In Arthur Miller’s play, “Death of a Salesman,” Willy Loman is the protagonist. According to the story Willy Loman may be considered a failure. In this play Willy has show a lot of ignorance throughout the play. As part of his character he is grumpy and a very strict parent. Willy was so happy in his fantasy world. The thesis of “Death of a Salesman” is the common man strives to achieve his rightful position in society while his tragic flaw goes unrecognized but still leads him to his death. On page 130, it states “You saw it. The mice didn't bring it into the cellar! What is this supposed to do, make a hero out of you? This supposed to make me sorry for you?” This quote proves that Willy is in denial that his fantasy is gone. He was so happy to the point where he wanted to keep his fantasy world alive. When Willy continued to live in his fantasy, he was not able to move forward with everyone and everything that surrounded him which led him to his death. This play state that Willy’s tragic flaw was his inability to be satisfied by the reality of his life which affected all of the characters in the play. On page 131 Willy says “Then hang yourself! For spite, hang yourself!” This quote also proves that Willy is a bad father. …show more content…
Willy fought with Biff because he couldn’t find a job or find what he wanted to do in life. On page 28, Willy says “Too young entirely, Biff. You want to watch your schooling first. Then when you’re all set, there’ll be plenty of girls for a boy like you. He smiles broadly at a kitchen chair. That so? The girls pay for you? He laughs. Boy, you must be really be makin’ a hit.” This quote show how Willy tells Biff that he doesn’t have any time for girls. This also shows that Willy is a controlling father which makes him a failure of a father because he wasn’t supportive towards his son
Willy and Biff were so close that no matter what Biff did Willy ignored it. For instance, in one of Willy’s Flashbacks for Act 1 there is a conversation between Willy and his sons about the football that Biff got. Biff tells Willy that he borrowed a football from the locker room and Willy tells him to return it back. However, when Happy
At the beginning of the play it is evident that he cannot determine the realities of life, and so he repeatedly contradicts himself to establish that his conclusion is correct and opinion accepted. These numerous contradictions demonstrate that Willy is perturbed of the possibility that negative judgements may come from others. Willy strongly believes that “personality always wins” and tells his sons that they should “be liked and (they) will never want”. In one of Willy’s flashbacks he recalls the time when his sons and him were outside cleaning their Chevy. Willy informs Biff and Happy the success of his business trips and how everyone residing in Boston adores him. He mentions that due to the admiration of people he does not even have to wait in lines. He ultimately teaches his sons that being liked by others is the way to fulfilling one’s life and removing your worries. These ideals, that one does not need to work for success, demonstrate Willy’s deluded belief of achieving a prosperous life from the admiration and acceptance of others. This ultimately proves to be a false ideology during his funeral, when an insufficient amount of people arrive. Willy constantly attempts to obtain other’s acceptance through his false tales that depict him as a strong, successful man. In the past, he attempts to lie to his wife, Linda, about the amount of wealth he has attained during his
Biff recognizes Willy's tendency to exaggerate or reconstruct reality and is no longer a willing participant in Willy's fantasy. By the end of the play, Willy is overwhelmed; he can no longer deny his failures when they become too many to deal with. Instead, he seeks a solution in suicide. Willy reasons he can finally be a success because his life insurance policy will in some way compensate Linda for his affair. Additionally, Biff will consider him a martyr and respect him after witnessing the large funeral and many mourners Willy is sure will attend (cliffnotes).
He wants to be a farmer, but Willy insists that business is the most successful and worthwhile career. Willy tries so hard to make Biff be exactly like him that Biff wastes much of his life doing things he did not want to do, like working in business. Willy is guilty, and rations out that if he kills himself, Biff will earn his inheritance and can afford to carry himself wherever and however he pleases. Willy finally realizes that he just could not give his son the life that he wanted and did not try to help him figure out what he wanted.
Willy is trying to live through Biff and help him become the salesman he wishes he was. He is the happiest when he is hopeful; when he thinks the boys are making a deal with Oliver, he is on top of the world. However, the foundation he provides for his sons to be successful is shaky, as it is based merely on being well liked. Still, Biff would have graduated high school and moved toward his father's dream if he had not have caught him cheating.
It is key here that Willy does not directly face the fact that he
Foremost, Willy has a problem with his inability to grasp reality. As he grows older his mind is starting to slip. For example, when he talks to the woman and his brother Ben. Throughout the story, Willy dreams of talking to the woman, because the woman is a person that he was dating in when he went to Boston. He was cheating behind his wife’s back. Willy basically uses her as a scapegoat when he’s hallucinating about her. He blames all of his problems on the woman. For instance Willy says, “ Cause you do… There’s so much I want to make for.” (38) This is the evidence right here. Also he dreams about his brother Ben. Willy wishes could be more like his brother who has just passed away a couple of months previously to the story. He also wishes he didn’t have to work and could be rich like Ben. He respects Ben for not really working and making a lot of money. Another example of Willy’s hallucinations are when he says,“ How are you all?” (45) This occurs when Willy is talking with Charley and he starts thinking about Ben. Willy’s inability to grasp reality never changed throughout the story.
A major part of the reader's animosity towards Willy stems from his responsibility for the ruin of his sons. Willy's affair ends up being the reason that Biff ends up a high-school failure and a football has-been. This blunder both disheartens and destroys his eldest son. It becomes the reason Biff refuses to go to summer school; it becomes the reason that Biff leaves home. Yet, this is all a result of Willy's need to be likeable. He cheats on his doting wife simply because it makes him feel special, because it gives him proof that women other that Linda are interested in him, because it makes him feel well liked. A woman "picked [him]"; a woman laughs when he makes jokes about keeping pores open; a woman pays him some attention (38).
When Willy causes conflict with his son Biff, he usually is talking about how he is 34 and still lives at home and doesn't have a job. He says “When the hell did I lose my temper? I simply asked him if he was making any money. Is that a criticism?”(Miller, act 1, scene 1, page 7). He previously argued with Linda that Biff and Happy were sleeping because they went on a date the night before. Willy was angry that he is almost about to pay the house off and there's nobody to live in it when he does pay it off. He says “Figure it out. Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You
When Willy is discovered by Biff, the eldest son, in that hotel with Miss Francis, secretary of J.H. Simmons, Biff gets stunned and puzzled by the debauchery and adultery of his father. Willy, out of embarrassment, tries to convince Biff that the woman is a buyer and her room is being painted. So, she has taken shelter in his room. Biff does not get convinced for which Willywarns Biff, “[W]hen you grow up you’ll understand about these things. You mustn’t−you mustn't over-emphasize a thing like this” (Miller, 1949: 95).
In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller crafts a play centered around a man, Willy Loman, who embodies all the wrong values regarding success, and sets himself as an example to reveal the consequences if one lives a life chasing these values. His dedication to his sales job for his entire adult life amounting to a career that is mediocre at best and his dissatisfaction with the careers of his sons are products of the emphasis he places on building a likable personality. Willy is a prime example of a person who is so engrossed in his own beliefs, that the apparent successes surrounding him do not deconstruct the foundations of his beliefs as they should, but rather motivate Willy to compete even more fiercely, and delving into his beliefs even
Willy strives to make money in this story but is largely unsuccessful. He is also very insecure so he turns to lies and his life spirals downward. Willy commits suicide in the end. Donald Smith states that Willy was, “still harboring misguided hopes about success for Biff. It seems Willy would rather kill himself than accept the fact that really, honestly, all his son wants is some shirtless sweaty time in Midwestern haystacks.” Which is why Willy committed suicide. Willy was also a kind of lost man with the wrong dreams. Biff even said after Willy’s suicide, “He had all the wrong dreams. All, all wrong….He never knew who he was.” Willy had the wrong dreams and didn’t know who he was which is also lead to his downfall.
From that day on, Biff never appreciated Willy and never put any structure him on. At the end of the story, Willy crashes the car, killing himself. Biff tried to explain to the family that Willy wasn’t true to himself or anyone else. In Death of a Salesman, Miller
Willy throughout the course of the play, daydream he is conversing with his successful brother Ben. Willy memories of Ben, are a constant reminder of how he falls short of his American Dream. Consequently the real tragedy wasn’t Willy failing to achieve the American dream, but rather his American Dream ignores the love of his family. It’s quite ironic that Willy literally kills himself for money at the end of the play. “Willy: After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive.”(Act II) Desperately trying to escape the deception and lies he has been facing all of this life from his own doing, Willy decides that he will take his life in order for his family to collect on the life insurance policy.
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