Whether low, middle, or high class, there or always mental and physical instabilities that affect Willy’s life. In the Play “Death of a Salesman” Willy Loman struggles to meet the needs of his family due to his unique characteristics. Throughout the novel death of a salesman, we see the main character Willy, waiting for his big break to achieve the American dream. When this does not present itself Willy tends to go into Denial that his life is perfect. Willy believes if he works hard and focuses on his career he will make it big no matter the circumstances. “WILLY: Don’t say? Tell you a secret, boys. Don’t breathe it to a soul. Someday I’ll have my own business, and I’ll never have to leave home any more. HAPPY: Like Uncle Charley, heh? …show more content…
Because Charley is not liked. He’s liked, but he’s not—well liked. (Act 1)”. This quote represents Willys denial towards his financial struggles as he still truly believes his big break is just days away, the quote shows him lying to his kids telling them he is going to be rich and liked by everyone. Throughout the play Willy denies all causes due to his insufficient success and will blame his failures on outside forces that cannot relate to his doing. “WILLY: I’m fat. I’m very—foolish to look at, Linda. I didn’t tell you, but Christmas time I happened to be calling on F.H. Stewarts, and a salesman I know, as I was going in to see the buyer I hear him say something about—walrus. And I—I cracked him right across the face. I won’t take that. I simply will not take that. But they do laugh at me. I know …show more content…
Regression replaces everything bad with highlights of his life to ignore his life instabilities. Willy thinks in the play about when his house was amazing with much sunlight and great yard with flowers to ignore the present. “The street is lined with cars. There’s not a breath of fresh air in the neighborhood. The grass don't grow any more, you can't raise a carrot in the backyard. They should’ve had a law against apartment houses (Act one, 17).” Willy goes in time to replace the current memories of his falling down house with no grass and trees with great memories of family and a great house. Willy replaces his current memories of his kids arguing with him and failing with old memories of when they were popular in school. Willy thinks about the times that Biff was in highschool and he was popular and handsome and had a great life in front of him to protect his mental disabilities of what a failure he has become. He does this to add value and pride to his life to try to replace such bad thoughts in his brain with great thoughts. Willy uses regression the most to help his mind with dealing with what a failure he has become to himself and his family. Willy thinks back to when he was the man at the company making all the sales and growing the company himself. This success that he
At the beginning of the play it is evident that he cannot determine the realities of life, and so he repeatedly contradicts himself to establish that his conclusion is correct and opinion accepted. These numerous contradictions demonstrate that Willy is perturbed of the possibility that negative judgements may come from others. Willy strongly believes that “personality always wins” and tells his sons that they should “be liked and (they) will never want”. In one of Willy’s flashbacks he recalls the time when his sons and him were outside cleaning their Chevy. Willy informs Biff and Happy the success of his business trips and how everyone residing in Boston adores him. He mentions that due to the admiration of people he does not even have to wait in lines. He ultimately teaches his sons that being liked by others is the way to fulfilling one’s life and removing your worries. These ideals, that one does not need to work for success, demonstrate Willy’s deluded belief of achieving a prosperous life from the admiration and acceptance of others. This ultimately proves to be a false ideology during his funeral, when an insufficient amount of people arrive. Willy constantly attempts to obtain other’s acceptance through his false tales that depict him as a strong, successful man. In the past, he attempts to lie to his wife, Linda, about the amount of wealth he has attained during his
Throughout the play, Willy can be seen as a failure. When he looks back on all his past decisions, he can only blame himself for his failures as a father, provider, and as a salesman (Abbotson 43). Slowly, Willy unintentionally reveals to us his moral limitations that frustrates him which hold him back from achieving the good father figure and a successful business man, showing us a sense of failure (Moss 46). For instance, even though Willy wants so badly to be successful, he wants to bring back the love and respect that he has lost from his family, showing us that in the process of wanting to be successful he failed to keep his family in mind (Centola On-line). This can be shown when Willy is talking to Ben and he says, “He’ll call you a coward…and a damned fool” (Miller 100-101). Willy responds in a frightful manner because he doesn’t want his family, es...
Will is an insecure man who has a dream of being a successful salesman. Throughout the whole film Willy’s main concern is making sure he is well liked. For example when Willy is talking to his wife about a business opportunity he says “ Oh, I’ll knock ‘em dead next week. I’ll go to Hartford. I’m very well liked in Hartford. You know, the trouble is, Linda, people don’t seem to talk to me.” In this scene Willy is saying that he is very well liked but then when questioned about the people in Hartford Willie admits that they just pass by him like he is not there. This scene proves Willy’s delusion to himself by the way he says people like him but admits they don’t talk to him. He is too caught up in the idea of being successful to realize that he isn’t that successful. Willy’s intentions are right but his delusion personality takes control over his actions. He sets his intentions so high that he’s setting himself up to fail. He isn’t an ideal role model for his children seeing as he gave up his passion of carpentr...
Willy’s need for the “drug” reassures himself that everything will turn out okay and that his family will be happy once again like it was in the past.
It is known that Willy is superficial, as he cares about appearances and is materialistic. Again, Willy believes personal attractiveness brings success. This is illustrated when Linda and Willy speak about Biff's meeting with Bill Oliver. Willy claims, "He’s heading for a change. There’s no question, there simply are certain men that take longer to get—solidified. How did he dress?” (Miller 52) Willy is fixed on physical appearance and is sure that Biff would get the job if well ignoring the fact that Biff stole basketballs from Bill. He concludes that the way you present yourself is the only thing that delivers success, not hard work. Also, Willy fails to see the difference between dream and reality. This is demonstrated when Happy talks about his father: "Dad is never so happy as when he's looking forward to something" (Miller 82). This is fundamental to see that Willy's dreams are an escape from reality. He has flashbacks to explore the past and discover the mistakes that denied him the chance to live the American dream. He looks forward to attain some accomplishment without working his way to the top for it. Thus, Willy's downfall can be linked to the problems that he tackles through self
To begin, Willy’s methods of searching for likeability are erroneous. He believes that the superficiality of attractiveness goes hand in hand with being well liked. Willy’s downfall started with his impression of Dave Singleman, an 84 year old salesman. According to Willy, he had “…the greatest career a man could want.” Sure this man was liked in cities around the world, but Willy’s altered perception of the American dream masked the realities of his life. Willy failed to see that instead of being retired at 84, Dave Singleman was unwed, still working, and in the end “dies the death of a salesman”; alone and without love. Believing in this dream, ultimately leads Willy to his hubris; too proud to be anything but a salesman. Throughout the play, Charlie often asks Willy, “You want a job?” Instead of escaping his reality of unpaid bills and unhappiness, Willy’s shallow values lead him to refuse the switch from him attractive job, to that of a carpent...
Biff is home for a visit and is talking with his brother, Happy in their room just as they did when they were young boys. Willy has come home prematurely from a business trip and is downstairs when the boys overhear him talking to himself in a sort of quasi-reality. In the meantime, the two boys discuss the past. It is interesting here that the roles of the two boys with respect to each other seem to have reversed. Happy was the shy one growing up and Biff had all the courage and self-confidence. Now, Biff appears to have been beaten down by life and is on the brink of the se...
His two sons had to carry upon themselves the ideals that his father placed on them after years and years of living inside his house; “Thus Willy's refusal to accept life on its own terms results in nothing but disorder and fragmentation for those he loves most.” (Scheidt) The Death of the Salesman is an example of the mindset that many people in America had back then, and can allow to an individual to see the desires that we share with Willy Loman in the present time such as cheating, lying and wrong perceptions about
Willy’s Distinct idea on the American dream is if your are well liked by people you will be successful. As said in the play by Willy "personality always wins the day”(Miller 1737). as said in the play by Willy. as read through the drama he looks at people who are successful and feels they have yet to attain full success. As they are surely intelligent and work hard, but do not live up to their true potential. For example, his son Biff, he feels he is wasted potential, as he is well liked yet has not obtained success. This is the point in which Willy has misunderstood, all because he had a good for nothing father. This led him to believe that the ideal success is the opposite of his father. Willy went through his life with this
“Death of a Salesman” written by Arthur Miller in 1948 attempts to give the audience an unusual glimpse into the mind of Willy Loman, a mercurial 60-year-old salesman, who through his endeavor to be “worth something”, finds himself struggling to endure the competitive capitalist world in which he is engulfed. Arthur Miller uses various theatrical techniques to gradually strip the protagonist down one layer at a time, each layer revealing another truth about his distorted past. By doing this, Miller succeeds in finally exposing a reasonable justification for Willy’s current state of mind. These techniques are essential to the play, as it is only through this development that Willy can realistically be driven to motives of suicide. The very first section of the first scene, already defines the basis of Willy’s character for the rest of the play.
Throughout his life, Willy Loman thinks of himself as well-liked in the play "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller. It is the most important attribute to him. Willy lived his life thinking he had thousands of friends all over the New England territory and that he would be recognized anywhere he would go. He boasts this to his sons and they think he is the greatest man on Earth. He raises his two sons, Biff and Happy, to be well-liked and Willy does not care about their grades. He believes they will be better prepared for the business world if they are well-liked, and does not think education matters as much as personality, appearance, and physical skill. Although he has set high standards for sons, his morals are being well-liked, he thinks he is the best salesman in his firm, and he claims to be extremely loyal to his family; despite this, he is none of these.
During his memory, he tells the boys how well liked and respected he is when he goes on business trips. Willy says he will soon open a more successful
Willy is a salesman. Willy believes that success comes from being well liked and popular and has tried desperately to instill his notions to his two boys Happy and Biff, Willy's biggest aspirations in life. His wife Linda is extremely supportive and is Willy's only connection to reality. While raising his boys and trying to instill his "American Dream", he fails to teach them any sense of morality, leading them down to what he feels is the wrong path. At one point, he defended Biff for stealing just because he was an amazing football player.
Willy's American dream is to be known to everyone and financially successful. Willy doesn't believe in hard work and honesty to achieve the highest respect but instead focuses on personal appearance and social judgement. "He worries that people do not like him, admitting that people seem to respect Charlie which talks less, but Linda cheers him up, insisting that he will be fine." (Arthur miller) Willy's view of how to achieve the dream is a flawed one and he doesn't want to admit one bit of it. Willy plays his sons as to be the greatest and the worst failures in life sometimes. "Willy boasts that his sons will achieve more than Bernard becuase they are more attractive and bet...
...he way he’s teaching his boys are right or not. Willy’s lack of understanding on how to teach his boys, leads him to teach the wrong ideas which would lead to Happy and Biff’s demise since both of them would believe they are entitled to everything without working hard. Willy’s failure as a father is caused by the wrong ideas he taught and the lack of experience.