Willy Loman and Cora's biggest difference is their definition of success. Willy is trying to achieve economic and popularity success. He measures his accomplishments by how much money he has made and by the amount of people who "know" him. Cora Tucker's ultimate success is to create a equal opportunity for all people within her community. She could care less whether people like her or not, that isn't her goal at all. Cora is working to enhance the lives of others while Willy is only attempting to better his own family.
Their approach to achieving these goals also differs. Cora consistently works against the system, finding flaws as an outsider and "raising hell" about them to the people who control the inside. She isn't trying to make friends or become well liked, she is there solely because she knows the system that is standing now, isn't consistent to everyone. Willy on the other hand makes him self likable. Society has morphed him into a shallow person, who disregards actual talent and skill and disguises it with a fake facade. He knew his son Biff was never going to be the "smart kid" but his Willy was proud that he was the popular kid and thought that by being well liked Biff would automatically reach success.
The idea or accomplishing these life aspirations from Cora's perspective is attainable, yet Willy will never reach a feeling of ultimate content because his success is defined by the world around him which is constantly changing.

Willy Loman's ideal path to becoming successful is through hard-work and is also amplified through an individual's popularity within their community. He believes that if someone is willing to work toward success then eventually they can achieve that goal. By also being likable and obtaining personal connections the individual can get ahead. He demonstrates this belief within his son, Biff. He encourages Biff to go out there and take advantage of connections that he, his father, has built overtime. Willy thinks that if you know someone they will always help you out and give you a boost, simply because you "know" them. Willy sincerely believes in the idea of Individual Opportunity.
Contrary to Authur Miller's character Willy, he firmly disagrees with the existence of Individual Opportunity. He holds the notion that success is based on luck and is given to people by chance. Hard-work and personal connections aside, the position will be given based on who the employers want. Miller represents his view in most of his other characters. For example Biff, his desire doesn't reflect the ambitions pushed onto him by his status searching father, he is casual and unconcerned in entering America's corporate community. Biff is content and happy with his manual labor lower salary job and the disappointment from Willy doesn't influence Biff or his aspirations, this is Miller demonstrating that the idea of Individual Opportunity is petty and unrealistic.

Why doesn't Willy's wife confront him about his small repetitive actions of self destruction and inquire about his motives for attempting suicide

Cate's speech was the most intriguing to me. She seemed both knowledgeable about her organization and she also presented her argument casually and relaxed which created a personal presentation. Cate included many simple numbers and stats to support her asking of our donation toward Big Brothers Big Sister. Often people ramble off all these numbers, so quickly and randomly that I don't exactly relate them back to their main argument, but she did a good job of including enough numbers to become credible but not too many which would have been overwhelming.
I also have a personal connection to this organization. My dad was a Big Brother to someone that has overtime become a uncle like figure in my life. Although the actual relationship developed before I was born, I know that the support Scott received from my dad changed his attitude toward life drastically. With the combination of Cate's speech and my knowledge of the impact my dad made it makes me want not only support the foundation with money but also maybe in the future my time, by becoming a Big Sister.

JD's speech is the one that hit home with me today. I'm not quite sure if is because his presentation seemed calm and relaxed as if he was casually asking me for a donation in the hallway, or because I had never heard of his organization/school prior to today. The Cristo Ray school is unique in the fact that there aren't many other places like it. When he talked about how teaching them rather than solely giving to them is the greatest gift of all and how ultimately it makes the student attending the program capable of helping themselves it opened my eyes to a different kind of giving. I think this donation will not only further the success of the teenagers at Cristo Ray, but will also provide inspiration in the homes where these underprivileged kids live. JD mentioned how the success of these students can create a desire within kids around the Cristo Ray students, brothers and sisters, cousins, and friends. This program is proactive, in their goals to both educate academically and provide necessary tools for becoming a productive citizen.

So far I have made a Toulmin outline and I am slowly but surely working on my robust outline as well. I found multiple stories posted on the Dress for Success website that support my argument and also appeal to the emotions of the audience. I talked casually with my dad, a business owner, about how much emphasis is put on a potential employee's appearance and attire. I basically have all the numbers and facts I need, now I just have to put it together and make it sound some what intellectual. Thinking about the actual speech makes me feel ill, but I am confident that I could write a solid speech, so I am just going to have to buck up say the thing. Thankfully, Lamags gave us Monday which gives me one more night to stay up stressing, but also to prepare which should be helpful.

I am going to make an attempt at speaking about Dress for Success. Considering I am absolutely terrified... I thought I would choose something that actually inspires me and I THINK, think that is, that when I get up there in front of everyone and every bit of preparation slides right out of my mind, I can off the cuff still find something to say. And considering this is an academic class I probably should include the fact that I chose Dress for Success because it relates to a conversation we had in class about always trying to achieve the same look in order to succeed. We looked at that idea in a negative light during class, but this organization highlights the aspect of looking your best in a positive manner.

As for appealing to my audience I will be surprised with myself to even get up there. But for the sake of my blogging grade I probably could come up with some ideas. I will most likely need to find a specific example where the organization has completely changed the life of an individual. As we have discussed, appealing to the emotions of people are far more powerful than any other technique of rhetorical argument devices, so I will probably go that route. I will emphasize the uniqueness of Dress for Success and the originality of service it provides for women throughout our community. And taking into consideration that shiny bright stickers and candy create motivation throughout our class, maybe some of that will sneak in too.

Emerson makes the claim that in order to be a success you simply have to believe in yourself and your ideas. You have to portray yourself as your actual self and question all that is put in front of you, be an individual and don't conform to typical. I disagree completely. We live in society where everyone is either the same or trying to become the same. People speak the same, act a specific way, and even to a certain extent dress the same way. There is a standard. A quality one must contain to even consider success. Yes, in some cases a unique attribute or undiscovered idea could get you ahead but most commonly taking the right steps and conforming will get you on top.
I also disagree with Emerson’s statement that new work built upon previous work is only half credible. That is completely false, everything thing we do is building upon others. All research, work, or inventions is to further previous study. We would never get anywhere if we relied on one source for every idea. New things are a culmination of multiple people’s ideas and hard work.

I don't get any sense that the author is portraying the rich as people who exploit the poor. Mantsios argues that race, economic birth status, and luck are all factors, but the idea of the rich keeping the poor, poor isn't apparent in his essay. I think people, maybe including Mantsios, do assume this. I know that I personally do. No matter what the occasion might be when someone has a status of any sort higher than yours, naturally you look to them for aid, yet when the help isn't always enough the blame falls into the hands of the successful. So naturally we are inclined to believe poverty is a result of the wealthy not caring.

Mantsios has also made a credible argument when stating that our idea of american opportunity is only a facade. I value his use of numbers, when someone plasters a solid figure on the page I am much more inclined to agree with it. He becomes a credible source when he incorporates multiple statistics and uses accurate data to support the idea that these windows for success are consistently open. He addresses the notions of our country's opportunities, in reality don't exist at all. America is the land of promises, where if you have the drive to do something it is always attainable. How can a nation promise this? We can't.

Both Cruz and Alger's character, Dick, are working toward the same goal of financial success. They both hold a notion in their head that if they work hard and if they follow the systematic steps they will make it. In America if you are determined to reach the top you have that opportunity and if you equip yourself with the right capabilities you WILL succeed.
Although the path in which they actually reached this goal is different, neither of them got their by "taking the right steps." Dick luckily was repaid for his good deed with a job, while Cruz was granted the job because of his ethnicity and the image of diversity he provided.
The reaction of both men were different. As Dick embraced his good fortune and tackled the job head on,Cruz questioned the reasons for his success. Cruz realized that it wasn't he skills or intelligence that got him where he was, in reality it was his ethnicity.
The stories of these men's success and the reaction they provide to it is different, but in some opinion the idea of raising up and coming out on top, when starting from nothing is similar.