Men Are Also Victims at the Hand of Patriarchy: A Study of Saul Bellow’s <i>Seize the Day</i> and Arthur Miller’s <i>Death of a Salesman</i>

Abstract

The present paper focuses on that men are also subjugated in patriarchal tradition side by side with women. In male chauvinist society, it is a common scene that male is the patriarch of the family. He should be the representative of the whole family and should take all the responsibilities. He is also expected to lead other female family members. He should be established, job-holder and bread winner. Society always wants to see him performing the primary role. If he slips from these stereotypical standards and cannot match up to the man-made set-roles, he is considered as coward. If he is jobless and cannot provide financial support to his family or depends on others, he is considered as an outsider, outcaste and good for nothing. The paper sheds lights on the fact that patriarchy also victimizes male side by side with female that is observed in the two modern American stories Seize the Day (1956) by Saul Bellow (1915-2005) and Death of a Salesman (1949) by Arthur Miller (1915-2005). In the first story, the protagonist is Tommy Wilhelm who is a twenty-three-year-old travelling salesman. He has an old father, two loving sons and wife. One day he loses his corporate job and becomes the burden of the family. He suffers from identity crisis and tries to commit suicide and seeks an escape by self-destructive approach. Willy Loman, in the second story, is another aging salesman who cannot match up to the capitalist American dream. He is also found suffering from existential crisis and his story ends in death. In these two stories, the two protagonists are alone among crowd and try to create new identities by death. In male-dominated culture, they shifts from typical male-images and they are abused and criticized by both male and female of the same patriarchal society. Moreover society always ignores male suffocation. But this study will find out their trauma and agony in patriarchal terrain.