Illusion Verses Reality in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller's The Death of a Salesman is a play about Willy Loman, who is a salesman in America that struggles in many ways. Internal conflict arises when Willy is in search for a job but is being denied a job in New York. Throughout the entire play Arthur Miller shows that Willy‘s problems begin to reveal themselves due to being rejected a job in New York. Willy begins to muse over his so called perfect life, and envisages all of the problems he has went through during his lifetime. Arthur Miller then uses conflict, irony, and flashbacks in order to achieve the theme of portrayal.

The American Dream is a highly believed in idea. Some people receive luck and achieve the dream quite quickly and easily. On the other hand, others never actually attain the dream. Sometimes people construct decisions based on their emotions instead of what would benefit them the greatest. The life situation you are born into does not matter but it requires an abundance of work to cause it to happen. The American Dream will not be achieved by the people who don’t strive and put the effort and time to earn the dream. The amount of effort needed to obtain the dream varies from person to person, but no one person will ever say it was easy. People need to be able to adapt to their surroundings to make achieving the American Dream a possibility.

Death of a Salesman, a play by Arthur Miller, is a tragedy describing the decline of Willy Loman, an average person, who lives in the world inside his head. Willy is a father and husband who has failed hopes for the future, destructive pride, and does not know how to work hard. Willy’s personality is defined by his interactions with the characters that surround him.

Throughout Willy’s life, he has done nothing but fall short of his dreams. Willy is so focused on achieving his dream and being successful that he completely disengages from his family. He literally

He is obsessed with the idea of perfection and being successful. He idolizes Dave Singleman, who is an extremely successful salesman. Willy believes that if he can become as successful as Dave Singleman, then his life would be perfect and his “American Dream” would be achieved. Quote about Dave Singleman. However, his fantasy of becoming as successful as Mr. Singleman does not become a reality. When he realizes that his dream had not been achieved he begins to lie about his successfulness of being a traveling

Willy gloats of a sensationally fruitful deals, trip, yet Linda sweet talks him into uncovering that his excursion was really just pitifully effective. Willy gripes that he soon won't have the capacity to make the majority of the installments on their apparatuses and auto. He gripes that individuals don't care for him and that he's bad at his occupation. As Linda supports him, he hears the chuckling of his special lady. He approaches The Woman, who is as yet chuckling, and participates in another reminiscent fantasy. Willy and The Woman tease, and she expresses gratitude to him for issuing her

He loses touch with the truth and his identity, proven by his countless inconsistencies. For instance, he mentions that Chevrolet is the best car ever constructed, only to say afterward that they should ban the production of that car. Because Willy is an older man, his mind is not longer the sharpest and he has trouble recalling what he actually thinks. Linda

As this is a flawed image of the dream, Willy begins to distort his family’s reality, which hurt them all ultimately. Though he did hurt his wife Linda and son Happy, the one most affected by Willy’s perception of the American dream was his son Biff, who was charming and well liked, which led his father and finally him to believe he was deemed for greatness. But this proves to be wrong in many occations, one of the most significant ones being when Willy suggested he go to his old boss to ask for a loan. His old boss who did not remember him made Biff realize that what his father believed was not a reality, which was the grand reason for his lack of success, for he “never got anywhere because [Willy] blew him so full of hot air [he] could never stand taking orders from anybody! That's whose fault it is!”(104). This is when he realized that his father’s delusions affected everyone’s reality, including his. Because Willy believed so profoundly in this flawed notion of likeness it affected all possibilities

He wishes to attain all of the tangible goods, such as money and lavish goods, and prestige that are associated with that ideal. Although this “dream” is attainable, it is one that entails hard work and dedication, not just to ones profession but to their family as well. Being that Willy pines so lustfully after this idea of grand wealth and mass success, it is something that he cannot seem to achieve. Being Willy is far more concerned with the illusion of success, he recants the past and present frustration and disappointment that he experiences due to his deep-rooted belief in this allusive dream. His outlook on perception, his fixation on success, and his continuous recollection of the past, all contribute to his demise

Willy let other people's opinions take over his life which ended up leading to his downfall. He was so focused on the idealistic aspects of life, such as popularity and good business, that he tore himself down when The Dream didn't seem within reach. Willy uses his suicide attempts to exhibit how beaten down he really is from trying so hard to create his ideal of a perfect life. Linda takes notice of this when the insurance inspector comes by after his crash and tells her that, “All these accidents in the last year-weren't-weren't-accidents.” (Miller, 58) In the end, the pressure of trying to get everything in his life together grew too great, and the hope of the American Dream is what lead Willy Loman to believe his only way out was death.

The play, Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller is of a family living in the outskirts of New Your City in the late 1940’s, and their struggle to thrive in a world of business and fulfilling the American dream. Willy Loman, the main character has a distorted view of the American dream and key to business success. His 30 year-old son Biff, lives at his parents home with no life plan, but is still able see his father Willy’s flaws. Biff knows that his father’s American dream philosophy of being liked to achieve success is completely wrong. Willy’s dream is to be a well-respected businessman throughout New England, leaving a legacy behind him reminding people who the great Willy Loman was. In his persuit of his dreams, Willy Loman is the

Firstly, Willy constantly dwells on the past, which leads to a dysfunctional fantasy that contributes to his misfortune. The dysfunctional fantasy that Willy Loman has developed is essentially the great American dream, where he is successful, well-liked, and has the perfect family. Throughout the play Willy frequently reminisces on the possible outcomes, trying to figure out what went wrong in his life. An example is when Willy thinks back to the time his brother asked him to go to Alaska saying,

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is a play published in 1949. Set against the background of a rapidly urbanising Brooklyn, Miller explores Willy Loman, and his family’s struggle to find purpose in their lives. Full of egotism, yet lacking self-awareness, Willy is presented as a tragic hero, but defies conventions by being rather ordinary – a common man. Though pitiful, he lacks the integrity that would otherwise make him likeable. Willy’s misery and flaws are explained by the conflict in his personality, the way he is shaped by societal expectations, as well as his relationship with his family.

In “Death of a Salesman “, Arthur Miller describes the great tragedy which the American Dream can cause. Through the duration of this play all goals were based on the ease of becoming wealthy and successful. The dreams of having the perfect life were cut short when reality settled into the Loman family’s life. When great disappointment is brought upon a family in struggle, the hope in one’s eyes fade away.

Death of a Salesman” is a play written by Arthur Miller in the year 1949. The play revolves around a desperate salesman, Willy Loman. Loman is delusioned and most of the things he does make him to appear as a man who is living in his own world away from other people. He is disturbed by the fact that he cannot let go his former self. His wife Linda is sad and lonely; his youngest son Biff is presented as a swinger/player while his eldest son Happy appears anti-business and confused by the behavior of his father. The two sons end up as failures because of following the ways of his father. This powerful American tragedy makes one think that the play will end as happily as it started, only to find that the ending is tragic, sad and unanticipated. This story revolves around a middle-class family in an American setting where the main character, Loman is presented as a failed salesman. He does not believe in the American dream other people believe in, but rather, he has devised his own version. He aspires to be a respected and successful businessman. These are however self-imposed and self-declaratory, as his life story shows something else altogether: failure and a sorry state of affairs. Miller has successfully brought out a thrilling tragic play in the “Death of a Salesman”