Death Of A Salesman
...success and failure. Willy Loman is the name of the father and he is an unsuccessful salesman who has this idea that everyone knows him and that he has great success. His whole family life is much distorted. His two sons, one in particular, Biff have distorted views of life and what they want. Happy has picked up his father's lying scheme and he thinks that success is waiting for the next person "on top" to die. Biff on the other hand, doesn't want to accept his father's wishes to become a salesman and he wants to go out west to work in the outdoors. Towards the end of Willy's life, he seems to be coming down with Alzheimer's and he can't face the fact that he is not well known or well liked. Success to him meant being able to go to any city and he could sell to anyone because they knew him. Willy didn't care that they were almost done paying off their house. Money also wasn't a big deal to Willy; it didn't define success for him. Throughout the play his wife, Linda tries to convince him that they are successful because they are about to own their own home, and there are a few things in the home that they are almost done paying off, but Willy didn't care and in the end he killed himself so that his family could have his $20,000 life insurance policy. The American dream seems to play a role in this play because of the references that Willy makes as to what he wants in life and also to his brother, Ben. Willy wanted nothing more than to reach the American dream, but in reality, he fails. He is no longer a good salesman, he doesn't earn enough money and he can't communicate with his sons. One can tell that Willy didn't reach his American dream because of what his wishes were, and what he actually accomplished. It wasn't possible for Willy to achieve his goals (American dream) because of external circumstances, as well as internal circumstances.
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