The Reality and Illusion

Willy believes that he and his family are successes, Willy lies to
himself and lives in a world of illusions. He says of himself that
he is well liked in all the towns he visits and by all the customers
that he calls on; he also erroneously believes that he is vital to
the New England territory and will someday receive a promotion
for his hard work. He even lies to himself, and then his boss,
about how much he actually earns. Because he wants to prove
to himself that he is well liked, Willy has at least one affair,
attracting the young woman by offering to purchase her a pair of
silk stockings. When Biff discovers his father in the hotel room
with the woman, he recognizes Willy for what he is and calls him
a liar and a fake
.Willy also lives in a world of illusions about his two sons. He is
convinced that Happy is a content, successful young man who
will soon become a store manager. In truth, Happy is a loser, like
his father, who lives in his own world of illusions and contributes
to keeping Willy in his fantasies. Although he has his own
apartment and car and claims to have relationships with women,
Happy admits that he is lonely and unhappy, with no clue of how
to rise above the unhappiness. Willy is even more nave about
Biff. Since he is the more attractive son who has been a
successful athlete in high school, Willy has placed most of his
dreams in this older son. Biff, however, fails miserably. He flunks
math and cannot continue his education. He is a compulsive
thief, who has lost every job because of his stealing. Biff even
admits he is a nothing, a total failure. Willy refuses to see the
truth about Biff, even when the son tries to tell him. In fact, Willy
commits suicide so that Biff will have his life insurance money.
He is certain that Biff can make something of himself with
twenty thousand dollars
Reality and Illusion

The gap between reality and illusion is blurred in the play -- in the
structure, in Willys mind and in the minds of the other characters. Willy

is a dreamer and dreams of a success that it is not possible for him to

achieve. He constantly exaggerates his success: (I averaged a hundred
and seventy dollars a week in the year of 1928) and is totally unrealistic
about what Biff will be able to achieve too. Willys inability to face the
truth of his situation, that he is merely a dime a dozen, rubs off on his
sons. Happy exaggerates how successful he is and Biff only realizes in
Olivers office that he has been lying to himself for years about his
position in the company: I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life
has been. Weve been talking in a dream for fifteen years. I
was a shipping clerk. Biff is the only one who realizes how this
blurring of reality has destroyed them all. His aim becomes to make Willy
and the family face the truth which they have been avoiding, the
truth of who they are: The man dont know who we are! We never
told the truth for ten minutes in this house. This blurring of reality
and illusion is carried through into the structure.
:Willy Lomans American Dream

To the protagonist of Death of a Salesman, the American Dream

is the ability to become prosperous by mere charisma. Willy
believes that personality, not hard work and innovation, is the
key to success. Time and again, he wants to make sure his boys
are well-liked and popular. For example, when his son Biff
confesses to making fun of his math teachers lisp, Willy is more
..concerned with how Biffs classmates react
Through the main character in the play, Willy Loman, Arthur
Miller explores the American dream and what happens to a
family when the dream is not fulfilled. Willy Loman has been a
salesman all his life but never had much success. He always
believed that he would be able to be happy once he was able to
obtain material success. In fact, he believed that living in
America was somehow a guarantee of wealth and happiness.
However, in his search of his dreams, he ignored and alienated
those closest to him, especially his oldest son, Biff. At the end of
his career, Willy is forced to confront his broken dreams and the
consequences his beliefs and dreams have had on his life and
family

Willy believes sincerely in what he considers the promise of the

American Dreamthat a well liked and personally attractive
man in business will indubitably and deservedly acquire the
material comforts offered by modern American life. strangely,
his fixation with the superficial qualities of attractiveness and
likeability is at odds with a more gritty, more rewarding
understanding of the American Dream that identifies hard work
without complaint as the key to success. Willys interpretation of
likeability is superficialhe childishly dislikes Bernard because
he considers Bernard a nerd. Willys blind faith in his stunted
version of the American Dream leads to his rapid psychological
decline when he is unable to accept the disparity between the
.Dream and his own life
s the capitalist belief that if you work hard enough you can be a success in America (the same is true for
those of us living and working in Canada).
However, the success that the dream aspires to is based on money and power.
In Willys mind it is also linked with being well-liked.
Biff realizes that being true to yourself
is a more important success.
Willys adherence to the dream means that he buys status symbols on credit that he cannot afford to keep
the payments up on. It is ironic then that Willys funeral is on the day that the
last mortgage payment is made.
Howards treatment of Willy shows how destructive the pursuit of the dream can be. He lays Willy off when
he can no longer generate money for the company, which enrages Willy:
You cant eat the orange and throw the peel away a man is not a piece of fruit.

The class conflict

There are five principal characters in Death of a Salesman.
They are Willy, Linda, Biff, Happy, and Charley. The only big
conflict between any two of these characters is between Willy
and Biff, and it has been going on for years. Biff has just recently
arrived back at home. His mother tells him when you write
you're coming, he's all smiles, and talks about the future, and-he's just wonderful. And then the closer you seem to come, the
more shaky he gets, and then, by the time you get here, he's
arguing, and he seems angry at you. I think it's just that maybe
he can't bring himself to--to open up to you. Why are you so
hateful to each other? Why is that
?

Willy has known for a long time that he is never going to realize
his youthful dreams of success. When a father starts to wonder if
his life has had any meaning or purpose, he is likely to remind
himself that at least he has been a biological success. He has
produced one or more children and has managed to support
them to adulthood. But having children is not success unless at
least one of those children is successful. Many fathers, as well as
many mothers, put too much pressure on their children to
succeed in order to make up for the parents' lack of success in
life. Willy must be a good salesman, because he has sold his
illusion to his entire family. Willy has pinned his hopes on Biff
because Biff was such a big success in high school. In various
subtle ways Willy has conditioned Biff to want to succeed in the
business world and make a lot of money in order to please his
father. But Biff has come to realize that he hates big-city life,
that he is not qualified to be a big success in business, and that
he has been living a lie because of his love for his father and his
desire for his father's approval. This is what causes the conflict
between father and son. It also causes Biff's internal conflict. He
would like to live a simple life and have an undemanding
outdoor job, but he still has this more-or-less unconscious
compulsion to try to please his father .The climax comes when
Biff, as a result of the fiasco at Bill Oliver's office, realizes the
whole truth and tells his father
Biff is young enough to see the truth and to change his life; but
it is too late for Willy to change .6.The only thing that can break
Willy's emotional hold on his son is death. Biff is free after that
and can go his own way, but this love-hate, father-son conflict
has been driving the play from the beginning

appearance

The entire Loman family places heavy value on appearances and

good looks. Many of Willy's fondest memories of Biff involve his
son dwarfing others with his personal attractiveness. In addition,
when Willy gives in to feelings of self-doubt, he worries that it's
.his appearance that's holding him back in business
Throughout Death of a Salesman, Willy pursues concrete
evidence of his worth and success. He is entranced by the very
physical, tangible results of Bens diamond mining efforts and
strives to validate his own life by claiming concrete success.
Willy projects his own obsession with material achievement onto
his sons, who struggle with a conflict between their intangible
.needs and the pressure to succeed materially
Willy Loman, the protagonist in Arthur's
Miller's Death of a Salesman, believes that the way to success is
appearance, attractiveness, and luck. These are the keys to
.success
The entire Loman family places heavy value on appearances (1)
and good looks. Many of Willy's fondest memories involve his
son Biff dwarfing others with his personal attractiveness. Biff
was a high school football star who had a scholarship to college.
He failed a math test and that was the end of the college
.education
Willy has always believed that it was his appearance that has (2)
held him back. He has always worried about how he looks.
Miller used this aspect of Willy Lomans life to illustrate that
America puts too much importance on the outside image and
outer facade. Biffs dedication to keeping up his appearance
suggests his remaining desire to impress his father. Willy
attributes Biff's former popularity and success to his smile. Now,
however, it seems that Biff's smile and good looks just have not
.been enough to get him to a stable place in life

The pride of the Loman family pushes them to lie not only to (3)
the outside world but to each other. The Lomans and particularly
Willy are proud but the basis for their pride is not realityit is
their lies. Willy celebrates his own phenomenal success in
businesswhen in actuality, he has not been
.receiving a paycheck and eventually is fired
His neighbor Charley, a successful business man, offers
Willy a job with a weekly pay check. Because he has always
considered Charley inferior to himself, Willys pride will not let
him accept the job. He will accept loans that he is unable to pay
.back
Throughout Death of a Salesman, Willy pursues concrete
evidence of his worth and success. He is entranced by the very
physical, tangible results of Bens diamond mining efforts and
strives to validate his own life by claiming concrete success.
Willy projects his own obsession with material achievement onto
his sons, who struggle with a conflict between their intangible
.needs and the pressure to succeed materially