Death Of A Salesman Essay
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Arthur Miller s play Death of a Salesman is the tragic tale of the play s protagonist, Willy Loman. Loman is a pathetic shell of a man who displays himself to be more than he is by lying. This need to lie about many of the facts of his life is attributed to his lack of self confidence, and general disappointment with his life, and his unfulfilled dreams. Loman often contemplates suicide, dreaming about how people will actually care about him if he actually dies, because as long as he is alive, he is truly nobody. Willy is constantly pushing his oldest son Biff to be better, and specifically to be liked by people, which, Willy thinks at least, is the most important thing in life. Willy s emphasis on the importance of being well liked is a result of experiencing not being well-liked himself. Willy s convoluted stories and lies about his life, as well as his criticism of his eldest son Biff, are meant primarily to impress people, but specifically his son Biff, and make his own dreams be fulfilled by Biff in his life, as well as to keep Biff from becoming a failure as Willy himself has.
Willy is a hard working, yet very unsuccessful traveling salesman who has worked for the Wagner Sales firm for almost thirty-five years. At the age of sixty-one, Willy has just been demoted, and is now paid strictly on commission. Willy has two grown sons, both of whom live at home along with himself and his wife, Linda. Willy pays the most attention to the elder of the two sons, Biff, and he is also very critical of Biff. Linda claims that Biff is trying to find himself, which Willy views as ridiculous, saying that it is simply too late in Biff s life to be finding himself. How can he find himself on a farm? In the begging when he was young, I thought well, a young man, its good for him to tramp around... and he has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week(Miller 16)! Willy criticizes his son because he does not have a job, saying that this makes him lazy, which is an attempt to make him wake up and get a job and, eventually, to become a success. Willy tries to push Biff more so than he does his younger son probably because of the simple fact that he is his first child, but it could also be because of the promise he sees in Biff. The most promising attribute that Biff had was his ability to be well liked, which was very important to Willy.
Willy thought that being a likable person was one of the most important things in life. Willy thought that the success one has in life is in direct proportion with how likable they are, and how strong their people skills are. Perhaps the reason for this belief is that Willy himself has virtually no people skills, and is not very well-liked by most people. Basically, it seems like everything that Willy believes is required to be a successful business man is the same as everything that he himself is lacking. The ability to be well-liked was so important to Willy ever since he first started working at the sales firm and observed a salesman named Dave Singleman who was able to stay in a hotel room, contact buyers strictly by phone, and sell more merchandise than anyone else, just because he was so well-liked and had such a good personality. Willy sees this kind of likability in his son Biff. When Biff was voted captain of his high school football team, Willy places even more confidence in Biff, knowing all well that the kids admire and want to follow Biff. Willy believes seems to believe that since Biff has one of the main things he is lacking, a likable personality, he can do almost anything. When Biff was in danger of failing math and being unable to receive a scholarship, Willy assures his son that he will be able to sweet talk the teacher into issuing a passing grade. Willy also tells Biff that he will be much more successful than his friend Bernard, even though Bernard has much better grades than Biff, primarily because of his likable personality.
That's just what I mean. Bernard can get the best marks in school, y'understand,
but when he gets out in the business world, y'understand, you are going to be five
times ahead of him. That's why I thank Almighty God you're both built like Adonises.
Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates
personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. You
take me, for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. 'Willy Loman is
here!' That's all they have to know, and I go right through(Miller 33).
Willy s concept of his failure in life is fairly accurate, especially considering what he bases success on, money. One could be very poor fiscally, but could still live a happy, successful life, but when someone bases all success on economic success, as Willy does in Death of a Salesman, they will not be happy if they are poor. Perhaps this is because the family [In Death of a Salesman] , is being used as a microcosm of a success-oriented and materialistic society(Hayman 332). Which is evident in the relationship, or lack thereof between Willy and his younger son, Happy. Biff is constantly being praised by Willy more often than Happy, because he would have successes in his life, in sports or socially, while Happy would try to gain attention by announcing his successes which were not so materialistic, such as announcing he had lost weight or performing tricks to get Willy s attention. These feats were ignored by Willy because they were not as concrete in what they proved as Biff s successes. Willy likes Biff more, although Happy seems more like Willy than Biff, for he is basically unsuccessful, and goes through life without...
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