The Death of a Salesman

As Abraham Lincoln said, “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” Character is made up of principles and values that give one’s life direction, meaning and depth. Famous figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson have believed that one can only experience true success and happiness by making character the foundation of our lives. However, in the play, Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller depicts the last days of a tired old salesman who throughout his life, believed that personality will make one successful. However, this salesman, who goes by the name of Willy Loman, was not granted happiness and fulfillment. These come from developing character. Thus, Willy’s failures as a businessman, husband, and father stem from his failure of character.

In the Death of a Salesman, Willy’s failure as a businessman was due to his failure of character. Willy Loman was never honest with himself and thus he never knew himself. Although, Willy was very good with his hands, he was heavily enchanted by the idea of being a salesman due to a single person, Dave Singleman. In the Second Act, when Willy tries to convince his boss, Howard, to not fire him by giving him his life story, Willy says to Howard,

And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greater career a man could want. ‘Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people? (81)

As shown in this scene, Willy gains satisfaction from having people remember and love him, because such love would validate Willy’s success. Thus, Willy’s adm...

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...he way he’s teaching his boys are right or not. Willy’s lack of understanding on how to teach his boys, leads him to teach the wrong ideas which would lead to Happy and Biff’s demise since both of them would believe they are entitled to everything without working hard. Willy’s failure as a father is caused by the wrong ideas he taught and the lack of experience.

In the play, Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller clashes the philosophies of Horatio Alger and Dale Carnegie. He implies that Dale Carnegie’s philosophy, who is represented through Willy, will end up as a failure and implies that Horatio Alger’s philosophy, represented through Bernard, who was Biff’s young friend who was hard working, as the only way to become successful. In the end, due to Willy’s lack of character from following Dale Carnegie’s philosophy, Willy fails as a businessman, husband, and father.