Crumbling Dreams in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman :: Death Salesman essays

Crumbling Dreams in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman is a play best summed up in its title, it is just that, the terminal of a salesman. This death is not necessarily the physical end to a human life, but the crumbling end to the dreams of Willie Loman, the plays main character. The three main part to Willies world argon his job, his family, and his image as seen by the rest of the world. Although these part are interwoven and interrelated, they are best divided and given cleave analysis. The first part of Willies world is his job. Willie is a salesman for a large caller in refreshful York. Willies egotism-image and much of his self-worth are based in his job. In his let mind he is still as he use to be, salutary known and well complianceed among the clientele in the New England area. Things have changed though and the people Willie once knew in the business are no longer there and he no longer has the connections he once had. His inabi lity to cope with and adapt to this changing business has caused, among different things, a loss in pay. Willie has lost his competitive edge, and with it his feeling of self worth and identity. The second part of Willies world is his family, more specifically his son, poking. Biff is the firstborn and favorite son of Willie. Willie has high expectations of, and transfers his dreams, as so more fathers do, onto Biff. Biff can not live up to the expectations of his father and has dreams of his own which cause Willie to see him as a loafer, a shiftless tail end with no desire to succeed. Although Willies dreams are not realized in Biff, his sons evaluate is still important. This respect is lost when Biff catches his father in an thing with a young lady. Even though this is not talked about (Biff neer told anyone, not even his mother) it still creates tension and causes Biff to lose the respect he once held for Willie. Willies main philosophy in life is Be liked and you will nev er want and this is the cause of the problems in the troika part of Willies life, his image. Image is everything to Willie. In his past he was a well liked, well known, respected man who turned his image into his success, but his image has changed.