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There is only one man in the world that could have possessed countless admirable qualities, and be able to show whichever persona best fit the situation he was in. The man with an innumerable amount of exemplary attributes was named Willy Loman. As Willy told me on multiple occasions,
“The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead” (33). In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses foil characters to elucidate Willy’s flaws that ultimately prevent him and his family from succeeding. The contrast between Charley and Willy and Bernard and Biff serves to highlight how Willy’s obsession with achieving his version of the American Dream impacts both his life and his children’s. His poor values are passed on to his children producing even more failures. ¬¬¬¬Both Charley and Willy work as salesmen, however Charley represents what Willy desired to become – successful.
He wanted to be successful so badly, that when he doesn’t get it, he doesn’t know what to do with himself. When Willy was younger, he had great connections in the areas he would sell. The people respected him and he took great pride in the fact that his name held value with those people. However, as he aged, so did the people he used to sell to. When he isn’t able to make the amount of sales he used to, he doesn’t know
We also learn that Willy is not that successful at being a salesman due to what he
Willy imagined a life where attractiveness, thoughtfulness of others, was necessary in terms of prosperity. I believe the resulting quote from Willy confirms his position
It should be noted that within effect of flat and cliché-ridden American conversation, many variation are called for, Willy himself is fairly inarticulate; indeed, his inability to put his frustrations into words is a part his generiil inadequacy in dealing with his life, he lets stock phases do his thinking for him. Such reassures himself by means of commercial maxims such as ‘personality always wins the day’, Start big and you’ll end big’ or assertions of conventional attitudes such as ‘A Bman walking in for fifteen thousand dollars does not says’ “Gee!” But Willy does chieve movements of evaluence, for instance when he tells of the aeath of Dave singleton, the eighty four year old salesman, and in his angry demonstrance with Howard. When he says, “you can’t eat the orange and through the peel away-a man is not a piece of
And by God I was rich”(Act I). Despite the little information his uncle shared with him, Willy admires Ben’s story and decides to dedicate his life to being well-liked and successful like him. As a salesman man, Willy needs to be popular in order to have the most success. Ironically, Willy Loman is not a hard character to hate and he has such little success with his job, that he eventually gets fired. Back in the 40’s, men were considered the head of the household–they made the money while their wives kept busy at home.
Willy conducts his whole life based on the belief that any man who is good-looking, charismatic, and “well-liked” deserves success and will naturally achieve it (1.30). He attempts to make his mark by working as a salesman because, according to him, “selling [is] the greatest
‘‘Willy Loman is here!’’ That’s all they have to know, and I go right through.” (Miller 21). Everywhere Willy goes he has been respected because of his reputation as a salesman. He believes that as long as you are well known you are a successful person.
Willy exaggerates to praise himself so that he appears to be wealthy and powerful. Willy says, “I was sellin’ thousands and thousands, but I had to come home”(34), instead of specifying a specific number. He uses “thousands and thousands” to make his selling seem successful, emphasizing the amount of money he made. Willy’s obsession with the business success dream destroyed himself and his family in the
However, they both seem to have a strong belief that materialism will lead them to a happy and fulfilled life in some way. Throughout the play, Willy seems to believe that by having proper materialistic objects, people will like him more and he will be viewed as a respected and successful man. For instance, if we take a look at the repetitive use of brand names throughout the play; Chevrolet, General Electrics, Studebaker etc., it seems like they portray the material success that Willy so desperately desires to achieve. To me it seems as if Willy is fooled by the illusionary ideals within the American Dream that owning such materialistic items automatically equals being successful and being fulfilled with happiness
As the old saying goes, not all heroes wear capes. This is especially true for Willy Loman in the Death of a Salesman. Death of a Salesman is a rather tragic tale depicting the fall of Willy Loman and, to some degree, the fall of his son Biff Loman. There are two ways in which one could interpret Death of a Salesman, with Willy as the protagonist, or with Biff as the protagonist. Either way, the story is not made a tragedy by its plot, but rather, it is made a tragedy by its characters.
Finally, the inner beauty is a really important asset. However, in contrast to the outer beauty, people think the opposite. They think that having a good personality does not ensure their success in their lives. Because of that, many people do not try to improve their souls. While people are doing everything they can to enhance their looks, they are not even thinking about improving their characters’ qualities.
He has a Job, two kids, and a wife. Willy is a salesman who dreams to be like his role model, Dave Singleman. Singleman - in Willy perspective- had the ultimate successful life, as expressed in this quote: "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?" [Act 2] Willy believed that success, was equivalent to how well liked he was. Willy's 'flaw' was his foolish pride, his persistence of achieving "his rightful status".
Apart from the American dream being an important goal of Willy’s, it has also created a strain on Willy’s mental state. “I’m the New England man. I’m vital in New England,” (8). This quote reveals that Willy has become mentally unstable due to the fact that he believes in something that is not logical. Considering his age, it would actually be an exaggeration to say that he is still useful as a salesman.
