What Makes Willy Loman Successful Misunderstanding

Willy Loman’s Successful Misunderstanding
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, tells the story of a man so enthralled by his own ambitions, that he is unable to notice his own downfall. Willy Loman, the main protagonist, has lived a majority of his life as a salesman, but times are changing and he isn’t capable of accepting the changes around him. He doesn’t realize his failures and continues to live in his delusions simply because he has the wrong idea of what success is. Willy‘s actions are based on how he viewed success growing up. Willy’s father, brother, and other successful figures shaped the way he understood success, but he is destined for failure, since he was never taught its true meaning. Willy believes that the key to success is being well liked. He thinks that if a man becomes well liked and known, then they must be truly successful. He is even so confident in this ideology that he tells his kids, “…the man who creates a personal interest, is the man who gets ahead.” This drives Willy not too work hard in life, but to maintain an appearance. Almost all his actions comes from this idea that being liked equals success. He

When Willy tells Howard, “I put thirty-four years into this firm… and now I can’t pay my insurance”, he has a realization of his failures. After speaking with Howard, Willy can’t comprehend how he got to where he has so he returns to his thoughts. “Oh, Ben, how did you do it? What is the answer?” instead of figuring out a solution to his problem, he returns to an earlier, easier memory to handle. He doesn’t question himself, he questions his desirable memories for guidance. Doing this makes Willy feel better, but it does nothing to actually help him since it only reinforces his flaws. This sequence of realizing a failure, then consulting a relatable memory to feel better, happens throughout the