Willy Loman Injustice

In his essay “Tragedy and the Common Man” Arthur Miller redefines the genre of tragedy and the tragic hero. Miller defines a tragedy as a person struggling against an injustice in the world around him to which he responds forcefully. Miller states that the “wound from which the inevitable events spiral is the wound of indignity, and its dominant force is indignation” (). The wound is described as originating from an environment, but it gets registered by the character as an “indignation” or other forms of outrage. Ultimately, the struggle of the character leads to the characters downfall, but also reveals the nature of injustice. Miller writes that the character’s “destruction in the attempt [to evaluate himself justly] posits a wrong or an …show more content…
The plot of the play and Miller’s language reflect this idea of tragedy. The injustice and the injury to his dignity, from the view point of Willey is that despite being well liked, neither he nor Biff are able to get ahead. In the opening scene, Willy struggles with the fact that “In the greatest country in the world a young man with such—personal attractiveness, gets lost. And such a hard worker” (). The attention in these lines are called to the idea of the “greatest country in the world” not the shortcomings of Biff as if to say that it is the American dream that has failed both Biff and his father, not a defect in the characters. This idea forces Willy to wrestle with his perception of the American dream and how he has defined as the requirements for being successful. It is this struggle that causes Willy to recede into his own delusions about the past, because he realizes that his perception of reality, which is closely tied to the idea of the American dream, is nothing more than a façade or an illusion, and that in reality there is no upward mobility. Like Biff, Willy too is unable to achieve the success that he has worked for; he struggles to pay off the debts on his everything from his house to his refrigerator, his sales are declining, and he eventually loses his job. While there are personal reasons for this, the play doesn’t pin responsibility solely on Willy for these losses. Howard’s refusal to give Willey a job in New York and subsequent firing him come off as heartless and irrational rather than deserved and justified. Moreover, an environment that repeatedly denies hard working people the dignity of a simple life degrades Willy and his sons for reasons that do not seem their fault so much as they are victims of a