Arthur Miller's Play, Death of Essay

The truth is simply too difficult to accept, so he turns a blind eye to it. For Willy, denial is easier than reinventing a new life. He believes that somehow, he will get an advance and "come home with a New York job" (Miller II.1070-1). He believes he can still get a promotion and never have to "get behind another wheel" (II.1071) again. These beliefs, while they are positive, are not productive for Willy at this point if his life. He is old and his chances for great success are dwindling. He believes even if he is not the best salesman in the world, he certainly is not the worst and this level of mediocrity has satisfied him for far too long.

One of the saddest facts about Willy's personality is the fact that he passes on his negative characteristics to Biff. Willy instills his dreamy nature in Biff, which creates a young man unmotivated by anything. He believes what Willy has told him his entire life -- that he is great -- and this makes him lazy. He does not think he should have to put forth any effort to have anything and this only makes him unhappy because he thinks he is something special. As an adult attempting to find a way in the world, he is lost. He has had "twenty or thirty different kinds of jobs" (Miller 1038) and still feels as if he is going nowhere because he does not know where to go. He begins to realize Willy's influence in his life and tells his father, "I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! That's whose fault it is!" (1108).Biff, if he does not turn his life around, will end up just like father.

Death of a Salesman examines an all-too-common experience with many individuals. The American Dream is a term we throw around but it takes work the make it happen. Part of that work is realizing your talent. He fails to realize this early in life and by the time it becomes clear to him, he refuses to acknowledge it. Willy's failure was not having a dream; it was following the wrong dream for so many years. Willy passes this characteristic on to his son, who is headed for trouble sooner than Willy. The American Dream is not easy to achieve and Miller demonstrates this with Willy's failure to attain it.

Work Cited

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. An Introduction to Literature. Sylvan Barnet, ed. Boston:

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