Willy's Misery in Death Of a Salesman Essay

Willys Misery

Death of a Salesman by Arthur miller is a short story about the tragedy of a family in the 1940s. Willy Loman is a salesman who lives in New York; he worked by traveling around to make sales for a company, but is very unsuccessful and doesnt like his job. Willy has a two sons; Biff Loman a thirty-four year old man with no future ahead of him and failed to make a career as a football player because he failed a math class and Happy Loman doesnt really contribute with Biff and Willys conflict, he only made himself believe he was the assistant manager of a store when in reality he was just the assistant buyer. Linda, Willies wife, is the most reasonable character in the story; she would try to encourage Willy to ask his manager for a non-traveling job, which would help them take care of their debt and be more stable. Willy could be portrayed as a man that is too proud, but coward to try and avoid his mistakes by desperate moves and at the same time feeling hopeless because that he hasnt accomplish any of his goals in his entire life.

Willy is the main protagonist of this story; he is disappointed in his son Biff because Biff was supposed to be a big football athlete that wouldnt have to be working from job to job as a manual labor on farms and ranches in the West. Biff is 34 years old with no job and has come back to his parents house to live. Although, Willy might hold responsible Biff for his own misfortune, Willy was part of Biffs disaster since he was the one who shattered Biff dreams when, Biff caught Willy with another mistress in a hotel room. Biff felt betrayed by his dad and was determine to confront Willy in order to feel free from the situation. Willy never comes to his senses and blames Biff for being an underachiever, but still feels the pressure that he has ruined his sons life when he had the potential to be good in something.

Willy would constantly search through his past to answer the question of where did he made the mistake in life were everything went wrong. He would not differentiate between his reality world and his daydreaming that would take place all throughout the play. For instance, when his in the goes to the restaurant to have lunch with his sons, Willy reminiscence where he was at a hotel with his mistress and Biff was knocking outside their door. Biff walks in and sees Willy with the mistress, confused he starts crying. Suddenly Willy opens his eyes and Stanley is right in front of him and helps him up. Willy would feel miserable for circumstance he has place his family and misfortune that will follow him until he comes forth worth with his lie.

Willy does blame himself for the malfunction of his family and its not satisfied of what he has accomplished living in debt and felt personal failure. Debt in the 1940s was unusual since the great depression had just passed and the economy was on its way up. He had felt betrayed and blamed his boss, Howard Wagner, whom he had named, and had known his father for a long time. He wanted a better job one where he would travel so it could be easier on him, but when Willy tried to convince Howard, the plan backfires on him and he gets fired. With no job, with any money to pays his debt, feeling a failure as a father and a husband, Willy did the most coward action, he made the ultimate sacrifice and committed suicide to pay his debts. He thought he was worth more money death than alive.

In conclusion despite Willys desperation to search his past to accomplish a better life with his family and his job, Willy failed to recognize that Biff only wanted to forgive him without unveiling the secret, trying to bring their family closer. However, the pressure of not being able to pay his debt, and the feeling of betrayal to his own family drove him insane and away from reality into the breaking point. Willy felt that he never accomplished anything in life and his last resort was either take money from his neighbor or run away from his problems. He made the desperate move of running away from its problem and took his life in a car accident to pay his liabilities.

For this last paper, pick any character from Death of a Salesman or Oedipus the King. In at least 5 fully developed paragraphs, explain the cause(s) of the character's suffering. Be sure to support this with specific examples.