Death Of A Salesman Honesty Essay

Honesty in Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, portrays the twenty-four hours before Willy Loman’s death, a traveling salesman who is ambitious to achieve the American Dream as he defines it. In this play, honesty is one of the critical elements that shapes the life of the characters because it is an advantage that promotes trust, builds healthy relationships, and establishes the feelings of being real. The importance of facing reality is shown with honesty.

The theme of honesty plays a critical role in shaping the relationships between the characters in Death of a Salesman. The play describes several relationships that are built without honesty that led to strained relationships. For instance, Willy Loman's relationship

For instance, Linda, Willy's wife, is honest with her husband about Willy’s situation. Her honesty helps Willy to confront the reality of his situation and to accept the difficulty of their finances. She says "Just mending my stockings. They’re so expensive” (26). This line shows how she has accepted their financial situation by mending, whereas he is denying the financial situation that they are in. He is not facing the truth. Additionally, the relationship between Biff and Willy improves when they are honest with each other. Biff shows his true feelings to his father and worries that Willy is getting hurt because of his belief in the American Dream, “Biff (crying, broken):…Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?” (99). However, he seem not figure this out on his own until his wife’s line, “He loves you, Willy!” (99). Biff is trying to convince Willy of his delusion and maintains an honest and healthy relationship with his father, but Willy is clearly checked

The play represents the dangers of living in a world of delusions and the importance of accepting the truth. Willy is a character who lives in a world, where he feels important and respected and measures himself by what he believes he has, good relationships and appearance. But he is dishonest with himself. His business relationships are not genuine because they are merely connections, and connections do not result in sales. This delusion is in part why sales are suffering. Also, his handsome youthful appearance is no longer helping him because he is now older and fat. He ignores these facts also. Another example is through Willy and Biff’s dialogue. Willy says, “Bernard can get the best marks in school,… but when he gets out in the business world,…you are going to be five times ahead of him… you’re both built like Adonises. Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world” (21). Willy boasts that his successes have been a result of his good looks and relationship not his academic abilities. Even though the surroundings remind him of his current failure, Willy always finds excuses, for example, “I’m not dressing to advantage” (24). This line shows he is not accepting the reality that he is not young and handsome anymore. His way of thinking is also educating his son through his example. When Biff was a high school student, Mr. Birnbaum, Biff's teacher, called Biff stuck up. Willy immediately