How Is Willy Loman Successful

Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman is a classic tragedy of the American stage. Published in 1949, it tells the story of Willy Loman, a 63-year-old traveling salesman living in New York City with his wife, Linda, and his two sons, Biff and Happy. The tragic element of the story is that Willy, who is nearing retirement age, is deeply disillusioned with life and is unable to find happiness in his sunset years. His material and social aspirations—to build a successful career, own a home, and raise successful kids—seem to be partly accomplished, but he still feels unfulfilled. Despite the assurances of Linda, Willy views himself and his children as failures, and over the course of the play, he descends into increasingly bizarre behavior marked

In Act 1, we learn that he has had a long career as a traveling salesman. Although he is dissatisfied with the grueling hours and driving, his work has allowed him to afford a decent middle-class life in New York City, and to provide for his family. He is just one month away from paying off the mortgage on his home. Loman also is apparently successful in his family life; he has two sons in their thirties and a loving wife. According to Neil Carson, Loman represents the “American Everyman.” He is a hard-working, middle-class American man of the post-World War II era who pursues the American Dream by buying a home and providing for his family. Willy played by the rules and performed his job as a breadwinner with admirable consistency and stability (Carson,

According to one literary critic, Willy feels deeply guilty about how his life has turned out. There are indications of the mistakes that Willy has made. We learn of an illicit affair that he had with an unknown woman. We discover that he has treated many people in his life shabbily, including his younger son, Happy, and his friend and neighbor, Charley. As the reality of his financial situation becomes clearer—he cannot quit his job (and he ends up getting fired) and Biff does not have the business connections to secure a loan—he becomes despondent and loses touch with reality. Willy suffers hallucinations and flashbacks to earlier episodes in his life—apparently, representing happier times when he still had hope that things would turn out well. He fondly hallucinates that his dutiful sons are washing his car, or that he is having a conversation with Uncle Ben, his older brother who he virtually idolized for his tremendous success in business (although their relationship had not been close). As Willy appears to unravel, the family grows increasingly concerned. They see him talking to himself and losing touch with reality; Linda is frightened that Willy will commit suicide in order to provide the family with life insurance money. Happy and Biff debate whether they should tell Willy the truth about their lack of success in business, or whether they should continue to lie in order prop up