Willy Loman's Death Of A Salesman

In Jack Finney’s “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets” Tom Benecke makes the right choice when he decides to chase after his wife after he manages to re-enter his apartment. Out in the cold New York air, Tom was beginning to lose hope. He had the paper, but encountered unexpected complications attempting to enter his apartment. Tom realized that, were he to fall, the community would have no way to judge him besides what he was carrying. Their thoughts, he imagined, would be “Contents of the dead man’s pockets… a wasted life” (Finney 14).

Willy always found his dreams in someone else which is why his happiness never came. At first it was his father then it was his brother Ben, and then it was famous sales man Dave Singleman. He looked for others inside of himself which led to him not being satisfied. Dreams can not be rented or borrowed. Willy never realized this and in turn it caused his mental health to deteriorate even more than it already had.

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.

This leads to Willy’s demise because if Willy could have just admitted to his kids that he needed their help and that he isn't what he used to be, maybe he would not have had to end his life. “‘You named him Howard, but you can’t sell that. The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And the funny thing is that you’re a salesman, and you don’t know that.”’ (97)

After a forced evacuation from their house in a condemned building in Tehran, the couple of Emad and Rana relocate to a small flat recommended by Babak, a fellow actor in their theatrical adaptation of Arthur Miller’s, “Death of a Salesman”. However, what Babak failed to say, was that Ahu, the previous tenant, was a rather promiscuous woman whose belongings were left behind with the intention to remove them in the near future. When Emad stays late for a rehearsal, Rana returns home to wait for him and then, the unspeakable happens… Waiting for Emad, Rana unwisely opens up the main door and goes for a shower, while a stranger looking for Ahu enters the house and attempts to violate the poor woman.

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.

The main foreshadowing Miller uses in the play is the title itself, and when Linda tells Billy about Willy trying to attempt suicide. The audience can figure out that Willy will eventually die because of foreshadowing by the title. In the play Willy's death is expected, but it is never fully explained how he dies so we should assume that he killed himself through a car wreck. The unclear ending adds to the chaos in play. The whole story tells us about Willy Loman spent his life chasing a false American dream.

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.

Willy Loman was only liked, but he completely aspired and hoped to be well-liked within his community and workforce of salesmen. No one cared enough, outside of his family, to show Willy that he could have been well-liked. This definition of success did help lead Willy to death. Willy often felt that he lacked something in his life. He said: “WILLY: The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead.

Willy Loman is depressed, facing struggles in his job and with his family. His struggle really gets to him and he feels like he can't open up to anyone about it. He gets so mind boggled that he has flashbacks of an old friend talking to him and giving him advice. All of this going on while Biff is going downhill, and he faces troubles with his wife really pushes him over the edge. He ends up taking his own life.

In Death of a Salesman , Arthur Miller displays utter disillusion as a recurring obstacle. He proves that tragedy can strike anywhere, including within the most optimistic. The protagonist, Willy, mistakenly believes that someone’s reputation complements tangible success. Like many other characters, he was blinded by the belief that charisma can change one’s social status. The question remains: How far can one be substantially benefited by only faith?

As the old saying goes, not all heroes wear capes. This is especially true for Willy Loman in the Death of a Salesman. Death of a Salesman is a rather tragic tale depicting the fall of Willy Loman and, to some degree, the fall of his son Biff Loman. There are two ways in which one could interpret Death of a Salesman, with Willy as the protagonist, or with Biff as the protagonist. Either way, the story is not made a tragedy by its plot, but rather, it is made a tragedy by its characters.

He has a Job, two kids, and a wife. Willy is a salesman who dreams to be like his role model, Dave Singleman. Singleman - in Willy perspective- had the ultimate successful life, as expressed in this quote: "Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?" [Act 2] Willy believed that success, was equivalent to how well liked he was. Willy's 'flaw' was his foolish pride, his persistence of achieving "his rightful status".

However, pursuing this goal came with a price. Since he was highly motivated to becoming a successful salesman, he rarely stayed at home. Instead, he spent most of his time travelling around the country to conduct sales. He became a workaholic, forcing himself to make sacrifices in his family life in order to seek his own ambitions. Therefore, Willy’s perfectionistic ideals led to his demise.