Willy Loman's Responsibility

He’s liked but he’s not- well liked” (Miller 30). Willy Loman jumps to the thought that he could create a greater and more prominent business than Charley, considering Willy has a “stronger personality”. For Willy, having and showing better personality didn’t lead to much success or wealth.

Willy held strongly that being well liked was the most important thing in the world. He sincerely believed that he was an efficacious salesman and he recognized himself as being well liked, both of which he was far from being. He told his boys he was “Bigger than Uncle Charley. Because Uncle Charley is liked but he is not well liked”. He is living in a fallacy and has segregated himself from reality.

Many individuals tend to ignore the realization of what is occurring on around them and continue living on. As a result, they develop this whole new world in which they believe that their lives are going well. Although this sounds optimistic, when reality hits them, they do not understand what is transpiring and instead of admitting their mistakes, these individuals go back to their own worlds. Likewise, Willy Loman experiences events that change his relationships with his family and his life. Instead admitting these mistakes, Willy Loman disregards them as if they did not happen and continues living on, which eventually catches up to him. In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman,the author’s intent through the character Willy Loman is

Willy’s ride home is not the only time he has had vehicle troubles that almost or do lead to accidents. Linda later reveals to Biff that the insurance inspectors have declared that his driving mishaps were not accidents. Willy clear continuous attempts on his own life and the fact that he continually tries to make his death look like an accident indicate the fact that he has thought over his suicide multiple times and still

He thinks that the most important thing in life is to be liked. Being a salesman who travels all around New York has allowed him to meet tons of people. Willy believes he is liked by many since he knows a lot of people. What he lacks to realize is that all of his relationships with these people are strictly business only. He does have one real friend who is his next door neighbor.

Willy believes that in order to be a successful salesman one must be “well-liked”. This belief and his inflated ego cause him to act arrogant and even leads him to turn down several opportunities to improve his life. For example, when the Loman’s neighbor Bernard comes to inform Willy’s son Biff that he needs to seek help in his studies, Willy acts extremely arrogant, saying, “What an anemic!” (Miller 33). Willy goes on to tell his two sons that while Bernard may receive better grades in school, he will never be as successful as the boys because he does not have the personality and social skills to succeed in the professional world.

Willy’s immense pride and his lack of honesty cause him to become a lousy father. Being unable to accept his mistakes, he makes it seem as though he has lived the perfect life and

But Willy does not have the requisite sterling traits of character; people simply do not like him as much as he thinks is necessary for success. It is a tragedy about the collapse of the notion that personal success is measured by one's financial prosperity. “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the

            Willy is convinced that being well liked is the key to success, exclaiming “Be liked and you will never want...”  (Klotz, A 1998).  It is unclear whether Willy’s

He attempts to fill the void by raising his sons to believe that if you aren’t just liked but “well-liked”, success is easily attainable. This is proven in the first scene after Bernard, their neighbor, searches for Biff to study for math. Willy gets offended at Bernard’s statement, “Just because he printed University of Virginia on his sneakers doesn’t mean they’ve got to graduate him!” He then tells Bernard to stop being a pest. Once Bernard leaves, Willy asks the boys if he is “well-liked.”

Discuss theses two aspects of Willy Loman’s character and comment on how they affect both Willy himself and the other characters’ relationships with him. ‘Death of a Salesman’ is a play written by Arthur Miller and first produced on stage in 1949. This play is Miller’s most famous work. The play shows a conflict within one family but on a deeper level does much more than that. This play deals with larger issues regarding American national values.

Willy, with his juvenile mentality favoring a “good laugh” (Miller, 266) over any real intelligence or ability is representative of a man that wholeheartedly believes in this fallacy (that a man can persevere through any obstacles so long as he is pleasant to be around), and follows it blindly. Willy’s motto seems to be something along the lines of “it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it-because personality always wins the day” (266). When he, probably subconsciously, realizes that his “smile more and you’ll get everything handed to you” attitude isn’t working for him anymore, he shoves it on his son Biff. He favors and focuses on Biff over Happy, probably because Biff was more well-liked in high school than Happy was. Willy’s only belief, it seems, is that “the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead” (250). This is ironic, of course, when it’s revealed fairly early on that Willy’s life is anything but a dream to anyone other than himself. While others are miserable around him, he seems to remain oblivious to his own downfalls and shortcomings, constantly trying to convince others of his, in all likelihood fallacious successes, including “never [having] to wait in line to see a buyer” (250), and how he is “very well liked in Hartford” (251). It seems as though Willy Lohman is the exact type of person who

Willy believed that if he was well liked that he would be successful. While being well liked by others is a good thing it doesn’t mean that you be successful. Willy’s neighbor’s (Charley) son, Bernard, was not well liked,

Each time Willy loses himself in the past, he does this so in order to deny the present, especially if the present is too difficult for him to accept. As the play goes on, Willy spends more and more time in the past as a means of reestablishing order in his life. The more disintegrate and disastrous reality becomes, the more necessary it is for Willy to create an alternative reality, even if it depends upon him to live solely in the past. This is authenticate immediately after Willy is fired. Ben randomly appears,and Willy confides”nothing I swirling out.

Initially, Willy Loman is revealed to have been abandoned by his father and later on his brother when he first revisits the past, establishing the root of his fears. Willy’s abandonment raised multiple questions and issues that he was unable to find the answers to. This event developed his deep insecurity about being “well-liked” and ironically prompted him to abandon his family. Willy’s perception towards appearances led him to be unsuccessful in business as well as having disconnected relationships with those around him. Willy has built an unattainable expectation that is contradictory to his nature and it began with him clinging on to being a salesman knowing that deep down