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Death of a Salesman is a figurative play that uses death not only symbolically represent physical/mortal death but also to allude to the end of personal dreams, wishes, and aspirations. It is a satirical play that highlights the life of Willy Loman, the main character, a traveling salesman who has worked for Wagner Company for thirty-four years and ends up a failure because it is not his trade to be a salesman. Willy is a gifted carpenter. In this paper, Death of a Salesman relationships shall be analyzed.
Willy’s Conflict
This play is a case of reality versus illusion. Willy is a delusional character whose search for higher ideals, far higher than he can attain, leads to his disillusionment. Willy spends his entire life trying to be a successful salesman, like his mentor Mr. Dave Singleman who was a successful and famous businessman. Thus Willy forms the opinion that to be successful, one has to be physically attractive and liked by many.
He tries to impose these ideals to his sons Willy and Happy to no avail. The result is that he ends up a failure and decides to kill himself, hoping the insurance premium will benefit his family. This play is, to some extent, a reflection of Arthur Miller’s life. Biff reflects Miller the real character: Miller was not much an academician and surprised his teachers when he wrote this play. The author was attracted to sports and physical activities rather than books. It was, therefore, a surprise that he would end up an author of a playwright.
Three characters in this play highlight Willy’s unique relationships with people. Biff, Willy’s eldest son, and the two enjoy love-hate. During his childhood, Biff adores his father but later comes to loathe him upon discovering that his father had led him to live a lie. It is through Biff that the reader sees Willy’s disillusionment.
Willy’s mistress is a secretary of one of his clients and represents Willy’s craving for love and affection rather than for pleasure. She makes Willy feel loved. Lastly, Willy’s brother, Ben, a successful businessman, is an illustration of Willy’s unwillingness to come to embrace reality; Ben only appears to Willy in daydreams.
Even though these three characters, as well as the other characters in the play, highlight Willy’s delusional self, it is Biff, the eldest son who illuminates Willy’s disconnect with reality. This paper endeavors to explain Willy Loman and Biff Loman’s relationships and how each is affected by this relationship.
Although Biff Loman is Willy’s and Linda’s eldest son and the personification of Willy’s wildest dreams and desires, father and son enjoy an emotional love-hate relationship throughout their lives. Biff represents everything Willy wanted in life: success.
Biff is the illumination of Willy’s notions of popularity and physical attractiveness rather than hard work honesty and integrity as the way to success. However, being popular does not help Biff to succeed. Willy had created a false impression (in Biff, as well as other family members) about his popularity and how it brought him much success (Miller 100).
Biffs’ search for success through popularity ends up in failure and he later notes that “(he has) always made a point of not wasting (his) life, and every time (he) comes back (he knew) that all (he will have) done is to waste (his) life” (11). Thus Willy’s delusional theory on happiness and success ends up having a very negative impact on the very son that he loved and wished to nurture to success.
Initially, there is so much love between father and son. Willy loves his son so much that during one of the football games that Biff is playing, Willy tells Linda that Biff is “(a) star… magnificent, (and) can never really fade away!” (51).
This love is informed by the unrealistic need to make him attractive and thus liked by many, which is to eventually lead Biff to succeed in life and also as a salesman. Willy encourages Biff to a positive image of himself through dress and not to talk too much less Biff makes a false impression, as the right personality would win him success (21, 48).
Biff’s Conflict
Willy goes to great length to prove that popularity is the key to success and encourages Biff to fight with his uncle Ben, something that has an important meaning and infuriates Lindah so much.
However, Biff falls to his uncle Ben who advises Biff, “Never (to) fight fair with a stranger, boy. (or) You’ll never get out of the jungle that way” ( 34). Biff believed in his father so much that he did not put any diligent hard work in whatever he did. His adoration for his father stated to take a toll on his life because, as Willy commented that “his (Biff’s) life ended after that Ebbets Field game because from the age of seventeen, nothing good ever happened to him” (71).
Biff’s belief in the essence of popularity take s him to seek his father in Boston as he thought that Willy’s popularity would make Biff’s math teacher change his grade and allow Biff to graduate. However, their relationship takes a sudden change for the worst when Biff realizes that his father has been unfaithful to his mother, by keeping a mistress in his hotel room in Boston.
The changing nature of their relationships in Death of a Salesman is reflected through their dialogues and conversations, which expresses anguish, pain, and betrayal. Biff no longer trusts his father and realizes that Willy had led them all in living a lie and a pretentious life (104). Willy retaliates by telling Biff that he has been nothing but a failure (103). As such, Bill comments that:
“(he had been) trying to become what (he didn’t) want to be… (And asks Himself) What (he was) doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of (himself), when all (he) wanted (was) out there, waiting for the minute (he) say (that he) knew who (he) wanted to be! (105).
This is an emotional realization of the betrayal that Willy led him to believe was the truth. Their relationship was never the same again.
Willy’s greatest need was emotional and psychological. Willy needed to feel liked and loved not only by his family but also by his clients and friends. From his mentor Dave Singleman, Willy thought that success was brought by popularity and attractiveness, and these two ideals subordinated virtuous ideals such as honesty, integrity, and hard work.
Conclusion
As the analysis essay on Death of a Salesman shows, this is delusional and far from reality. Willy strived to make his son Biff like him so much and instead of rewarded his mistakes instead of reprimanding. This ended up destroying not only Biff but also the relationship the two had, which displays the main theme and tragedy of the play. The play is also a reflection of how self-denial can lead to failure. Arthur miller encourages people to discover who they really are and not to be influenced by the successes of others as this is just an illusion.
Works Cited
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1986. Print.
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