Pride In Arthur Miller's 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.

In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman’s life seems to be slowly deteriorating. It is clear that Willy’s predicament is of his own doing, and that his own foolish pride and ignorance lead to his downfall. Willy’s self-destruction involved the uniting of several aspects of his life and his lack of grasping reality in each, consisting of, his relationship with his wife, his relationship and manner in which he brought up his children, Biff and Happy, and lastly his inability to productively earn a living and in doing so, failure to achieve his “American Dream”.

As the play progresses, one begins to feel sorry for Willy and his problem, but at the same time angry and frustrated with him for his foolish pride. With this trait, it prevented him from accepting a job from Charlie, something that could have saved his life. Also, it is with this false pride that has been sparking the family flame for years, the fact that the Loman name was well known and well-liked. The family lie that was amongst themselves is revealed during the climax of the play. One example is the way in which Willy led Biff to believe that he is a salesman for Oliver, which at the end left Biff disappointed. The reason for this estimation of the truth may be because of Willy’s idea that he has not raised Biff and Happy the right way.

Willy Loman 's American dream, was to become a well-known and loved salesman. Unfortunately, his life was built upon lies and exaggerations in order to escape the pain staking the truth. Willie would have flash backs from his better days at work and with his

Willy Loman, the central character in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, is a man whose fall from the top of the capitalistic totem pole results in a resounding crash, both literally and metaphorically. As a man immersed in the memories of the past and controlled by his fears of the future, Willy Loman views himself as a victim of bad luck, bearing little blame for his interminable pitfalls. However, it was not an ill-fated destiny that drove Willy to devastate his own life as well as the lives of those he loved; it was his distorted set of values.

Death of a Salesman also reflects the dominant ideology, however, in this case the play is written from the point of view of the working class. It is evident that the dominant class influences the main characters in the text, but they are largely ignored in the play. Willy Loman, the protagonist in the play, is a worn out travelling salesman on the point of a breakdown. Willy Loman’s dreams consist and have always consisted entirely of being “well liked”. Being a salesman is Willy’s idea of the easiest way to becoming well-liked and remembered throughout the entire country. However, when he

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

"Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there's nobody to live in it." Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman; Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem. New York: Viking, 1949.15. Print .These words undesirably summarize Willy Loman’s life. Throughout the play produced in the 1940s and the film created in 1985, Willy Loman slowly but surely shows his true nature as a person willing to do anything to become successful and well-known. Even though the film directed by Volker Schlondorff presents this “all American man” with the same characteristics as the unknown salesman in the play written by Arthur Miller, how the play and the film decided to emphasize

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

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller features Willy Loman as a tragic figure. His role in the story is plagued by shattered hopes and hardship, leading to his eventual demise. Willy Loman brings hardship on those around him through his financial and social decisions made.

The lives of the Loman’s from beginning to end seems troubling, the play is centered on trying to be successful or trying to be happy, and the sacrifice which must be made of one to achieve the other. The environment that these characters live in encourages them to pursue the American dream, which can be said to devalue happiness through the pursuit of material success. Death of A Salesman written by Arthur Miller has several themes that run through the play, one of the most obvious is the constant striving for success. Willy Loman put his family through endless torture because of his search for a successful life. Willy, Biff, and Happy are chasing the American dream instead of examining themselves

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."

Death of a Salesman illustrates a salesman by the name Willy Loman, who will not stop at nothing to achieve the American dream. He does not come to the terms, when he realizes that his son is an average performer. It is in fact his obsession with the American dream that causes his death. It seems that Willy lives in a fantasy world, as he thinks that everyone around him likes him and his sales activities. He, however, realizes the opposite; he is not well liked nor is he a good salesperson. While to Jay Gatsby’s obtaining the material dream is a means to personal fulfillment, Miller manages to present Willy Loman’s American dream as a means of obtaining the material dream. Miller, therefore, succeeds in

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman tells the tale of Willy Loman, a man who falls from the top of the capitalism system in a resonant crash. Being controlled by his fears of the future, and stuck in his memories of the past, Willy fully contributes to his self-victimization by putting little blame on his own mistakes. Although Willy is perceived as selfish, it is important to see that he is misguided. His character is one of a common man, he has never been anything special, but he chose to follow the American Dream and continue the “destiny” it gave him. However, in my reading of the play, I feel it was not an unlucky destiny that pushed Willy to damage his own life and the lives of his family,

WILLY: You and Hap and I, and I’ll show you all the towns. America is full of beautiful towns and fine, upstanding people. And they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England. The finest people. And when I bring you fellas up, there’ll be open sesame for all of us, 'cause one thing, boys: I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England, and the cops protect it like their own. This summer, heh? (Act 1)