Willy's Attractiveness

Willy continued to think that he was this big salesman that everyone knew and loved even though many people tried to show him that he was not the great salesman that he believed he was. Willy proved this that he when he said, “My God! Remember how they used to follow him around in high school? When he smiled at one of them their faces lit up” (16). This proves the point that Willy lies to make him feel like his son is this important person making him the great person he wants to be. Then later in the play Willy continued to make things up to allow himself to accept not who he was but who he wanted himself to be. This was proven when he says, “It’s true, Ben. All he has to do is go into any city, pick up the phone, and he’s making a living and you know why” (86)? Willy continues to lie to himself by talking to himself and Ben even though ben is not there because he is dead. Willy constantly lied to himself to make himself the person who he wanted so he could accept who he was as a person. Willy never was able to accept who he was as a person which eventually led to him taking his own life because he was unhappy with who he was.

And such a hard worker. There’s something about Biff- he’s not lazy.” This is just of the many examples that shows that Willy is not stable. Willy doesn’t change because at the end of the play when Biff tries to confront Willy about his suicide attempt, Willy doesn’t do anything about it.

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

Willy did not want to see the reality in his life; all he did was regretting not going to Alaska to be successful like his brother. Thus he is blinded, living in his own illusion and imagination that he is a great man without realizing his failure in life. When Willy and his wife are having a conversation with their sons, he said: "Some day I'll have my own business, and I'll never have to leave home anymore and, they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England"(Miller, Act 2) Willy is an old salesman, he reached a point where he thinks that he can still open a business, be successful and rich. He is lost between two worlds: the flashbacks; that he keeps seeing with his brother Ben and also regretting not going on the adventures with him, and moreover the life he is struggling to live.

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

At one point in the play, Willy says, “Biff is a lazy bum”(16). Moments later in the same conversation with Linda, Willy adds, “There’s one thing about Biff, he’s not lazy”(16). Even when confronted by his boys, Willy is unable to deal with the truth, that his sons won’t amount to very much at all. He ignores reality very well, and instead of pointing out that Biff hasn’t established himself yet, Willy tells Biff, “You’re well liked, Biff….And I’m telling you, Biff, and babe you want…”(26). The boys are clearly aware of their status and the status of their father, and Happy is found putting Willy’s personality in a nutshell, “Well, let’s face it: he’s [Willy] no hot-shot selling man. Except that sometimes, you have to admit he’s a sweet personality”(66). Obviously, Willie’s failure to bring up his children effectively, and his delusional thinking including denial of reality helps fortify his depleting condition and confusion.

Willy’s biggest issue with his son is that he let him down by not being any more successful than him. He feels like Biff is failing on purpose just to make him look bad. Although, he has no decent job and is single; Biff has become disoriented about life. Earlier in the play Biff tells Happy, “I tell ya Hap, I don't know what the future is. I don't know - what I'm supposed to want” (Miller266). Biff once looked up to his father as a role model, but lost all faith in him once finding out that he was having an affair. Ever since he has rejected Willy’s commitment of being a husband and also a father. To add to his ruins are Willy’s ideas of how Biff should get ahead in life. Willy taught Biff that popularity was the right way to get to the top, rather than hard-work and dedication. Trying to live by his dad’s standards caused Biff to fail high school and become unable to put forth the effort to become

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."

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 .

He realizes that these values are not true, and is not too concerned if he does not come out on top. He wants to be able to know who he is. Happy, on the other hand, continues to believe in Willy’s ideas, even after his father’s death, and decides that Willy’s name will succeed.

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

    “Be well liked” he often tells his sons Biff and Happy. How others perceive Willy is an underlying force that seems to compel him to action. It is more important to him to “be well liked” more than anything else. Willy’s fear is that wants to be viewed as a good decent human being. When in actuality, his underlying struggle is in accepting himself. Miller states,  “The quality in such plays that does shake us... derives from the underlying fear of being displaced, the disaster inherent in being torn away from our chosen image of what and who we are in the world.” Based upon Miller’s statement Willy’s “underlying fear of being displaced” is the real tragady. He wants to do things right, but the fact is he has many incidences like Boston that haunt him.  “Tragedy then is the consequence of a man’s total

Furthermore, Biff, along with Happy tries to conjure up a crazy idea of putting on a sporting goods exhibition. The problem with Willy is that he never grows up and deals with his obstacle; and he has taught this life strategy to his sons.

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

First off, Willy’s view on the world is messed up. He values the wrong things in life. Willy believes that all that is needed to be successful in the world is to be well liked. He doesn’t understand that that is not the most important thing in life. Being well liked does not