Similarities Between Gatsby And Willy Loman

If we choose , we can live in a world of comforting illusion , but illusions never leaves us ultimately happy in the end . In the book Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller , Willy Loman’s delusion of the key to being successful solely revolves around being well-liked and also believing that in his world he is successful and well-liked , is what ultimately put his family in a struggle and brings much of a disappointment to him . Like Jay Gatsby , Willy Loman has strived to create this perfect world for themselves , but in reality , neither of them achieve that, or their version of the American Dream .
Willy Loman similarity with Jay Gatsby is that they both lie about multiple things to impress or prove themselves in the eyes of loved ones

. Willy lies to his family and how much money he makes to impress his son’s and makes his wife happy . When in reality , he borrows money from a friend every week and act like it's his pay because of his unsuccessful life of a salesman . In Act One of Death of a Salesman , Linda states how Willy fakes his pay by saying “Why shouldn’t he talk to himself, why ? When he has to go to Charley and borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend to me it's his pay ?”(Miller 57). This proves how Willy lies to be well-liked and lies about being successful .
Gatsby lies about majority of his background to Daisy to convince her that he’s on the same status as her so he can be viewed as good enough for her in her eyes .

Gatsby tells Daisy that he was born into a wealthy family , and that some money he made was from working at a drugstore , when in fact most of his money was actually made from bootlegging . We know this from when Tom exposes the truth about how Jay Gatsby's wealth came about during their stay at a hotel . Tom mentions Gatsby’s illegal business with Wolfshiem explaining in front of everyone that he’s a bootlegger and majority of his wealth was made illegally . Also , Gatsby used his wealth to buy a huge mansion and threw weekly mansion parties to try his best effort to woo Daisy by his new lifestyle . Another thing is that Gatsby never was born into wealth , in fact he was born very poor to unsuccessful farm people. Gatsby could not settle for the life he perceived , so he set out to have the luxuries of the world

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Another similarity between the too is that they both couldn't come to the terms on that the dream they seek was a little unrealistic .

Willy may have been in the wrong field of work as his son Biff has stated many time throughout the play . Biff has said on a couple of occasions that Willy didn’t know who he was . Willy had capabilities to be a handyman worker but chose to rather work in sales because he felt less of man to not work in sales . In Act Two of the play , Willy’s son Biff states how Willy isn’t who he think he is , which is a successful salesman . “Pop! ima dime a dozen, and so are you!”(Miller 132) . Another quote that shows Willy’s not who he say he is , is when Biff tells Willy the truth about himself in front of the family . ‘I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you. “(Miller 132) . Another quote to that Biff says to describe Willy life as a salesman is mentioned in the same Act when Biff says , ‘You were never anything but hard-working drummer who landed in the ash can like all the rest of them !”(Miller 132)

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Gatsby had similar issues in not coming to term with things , like the fact that things change after 5 years and you can’t just erase to past or the the current present to create a new one . Gatsby couldn't come to the terms that the love his life , loved another man .
In conclusion , Willy and Gatsby both were living a fantasy life with fantasy ideals , ideals that didn't match up to reality . Both of these characters ties in to the author's overall purpose of writing is to show how money can’t buy happiness , and that trying to hard to be something you’re not can have you delusional and damage the people around you as well as yourself .