The drama, Death of a Salesman, revolves around three basic conflicts. Willy Loman, the protagonist, is a salesman whose life is falling apart. Willy has many hopes and dreams, however few of them are possible, or ever become reality. This constant conflict between reality and his dream world continually eats at Willy's pride. He also struggles against society. He doesn't fit in the business world of the time and he feels he is a failure, by society's standards and his own. Biff and Happy, Willy's sons, often clash with Willy over many issues such as women, work and morals.Willy Loman has high goals, but they are too high for him, a Lo-man, to reach. This conflict is shown throughout ...view middle of the document...
Many of Willy's dreams come from society's ideals. The American dream is to be rich and popular, and Willy believes fatally in the American dream. Unfortunatly for Willy, he cannot seem to make it happen for him. He sees the end result of succes, money and being "well liked" and develops the belief that the way to success is though popularity. Willy tells his sons that he is liked and known wherever he goes, yet contradicts this statement moments later when he tell Linda that he feels people laugh at him wherever he goes. Willy is trying to establish himself as likeable and popular, but he does not have the skill required to excell at his job. For most of the play Willy believes that if he was admired, he would be more successful. This shows when he tells Linda that he talks too much, if he spoke less people would respect him more. Willy "always felt that if a man was impressive, and well liked" he would be a success. In his last conversation with Charley, he is told that "the only thing you got in this world is what you can sell" and Willy begins to realise that he is worth more dead, than alive. What he has to sell, is his life.Perhaps Willy should have concentrated more on his relationship with his sons, and less on his hopeless dreams. As the audience sees in his flashbacks, Biff and Happy admired Willy a lot when t...
