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Life Altering Decisions In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

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In Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, several life altering decisions are revealed in the life of the main protagonist. Death of a Salesman is a drama following the life of Willy Loman, a struggling salesman. Throughout the play, Willy’s tragic past is revealed through a series of choices he made for the opportunity to change his life. The drama also reveals Willy’s struggle to connect with his son Biff. In the play, Death of a Salesman, the use of flashbacks exhibit Willy’s choices in life and how his relationship with Biff is damaged. Through his vivid memories, Willy re-experiences his unfortunate decisions to reject opportunity. Willy experiences several instances in which he was “provided with a better opportunity” (Miller 25) to change his life, but “adamantly refuses (38)”. Throughout the drama, Charley, Willy’s friend, tries to “change [Willy’s] life for the better (29)” and even offers Willy a job which Willy “ungraciously turn[s] down (28)”. His decision not to take the job “haunts [Willy]” (45) for the remainder of the novel. In another flashback, Willy re-experiences the crucial decision not to “join [his brother] in Alaska” (27), a momentous part in …show more content…

After “failing out of math” (74), Biff wants to share his frustrations with his “best friend” (84), Willy. However, upon arrival Biff soon discovers that Willy “lied” (101) and is involved in an affair with “another woman (121)”. After discovering Willy’s indiscretion, Biff perspective of Willy “changes for the worse” (123) and the love Biff “once had for [Willy]” (123) is diminished. Biff sees Willy as a “phony little fake” (123) and no longer “wants anything to do with [Willy] (125)”. Biff feels “a deep hatred” (125) towards Willy for cheating on his “beloved” (74) mother. Through his flashbacks, Willy is able to live the situation which led to his failing relationship with his son

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“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.

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Willy too, like Troy, showcases similar characteristics to the father from “Those Winter Sundays”. The most prevalent being the extremely high work ethic. Willy for years has been a traveling salesman, driving long distances on a weekly basis in order to sustain his family. Also much like the father Willy rarely gets emotional, although uniquely to him, what emotions he does show usually seem like way too much or way too little for the given scenario. His dedication to his hard work is demonstrated when his wife, Linda, says, “He works for a company thirty-six years this March, opens up un-heard-of territories to their trademark, and now in his old age they take his salary away” (Miller).

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Although in a way one can understand him not taking the risk and going to Alaska. Finally, Willy is responsible for his own death. I see this as a tragedy because Willy felt that the only way for him to make up for the fact that his past actions contributed to Biff’s failure in life was to commit suicide. In order that Biff would get an inheritance that would allow him to achieve the “American

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Willy always found his dreams in someone else which is why his happiness never came. At first it was his father then it was his brother Ben, and then it was famous sales man Dave Singleman. He looked for others inside of himself which led to him not being satisfied. Dreams can not be rented or borrowed. Willy never realized this and in turn it caused his mental health to deteriorate even more than it already had.

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Because Willy no longer has a job, he is unable to support his family the way that he is supposed to, which negatively affects his relationship with his wife Linda, and their two

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This proves that his lies continue to his family and that even though he lies to them, he also indirectly tells them the truth. These lie-truth pairs indicate that he is aware that he is not being completely truthful. In a way, Willy is convinced that if he metaphorically paints a picture of him being a successful and liked salesman, then he has achieved part of his purpose and is one step closer to attaining his American Dream. Willy admits to his brother Ben that “business is bad, it’s murderous. But not for me, of course” (35).

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This was just beginning of the downward spiral of Willy’s problems. He was on a business trip up the east coast when suddenly he returned home surprising Linda by his early return. Throughout the entire play, Willy faces confusion and lots of flashbacks. During a

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As the play continues, Ben appears and Willy submits that there is nothing that he tried and worked out in his favor, and therefore he did not know what to do. To confuse the conversation, Ben switches to talk about Alaska and proposes to offer Willy a job. Immediately during this context, Linda appears and convinces Willy to stick to sales the way Dave Singleman does. The encouragement by Linda gave him hopes to believe that he can be successful like Singleman. It has built in him a memory that distracting him from the reality that he has been fired from his

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Willy cold heartedly believes in the American Dream which really messes with his life. The psychological of this vision for Willy blinded him is so many ways. This was hurrying his way of life as well as the people around him. Once Willy finally accepted the difference between the American Dream and his own life it becomes a little late. Willy directly connected his self-worth to the American Dream.

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Willy finds out his dream of being an popular, well respected salesman is impossible and takes his own life. Linda supports Willy despite the abuse and confusion he puts her through with his various attempts to take his own life, with his delirious ramblings and hallucinations, and with his constant deception. Happy still sees his father as a hero and Biff finally begins to grasp the truth of the “American Dream”. When Willy kills himself, all of the Loman family, including Willy, break free from the web of false dreams he spun and begin to understand Willy’s failings. They also realize their own flaws.

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This shows how willy can not admit his failure to his family. The main character Willy doesn’t want to show how deeply down he had fallen and is starting to lose hope on his

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Willy does not even know how to respond to such a statement, and he asks Bernard, “But if you can’t walk away?” (Miller 68). If there is any chance of success, Willy will try to take it, even if that means

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