What Is The Theme In Death Of A Salesman

The relationship between Willy and Biff is complicated. Actually, Biff is everything for Willy. He doesn’t do well as a salesman anymore, so this situation makes him depressed but at least there is Biff. So Willy believes that Biff will reach the success and his dreams will become true. That makes him want Biff to take some responsibility, in other words this is a big pressure on Biff. “How can he find himself on a farm? Is that a life? A farmhand? In the beginning, when he was young, I thought, well, a young man, it’s good for him to tramp around, take a lot of different jobs. But it’s more than ten years now and he has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week!” says Willy and then Linda says “He is finding himself Willy.” Then Willy answers again “Not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace!” This shows how Willy mad at him because he thinks they couldn’t reach their dreams because of Biff. Willy says “Sure. Certain men just don’t get started till later in life. Like Thomas Edison, I think. Or B.F. Goodrich. One of them was deaf. I’ll put my money

The father-son conflict between Willy and Biff is complex. First of all, there is a strong personal attachment. He wants Biff to love him. He remembers the fondness shown for him by Biff as a boy, and he still craves this. At this point, however, relations are strained. Although Willy shies away from remembering so painful an episode, he knows in his heart that his affair with the Boston woman left the boy bitterly disillusioned. Feeling some sense of guilt, Willy fears that all of Biff’s later difficulties may have been really attempts to get revenge. In other words, Biff failed to spite Willy. Although outwardly resenting such alleged vindictiveness, Willy still wants to get back the old comradeship, even if he has to buy it dearly. For instance consider when he asked Ben, “Why can’t I give him something and not have him hate me?” and his final moment of joy and triumph occurs when he exclaims, “Isn’t that remarkable? Biff… he likes me!”

The story ‘Death of a Salesman’ written by Miller focuses on a man doing all he can to allow him and his family to live the American dream. Throughout the story it is shown how the Loman’s struggle with finding happiness and also with becoming successful. Throughout their entire lives many problems come their way resulting in a devastating death caused by foolishness and the drive to be successful. Ever since he and his wife, Linda, met she has been living a sad and miserable life, because she has been trying support his unachievable goals. Also by him being naïve put his children’s lives in jeopardy and also made them lose sight of who they really were. Miller uses the Loman family to show how feeling the need to appear a certain way to the public and trying to live a life that is not really yours can turn into an American nightmare.

Because of Willy' incapability to accept Biff for who he is, Willy's failure increases. Willy wants Biff to be the best because he might be a failure as a salesman but he does not want to be a failure as a father. But in some ways he is a failure as a father because he never lets Biff be his own person. It is always about what Willy wants, a "his way or the highway" sort of deal. His not accepting Biff for who he is causes Biff not succeed and because of this Biff and Willy failure becomes one in the same .

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

To begin, Willy contradicts himself by saying he is both well-liked and ignored, suggesting that he frequently deceives himself about his success. However, the truth seems to always be just under the surface. This tortures him and it eventually drives him insane. He always says that Biff is a “lazy bum” and Linda defends Biff on the assumption that he is trying to “find himself”. Then Willy contradicts his

The recent weeks before Biff tells his father this, Biff works to try and enter the business world, but only for his father’s sake. After failing, Biff finally says to his father: “Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?” while “Struggling to contain himself” (133). This is the last straw for Willy’s confidence because his last hope of doing something useful and following through with it is unwilling. Willy thinks that maybe if Biff succeeds in business and grows up to marry and have a family that it will equalize his failures. Taken aback by Biff’s confession, yet also touched, Willy says “isn’t it remarkable? Biff--he likes me?” (Page 133) This seemingly joyous realization has the exact opposite effect on Willy. He now has the ability to come to terms with his life. The overwhelming defeat of Willy’s aspirations leads to him committing suicide. Clearly, Willy’s compulsive relationship with his old potential ends in the worse way possible, complete

Later in a flashback, Willy and Biff are on their way to Ebbets Field for a football game when Charley appears and beings a conversation with Willy. Merely joking around, Charley makes a few comments which Willy takes great offense too and beings insulting Charley and telling him to put his hands up as if to fight. Willy's arrogance shows it's face once again when Willy is talking to Biff about his meeting with Oliver. Completly ignoring what Biff is saying, Willy goes on about how good of a kid Biff is and how impressive he is. Though not directly insulting, Willy ignores what his son has to say and goes off on his own tangents, losing the respect of the reader. Willy then ends up in another flashback in the bathroom of the restauraunt where he met Happy and Biff for dinner. The most disgusting part of Willy is revealed here. Biff walks in on Willy and his woman friend whom hes had a secret relationship with. Willy attempts to cover it up and when that doesnt work he orders Biff around and shows how bad of a person he can be.

His preoccupation with success has made him “ ...[lie] to both himself and to others out of a desire to believe that he is a success” (Brockett, 98). Willy dreams of being successful and leaving behind the legacy of a great businessman, but this unhealthy obsession actually causes the demise of his mental state and lack of success in fulfilling his dream. Right before he dies, Biff, Willy’s son, talks about “...what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been” (Miller, 81). Willy finally realizes that Biff has been trying to achieve actual happiness with his own life. Willy has always believed financial success is tied to happiness, but Biff finally breaks through to him that he could have been happy this whole time if he would have focused on his family life instead of his work. Willy becomes aware that he has been the only thing stopping his success because he has developed this illusion about his life, instead of accepting the reality of his failure in his business and his family.

Although he fondly remembers Biff as a teenager, he is unable to communicate with Biff in the present. As a result, he praises Biff in one breath, while criticizing him in the next. The cause of Willy's inconsistent behavior is his unbidden memories of a long-ago affair, which he forgets or chooses not to remember until the end of Act II. It is difficult enough for Willy to deal with Howard, his buyers (or lack of buyers), and the everyday reminders that he is not a great salesman like Dave Singleman however, it is even more insufferable for Willy to accept the idea that he is a failure in his son's eyes. Willy is fanatic about the notion of material prosperity.

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is a play depicting the tragedy experienced by an array of characters living in a low income, struggling household. This play highlights the conflict between father and son; despite attempting to do the most a father could do for a son, Willy Loman produces strife and grievance from his high expectations, dogmatic beliefs, and idolized views. The latent meaning of the play depicts how detrimental family issues can arise from a lack of communication, economical failures, and declining health and sanity. Willy, a traveling salesman and father, deals with declining health and a strong sense of denial about his current position and his family’s economic status, causing complications between him and his son Biff.

Biff believes that his father lives a lie and should not have been a sales man. Yet Willy never seems to accept it. Charley offers Willy a job multiple times but willy’s pride just won’t let him work for the guy he is jealous of. He doesn’t take the job even if could have saved him.

He wants his sons to go down the same path as him, refusing to accept that Biff would rather work on a farm than in business. He gets excited when Biff goes to talk to Bill Oliver, and refuses to accept anything other than good news about the meeting. Willy wants to live vicariously through and control his sons, wanting them to reach the success he never did. When Willy eventually commits suicide, the main reasoning is that with the insurance money, Biff could start his own business. This shows just how delusional about his sons Willy actually is, as that is the opposite of what Biff wants. Willy, like many parents in today’s America, sees his children’s success as his success, and their failures as spite against him. This is a very common, but very unhealthy way to treat your children, and never leads to a healthy relationship between parent and child. By possessing this characteristic, Willy represents the American parents who try to live the lives they wanted through their children, which is sadly a very common parent. The reason behind Willy trying to live through his children is most likely that he never reached the success he believed was capable through hard work, and now is trying to reach that success through his

Willy’s perseverance to direct Biff into success has resulted to Biff’s desperate acts to earn praise from his father. However, Biff’s dishonest acts of stealing are often justified by Willy through disregard and excuse, even expressing that the “Coach will probably congratulate [Biff] for [his] initiative”. Instead of correcting his mistakes, Willy continuously expresses his belief of Biff’s predetermined success as a result of being attractive and well-liked. These acts effectively exemplifies Biff’s adherence to self-deception as he imagines himself as an important figure in other people’s lives. It can be seen that his belief of being destined for success prevents him from allowing himself recognize the destruction it brings. As a result, Biff has allowed how Willy views him become how he perceives himself. This self-deception has not only affected the actions in his childhood but as well as his decisions when finding his role in the workplace. As stated above, Willy’s consistent beliefs of his son’s predestined success results to Biff’s immense confidence in himself. However, this confidence have provided him a false perception of himself as he struggle to keep a stable job and even faces imprisonment. It can be seen that Biff’s lack of self-perception and compliance to ideals of Willy has only allowed him to restrain and prevent him from recognizing the difference between illusion and reality resulting in the lack of his

In respect to the main themes, the major theme of the play is sociological. Miller wants to show the contradiction between American democracy which approves the infinite success and happiness of the individual, and the law as well as social conventions which frustrate him. He dramatizes the individual torn between the expected and the actual ( Choudhuri 94-106).