Delusions In Death Of A Salesman

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”.

In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the author conveys the reader about how a person lives his life when he or she cannot live the “American Dream.” Willy Loman, the main character in the play is a confused and tragic character. He is a man who is struggling to hold onto what morality he has left in a changing society that no longer values the ideals he grew up to believe in. Even though the society he lives in can be blamed for much of his misfortune, he must also be the blame for his bad judgment, disloyalty and his foolish pride.

In “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman is the well-developed protagonist of the story. Willy struggles throughout the story with daydreams and delusions that he confuses with reality. These delusions have a huge effect on the story and greatly impact Willy’s life. Willy has a difficult time keeping his bills paid with his job as a traveling salesman. He works long hours and drives long distances for very little success. His delusions cause him to believe that his work is successful when it is far from it. “Willy is self-deluded, believing wholeheartedly in the American Dream of success and wealth. When he fails to achieve this, he commits suicide—yet until the end he never stopped believing in this American Dream” (Sickels).

In the play “Death of a Salesman”, by Arthur Miller, the primary theme can be seen as a conflict between man and society. In which the ambition to achieve the “American Dream” controls the life of Willy Loman and the influences he has. When success is not reached, sends Willy’s mind on a mental ride.

In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is an example of a failure as a good father. He did not discipline his sons well by not punishing them. He did not set a good example to his sons by not admitting his faults. He did not make his family his number one priority. Instead, it was his work, coming before his family, his friends, and even himself. Not only is Willy Loman not a good father and husband, but he was a failure by not becoming successful, not achieving the American Dream.

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.

John and Lorraine are best friends. They both go to Franklin High. One day John was thinking, “we need some money” he told Lorraine. So John came up with an idea to get some money. Lorraine didn't wanna go through with it, but John made her. So they came across an old man named Mr. Pignati. They told Mr.Pignati that they are business people selling supplies for the L&J fund. Mr. Pignati told them to come over the next day to colect the 10 dollars. They went over right after school and sat and talked to the old man for a little. He had asked Lorraine and John to go to the zoo with him the next day, and they thought that would be the perfect way to pay him back. They went to the zoo and the Pigman started to buy them everything. Then they meet

In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy is both sympathized with and looked down upon throughout the story. Willy is a very complex character with problems and faults that gain both sympathy and also turn the reader off to him. Willy Loman is both the protagonist and the antagonist, gaining sympathy from the reader only to lose it moments later.

His contradicting attitude prevents people for liking him; for example, when Willy and his neighbor, Charley, play cards. As they were playing their classic game of cards, Charley pulled a move that caused him to win, and Willy was frustrated from the loss and called Charley a cheater, when they say, ”Charley: I put the ace--, Willy: If you don’t know how to play the game I’m not gonna throw my money away on you! Charley: It was my ace, for God’s sake!” (Miller 46). This shows that Willy never wants to be wrong and is a sore-loser. Not only does he treat adults unfairly, but younger people too. Another example would be when Charley’s son, Bernard, came running to Willy to tell him that Biff failed his math class. Willy was at first mad at Bernard, which is wrong because it shouldn’t be Biff’s friend’s fault that he failed. He immediately questioned Bernard, confirming that he gave Biff the answers for the final exam, which is wrong because he’s having Biff’s friend cheat for

In the Play “Death of a salesman” the main character Willy Loman plays the role of a man that makes himself believe he is a successful. Willy has family and a job as a salesman. The play consists of willy creating lies in his head of being a successful character. In Fact, Mr. Loman only sets of himself for failure not realizing that he is putting his family in danger. In means to say that he its hurting them.

Here Willy actually brings up the death of a salesman and what it’s supposed to be like. According to him it’s supposed to be a huge event and that hundreds would be in attendance at the funeral. This is the way that Willy lives because of how far he’s decieved his own mind. He’s decieved himself into thinking that he was a well liked salesman and that he will die the death of a well liked salesman. It contradicts the way the he actually dies and that at his funeral no one came. Using Willy’s logic it could becuase he was fired from his salesmans position and is no longer entitled to the salesman funeral.

The story teaches us how we are born naturally blind and throughout the life we learn world around us through different perceptions, gradually and piece by piece. Therefore, in the story salesman says: “…if they bought some of his wares for a good price he would be sure to come that way again in the new year.”

“Death of a Salesman” is a book like no other. Willy Loman is a protagonist like no other. Every aspect of Willy Loman is contradicted by another aspect of his. He is the main character, but he is the adversary. He wants to be successful, but he never makes any effort towards success. Throughout the novel, the reader is not expected to support Willy and his rash decisions, unlike most protagonists. Arthur Miller establishes a connection between the reader and other characters in the novel who are hurt by Willy and his actions. Based on the ideology of the American Dream, Willy Loman is unsuccessful, unlike a traditional protagonist, and resemblant of a traditional antagonist, making him a complicated protagonist.

Harold Loman (Miller 79), or Happy as one may know him, never truly saw the epiphany of the ‘American Dream.’ He was just “blown full of hot air,” he never knew what was reality and what wasn’t (105). From the day that Happy was born, to the day his father died, and most likely till the day he would die, he never once saw the truth behind his ‘phony’ of a father. Happy, not only being portrayed as a static character, but also somewhat of a stock character, would end up just like his father, dying the “Death of a Salesman” (111)

Willy’s obsession with success leads to the start of him living in his own fantasy world. He lives in the past, for there was hope for him then, but now he is completely subject to failure. Willy’s demise could have been avoided had he changed his dream, and had he not conformed to society. In the end his dream did not pay off, and he ultimately fell victim to the American Dream, and the deceitful ideals of freedom that factored into the