death of a character

How Willy's low self worth, misplaced societal values, and his stubborn inability to change leads him through his life pretending to be more important, more liked, and more successful th

-Essay looks at the character of Willy Loman How Willy's low self worth, misplaced societal values, and his stubborn inability to change leads him through his life pretending to be more important, more liked, and more successful than he really is This ultimately leads to his demise

Death of a Character

In Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman the reader is introduced to the main character of Willy Loman Willy is a middle-class salesman who, in the course of a single day, comes to realize that the American Dream, which he has pursued for 40 years, has failed him Willy's pursuit of success has affected not only his self worth, but has also dominated the lives of his wife Linda and his sons Biff and Happy Willy's low self worth, misplaced societal values, and his stubborn inability to change leads him through his life pretending to be more important, more liked, and more successful than he really is Ultimately this vision he has leads him to his death thinking that he will actually be helping his family

Willy's low self worth is not talked about much in the story, but rather more implied through several conversations with his wife I do not believe that Willy is even aware of the low self worth

he has While talking with his wife and bother Ben, he says little things like "I'm not noticed" (1470), "I'm fat I'm very foolish to look at." (1471) and "I still feel - kind of temporary." (1478)

He compensates for this by talking about how important he thinks he is "Go to Filene's, go to the Hub, go to Slattery's, Boston Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens!" (1483) His low self worth and then compensation for that is one of the factors that lead to his demise when he

is faced with reality of this

Willy is an ordinary man, whose dreams and expectations have been shattered by the false values

of the society he has put his faith in He understands society places great value on success and can not see that society also has a way of placing it's values in front of people that are very hard or impossible to obtain He is chasing an 'American Dream' that is ultimately a false dream Society has told him to be successful you need to have a certain amount of material goods Willy places high value in having brand name items in his home He doesn't see that he would be a success just

by being a good father and husband For Willy, his brother, Ben, and his salesman hero, Dave Singleman, are images of success However, the character of Ben is far-fetched and the

achievements of Dave are idealized and exaggerated Willy sees them and what he thinks they have accomplished and sets this as the standard he must meet By doing this he can never achieve the success he so desperately wants Willy's vision of the 'American Dream' and what society has told him he must live up to are just another means to his end destruction

Willy also has a stubborn streak in him that makes it all but impossible for him to see things from another person's view He goes on pretending to be a success and pretending that he is earning more money than he actually does Charley offers him a job on several occasions but Willy lets his stubborn pride get in his way and refuses the job offers, even after he has been fired

"Charley: I offered you a job You can make fifty dollars a week And I won't send you on the road

Willy" I've got a job

Charley: Without pay? What kind of a job is a job without pay? Now, look, kid, enough is enough I'm no genius but I know when I'm being insulted

Willy: Insulted!

Charley: Why don't you want to work for me?

Willy: What's the matter with you? I've got a job

Charley: Then what're you walkin' in here every week for?

Willy: Well if you don't want me to walk in

here Charley: I am offering you a job

Willy: I don't want your goddam job " (1500)

He lets his stubbornness and pride get the best of him and just pretends that he still has a job This is another element that leads to his destruction Without a job and borrowing money, he ends

up realizing that his life is worth more dead than it is alive

Willy Loman is a man who let society's pressures and visions guide him through life and

ultimately kept him from being all the things he wanted most He desperately wanted to be well known, liked and successful At the end of the play we find that he traveled paths that were set up

by his low self worth, societal values and his own stubbornness and ultimately led him to take his life, thinking that the insurance money would help his son

Works Cited

Miller, Arthur "Death of a Salesman." Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing 6th ed

Ed Leah Jewell New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001 177-190