An American Dream Tragedy
In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, protagonist Willy Loman is a salesman with a wife, Linda, and their two children, Biff, and Happy (Miller). Loman seeks approval from everyone and thinks everyone must like him for him to be successful. He is also hard on his two sons, Biff and Happy, and disapproves of their dreams. Loman sees how socially accepted people who play sports and have fame are, and so he tries directing their life by wanting Biff to be professional a professional football player, and brainwashing Happy into believing that he must stay in the urban life and be a salesman like himself to become happy and have fulfilment (Miller). All of these things contribute to Loman’s ideology. Loman …show more content…
Loman and his wife, Linda, converse about their son Biff (Miller). Loman says, “Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world a young man with such—personal attractiveness, gets lost. And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff— he’s not lazy” (Miller, 154). Biff aspires to travel out west, and work on a ranch, and start farming. Loman despises Biff’s dreams and is always negative towards Biff when he talks to him about this dream of Biff’s (Miller). Loman’s resentment towards Biff is because of Loman’s misunderstanding that in order to be happy in life, you must have fame and wealth, but this is certainly not true, as there is more to life than just money and fame. Loman’s misinterpretations of the American dream also effect Happy …show more content…
The irony comes in the character’s name, Happy. Happy never is truly happy throughout the play. This is because of Loman’s misguidance, and misunderstanding of success and happiness (Miller, 159). Biff wanted Happy to come out west with him, and work on the ranch and start a business of their own together. Happy has a desire to go with Biff, but Loman’s ideology overpowers Happy’s actions. Happy says to Biff that he is sick of working at the store, and wishes he could just take his shirt off and outwork the manager, that he can out lift, and outbox him any day, but that he is low on the corporate level and has to take orders from him (Miller, 159). He is sick of working where he is now, but Happy tells Biff that he cannot go, and that he must stay in the urban life (Miller, 159).
Loman ruins his relationship with Biff and Happy by never supporting them because of his own values, and understanding of life’s happiness and success, or lack thereof (Miller). At the end of the story Loman realizes that he is worth more dead than alive. Loman kills himself in a car accident, and because of his actions, Biff resented him. Loman cannot live with the fact that he thinks Biff is ruining his life, in spite of his own beliefs contrary to what Biff wants. After ruining his relationship with his family, and all of the failures, and hardships in life, Loman takes his own life
In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, protagonist Willy Loman is a salesman with a wife, Linda, and their two children, Biff, and Happy (Miller). Loman seeks approval from everyone and thinks everyone must like him for him to be successful. He is also hard on his two sons, Biff and Happy, and disapproves of their dreams. Loman sees how socially accepted people who play sports and have fame are, and so he tries directing their life by wanting Biff to be professional a professional football player, and brainwashing Happy into believing that he must stay in the urban life and be a salesman like himself to become happy and have fulfilment (Miller). All of these things contribute to Loman’s ideology. Loman …show more content…
Loman and his wife, Linda, converse about their son Biff (Miller). Loman says, “Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world a young man with such—personal attractiveness, gets lost. And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff— he’s not lazy” (Miller, 154). Biff aspires to travel out west, and work on a ranch, and start farming. Loman despises Biff’s dreams and is always negative towards Biff when he talks to him about this dream of Biff’s (Miller). Loman’s resentment towards Biff is because of Loman’s misunderstanding that in order to be happy in life, you must have fame and wealth, but this is certainly not true, as there is more to life than just money and fame. Loman’s misinterpretations of the American dream also effect Happy …show more content…
The irony comes in the character’s name, Happy. Happy never is truly happy throughout the play. This is because of Loman’s misguidance, and misunderstanding of success and happiness (Miller, 159). Biff wanted Happy to come out west with him, and work on the ranch and start a business of their own together. Happy has a desire to go with Biff, but Loman’s ideology overpowers Happy’s actions. Happy says to Biff that he is sick of working at the store, and wishes he could just take his shirt off and outwork the manager, that he can out lift, and outbox him any day, but that he is low on the corporate level and has to take orders from him (Miller, 159). He is sick of working where he is now, but Happy tells Biff that he cannot go, and that he must stay in the urban life (Miller, 159).
Loman ruins his relationship with Biff and Happy by never supporting them because of his own values, and understanding of life’s happiness and success, or lack thereof (Miller). At the end of the story Loman realizes that he is worth more dead than alive. Loman kills himself in a car accident, and because of his actions, Biff resented him. Loman cannot live with the fact that he thinks Biff is ruining his life, in spite of his own beliefs contrary to what Biff wants. After ruining his relationship with his family, and all of the failures, and hardships in life, Loman takes his own life