Willy Loman Pursuing The American Dream

The American Dream is Suicidal

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is a classic American tragedy of the 1940s. Willy is a arrogant prideful person who talks big about himself and lies to make himself look better than he is. He feels betrayed by his brother and his boss for throwing him to the curb and he feels disrespected by everyone he knows. He knows he isn’t well liked among everyone but his delusions keep him from accepting the reality of his life. He slowly starts to go insane due to his denial and dwellings on the past and even begins to have frequent flashbacks in which he talks to himself during. In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller shows that pursuing the American Dream is a suicidal goal and will end up making you miserable

Willy is seen talking to himself frequently which causes his family to think he is a lunatic. In Act 1 when Happy and Biff are talking to one another in their old bedroom Happy mentions Willy talking to himself more frequently. Happy says, “He just wants you to make good, that’s all. I wanted to talk to you about Dad for a long time, Biff. Something’s — happening to him. He — talks to himself. Page 12 Happy mentions to Biff that Willy is slowly losing his mind. He sees Willy talking to himself about things that happened in the past. Due to his crazy ramblings, Biff and Happy became embarrassed of their father’s behavior and did not want to be seen with him. Willys boss Howard disrespects him a few times through the play. In Act 1 when Howard takes away Willy’s salary and goes strictly on commission and Linda tells the boys they are outraged by Howard’s actions. Biff says, “He’s off salary. My God, working on commission!” Page 47 Howard places Willy on commission figuring that the old man would end up quitting the job since he wasn’t making any money on sales. Howard didn’t care what happened to Willy, he viewed him as a burden to the company he didn’t really like Willy at all. Willy even mentioned that his co-workers didn’t take to him. In Act 2 when Willy was asking for an office job, Howard completely ignored him for

Willy was abandoned by his older brother when he was little. As soon as Ben was able to he left Willy to fend for himself so that Ben could search for his own riches. Willy says to Ben, “I remember you walking away down some open road.” Ben laughs, “I was going to find Father in Alaska.” (Act I Pg 33)Ben left Willy at a young age to follow his Father’s footsteps to Alaska but ended up in Africa instead. Ben abandoned his family to pursue his own dream. Willy worked for Howard’s company before Howard was even born, he was loyal to his work and felt he didn’t deserve to be treated the way Howard treated him. Willy says to Howard,”I put thirty-four years into this firm, Howard, and now I can’t pay my insurance! You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away — a man is not a piece of fruit!” (Act II, Pg. 58) Willy has worked for the company for a long time and as one of the company’s senior members he feels that he should be treated with more respect, that he isn’t just someone you can get your use out of then tossed aside once you’re done with him. Willy feels betrayed by both Howard and Ben. Ben abandoned him when he needed him the most at an early age, and Howard fired Willy after Willy put his entire life into the company. This led to serious abandonment issues in the