The key to happiness is often unveiled by our dreams. To unlock one’s happiness, one must find the right key. However, a lock will only unlock with one key. The wrong key will not open the lock no matter how hard one tries. So the dreams of someone else cannot bring one happiness. Just as in the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy is trying to find happiness in someone else’s dream. Instead of finding his own key, he makes up a reality in which he pretends to be happy. By failing to discover one’s personal and realistic dreams, one cannot be truly happy with their life.
Willy is often led to failure through the creation of unrealistic dreams. Willy Loman’s father left him at a very young age. Since he wasn’t given any as a child, …show more content…
His lack of attention as a child causes Willy to create a world in which he pretend is well liked. He chooses the occupation of salesman after meeting a man by the name of Dave Singleman. Willy liked the idea that Dave could “pick up the phone and be remembered and loved by so many different people”. The combination of Dave Singleman’s popularity and Ben Loman’s success is what Willy thinks his father’s dream was for him. Willy pretends that he’s good at his job and brags that he is known in all the cities he sells in. In fact, Willy does not make a lot of sales and doesn’t have many friends, which makes him unhappy. Instead of accepting his talents and using them, he clings to the dream that ones friends determine ones success. He would rather “borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend” it’s his salary than accept the fact that “there’s more of him in that front stoop then in all the sales he ever made”. He has to prove to his sons that he’s good at what he does and tells his boys that he’s going to be “bigger then uncle Charley! Because Charley is not well liked”. However, his dreams start to take over his reality when Willy starts …show more content…
After flunking math, Biff goes to Boston to see Willy. There he finds that his father is having an affair. At this point, Biff recognizes that his father’s stories of great accomplishments are lies. He doesn’t want to have the same dream as Willy anymore. He realizes that it will not get him anywhere in life, although he “doesn’t know what [he’s] supposed to want”. He tries “twenty or thirty different jobs since [he] left home” but can’t seem to latch onto anything and stick with it. He has been following unrealistic dreams his whole life and now doesn’t know what to do without a dream at all. It’s not until he’s in Bill Oliver’s office that Biff realizes “what a ridiculous lie [his] whole life has been”. His family made up stories about their success that weren’t true. He begins the self-discovery process and finds that he likes ranching and working out doors. He comprehends that his father blew him “so full of hot air that [he] could never stand taking orders from anybody”. He tries to explain to Willy that he’s “a dime a dozen” yet is alright with that fact. He would rather be happy living his dream than living in a fake reality in which he pretends to be successful. Willy doesn’t want to accept Biff’s decision and doesn’t know how he feels until he starts crying. At Willy’s funeral, Biff understands that his father “had the wrong dreams”. Through self-discovery, Biff was able to save himself from the
Willy is often led to failure through the creation of unrealistic dreams. Willy Loman’s father left him at a very young age. Since he wasn’t given any as a child, …show more content…
His lack of attention as a child causes Willy to create a world in which he pretend is well liked. He chooses the occupation of salesman after meeting a man by the name of Dave Singleman. Willy liked the idea that Dave could “pick up the phone and be remembered and loved by so many different people”. The combination of Dave Singleman’s popularity and Ben Loman’s success is what Willy thinks his father’s dream was for him. Willy pretends that he’s good at his job and brags that he is known in all the cities he sells in. In fact, Willy does not make a lot of sales and doesn’t have many friends, which makes him unhappy. Instead of accepting his talents and using them, he clings to the dream that ones friends determine ones success. He would rather “borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend” it’s his salary than accept the fact that “there’s more of him in that front stoop then in all the sales he ever made”. He has to prove to his sons that he’s good at what he does and tells his boys that he’s going to be “bigger then uncle Charley! Because Charley is not well liked”. However, his dreams start to take over his reality when Willy starts …show more content…
After flunking math, Biff goes to Boston to see Willy. There he finds that his father is having an affair. At this point, Biff recognizes that his father’s stories of great accomplishments are lies. He doesn’t want to have the same dream as Willy anymore. He realizes that it will not get him anywhere in life, although he “doesn’t know what [he’s] supposed to want”. He tries “twenty or thirty different jobs since [he] left home” but can’t seem to latch onto anything and stick with it. He has been following unrealistic dreams his whole life and now doesn’t know what to do without a dream at all. It’s not until he’s in Bill Oliver’s office that Biff realizes “what a ridiculous lie [his] whole life has been”. His family made up stories about their success that weren’t true. He begins the self-discovery process and finds that he likes ranching and working out doors. He comprehends that his father blew him “so full of hot air that [he] could never stand taking orders from anybody”. He tries to explain to Willy that he’s “a dime a dozen” yet is alright with that fact. He would rather be happy living his dream than living in a fake reality in which he pretends to be successful. Willy doesn’t want to accept Biff’s decision and doesn’t know how he feels until he starts crying. At Willy’s funeral, Biff understands that his father “had the wrong dreams”. Through self-discovery, Biff was able to save himself from the