Death Of A Salesman Charley: You Never Heard From Him

Ben is a character who appears only in the imagination of Willy because Ben died. He was a wealthy and successful man. He got rich at the age of twenty-one. With more money in hand, he had a happy life. All the

He describes him as “the only man I ever met who knew the answers,” “a genius,” and a “success incarnate!” (1600)(1598).Again we see Ben as this rich, adventurous man, who Willy idolizes. Ben offered Willy a chance to go with him to Alaska but Willy chose not to. Throughout the play you can tell that Willy regrets not going with his brother. He asks himself “why didn’t I go to Alaska with my brother Ben that time...what a mistake! He begged me to go” (1598). When Ben comes to visit, or when he’s visiting in one of Willy’s illusions, Willy tells him “[y]our just what I need,” and he asks him “what is the answer?”(1604).

Willy admires Ben as his older brother and tries to be everything like him, however he lacks some of the characteristics like self-esteem. Ben’s success creates an illusion for Willy to be connected to him somehow. Most importantly ben represents all the fantasies of success that Willy desires for himself and his sons. Ben eventually leads willy into committing suicide to receive the insurance money because by making him believe money is

Ben is also a very peculiar character.  The audience first encounters him with the full knowledge that he is dead.  Ben is also the one figure that is able to move freely between the past and the present.  Because Ben represents that which Willy seeks, Willy feels that he can achieve his goal the same way that Ben did and so he believes that "opportunism, cheating and cruelty are success incarnate" (Smith).

Willy takes the car with him so that his family won't have to worry about fixing it. Willy noticed that he needed to do something, in the end Ben is the one who finally convinces Willy to take his life. Even though Ben wasn't there it was Willy thinking about what his family's life would be without him and how they can have all this money if he

Willy and his wife discuss his failed sales trip, and Linda asks him to convince his boss to let him

Miller uses Ben to emphasize man’s sense of unfulfillment. Ben is characterized as a successful and charismatic man, yet in the end he dies alone. Willy has an abundance of love and devotion yet he still wishes he had the life of a dead man. The tragedy in this is how society has caused people to believe they aren’t worth anything without the wealth and material

In act one, during the first few times the readers experience Willy having a conversation with Ben, he is among one of his flashbacks when he asks his son Biff to show Ben his boxing, asking for Ben’s opinion on how well he turned out. “How’s that, Ben, heh?” (49) The general idea that Willy continues to talk with Ben even after he has passed away shows his lack to accept that fact that he is dead. This is part of Willy’s American Dream seeing that it shows his idealism, how he wants Ben to be alive so that he can have a family member to depend on. It can also be related to a religious crusade because the people who would take part in religious crusades would also not accept death or people who have moved on. They continue to push for things and people that have lived before the earth was thought to be made as well as talk to people who have passed on. Another idea that proves Willy’s American Dream to be compared to that of a religious crusade through his lack of acceptance is his continual effort to maintain his job and his lack of acceptance when he is fired. For a while, Willy had not been making enough money to support his family so he had been borrowing monthly from his neighbour Charley. For years he had been

“Ben embodies the image of success in Willy’s mind, he also represents the road not taken” (Centola) he associates “Ben with his own missed opportunity” (Centola) Willy respects and honors Ben, like his sons he idolized Ben. He is prepared to achieve whatever Ben says. Willy adores the qualities Ben represents as this is what his American dream entails. Willy relationship with Ben can be seen as a depiction of what Willy yearns for himself and his children. Willy wants his boys to be like Uncle Ben. Instantly rich without hard work, microwave success. He deciphers that if Ben can, so can he. Ben is knowledgeable in Willy’s mind and advises him. But advice construed by your own mind is not always good. In their conversation Willy questions Ben to confirm he’s doing a good job to succeed financially and parenting Biff and Happy or if he’s on the right track (87). There is a scene where Ben fights Biff, but Ben wins only by cheating and denouncing that’s the only way to win. Interesting enough that he educates or encourages these same tactics. But Ben represents fantastic accomplishment craved for him and his sons, but never seem to achieve

Ben (Willy’s dead older brother) appears in Willy’s thoughts and flashbacks many times. His brother is his role model; Ben has everything figured out and is shown the perfect example of success: “Can’t you stay for a few days? You’re just what I need, Ben, because I—I have a fine position here, but I—well, Dad left when I was such a baby and I never had a chance

From when he was younger, he looks back and regrets not going with Ben, his brother, who struck it rich in Africa. He thought being a salesman was more accomplished and a sure thing, but he learned wrong by not taking a risk. Another way was through his sons. Biff, for example, was a big athlete in school, and Willy always told him if he was well-liked he would prosper. Willy ruined his son Biff’s career after Biff caught him having an affair.

Because of his position as a traveling salesman, Willy never controls his interaction with other people. The pointlessness of Willy’s attempts at control are revealed as abandonment in Act Two. Howard leaves Willy behind twice in this scene. The second episode with Ben occurs at this point, concluding with abandonment. Ben is immune to abandonment, not only because it is always he who leaves, but because he is more rooted than Willy. Willy tells Charley that Ben had sevens sons (Miller, 45). The sons are only mentioned in reference to why Willy cannot expect to inherit anything from his brother’s estate. Ben has left it all to his sons, providing them with wealth and advantages that Willy cannot provide his sons Biff and

Willy believes that wealth is the key to your happiness, and the extent of your wealth is exposed by the amount of materialistic items one has. Miller explains Willy’s thoughts in Timebends, “The publicity apparatus tells Willy that if he works hard like Edison, that if he perseveres like Goodrich, that, if he is “well-liked” like Dave Singleman, then he will rise like Charley and become rich and powerful.” Willy’s thought process is foolish, and his belief that failure cannot be tolerated in his family causes him to lie about his success. This is evident when Biff says “We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house! [130]” The American Dream is to blame for imprinting wealth is all you need to be happy, into Willy’s mind.

Willy’s brother Ben seems to symbolize all of Willy's dreams that have not borne fruit. Ben provides an example of the type of success that Willy desires. Ben went into the “jungle” with nothing and became extremely wealthy. Ben achieved in a few years what Willy has dreamed about his entire life. Ben also provides additional evidence on the foolish behavior and poor decisions made by Willy. Ben offers to take Willy with him and make him rich – an offer that Willy declines.

Ben from “Death of a Salesman” the brother of Willy believes that the American Dream is the ability to start with nothing and somehow to achieve a great fortune “William when I waked into the jungle I was seventeen. When I walked out I was twenty one. And by God I was rich!” Throughout the play Willy is portrayed as envious of his brother. Willy’s wife is rather not pleased with his presence, she sees Ben as mischievous character that is up to no good. This can be seen when Ben comes over and is playing around with Biff, once Biff starts winning the sparring match Ben trips his and points his umbrella at Biff’s head. Ben believes that only certain people can achieve the “American Dream” and they need to be ruthless or mischievous to achieve it.