Why Is Willy A Liar?

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.

When Linda refers to Willy as a "little boat looking for a harbor," another wind blows against Linda, pushing her to act with pity (1247). To her, he is nothing more than a small, helpless old man. She blames the business for forgetting Willy in his old age, and passing him over like an orange peel. Toward the end of Act I, Linda presents a sorry image of Willy, describing his past greatness as a salesman and ending with a sad description of treachery. She tells her sons that Willy is "exhausted" from driving 1400 miles without earning a penny, and that his reward from the ones he loved the most, his sons, is spite and rejection (1237). The picture she paints of her husband is on filled with pity and sorrow.

Willy can't seem to understand Charley who is successful and humble business man. Charley can be seen as the voice of reason in Willy’s life. When Willy’s out of a job he goes to see Charley and ask for money to pay for his insurance. Willy tells Charley that Howard fired him and how he named him when he was born: Willy believes Howard owes him for this. Charley begins to ridicule Willy for his behavior because these things don't mean anything. Charley tells him that “The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And the funny thing is that you're a salesman, and you don't know that” (Miller, Act 2). Charley gives him the money without hesitation and even offers Willy a job, but Willy acts too proud to accept. Willy senses Charley’s dislike for him, and Willy has always been jealous of him, his business and his son Bernard who is a successful attorney. This bitterness towards Charley and his son shows us that Willy can’t change and refuses to change. Being offered the job and not taking it demonstrates his almost “compulsion” like complex towards

There is little room for the truth in Willy’s world. When Willy is surprised by young Biff in Boston, he simply lies about the woman in his hotel room. Willy’s constant lying and bragging later blinds him regarding the lack of success of his sons.  He believes Hap to be an "assistant to the director" at his job, but Hap's position is barely influential, if at all.  Willy has elevated Biff's past employment experience with Oliver to that of a leading salesman, when in reality Biff was simply a shipping clerk.  The truth simply does not fit into Willy’s immoral world.

Willy thinks, as most children do, that he is more important than he actually is.  At various times throughout the story, he brags about himself, calling himself a great salesman.  He says that he is known everywhere. In daydreaming of

Willy’s self- image that he portrayed to others of being successful was a lie that he had lived with for so long

Willy's attitude is a dangerous thing to himself and his family because his constant bragging gives his family and himself a false sense of who he is. Willy thinks that if you have money then you will be well-liked. To Willy, being well-liked is everything. In his way of thought people without money are not well-liked and if you are not well-liked then you are

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

You have shown Willy Loman as an irritated old man who is suffering from dementia and is always afraid to tell the truth because he is scared of “failure, loneliness and personal success” (page 29). Throughout the play you have displayed were Willy has lied to his family, just so he can feel successful and not a failure that he is. He reverses everything he says starting with the ideal and then coming to the truth of a situation but he does not act upon the truth, in the past, he made himself appear a very successful salesman but the reality is he was not as successful as he would have his family believe but no one could challenge him on his perceptions. Willy lied to Linda saying that he made thousands and thousands of dollars on a business

As a salesman, Willy shows he perceives himself highly when talking to Linda about his job: “I’m the New England man. I’m vital in New England” (14). One can also see Willy’s inflated sense of self-worth when he talks to his children about his job: “They know me, boys, they know me up and down New England... I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England, and the cops protect it like their own” (31). However, even though he is extremely confident about his value as a salesman to his family, the reality of Willy’s reputation at his job is almost completely opposite: “I’m fat. I’m very—foolish to look at... they do laugh at me” (37). Although he essentially brags to his family about his expertise in business, Willy acknowledges the reality that his career is much less successful than he expects it to be. In fact, the inner turmoil inside of Willy from his unrealistic expectation of himself of being a fantastic salesman leads Willy to become mentally unhealthy, and eventually results in Willy committing suicide when he believes that he doesn’t have any self-worth anymore. Willy’s previous inflated self-worth is demonstrated yet again at his funeral, when no one shows up even though Willy thought he had a lot of friends from his job: “Why didn’t anybody come...

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."

Willy is thinking to himself that if the car could have been reliable, he would have been more successful and he could have been better liked. This thinking doesn’t hold up considering that the few weeks Willy has spent only to prove to be unsuccessful. This deterioration of Willy’s life bothers him that he is forced to lie to himself in order to deal with

On the contrary, we are not immediately introduced to this delusional, flaky character. At the beginning of scene one, we see the more assertive side of Willy as he discusses business possibilities with his wife Willy. Miller balances out the audience's perception of Willy towards the end of the act where the more vulnerable side of Willy is illustrated, with the use of his behaviour and the response of others to his attitude. An example of this would be Linda diligently agreeing with Willy's strange statements. One of Willy's traits which qualify him as a hero is his eternal sacrifice, and the way that he throws everything into the balance in order to secure his rightful place in society, and to live the American Dream.

Willy believes that wealth is the key to your happiness, and the extent of your wealth is exposed by the amount of materialistic items one has. Miller explains Willy’s thoughts in Timebends, “The publicity apparatus tells Willy that if he works hard like Edison, that if he perseveres like Goodrich, that, if he is “well-liked” like Dave Singleman, then he will rise like Charley and become rich and powerful.” Willy’s thought process is foolish, and his belief that failure cannot be tolerated in his family causes him to lie about his success. This is evident when Biff says “We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house! [130]” The American Dream is to blame for imprinting wealth is all you need to be happy, into Willy’s mind.

Willy wants to be well-liked and successful as he used in the past. As he says to his sons " bigger than uncle Charley! .Because Charley is not liked. He is liked, but not well liked". Also, he is searching to find the right path and the problem is that there is no right path. Moreover, he suffers from a mass of contradictions. This is so declared through his speech " I `m very well liked in Hatford, the trouble is, Linda, people don`t seem to talk to me" (I.45). Howard refuses to provide Willy with a job in New York, so he protests" you can`t eat the orange and throw the peel away a man is not a piece of fruit"