Death Of A Salesman Dave Singleman Essay

“When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.” (Donald Miller). When unrealistic expectations are placed upon someone including one’s self, the pressure to find success and achievement becomes daunting to many. Certain people who have a negative opinion about themselves, are not able to see the potential which they hold inside of them. The mentality of always expecting the best from one’s self is sometimes a burden, which can control the lives of many. When applying an idea such as assuming impractical success based on the prosperity of others, it can give pressure to one’s self when expecting the best result. In the modern play Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, the character of Willy Loman struggles to

find his sanity because of the unrealistic intentions he puts upon himself and others, based upon the success of Dave Singleman.

Due to this toxic mindset which thrives inside of him, he is never able to get past his exaggerated aspirations and this is detrimental to both his mental and physical health.

To begin, by basing his life on the business lifestyle of Dave Singleman, which he views as affluential, Willy loses the true meaning of what real happiness is. Willy is constantly comparing his work ethic and success to Dave’s, which causes him to undervalue himself and feel like a failure. The introduction of Dave Singleman is a very brief, but extremely influential point in the plot of the play. Dave is the epitome of what Willy aspires to be his entire life; the success he witnesses from Dave is the main drive and motivation for him to keep going. Willy’s perception of happiness is deceived by the impressionable presentation of Dave’s success; this causes him to have a false grasp of what he thinks he should want in life and what the true necessities are. The perception of monetary success which Dave exhibits, causes Willy to strive to be just like Dave Singleman. While in Howard’s office Willy demonstrates his admiration towards Singleman, “And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could

want.” (Arthur Miller 61). The world of business has absorbed him since he was a young man, which came from the inspiration of Singleman. Willy is intrigued by the business type lifestyle of living in a hotel room and having countless clients, which Dave lived. Although it seems like a cake walk to WIlly, this false advertising deceives him and causes him to go beyond his limits. By trying too hard to attain the same achievements as the beloved salesman, WIlly becomes drained and in turn, let down when the results are less than expected. He witnessed a man who could have clients in the blink of an eye, but he did not see the reality of the entire situation. Although Dave was seen as being successful to Willy, he never took the opportunity to fulfill the entire purpose of life. The fact that Dave was always trapped in a monotonous business cycle and Willy having an uncertain view of true success, is where the ideas become befuddling to Willy. Willy focuses on the idea of the American Dream, but he never actually understands the true meaning of this statement. Loman views this idea as being successful based upon looks and attitude, although these may be important factors, the true keystone is hard work. Throughout his life, Willy expects himself to be successful based upon his attitude and the impressions he has made upon others. This idea is confirmed as false when Willy is fired by Howard, even though he has a positive attitude about the situation, he is still lacking the skills required. Willy is under the impression that because he knew Howard’s father he is entitled to a job, “I’m talking about your father! There were promises made across this desk!” (Miller 61). However, Howard does not have time for Willy and his deteriorating mentality, so he fires Willy and tells him to pull himself together. The ideas which Singleman presents are not in line with what Willy should truly want in life; he is being beguiled by false ideas and acting solely on his emotions. Unfortunately for Willy, the life of luxury which he aims to attain is not a realistic goal for him. He was never focused on the work aspect of the American Dream, but rather ignoring the idea altogether and focusing solely on his attitude. He becomes The business ideas of Singleman are not the only elements which become affirmations in Willy’s life, there is also many other influences.

Continuing, due to WIlly’s busy life of trying to have the same business success as Dave, he is not as invested into his relationships as he should be. From this lack of initiative he finds himself becoming unfaithful to the one he loves, which becomes detrimental to his mental state. Singleman was always alone and focused on maintaining his status of having clients, so he never had a permanent relationship. The name Singleman itself is a play on words. His name refers to how he lives in solitude and is never emotionally invested with another human. However, Willy is the complete opposite of Dave. He is married and he has others around him for companionship. Even though Willy was trying to achieve the same results as Singleman did in the past, he was not able to, because he cared deeply about Linda and was attached her. However, this is only the end result, earlier on in his life he was not as faithful as one would hope. While Willy was traveling and persevering to find his main goal, which was to find success, he became entangled in an affair with another woman. The Woman herself is not specified, because it is not the person, but the idea of Willy cheating on his beloved Linda who more than loves him, that matters. It is extremely apparent that during this time in the play, that Willy does not value Linda as much as he does later. As he was traveling as a salesman he was on the road a lot. Company was very scarce and he did not have a lot to do, other than work. It was not uncommon for salesman to have a mistress, after all during this time caring for the needs of others was not the most valued belief. Everyone was trying to find the American Dream, whatever they felt it was, they thought they needed to find it. One particular person who followed the ideology of having a second partner, was Willy. The symbolism of stockings are used to contrast between The Woman and Linda. Willy buys The Woman expensive stockings to show his love for her, while back home he expects Linda to mend her old ones. Although he regrets this horrible decision, certain things still cause him to demonstrate his mercurial nature. When Linda is mending stockings in the kitchen Willy angrily shouts “I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out!” (Miller 26). This event occurs right after Willy has finished his flashback about The Woman. At this point he is still tense and the stockings taunt his guilt, so he lashes out at Linda, even though it is not her fault. In the end Willy cares deeply about Linda and remains faithful to her, but because he was so focused on his own self benefit he did not realize Linda’s importance earlier. The difference between Singleman and Loman is that one was self invested and only worried about attaining success, while the other attempted to have the same mindset. However, Willy was not able to be as successful as Dave Singleman because he was not as focused. Dave Singleman had motivation focused merely on his work, while Willy had other obligations to attend to. Once Willy made the decision to have an affair, his life changed completely and his stability started to diminish. Ever since this experience he has not been able to see or love Linda like he did in the past. As a traveling salesman Dave had no one to give his love to, because of this he remained focused and gave his best results. Regrettably, Willy made some decisions which completely altered his life. If he had decided to be more of a businessman, rather than a husband, the results of his life could be very different and he might even be successful. The way in which Willy opposes the love baren lifestyle of a salesman, is not the only way in which his expectations were destroyed because of his actions.