The United States is known as the land of opportunity. Regardless of where a person comes from, the color of their skin or the religion they believe in, everyone has the right to pursue the American dream. Although the dream is subjective to each individual chasing it, many believe the American dream consists of a picturesque home, lined with a white picket fence and loving family. While there are some unethical ways of attaining the dream, society deems hard work, honesty and determination as the equation for achieving the American dream. Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, depicts the Loman family, and their quest towards accomplishing the American dream. Willy Loman’s idea of success consists of being physically attractive and well liked by others. Willy’s definition is superficial because it solely pays attention to how others perceive him and does not focus on family values and honesty. From the time Willy’s sons, Happy and Biff, were young, he consistently taught them the key to success is to be well liked, respected, and known by all. He believes that if he has the kind personality that everyone wants to be around, it will lead to all the monetary wealth that he and his family would ever need. Willy never emphasizes the need for studying, which is why Biff never receives a scholarship. He howls to Bernard to, “Stop being a pest!” when he is trying to convince Biff to study for his regents exams. Willy stresses how, “The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates a personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want.” Unfortunately, Willy was never able to make an appearance in the business world and spent the rest of his life wanting. His inability to become well liked is responsible for Willy’s shortcomings. Willy was never able to connect with people, and that incapability is accountable for his poor salesmanship and continued hunt for success. His affairs with people were always business related and Willy tried too hard to be well liked by his potential customers. His dishonest nature was apparent and people did not take to him in the ways that he hoped.
Willy finds that character and charisma are all that is needed to excel in the business world, and if he and his sons can possess those qualities they will be tremendously successful. He explains to his sons how, “Personality always wins the day.” Willy neglects to accentuate to Biff and Happy that being well liked can only get a person so far in life, and that in order to be successful they must be well rounded individuals. Willy never teaches his children that honesty and integrity are crucial in being well liked. Willy lacks personality and does not understand how to connect in either a social or business setting. His advice to Biff regarding a loan accentuates his awkwardness in a business situation. “And if anything falls off the desk while you’re talking to him – like a package or something – don’t you pick it up. They have office boys for that.” Willy lacks the skills that many find personally attractive, and his dishonesty result in his shortcomings while pursuing the American dream. Willy believes that popularity is the way to achieve success and that taking shortcuts and being dishonest is perfectly okay. This idea was made apparent when Biff stole a football from his high school locker room. Rather than reprimand him, Willy justifies his son’s action, and states, ”The coach’ll probably congratulate you on your initiative.” During that same incident, their neighbor’s son Bernard insists on helping Biff with his homework and Willy’s lack of care towards schoolwork is made clear. He later mocks Bernard for being a nerd and how he wont become successful because he is, “Liked, but not well liked.” Willy exemplifies his failure as a father and a role model to his sons by overemphasizing personality and neglecting schoolwork.
Willy’s goal throughout the screenplay is to gain popularity and to someday leave a legacy. He wants his death to be publically mourned by all of the lives he touched during his days as a traveling salesman. Willy exclaims, “Ben, that funeral [his own] will be massive! They’ll come from Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire! All the old-timers with the strange license plates – that boy will be thunderstruck, Ben, because he never realized – I am known! Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey – I am known, Ben, and he’ll see it with his eyes once and for all.” Willy’s idea of success is completely based on how others perceive him. Unfortunately, no one takes Willy seriously and thinks he is a joke. Willy is constantly borrowing money that he cannot pay back and is eventually fired from his job because he is not a good salesman. It is ironic that Willy foresees his funeral as a celebration because all the relationships he has made as a traveling salesman have not transpired into anything more than a business encounter. The distinction between Willy and Dave Singleman’s funeral is that Dave was able to connect to his costumers where Willy lacked that skill. The notion of him talking about how his funeral portrays how superficial and delusional Willy’s American dream is. Success is being financially sound, having a happy and healthy family, and a career that one enjoys. One should not work fifty weeks a year to have two weeks of vacation. If you spend your whole life working, when do you start living? Not being greedy is key to success. Living in a modest home where children can grow up safely should be the number one priority. To be successful is to give your family a better life you were given. Upward mobility is very important, so someday your children have a better life than you had. Achieving this dream is not easy. A person needs to work hard, meet and deal with different people, invest properly and avoid taking the easy way out. Every career has the possibilities of taking part in illegal activities, and steering clear of those decoys is essential in attaining the American dream. A person should never have to compromise their integrity or hurt another person in order to succeed in life. Unfortunately, Willy was never alive. His entire life was spent on the road and he was never able to raise his children properly. He overemphasized being personally attractive and completely missed what the true American dream resembles. Willy tried to give his family a better life, but fell short because took the wrong career path. Willy was not meant to be a salesman and because of his inability to relate and interact with people was not able to financially succeed. Willy both compromised his integrity by having an affair with another woman, and hurt Biff with his dishonesty. It was Willy’s affair, which resulted in Biff losing his interest in attending college. Willy had the wrong American dream, which is why he was not able to provide his family with the life that he wanted to give them.
Being well liked and charismatic is essential to getting far in life. Being well rounded does not just include being a hard working, intelligent individual. People need to connect with you and feel comfortable with you in order for them to do business with you. A person can never let money or greed interfere with those relationships. Honesty is key. It is much more important to be true to who you are and express the way you actually feel, rather than saying what others want to hear. It is important not to sell out like Willy did. Willy let the idea of money dilute the possibility of him making any strong connections and relations with people. Willy was a dishonest person. He overemphasized the idea of being well liked and became a push over just so people would like him. He tried too hard and missed the big picture; the reason people did not connect with him was because it was him that was not well liked. He threw tantrums, was difficult to interact with, and was extremely narrow-minded. Willy is too stubborn to understand why people do not get along with him, and blames it on everyone but himself. “I’m very well liked in Hartford. You know, the trouble is, people don’t seem to take to me.” Willy’s main problem was that he did not bring anything else to the table. Although he was a hard worker, he was not trustworthy or particularly intelligent, and his overemphasis on being personally and physically attractive ultimately led to his demise. Willy’s dream was unrealistic because he could never achieve anything with his social skills. In order for Willy to attain his version of the dream, he needed to possess all of the personality traits, which unfortunately, he lacked. Willy was delusional. Charlie told Willy the he “Can’t sell that. The only thing you got in this world was what you could sell. And the funny thing is that you’re a salesman, and you don’t know that.” After being fired Willy argued to Charlie that his boss could not fire him, because Willy named him when he was born. Willy needs to understand that you cannot sell another persons name; all you can sell is your own name. Willy should have had a better way of achieving his goals. Being well liked is not the most important part of life. Willy was a modern day tragic hero because his one flaw was how badly he wanted to be well liked; yet he was dishonest, not relatable, unprofessional and stubborn. Willy’s impractical ideologies regarding success eventually led to his suicide because he could no longer handle the failure of his American dream.