, experience and judgment on how to enforce the law. References 1/16/04). Police Discretion. Retrieved February 22, 2009, from http://www5. associatedcontent. com/article/23232/police_discretion. html? singlepage=truecat=17 Dantzker, M. L. (2003). The Use of Discretion. In Understanding Today’s Police (p. Ch. 7). Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice-Hall. Domestic Violence. (n. d. ). Retrieved February 18, 2009, from Domestic Violence: http:// en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Domestic_violence FindLaw (n. d. ). Hate Crimes and Criminal Civil Rights Violations. Retrieved February 20, 2009, from http://public. findlaw. com/civil-rights/more-civil-rights-topics/hate-crimes-more/ How to cite Police Discretion, Papers