Nearly everyone has the desire to be successful in their lives, whether it be measured in the amount of wealth a man owns or the accomplishments he has made in his life. Therein lies the most common, the success in a man's profession. There are multiple approaches to this connotation of success where a wide range of techniques can be applied. One might think that the only way to reach a particular level of success is to take on a competitive nature and achieve that coveted position of number 1. However, being competitive does not necessarily insure that a person is ‘successful.’ They must be competent in their field to reach the top spot. An example of these two sides can be found within Arthur Miller’s Death of A Salesman using the characters Willy and Bernard.
Bernard is a secondary character within Death of A Salesman who serves as a foil to Willy. A childhood acquaintance of Willy’s son Biff, Bernard had always worked to ensure that both Biff and himself achieved good grades. Neither Biff nor Willy took this seriously and instead considered Biff’s athletic and business potentia...
What is Willy’s impression of Bernard when he sees him in his father’s office? Why does Willy exaggerate Biff’s importance? - He has contradicting feelings of envy and pride for him. He exaggerates Biff because he wants to look like a success to
Miller’s Death of a Salesman is the tragic account of the demise of a meager salesman, Willy Loman. Willy is passively nearing the end of his career and life. His two sons, Biff and Happy show little remorse or pity for Willy, despite his obvious senility. When Biff borrows a football from his coach to practice passing, Willy encourages him: “Coach’ll probably congratulate you on your initiative!” (Miller 30). Willy erroneously praises Biff, not realizing that such affirmation could deceive Biff. Later, as Biff awaits an appointment with a prominent businessman, he feels compelled to steal his fountain pen, “I don’t know, I just—wanted to take something”(Miller 104). Such incidents set a precedent for Biff, eventually leading to his lackluster professional status. Willy once again deludes Biff as he mistakenly deters him from his studies. When Bernard reminds Biff, that in order for Biff to graduate, he must study his math, Willy initially agrees and encourages Biff to study: “You better study with him, Biff. Go ahead now”(Miller 32). When Biff confidently shows Willy his sneakers, on which he printe...
It seems our definition of success is related to our own individuality. Our view of success is rooted in the outcome of competition among individuals. Americans seem quick to claim that we have each succeeded through their o...
“The Death of a Salesman” is filled with betrayal, especially mainstream between Biff and Willy. Willy Loman being the chief betrayer himself yet most consumed with the fright of being betrayed. His fear causes him to make frequent accusations onto Biff. Willy feels that Biff has betrayed him by not pursing the ambitions he had intended for him. As a father, Willy believes that Biff must meet the particular inherent duty with assurance. However, Biff strays from his father`s aspirations, therefore causing Willy to feel offended. Willy thinks that Biff`s betrayal is in spite of his discovery of Willy`s affair with another woman. Willy is concerned that Biff thinks that he has betrayed his wife, Linda, who is also Biff`s mother. “She's nothing
Throughout the play the audience learn how importantly Willy feels about upholding his pride and morals. He teaches Biff and Happy that it is charisma and not brains which will make them successful. In his flashbacks he tells them “the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead”² and scorns Bernard who gets high grades. By being a salesman, he believed himself to be well liked and valued in society and he devoted his life to it. Accordingly, when Howard fires him from the company, his pride is ruined and he feels as though he has failed his family “(a...
Willy Loman equates success as a human being with success in the business world. When Willy was a young man, he heard of a salesman who could "pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without ever leaving his room, at the age of eighty-four, make his living." (81) This salesman is Willy's inspiration; someday to be so respected and so well known that he can still provide for his family, even at an old age. Of course, Willy is no good at being a salesman because his heart isn't in it. The only time Willy puts his heart into anything is when he works with his hands, and his son, Biff, comes to realize this. "There's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made." (138) Willy never comes to the realization that it is not being a salesman that he cares about, but rather being well known and, perhaps more importan...
The character Willy Loman from the play Death of a Salesman has been read throughout the years with distinct interpretations. Many people have given different reasons to what led to Willy’s tragic fate. One interpretation I took was that Willy’s instability in his life led to his death. Some point that led in to my interpretation were his early family life, his relationship with Biff, and his job.
In fact, it is Willy's emphasis on likeability that leads Biff to brush aside his education in the first place. Bernard, the friend next-door who begs Biff to study for the Reagents, is described by Willy as a...
In Death of a Salesman there is a guy, Willy Loman, who is in a heavy conflict with his son, Biff Loman. Throughout the book Willy and Biff fight and also get along at some points. Biff is upset with Willy because of something that happened in Boston, Massachusetts years ago. Willy is upset at Biff because Biff failed math and didn't want to raise his grade or go to summer school, and became a failure according to Willy. At the beginning we don’t know why Willy and Biff have such a heavy conflict but as the book goes along you get to know more and more about why the two of them are in a heavy conflict with each other. The problem between Willy and Biff was that their relationship was built on lies and Biff found out that they are.
Success is known as being a battle zone for achievement; unfortunately, in today's society success doesn't come without a price. Those put into leadership roles, due to their success, are required to have a certain responsibility and with it, a certain reputation. In the novel Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman finds confidence in his ability to perform his job and sets out to obtain a new position. Contradictory, his employer finds he is not as talented as he used to be and his disregard pleas and stress cause him to seek his end. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein becomes absorbed in his life’s work of animating lifeless matter which will revolutionize science. However, horrified by his creation
In Death of a Salesman, willy is trapped when it comes to facing society instead he just tries to focus on becoming the perfect father and make it as a successful salesman in the world. The problem is willy doesn't want to face the fact that he fails biff when he doesn't biff grows older and doesn't really do anything with his life, at least not as much as will would have liked. Willy believes it's his fault that Biff isn’t a successful man with what he is doing currently, so he tries to push him to become a salesman, something he clearly wasn't meant to be, and Biff knows he isn't good at
Willy's search to find his mistakes of his life failed because, even though he found out what happened to Biff, he did not search for the right thing: his identity. Willy found out that his affair made Biff envision his father as a fake and phony, but he did not realize that a salesman was not the right job for him. When Willy died, no one came to his funeral (Act II. Scene I). This just showed that Willy was not the man he thought he was. He thought he was a great salesman with an unlimited amount of friends, but, when he died, no one was at his funeral but his family (Act II. Scene I). It showed that Willy was just a simple craftsman, who only needed attention and love from his family, and did not need fame or to be well-known ("Arthur Miller and Others," 311-314)
Life can take a number of pathways as an individual is faced with many choices at every stage of their life. In this meandering journey of decision making, one is influenced by various other people, circumstances and one’s own aspirations. Ultimately though, there is no substitute for perseverance and success is only attained through a combination of “inspiration and perspiration”. In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman the main character, Willy and members of his family display how false promises and the need to achieve the American Dream can be detrimental to not only their professional lives but also personal relationships; by believing that being “well liked” is the key to success, and having pride
The purpose of “Death of a Salesman” is the American Dream. Willy believes in what he considers the promise of the American Dream, that a well liked and attractive man in business, will for sure receive the material to start a business offered by modern American life. However, what he thinks about those qualities is false. Attractiveness and likeability is not as important nor more rewarding. The American Dream comes more from hard work without complaining about it as the key to success. Willy's thinking of likeability is wrong that is why he dislikes Bernard because he considers Bernard unlikeable to society due to him studying hard and basically being a nerd, even though he is a successful lawyer. Willy's way of thinking doesn’t go the way
The play “Death of a salesman” by Arthur Miller, is centered around on William Loman’s great misconception about life and success. William Loman believed strongly that all that was required in life to attain success was to be well-liked. Evidence for this exists in the book where he mocks Bernard for not being well-liked “Bernard is not well liked is he?” (Death of a Salesman pg. 20) then proceeds to tell his sons “be liked and you will never want” (pg. 21). This, unlike most, would argue, is actually not aligned with the American dream, at least not the same version upon which great entrepreneurs like henry ford were raised upon. Where hard work and self-reliance were the true driving forces of success. William Loman began his career in the