Struggles of Balancing Family and Career: A Study

Throughout the play Death of a Salesman the main character, Willy Loman, struggles to find a medium between his family and career life. Such an occurrence is common throughout history, and one only needs to look at celebrities to see that such a statement is accurate as more often than naught, the pursuit of wealth and a tight family unit don’t often correlate well together. Perhaps this is a matter of balancing one’s personal life, and one’s career. Yet few have managed to succeed in maintaining both on equal level, as one is valued above the other. This may not be seen as a drastic problem, for most people, as they are happy with their income rates and family relationships, and thus doesn’t see a need to change to improve either one. Some might even argue that it’s the normal thing, and that the other side is not affected by the amount of time that they prioritize with either their family or work. In fact, most might say, that in focusing more on one aspect, be it their job or their family, the other simply balances out. However, this tends to be more noticeable in families that prioritize their relationships above their career, as they see their wealth as something that

While Willy blames himself for his failure in achieving the American Dream, Patricia Hamilton (Leroy’s wife) blames her husband for his failure. This aspect of failure in Miller’s characters can be connected to Miller’s father’s failure, as Miller often harbored some form of resentment towards him. The reality of his father withdrawing from his failures as a businessman led Miller to create the figure of a failed father. This figure became one of Miller’s most significant roles that he would characterize in his plays, particularly within his character Willy Loman whose failure is criticized by him and others, and is more keenly seen by