Sarah Walker

Period 7
3/7/19
Death of a Salesman​ Literary Analysis

The American dream was originally the idea of a self-made man where anyone,

regardless of where they came from, could live a life of wealth and success. Equal opportunities

meant that if a person worked hard enough, they could achieve prosperity. It became a staple of

American society in the mid to late 1900’s; success was in reach. However, this ideal proved to

not always be realistic. This notion of success eventually reformed into not just living

comfortably, but living in extreme wealth. The American dream turned into something that was

unachievable by most. In ​Death of a Salesman​ by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman chases the ideal of

success for his entire life but he ends up unhappy because he believes he should have

accomplished more.

Willy Loman struggles with the fact that he has spent his entire life working as a

salesman but has little to show for it. His outlook on life is what has made him so unhappy and

unsuccessful. He said, “It’s who you know and the smile on your face! It’s contacts, Ben,

contacts… the wonder of this country, that a man can end with diamonds here on the basis of

being liked! (62)” Willy sees this as the way things should happen. Ben made a lot of money in a

short amount of time and without much effort. Willy is conflicted as he tries to believe that he

could still have that kind of prosperity, but he also knows he is getting old. When Willy speaks to

Ben, it seems as though he is making a last effort to figure out what happened in his life and why

he could never find that extreme version of success. He spent his whole life longing for more

than he had, but he was never able to get it.

 Willy’s inability to find riches led him to push his regrets onto his sons and cause them to

be unsuccessful and unhappy too. He tells Ben that he is raising his sons to be “rugged, well

liked, all-around (33).” He wants his sons to have the kind of success that he never had. While

raising his boys, he focused more on their reputations and appearances. Biff says, “I never got

anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from

anybody… I had to be boss big shot in two weeks, and I’m through with it (98).” Unlike his

father, Biff realizes that his reputation cannot carry him throughout life. He had to learn this the

hard way when he went into the world with the notion that he is somehow better than everyone

else. In his effort to encourage his sons to be extraordinary, Willy ends up failing to teach them

how to work hard.

Bernard’s character contradicts everything Willy believes in and exposes Willy’s

distorted views on how to be successful. Bernard had been a nerdy, unpopular kid in high school

but he grew up to be a wealthy lawyer because he worked hard. While Biff was a popular athlete

in high school, he did little in his life because he failed to work hard. “His life ended after that

Ebbets Field game. From the age of seventeen nothing good ever happened to him (66).” When

Willy asks Bernard why Biff never found prosperity, he is searching for some reasoning as to

why his son never succeeded. Willy is unable to see that it could be because Biff never worked

hard after he told him all he needed was to be well liked.

In high school, people often think that the successful ones will be the ones with a talent.

In my life I have found that, similar to the Loman family, many parents have raised their children

to have big egos. They tell their kids that they are the best at an extracurricular and they shelter

them from all failures. This is exactly what Willy Loman did with his son Biff. This ego-building
sets kids up for failure when they figure out that the world will not hand them success like their

parents did. They have to learn failure the hard way, and some cannot recover from it after a

lifetime of being protected from disappointment. This is what happened to Biff Loman. The

people who are successful are more often the ones who worked the hardest, not the ones who

were popular or talented.

The American dream has turned into something that leads people to believe that success

means riches and fame. Many people feel as though they did not succeed unless they made some

extravagant impact. This is not a practical goal because not everyone can achieve extreme levels

of wealth. Willy Loman wanted to die the death of a salesman, which he believed was one where

he would be worshipped and loved by all. In the end, he gave up his entire life trying to leave

something behind. All he ended up leaving behind was the family that he broke while trying to

be successful. It can be easy to get lost in the goal of prosperity. Willy Loman epitomizes the

importance of seeking out happiness rather than riches.

 Works Cited

Miller, Arthur. ​Death of a Salesman​. Viking , 1949,

www.pelister.org/literature/ArthurMiller/Miller_Salesman.pdf​. Accessed on Mar. 5,

2019.