Dreams and Success in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman Essay

Willy foolishly pursues the wrong dream and constantly lives in an unreal world blinded from reality. Despite his dream Willy constantly attempts to live in an artificial world and claims “If old Wagner was alive I’d be in charge of New York by now” (Miller 14). As a result, Willy often ignores his troubles and denies any financial trouble when he says “business is bad, it’s murderous. But not for me of course” (Miller 51). Another false segment of Willy’s dream includes the success of his two sons Happy and Biff. Biff was a high school football star who never cared about academics and now that he needs a job says “screw the business world” (Miller 61). Ironically, Willy suggests that Biff go west an “be a carpenter, or a cowboy, enjoy yourself!”, an idea that perhaps Willy should have pursued. Constantly advising his boys of the importance of being well liked, Willy fails to stress academics as an important part of life (Miller 40). Furthermore, Willy dies an unexpected death that reveals important causes of the failure to achieve the American dream. At the funeral Linda cries “I made the last payment on the house today... and there’ll be nobody home” to say that she misses Willy but in essence his death freed the Lomans from debt and the hopes and expectations Willy placed on his family (Miller 139). Very few people attend

Equally as damaging, the Loman family lacks the ability to make the necessary and suitable choices to pursue the American Dream. Although Willy is skillful with his hands and believes "a man who can't handle tools is disgusting," he chooses a lifetime career as a salesman, based on the fanciful image of his father who abandoned Willy as a child and on the image of an 84-year-old salesman who dies alone in a train car to Boston. Willy takes pride in the craftsmanship he put into their house, yet believes a salesman such as his father is "better than a carpenter." Furthermore, he questions the purpose of building because "some stranger'll come along, move in, and that's that." Ironically, Willy is a better carpenter than a salesman. He boasts on what an impact he makes on his clients, but in reality one of the reasons he has a sexual rendezvous with a secretary is to get through to the buyers. Willy makes another poor choice because of his hubris, or false pride, when he turns down Charley's job offer. Similarly, false pride and the inability to make appropriate choices lead to Hap and Biff choosing unsuitable occupations.

Willy's close friend Charlie on the other hand, despite his seemingly ordinary lifestyle, enjoys far better success compared to the Lomans. Charlie differs to his friend considerably: he is financially secure whereas Willy can barely afford to pay the next gas bill. Similarly, Charlie never indoctrinated his son, Bernard, with the same enthusiasm as Willy. Subsequently, Charlie stands for different beliefs to Willy and, ironically, ends up far more successful. He is a voice of reason for his friend but is only useful if Willy follows his advice. Instead, Willy's proud and stubborn nature ensures that he will never accept Charlie's many

Great writers develop great character. In “Death of a Salesman”, Arthur Miller takes the life of an elder man, Willy Loman, and reveals Willy’s past through his flashbacks to show a character downfall. Willy Loman strives to become a successful salesman and for people to like him very much, but as Willy gets older the business world changes and Willy’s once successful business life goes downhill. Through Willy, Miller portrays an unsuccessful American dream. With the downfall of Willy Loman, along with the characterization of Willy Loman, the symbols, and the irony in “Death of a Salesman”; Arthur Miller presents the American dream of Willy Loman, to become prosperous as a salesman through his kind heart, and also shows how not all American dreams turn out successful.

Willy refutes this as he believes Biff possesses the qualities to achieve the wealth that he has not achieved. Biff and Happy chat about their future plans. Biff knows that his father “thought the world of him” (185). Willy desires the best for his sons and attempts to inflict his ideas of his version of success upon them. The author uses idioms to create a deeper understanding of Willy’s character.

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

The beginning of Miller’s play presents Willy Loman, a failed salesman that is continually putting pressure on his children to get better jobs and make more money. Willy’s pursuit of the American Dream exploits Biff and Happy as a type of retirement plan in this materialistic mindset: “You’ll retire me for life on seventy goddamn dollars a week?” (Miller 28). In this way, Willy views Biff as being weaker than

The “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, uses characters such as Willy Loman, Linda Loman, and Biff Loman to represent sacrifice, honor, and a sense of reality. Throughout the play, these concepts are developed through these characters and relationships, which have an impact on the outcome of the story. The interactions of these characters, promotes self-awareness and understanding of one’s limitations. The

Throughout the play, Biff undergoes a process in which different phases appears: The first is young he is intelligent, bold, and aggressive, likes sports and idolizes his father. Sees in him a successful professional, a person who can speak. He has great admiration for his father but greater the fall when he discovers his father infidelity when he goes to Boston. The second is that which is seen in almost all the work, is that of a failed Biff. The above is the dreamer Biff, as Willy a dreamer, hopeful. But in this phase he is representing the failure of Willy. The third is the Biff redeemed because he realizes who he is and there is a change. This happens when going to see Mr. Oliver, and he realizes that he has always lived in some kind of a dream.

However, as the audience continues to watch the family conversations unravel, we realize that not everything is as perfect as it seems. Biff, the eldest son, has

One person that contributed to Willy’s demise was Biff, who failed his father by being unsuccessful. Out of two sons that Willy had, Biff was the favored

Whilst Linda is their mother, and her relationship with her sons is one based on love, she acts primarily to defend Willy’s image, at least inside the Loman household. Linda takes this to such wild extremes, “Biff, dear, if you don't have any feeling for him [Willy], then you can't have any feeling for me,” essentially rejecting her own son’s affections if he refuses to accept his father, going so far as to imply disowning “then make Charley your father.” Such blind devotion from Linda can also be seen when she makes more excuses for Willy against criticism from his sons, “the man is exhausted”, it is also made clear that Linda is aware that Willy isn’t perfect, “he’s not the finest character that ever lived” yet still she defends him to the end, by making excuses for Willy, Linda somewhat justifies his irrational behaviour. Linda calls Biff a “philandering bum” comparing he and Happy to the “ungrateful bastards” who rejected Willy, in her eyes, they are as much to blame as the company which turned its back on one of its oldest salesmen- rather than accept that Willy is a poor salesman she deludes herself into thinking it’s entirely the fault of the corporate world.

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

Biff is Willy’s pride and joy. Biff was everything Willy wanted him to be. He was a star athlete, popular with the girls, and just well liked all around. Willy ignored his thefts because he was a hometown hero. Being well liked wasn’t enough to help Biff graduate from high school. Failing his math class was the beginning of his adult failures, and his inability to hold a job. When Biff went to Boston to tell his father that he wasn’t graduating, and ask him to talk to his Math teacher, he found Willy with another woman. This crushed Biff’s image of his father; Willy’s successful life has been only been a lie. Their relationship soon falls apart. As an adult, Biff drifted from job to job, a failure in Willy’s eyes. Biff does not want to end up like his

Biff is the apple of his father’s eye. Young, handsome, strong, intelligent, and full of ambition, Biff is going to take the world by storm, and Willy intends to living vicariously through him. This is not to be however. After Biff’s disastrous attempt to get his father to discuss grades with his math teacher, Biff gives up. Entirely. At one point, he wanted to work and to succeed in order to please his father, but after he discovers Willy cavorting with another woman, Biff does not want to give his father the satisfaction of a flourishing son. Suddenly, Willy is a liar in his eyes, and later in life, this causes Biff to have an almost violent relationship with him. (1268) What makes the strain worse is Willy’s guilt, because he knows whose fault the tension is, yet he cannot bring himself to admit it.