Death of a sales man
Death of a sales manDeath of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller
As the curtain is being pulled up, we find Willy Loman, a depressed 60 year old salesman, who is returning from a business trip. Willy has two sons named Happy, and Biff, both of whom are complete failures. The failures of both his children cause Willy to go insane, and he plans to kill himself. He thinks that if he kills himself his son, Biff, will see how well liked his father was and he will come to love his father instead of arguing with him all the time. In the end at Willy's funeral no one, but his family show up to pay their respects. In his sons eyes Willy seemed to be a coward trying to escape the torments of the world, but in truth he was trying to get the $20,000 insurance money so his family could live a happy life.
The main conflict in Death of a Salesman deals with the confusion and frustration of Willy Loman. These feelings are caused by his inability to face the realities of modern society. Willy's most prominent delusion is that success is dependent upon being well-liked and having personal attractiveness. Willy builds his entire life around this idea and teaches it to his children. When Willy was young, he had met a man named Dave Singleman who was so well liked that he was able to make a living simply by staying in his hotel room and telephoning buyers. When Dave Singleman died, buyers and salesmen from all over the country came to his funeral. This is what Willy has been trying to emulate his entire life. Willy's need to feel well-liked is so strong that he often makes up lies about his popularity and success. At times, Willy even believes these lies himself. At one point in the play, Willy tells his family of how well-liked he is in all of his towns and how vital he is to New England. Later, however, he tells Linda that no one remembers him and that the people laugh at him behind his back. As this demonstrates, Willy's need to feel well-liked also causes him to become intensely paranoid. When his son, Biff, for example, is trying to explain why he cannot become successful, Willy believes that Biff is just trying to spite him. Unfortunately, Willy never realizes that his values are flawed. As Biff points out at the end of the play, "he had the wrong dreams."
In many ways Biff is similar to his father. In the beginning of the play we see that Biff shares many of the same ideas as Willy. He values being well-liked above everything else and sees little value in being smart or honest. One of Biff's main flaws is his...
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