For millions of people throughout the nation there is a belief instilled in them that anything is possible for them in the land of the free. Defeat, however, was an all too common end for many aspiring Americans hoping to reach their own elusive American Dream. In Arthur Miller’s 1949 play, Death of a Salesman, he narrates the final days of an aging salesman, Willy Loman, still bent on chasing his dream for success to such an extent that he denies his failures and generates an illusion of the past. Conjuring up a myriad of lies, he deludes himself into thinking he is really making it and refuses to accept that he is in need of financial assistance. After losing his job his friend, Charley, offers him to take a position in Charley’s company because he knows Willy desperately needs it. Willy rejects the offer, refusing to acknowledge the fact that it is crucial he earn money not only to support his family but also for his psychological wellbeing. He later commits suicide and leaves a lasting scar on his family that touched them each in different ways. It was because of Willy Loman’s excessive pride and belief in the American Dream that held him back from acknowledging the truth and turning his life around, causing him to give up his life and leave a disheartening legacy to his wife and two boys.
One of Willy Loman’s biggest flaws was his haughtiness and overconfidence in himself and his sons. He strongly believed that charisma and character would outshine hard work and innovation in the business world. He even told his sons “Personality always wins the day”. Willy let his pride get in the way of an opportunity he desperately needed: a paying job that was offered to him by his friend Charley. When his boys were growing up he always saw potential in them, especially Biff who was the star athlete on the football team, and swore their futures would be bright. By having too much confidence in his sons and their road to success through their likeability he created competition between himself and Charley who had a son, Bernard, close in age to Biff. Bernard was concentrated on studying and working hard in school, something Willy saw as unnecessary for his prized son who would surely win people over with his finesse. When it was Bernard who actually made it out on top later in life Willy began acting insulted by innocent comments made by his friend Charley. He could never accept a job working under Charley because that would be an admission of defeat, it would mean that Charley had won the success that Willy so longed for. Even as he is about to go kill himself he is still thinking about getting ahead of Charley and Bernard, saying, “Just wait until the mail comes in, he’ll be ahead of Bernard again”. Everything he does is to be triumphant, to get ahead of the pack and even small victories he hopes to achieve through his son will do.
Even in death the legacy he left his family was one that mirrored his yearning to make it big in the business world. His death and what it meant, however, affected each family member differently. Though he killed himself so his beloved son could claim the insurance money and start up a new business to fulfill Willy’s dream, Biff actually took a different route and realized the business world just isn’t for him. At first he rejected his father’s dream to obtain the American Dream and gain success because he had no respect for his father; but in Willy’s death Biff went through a self-realization of his own. He understood that he didn’t want to be like his father and take part in a world where competition would swallow him up because he truly didn’t enjoy that, where he genuinely wanted to be was outdoors and in nature. Linda, Willy’s wife, seemed numbed by the experience, talking to Willy in his grave exclaiming she couldn’t even cry and that she just felt as if he were on another business trip. Happy, however, was more influenced by Willy’s wish for his son’s and turned into exactly what his father was: a money hungry man who believed happiness could only be achieved through success. While he left them all with the same impression they each took it a distinctive way to shape their lives in the future and remember their much-loved father and husband.
The tragic tale of Willy Loman is not one with a happy ending, nor does it inspire viewers to go out and make something of themselves. It does, on the other hand, paint a picture of what so many citizens throughout history have struggled with. The will to be successful in the land of opportunities because that is exactly what they are given: opportunities. Learning from Willy Loman, it teaches readers to not let pride come in the way of what things are in reality, and that sometimes, just sometimes, it is better to admit defeat than live life as a phony and end up executing actions that do not produce the intended consequences.
