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Death Of A Salesman Illusion Vs Reality

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Willy built his life around the dreams. He tells lies about how “well-liked” (Miller 28) he is all of his towns, and how “vital” (Miller 10) he is to New England. At times Willy even believes his own lies and becomes enthusiastic when he tells his family that he made more money than he actually did. Willy believes that his sons are very successful, well-liked and attractive young man, when in reality; they are two failures that have done nothing in their life. Biff also starts to believe these falsehoods. He believes the illusion that he was a salesman for Bill Oliver when, in reality he was just a shipping clerk. His father has been putting these lies into his head for so long that he himself started believing them. On Biff Willy has heaped …show more content…

So, from the beginning to the end Willy’s life is nothing but an illusion. Willy makes reality in his own way which becomes more real than real to him. So, his life at last becomes a simulacrum. For example after meeting with Bill Oliver, Biff says “I talked” and “he listened” (Miller 86) which is the basic reflection of reality. Then when Biff says “Oliver talked to his partner about the Florida idea” (Miller 88) is the perversion of reality. And then when Biff says to his father that he is going to have lunch with them is the pretension of reality because all of them actually know the truth. And at last there is no real i. e. all is simulacrum. Another example is when Biff goes to meet Bill Oliver, Willy says to Bernard that Biff is working on a very big deal which is the basic reflection of reality. When Willy says “he’s been doing very big things in the west. But he decided to establish himself here” (Miller 72) is the perversion of reality. Then the pretension of reality is that Bill Oliver wants Biff “very badly”(Miller 72). At last the hyper reality comes and all of the members start to believe Biffs big

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