Research Paper On Willy Loman

“Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller details the last two days of William ‘Willy” Loman, a sixty-three year old salesman’s life. The plays shows Willy’s private conversations about his past and present, which all lead up to him eventually committing suicide. Willy Loman’s life philosophy would be best summed in a quote by Calvin Coolidge, a former president of the United States, “The chief business of the American people is business.” Willy took pride in being a salesman and earning a name for himself and wealth in his family. He valued wealth so much so that he even went as far as to try and force his lifestyle on to that of his children, Biff and Happy. Willy bases his views of success on that of his peers success. The characters Ben, …show more content…
Howard Wagner is the son of Frank Wagner, Willy’s previous boss. Due to Howard’s ownership of the company, I believe that Willy developed a new twisted idea pertaining to success, I feel that Willy learns about how to be successful in that generation, and even in the modern era, you must have connections. When Howard takes over the company he has many modern views for expanding the company and reach more audiences, Howard believes that he was born in the business, but that’s not true, he was born into the business. “When Willy admits that he can't handle the road anymore, Howard refuses to consider finding him something to do in New York as his father might have done, explaining, "it's a business, kid, and everybody's gotta pull his own weight" (80). When Willy loses control, showing his desperation, Howard fires him, telling him that he is not in a fit state to represent the firm.” (Murphy 7). Howard’s statement of ”it’s a business kid” indicates how Howard feels that he is, skill wise, better than Willy is in the salesmanship craft, despite being inexperienced and of a younger generation. Howard embodies everything that Willy’s other influences, Ben and Howard, are not. Howard is a family man who even goes as far as to bring a recording of his precious daughter in to work, only to show it off to Willy, who has been so distorted that he only …show more content…
Willy’s ideas of success have been based off of Ben, Charley and Howard, who each fit one of Willy’s criteria for success; smart, diligent, and powerful respectively. However, these three men that Willy uses to represent his success have left Willy to be a deranged man with a distorted drive toward a false successful life; a life with abandonment of ethics, isolation from those around you, and the sad truth that to be successful you must simply have to have gotten