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Self-Delusion In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

Decent Essays

1. Self-delusion seems to be an affliction that affects many of the characters in the play. Choosing any two characters, show how and explain why self-delusion is a hindrance to developing a true, honest sense of self. Use two or three specific examples and relevant quotes from the text to support your argument.

Self-delusion is “the act of deceiving one’s self,” in the play Death of a Salesman we see self-delusion taking place between two characters which are Willy and his son Happy. In the play self-delusion is a hindrance to developing a true, honest sense of self because they are lying about the person that they truly are. We see throughout the play Happy and Willy not grasping reality and mainly exaggerating who they are and what they …show more content…

Happy’s self-delusions come from wanting to exceed his father’s expectations in hopes that one day his father would approve. Since Happy had always listened to his father’s over exaggerated stories it is possible that he himself learned to over exaggerate his own so that he could appear well-off and successful. One of Happy’s self-delusions is portraying that he is successful in his job, he claims to be the assistant buyer but in reality he is the assistant to the assistant “You big blow, are you the assistant buyer? You’re one of the two assistants to the assistant, aren’t you?” (pg.131). This fits the theme of self-delusion because Happy cannot seem to grasp reality and instead hopes that people will believe his eccentric job title. Another self-delusion that Happy seems to create is embellishing the stories about his affairs with most women and how a lot of women want him because he is a womanizer. Happy sounds proud of himself when speaking about how he has “ruined” the lives of the women that he has had sexual relations with because they happened to be married. Another self-delusion that Happy keeps repeating is that he is going to get married. Happy is a womanizer and most likely is not going to get married anytime soon in the play because he seems to enjoy the company of a lot of woman even though he feels lonely. Happy telling his father that he is going to get married is so that he could reach his father’s standards and so that his father could realize that he is getting his life in order and all that he is really missing is a wife. Happy’s self-delusions come into play when you see him mimicking his father’s behavior and

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