Willy Loman

In Death of a Salesman Willy Loman is a traveling salesman whose life is centered around his job. Willy easily conforms to societal stereotypes and pressure in society. Willy questions whether his values of happiness and success are possible by his hard work. Willy’s goal to adapt and succeed in his society along with his fear of failure causes him to question the reality of the American Dream, helping the reader understand the focus of the play. Willy’s belief in the American Dream causes him to conform to society’s expectations. Willy’s conformity is evident in his work ethic and pride that he takes in his job. Willy is caught up in his pride which leads his sons to believe their dad is held to a higher standard than other salesmen on

After the elevation of success in the football game, Bif begins to slowly fade away. When Bif goes to find his father on a business trip he discovers Willy is having an affair (Act 1). This destruction of the successful and honest image of his father causes a complete disaster in Bif’s life and his decisions. Willy can’t seem to accept this failure from Bif, which leads to Bif to stray way from his family. Willy repeatedly insists that he did nothing wrong as a parent. Willy believes that since Bif had such social recognition in high school, Bif is for sure to have become a success later in life and throughout the community—a natural sequence of life in the American Dream according to Willy. Bif is not the only failure that haunts him; increasingly, Willy soon realizes that even if he does everything the right way according to society, success is not impossible to achieve. Willy soon experiences this fact when he is fried from his job. Willy stresses the fact that society throws a man away like an orange peel, like “a piece of fruit!”(Act 2). Willy’s strong belief in the ways of the American Dream, that say success will always follow hard work, makes it inevitably hard for Willy to comprehend his failure. These realities of failure are hard disappointments to Willy, ultimately causing him to question this idea of the American Dream and its

The ideal holds a disastrous power, as demonstrated by Willy’s complete acceptance of society’s expectations no matter what the cost. Willy hopes to make himself and his family a part of a successful American Dream. Willy sees that if he does everything right and by the rules of success, failure is impossible. Miller brings to light the reality of a world that is imperfect and full of chance and the cruelty that chance may bring. Miller also bring to light how a world is full of incompatibility with the American Dream no matter how successful you are. Willy beings to contemplate suicide as he continues to think in society’s terms. Willy buys a life insurance policy with the ultimate lie that he is worth more to his family dead than alive. The irony is that even though Willy commits suicide; life insurance will not cover suicide and the Lomans will not receive the payout. The American Dream, the desire to attain success and happiness, is impossible and undesirable in Miller’s eyes; it is only a dream vision, a utopian creation meant to invite conformity to ideals of values like hard work, loyalty, and success. But its cruelty lies in the fact that though everyone can want the Dream, few can actually have it. Perhaps Willy come to realize this at the end of Death of a Salesman, but—more