Death of a Salesman vs. The Piano Lesson: Character Contrasts
This essay compares and contrasts key characters from two landmark American plays: Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. It examines Willy Loman's obsession with appearance over education alongside Boy Willie's brash self-confidence, then contrasts each protagonist with their more grounded counterpart — Charley and Berniece, respectively. The paper argues that Charley and Berniece represent values more aligned with mainstream Western ideals of humility and measured strength, while Willy and Boy Willie serve as foils whose more extreme personalities highlight the themes of ambition, identity, and self-worth central to each play.
- Introduction: Appearance, Education, and Value Systems: Appearance versus education as competing values
- Willy Loman: Appearance Over Substance: Willy prizes looks over learning and humility
- Boy Willie: Confidence, Defiance, and Self-Efficacy: Boy Willie's boldness and racial self-confidence
- Charley as Foil to Willy Loman: Charley's humility contrasts Willy's ego
- Berniece as Foil to Boy Willie: Berniece's strength counters Boy Willie's brashness
- Conclusion: Contrasting Characters and Western Values: Foil characters reflect mainstream Western ideals
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The paper organizes its comparison symmetrically, treating each play's protagonist and foil in parallel, which makes the contrast clear and easy to follow.
- It connects character behavior to broader thematic concepts — appearance versus education, self-efficacy, and societal values — rather than simply summarizing plot events.
- The concluding observation that Charley and Berniece represent mainstream Western values while their counterparts serve as dramatic foils demonstrates an understanding of how playwrights use contrast as a structural device.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper uses the compare-and-contrast method to analyze dramatic characters across two different texts simultaneously. Rather than treating each play in isolation, the writer draws thematic parallels — pairing Willy with Boy Willie and Charley with Berniece — showing how both plays use foil characters to illuminate their protagonists' flaws and excesses. This cross-textual analysis is a foundational skill in literary studies.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with a thematic claim about appearance versus education, then introduces Willy Loman and Boy Willie as contrasting examples of flawed value systems. It next presents Charley and Berniece as foils within their respective narratives, and closes with a synthesis arguing that the more grounded characters reflect idealized Western personality traits. Each paragraph focuses on one character or pairing, keeping the argument organized and readable.
Introduction: Appearance, Education, and Value Systems
Some individuals believe that physical appearance matters more than education and knowledge. In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the author illustrates why some people may feel this way. Willy Loman rates appearance — his own and that of the people around him — as a quality of far greater value than education, which he regards as comparatively unimportant. Most people, however, would argue that education is more important than physical appearance on many different levels. A person's education can open opportunities that attractive looks alone could never provide.
Willy Loman: Appearance Over Substance
In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman's value system places outward appearance above nearly everything else. He measures the worth of himself and those around him largely by how they look and how they are perceived, rather than by what they have learned or achieved through diligence. His dismissal of education as a meaningful path reflects a worldview in which charm and likability are treated as the primary currencies of success. This perspective ultimately limits both Willy and the people closest to him, leaving them ill-equipped to meet the practical demands of the world around them.
Boy Willie: Confidence, Defiance, and Self-Efficacy
Boy Willie, from The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, holds a markedly different view of what constitutes a meaningful value system. He is portrayed as a character accustomed to doing whatever he can dream up — loud, stubborn, crude, and largely indifferent to consequences. Boy Willie is bold enough to break the law without much reflection, yet this same fearlessness fuels his capacity for decisive action. Although he is a racial minority, he perceives himself as equal to any white man, and this high sense of self-efficacy drives a confidence that allows him to confront obstacles without hesitation or doubt.
Conclusion: Contrasting Characters and Western Values
Both Berniece and Charley represent the kind of personality traits more typically valued in Western societies — humility, measured strength, and a grounded sense of purpose. These characters are clearly designed to provide a contrast to the more outlandish figures in their respective stories. By pairing Willy with Charley and Boy Willie with Berniece, both Miller and Wilson use the literary device of the foil to illuminate the excesses and blind spots of their protagonists, enriching the thematic depth of each play.
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.