Often individuals are prevented from achieving satisfaction due to a fundamental flaw in their character. In the case of Willy Loman, this flaw is his excessive pride and ambition. For the majority of his life, Willy has been primarily influenced by his brother Ben’s success. This has caused him to develop a sense of ambition that is both unrestrained and idealistic. Over the course of his lifetime, both Willy and his sons fall short of the impossible standards of this dream.
Because of his faith in the American Dream, he happily conforms to stereotypes within society and easily bows down to the pressure of society. However as his life starts to spiral out of control and he loses his job, he is forced to question the values of success and the idea that happiness can made possible by hard work and effort. Willy becomes conflict between his desire to conform and succeed in his society, and his despair over the fact that success seems unreachable which causes him to examine the very essence of the American
In The Deaths of a Salesman, Willy Loman is a salesmen who is trying to achieve the American Dream just like everyone else in the world. In his head, he believes to be this well liked and huge successful salesmen. In reality he is more of a self-conscious man who tries to live his fantasy he has in his head while being deceitful to not only himself but his own family as well. Throughout the play Death of a Salesman, Willy has several slogans that he attempts to live his life by.
This “false” American Dream made him have issues in his life and didn’t have strong enough support to sustain in his life. He depended on his family to support him but they didn’t. As they always say, it comes down to family support when one struggling, but in this case, he didn’t get any support hence Willy’s
Willy’s American Dream The tragic play of Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller tells a story about an old man of 84 years old named Willy. Willy was captured by the American dream. He believed that hard work and ambitions could take him to a life of fame and popularity like the american dream was supposed to be. In Death of a salesman, the american dream reveals disappointment, failure and loss of hope. Thus showing that the american dream is not a great dream after all.
Death of a Salesman Analysis In the play by Arthur Miller, the main character Willy Loman is a man in his 60’s. He is dressed in a drab coloured, ill-fitting suit. Willy shows early signs of dementia, as he spends much of the play having flashbacks or incorporating the past into present day situations. Through this the viewer learns much about Willy and his past.
“The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead” (33). In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses foil characters to elucidate Willy’s flaws that ultimately prevent him and his family from succeeding. The contrast between Charley and Willy and Bernard and Biff serves to highlight how Willy’s obsession with achieving his version of the American Dream impacts both his life and his children’s. His poor values are passed on to his children producing even more failures. ¬¬¬¬Both Charley and Willy work as salesmen, however Charley represents what Willy desired to become – successful.
It is also important to note that Willy spent most of his career in a car, the machine that has been destroying the closeness of the family. It was this difference in the time period
Ultimately, these aspirations lead to negative repercussions. First of all, the pursuit of perfection can be observed by the actions of a particular individual in Death of a Salesman. The main character of the play, Willy Loman, was a man with misguided life goals. A rather insecure person, Willy placed strong emphasis on his reputation and self-image. He wanted more than anything else to be a popular salesman well-liked by everyone around him – it was the perfect portrayal of himself.
Although Willy has a professional understanding of the world of sales he doesn’t realise that this idealised world full of self-deceit that he retreats into has been hampering his ability to realise his own failures both personal and to his family. As such his inability to grasp the true personal, emotional and spiritual understanding of himself as a man and not as a salesman has led to Willy being labelled as a modern American tragic hero. Each audience in the respective era
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller portrays the last 24 hours of the life of a common man, Willy Loman, as he reflects on the failures of his life. Loman’s success as a salesman has passed now that his old loyal boss, Howard, has died, and he now works as an unsuccessful traveling salesman, scraping by on commision from Howard’s son. Loman goes to the neighbor, Charley, often borrowing money for household payments, but refuses to take a job-offer from him. Willy Loman’s spouse is Linda and they have two boys, Happy and his older brother Biff, who are now middle aged men who live back at home and are trying to find where they belong in life. Bernard is a childhood friend of the Loman boys, and is Charley’s son.
Linda defends Willy and insists that Willy, as a traveling salesman, merely exhausts himself rather than become crazy. Even if Willy’s financial reality reveals the fact that he can never come true his American dream, Linda still refuses to break his fantasies and see through his lies. Instead, she supports Willy’s American dream and believes in Willy’s idea that success is possible for anyone. Even though Willy is often rude to her and ignores her opinions, she protects him at all costs. She loves Willy, so she can accept all of his shortcomings.
Miller depicts Willy as a tragic character in his willingness to preserve his dignity. Additionally, Willy’s dignity is tainted in the story because of his flawed philosophy of the American Dream. This along with unjust comparisons leads to Willy’s death. Based on how Willy Loman evaluates himself unjustly, he is a tragic hero because he must do anything to preserve his dignity, and his false impression of the American Dream, which leads to his downfall.
From an outsider perspective, Willy Loman lives a normal life. He is a traveling salesman with two grown up sons, and a beautiful marriage. But is that really the life he has? No, it is not. One of the first disappointments Willy experiences is with his son.
Tragedy can spread. In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is the protagonist, however he not the only person in the play who’s story ends tragically. His view on life spreads to those close to him. Primarily, Willy teaches it to his children who look up to him while his wife simply attaches herself to him, rooting for him in blind support while really she should be waking him up to the cold and dark reality that is their life. Throughout the play, the Loman family evolves differently.