Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (750 words) - Essay Example

Even from a cursory reading of the play, it is clear that the way Willy deals with reality and fiction is quite strange and Willy pretends to believe in the fiction that he has created for himself. Although as we well know, it is the reality of his life that wins in the end. Willy is unable to happiness find simply because his focus remains on making friends and he has a false belief in his own abilities that have led him to be a failure in life. The failure also extends to some of those who are influenced by him especially his son, who Willy thinks will follow his footsteps (Foster, 1961).

However, the son ends up taking his own path since his lack of faith in Willy is evident from the events of the play. In his own world, Willy believes that he is successful and extremely popular amongst his clients as a salesman. He thinks that he has friends across the region and is well respected by others in his company as well as the business. This fantasy could have been true had he actually been a good performer and had made the efforts that could have given him the success he needed. What he failed to see was that he was nothing more than average in sales and had no more than a few friends.

For example, he expected lots of people to be present at his funeral from all around the region but only five people came to the event. Of course, the death of an ordinary salesman or even a highly successful salesman is certainly a banal event. It was Willy’s imagined supremacy that put him at a disadvantage since he did not realize what he was doing wrong. Willy failed at making his American dream a reality not because the dream itself is unachievable, but because Willy did not put in enough effort.

There certainly are people who find happiness through putting in their efforts, getting rich and making a life for their families but Willy lived a life of lies. He was sure of the fact that his friend Charley and his son simply could not be