Death of a Salesman

In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller’s character, Willy Loman, is desperately trying to achieve the unattainable American Dream. Throughout the play, Willy encounters many challenges that have derailed his course and his perseverance drives him and his family insane.

San Joaquin Delta College presented Arthur Miller 's Death of A Salesman on Sunday the twenty-second of March at 2 o 'clock in the afternoon. This play is about a young man and his father coming to terms with the past and their futures. Willy Loman, an old salesman, is dealing with both financial and health difficulties. He is put under even more pressure when his unsuccessful son, Biff, returns home. Actor, director, and sound designer, Harvey T. Jordan, played the role of Willy in this production. His directing, acting, and sound effects allowed me to grasp the despaired nature of Willy Loman 's character. The theme of this story is respect and the nature of success. Willy wished that when he is dead, his death would be mourned far and wide. Hoping to have the reputation of a famous salesman; in other words he wants to die “The Death of a Salesman”. After Willie heard about a well-liked salesman, one that is known in all the cities he visits and that can make sales just by picking up the phone, Willie thinks that this job is easy, but he soon discovers the stress a truly dedicated salesman must go through.

Willy’s self- image that he portrayed to others of being successful was a lie that he had lived with for so long

Willy foolishly pursues the wrong dream and constantly lives in an unreal world blinded from reality. Despite his dream Willy constantly attempts to live in an artificial world and claims “If old Wagner was alive I’d be in charge of New York by now” (Miller 14). As a result, Willy often ignores his troubles and denies any financial trouble when he says “business is bad, it’s murderous. But not for me of course” (Miller 51). Another false segment of Willy’s dream includes the success of his two sons Happy and Biff. Biff was a high school football star who never cared about academics and now that he needs a job says “screw the business world” (Miller 61). Ironically, Willy suggests that Biff go west an “be a carpenter, or a cowboy, enjoy yourself!”, an idea that perhaps Willy should have pursued. Constantly advising his boys of the importance of being well liked, Willy fails to stress academics as an important part of life (Miller 40). Furthermore, Willy dies an unexpected death that reveals important causes of the failure to achieve the American dream. At the funeral Linda cries “I made the last payment on the house today... and there’ll be nobody home” to say that she misses Willy but in essence his death freed the Lomans from debt and the hopes and expectations Willy placed on his family (Miller 139). Very few people attend

Willy’s unreasonable expectations of Biff creates a hostile relationship between Biff and Willy. Ever since Biff was in highschool, Willy always expected Biff to be very successful without instilling the tools

Willy Loman’s family and few friends are affected by his mental breakdowns brought on by his career and disappointment with Biff. In high school Biff was the star of the football team until he failed his mathematics course which led to Willy’s anger, frustration and disappointment towards Biff. His wife is especially concerned with Willy’s relationship with Biff, saying “There is no time for false pride, Willy. You go to your sons and you tell them that you’re tired. You’ve got two great boys, haven’t you?” (Miller 83). Willy, however, has other things on his mind. He is upset about the current industrial atmosphere. This is seen when he comments:

Various numbers and symbols throughout Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, highlight an important equation worth noticing that prove Willy Loman’s frame on life. Success is equal to money; money is greater than life; success and money lead to fame and name brands, which lead to ultimate happiness. A man, more living than dead in his own dream fails to interpret the importance of life any other way. Because of his failed outlook, he believes his self worth is better off dead than alive. His lack of honesty and impersonation of a man contrary to himself are of his biggest failures in pursuing a superficial dream that consequence to his death.

Willy is offered help by his friend Charley, a successful Business man, Willies all time friend and only friends he has left, when Charley offers Willy a job, yet willy full of pride and envious of Charley rejects it yet does not rejects it but continues to borrow money from him. This is due to Willies flaw in his desire of being higher in society than anyone else.Willy cannot let go of the past and continuously refers to 1928, when his career was at its peak. His withdrawal into the past is a defense mechanism as he refuses to come to terms with his failure as a salesman. His illusions of grandeur lead to fierce exaggerations of himself. He tells Biff to "Go to Filene's go to the Hub, go to Slattery's, Boston. Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens! Big shot!" (Miller, 62). He refuses to realize his personal failures and falsely believes that he is successful. Memories of a happier past Willy losing a grip on reality and on time escapes into the past. Despite his desperate searching through his past, The deep probing of dreams and memories in Death of A Salesman where quite important in illustrating Miller's point. Willy is a man stuck in the past reminiscing about times when things where good fabrication of those times really were as good as he imagines them to be? Like his inflated dreams of the future, the past may well be embellished by Willy's wild imagination. It seems

This lack of awareness on Willy’s part that he was focusing on the wrong dream--the desire to make money--caused Willy intense displeasure in his work later in life. This misguided path to personal happiness not only interfered with Willy’s life decisions, but it drastically affected Biff and Happy’s perception of success because Willy did not stand up for what he truly believed. This is most easily seen when Biff comes home with a football and Willy--though he is fully aware that Biff stole the sports equipment--fails to warn Biff about the dire consequences of such actions and brushes the issue off. Time and time again, Willy ignores Biff’s record of thievery until he is informed that the police are after Biff for theft. “Shut up! He’s not stealing anything!” (51) Willy denies not only any wrongdoing on Biff and Happy’s part but as well as on his part as a parent, just as he did when Biff stole the football. “Loaded with it. Loaded! What is he stealing? He’s giving it back, isn’t he? Why is he stealing? What did I tell him? I never in my life told him anything but decent things.” (41) This animosity towards theft is countered by Willy’s earlier comment when he faced a scenario where Biff stole a ball from school and Willy somewhat willingly went along with the idea. “Willy, examining the new ball: Where’d you get a new ball? Biff: The coach told me to practice my passing. Willy: That so? And

Willy tried to instill in his sons, that the main success in life is to reputable. Willy strongly believes that success is strictly aligned with the impression a man makes and whether he is adored, and reputable; Willy’s numerous discussions with his sons, particularly with Biff, clarifies the value of self-image is important. Willy believed that if you became popular and were liked by many people, you would have prominent achievements. His perception of success is equated to dumb luck; He thinks men just randomly achieve

Willy's most prominent illusion is that success is dependant upon popularity and having personal attractiveness. Willy builds his entire life around this idea and teaches it to his children.

    In Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman, Miller probes the dream of Willy Lowman while making a statement about the dreams of American society. This essay will explore how each character of the play contributes to Willy's dream, success, and failure.

Another example of Willy’s sufferings was when he lost his job. For instance, Willy is dissatisfied with his career and decides to ask his boss Howard to work in the town instead of traveling for work from New York to New England every two weeks. Howard ends up saying “there just is no spot here for you” (Miller 56) and ends up firing him. Although Willy had a long career with the company and was very productive, Howard let him go. Willy defends himself by saying “I put thirty-four years into this firm, Howard, and now I can’t pay my insurance!” (Miller 57). Howard fires Willy at a time when he was most desperate. This shows the “change in the hero’s fortunes” (Nardo 73). Regardless being fired from his job, Willy still had hopes for his sons Biff and Happy to start a new business. Things did not go according to the plan and the business ends up not happening which causes Willy to suffer even more. Willy goes through financial troubles which prevent him to achieve the American Dream, keep his job, and provide for his family. These are all signs of disappointment and

  In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy is depicted as living in his own world. The play centers around the end of Willy’s life, when the real world comes crashing through, ruining the false reality he had created for himself and his family. Throughout the play, Willy Loman uses the concept of being well liked to build a false image of reality, as shown through his teachings to his son, what he considers successful, and his reasoning for committing suicide.

Willy’s obsession with success leads to the start of him living in his own fantasy world. He lives in the past, for there was hope for him then, but now he is completely subject to failure. Willy’s demise could have been avoided had he changed his dream, and had he not conformed to society. In the end his dream did not pay off, and he ultimately fell victim to the American Dream, and the deceitful ideals of freedom that factored into the