Family Conflicts In Death Of Salesman By Arthur Miller

     The single most weighted factor that edges Willie to his demise is his inability to make a living and achieve his “American Dream”. After being a salesman for many years, Willy just can’t cope with the fact that he hasn’t been successful at all. He believes that he is a terrific salesman. His imaginative thinking won’t let him accept the fact that he has become a failure instead of a wealthy businessman. Willy believes that to be well liked is the means to being

The play, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, takes issue with those in America who place too much stress upon material gain, at the expense of other, more admirable human values. Miller uses flashbacks to provide exposition, to foreshadow the upcoming tragedy, and most importantly to reveal character traits. An analysis of the main character, Willy Loman, illustrates the underlying theme that the concern over material success breaks down the bonds between men that form the basis of a smooth-functioning society.

“Death of a Salesman “ by Arthur Miller is interpreted differently by many people.  In the critical review titled “Family Values in Death of a Salesman” by Steve R. Centola, he characterizes Death of the Salesman as am a modern tragedy. He draws more focus on the family core values and self-exert.  In his analysis, he states that as the humans try to be competitive, they have dehumanized the American dream and have turned it into an urban nightmare. He claims that the author simply tells a story of a dying man who wants to justify the purpose of his life before he meets his death. He states that the consequences of his choices are a challenge he has to overcome to attain what he needs. Centola points out that through the realization of what Willy Loman values, it is easy to discover the reason for the conflict between him and Biff. He refers to Death of a Salesman as a tragedy of a human struggle that is rooted in the metaphysical and also based on the social and psychological concerns. He also asserts that by discussing the values of Willy Loman, readers will be able to identify the reasons behind Willy’s agenda to perform suicide.

        Willy is like an impetuous youngster with high ideals and high hopes.  Children always have high hopes for their

Willy’s biggest issue with his son is that he let him down by not being any more successful than him. He feels like Biff is failing on purpose just to make him look bad. Although, he has no decent job and is single; Biff has become disoriented about life. Earlier in the play Biff tells Happy, “I tell ya Hap, I don't know what the future is. I don't know - what I'm supposed to want” (Miller266). Biff once looked up to his father as a role model, but lost all faith in him once finding out that he was having an affair. Ever since he has rejected Willy’s commitment of being a husband and also a father. To add to his ruins are Willy’s ideas of how Biff should get ahead in life. Willy taught Biff that popularity was the right way to get to the top, rather than hard-work and dedication. Trying to live by his dad’s standards caused Biff to fail high school and become unable to put forth the effort to become

In conclusion, Willy's inability to accept and differentiate between what is happening in reality and what is happening in his mind is his downfall. The misguided pride he has in himself made Willy think that he was well-liked. But in reality a he was nothing. The realization that he was nothing is what made Willy end is life."Funny, y'know? After all the highways, and the trains, and

To begin, Willy could be described as having a case of misguided life goals paired with self-deception. Willy was unable to admit to his faults. His pride was so boisterous that he would lie to his own family, borrowing money every week from his neighbor, Charley, and claiming that it was his salary. Due to extreme insecurities, Willy compulsively lied to himself and his family in effort of making himself feel better about who he really is, disguising his self doubt and inner anxiety with profound arrogance. Willy raised his sons to believe that in order to be successful, one must be well liked. “Be liked and you will never want.” (1.3) He often lied to them and exaggerated his success, which led them to believe that everything was as good as he claimed them to be. Willy even encouraged deceit in his oldest son by urging him to steal things and cheat on tests. In Willy’s own delusional world, he is a largely successful and well liked salesman with sons destined for greatness, taking every opportunity to brag about these false perceptions. He lied about almost everything, even the quality of

Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman follows protagonist Willy Loman in his search to better his and his family’s lives. Throughout Willy Loman’s career, his mind starts to wear down, causing predicaments between his wife, two sons and close friends. Willy’s descent into insanity is slowly but surely is taking its toll on him, his job and his family. They cannot understand why the man they have trusted for support all these years is suddenly losing his mind. Along with his slope into insanity, Willy’s actions become more aggressive and odd as the play goes on. Despite Willy and Biff’s “family feud”, his two sons Happy and Biff truly worry about their father’s transformation, Happy saying: “He just wants you to make good, that’s all. I

For instance, he has this dream of having a big, spectacular funeral. In the end when Willy dies, at his funeral, Linda says, "Why didn?t anybody come?Where are all the people he knew?" (137). All his life, he holds on to this fantasy, but he never faces the reality of how he could have made it come true. It is his vision of the people of the past that lead Willy to follow a particular path, leading to his demise in the end.

This is what Willy has been trying to emulate his entire life. Willy's need to feel well-liked is so strong that he often makes up lies about his popularity and success. At times, Willy even believes these lies himself. At one point in the play, Willy tells his family of how well-liked he is in all of his towns and how vital he is to New England. Later, however, he tells Linda that no one remembers him and that the people laugh at him behind his back. As this demonstrates, Willy's need to feel well-liked also causes him to become intensely paranoid. When his son, Biff, for example, is trying to explain why he cannot become successful, Willy believes that Biff is just trying to spite him. Unfortunately, Willy never realizes that his values are flawed. As Biff points out at the end of the play, "he had the wrong dreams."

All Willy really wants is to be a part of his son’s lives and, Miller shows this by the example of when in the play Biff comes home to recollect himself, Willy seems to think this as a failure because he would rather see his eldest son be likely more successful rather than his youngest, Happy. Hereafter, Willy tries to take matter into his own hands, ‘I’ll get him a job selling, he could be big in no time’, he says to Linda (1215). Partially due to Willy’s consistency in Biff’s life conflicts start to erupt more partially to do with the fact being that they had different ideas of what the ‘American Dream” really is. With Biff believing that the most inspiring job to a man is working outdoors, his father disregarded by saying that working on the road selling was the greatest job a man could possibly have (1276).

Ben, Willy’s older brother, believes that his American dream was that he started out with little, and ended up being very successful. It is ironic, because Ben brags that he came out of the African jungle a rich man, so he did not necessarily achieve the American dream, since his wealth began in Africa. Although Ben is not alive anymore, he frequently appears in Willy’s dream and can be considered as a symbol of the success that Willy desires. Another character who struggles with trying to pursue the American Dream is Happy, Willy’s youngest son. Happy possesses many of the same traits as Willy and lives the lie of the American Dream. Happy shows many signs of delusion, even believing that he is in a higher position in his store than he really is. Another character, Biff, the oldest son, also struggles with the idea of the American Dream. Biff’s main struggle throughout the play is between pleasing his father or pleasing himself. Willy wants Biff to inherit his world of sales, but Biff finds himself happier outdoors and is a farmhand. At the end of the day, Biff realizes that his happiness is more important than being rich and achieving the American dream. He returns to the farm where he makes less than $35 a week and does manual labor. Biff can also be considered a relatable character because he redefined his version of the American dream.

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

Biff and Happy once deeply respected and looked to their father for advice and encouragement, as in the past Linda says “few men are idolized by their children the way you are”⁶, but as they realise his advice was false and he had been living a lie throughout life. As soon as Biff finds out about his father’s affair he no longer respects him and Willy remains unable to win back his trust. “You fake! You phony little fake”⁷. Willy feels that by his suicide, it will prove to Biff that he was truly committed to providing for his family. He still believes that Biff will become successful by having the money from his life insurance showing how he never learnt from his mistakes. “Can you imagine that magnificence with twenty thousand dollars in his pocket? ...When the mail comes he’ll be ahead of Bernard once more”⁵. It is more tragic that Biff is the one who realises that “he had the wrong dreams”⁴ at his funeral. Rather than feeling proud, Biff he pities his father. Ironically it is

this wasn't the only incident where he had shown no regard at all for Willy.