Writing Feedback / Willy Loman - Family Man, Father, Fake, Fraud - [High School] [Death of a Salesman] [5]

Hello EssayForum,

I recently learned about this forum, and I have to say, It's a great tool! This is my first post, and I plan on using this resource for many years to come.

Anyways, On topic: Here's my essay.

I wrote this as part of an assignment. It's worth a decent chunk of my overall mark, so I think it would be good to get some peer insight on it.

Any feedback is appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Kyle

Willy Loman - Family Man, Father, Fake, Failure
Failure is life's greatest fear, however the majority of people bring it upon themselves. This is extremely evident in the case of Willy Loman. In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy's failure is his own fault. He chooses not to see the real world, and it blinds him from what his life really is like. He chooses a career that he has no talent in, when he has an enormous talent in another field. He has an affair with another woman, which destroys the relationship between him and his favourite son. Also, he has too much false pride in himself, as if he is a famous salesman, which he is not. Finally, he does not raise his children well enough, teaching them very bad habits to not only fail them at life, but render their entire family atmosphere a lie. Lying to himself and his family, Willy is a lost cause in his adult life.

To start, Willy really does not see the world like normal people do. He believes that Biff is a superstar from the beginning, and sticks with that belief throughout his entire life. In his old age, he reminisces about Biff as a teenager, and his popularity:

I'll see him in the morning; I'll have a nice talk with him. I'll get him a job selling. He could be big in no time. My God! Remember how they used to follow him around in high school? When he smiled at one of them their faces lit up. When he walked down the street... (Miller 16)

Willy really believes that Biff is always and forever going to be the greatest, with his nonchalant comment that he could become successful in no time flat. Willy Loman is also delusional, literally seeing things in real life wrong, because it's the time he wants to live in. It is shown for sure when Willy believes he was driving his old vehicle from the time he wants to re-live. "I was thinking of the Chevy. 1928... When I had that red Chevy - That funny? I coulda sworn I was driving that Chevy today" (Miller 19). Willy's thoughts are with the past, and it is at the point where it's even starting to influence the things that he sees. Really, Willy is just trying to cling on to the only positive things he has left, because he ultimately failed himself.

Next, Willy chose the absolute wrong career to pursue. He chooses to be a salesman simply because he believes it will make him rich. Little does he know that you need natural skills and talents to be successful in the profession of marketing. Willy does not possess these talents. He does, however, have incredible natural talent in the field of carpentry. Willy even goes to brag about his work he has done in his house, to his friends, "Did you see the ceiling I put up in the living room? ... A man who can't handle tools is not a man..." (Miller 44). Willy really takes pride in the carpentry work he does. After his death, he is regarded by Biff as a man who did the wrong thing. Biff explains this at his barely-attended funeral, "You know something, Charley, there's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made ... He had all the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong" (Miller 138). Biff could not explain this better. Willy chooses the wrong career path, and this decision, along with others, ruined his life.

Additionally, Willy has an affair with his wife, meeting up with another woman while out on business trips. This stunt is later found out by Biff, whose motivation and dreams are shattered by learning of it. Finding this out also destroys all of Biff's positive thoughts for his father, and Biff then believes that his father is a fraud, "Don't touch me you - Liar! ... You fake! You phony little fake! You fake!" (Miller 121) It is at this point in the timeline that Biff's life motivation dissipates to nothing. It is evident that even later into his life, Biff never forgets what happened, and that it leaves a lasting mark on him. Biff, never telling his mother about Willy's affair, manages to insert subtle comments indicating that he never forgets, "Because I know he's a fake and he doesn't like anybody around who knows!" (Miller 58) This really shows the burden that Biff is forced to carry for the rest of his life, because before, his father is his number one role model and friend. In failing Biff at life, Willy also failed himself.

Next, Willy is always full of false pride in himself. He tells everybody that he is the greatest in the business of being a salesman, even his wife and kids. Willy never tells anybody the truth; that he is not doing well at his job and that he is making little to no money and having to borrow from Charley. He explains to his sons that he is extremely popular, and that everyone knows and adores him, "I have friends. I can park my car on any street in New England, and the cops protect it like their own" (Miller 31). At this point, his children believe it, and genuinely think that their father is the most well-liked man in New England. Towards the end, after Biff's moment of realization, he calls his father out on what he had done to him and Happy, "And I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I couldn't stand taking orders from everybody! That's whose fault it is!" (Miller 131). Biff blames his failure in life on Willy's false pride in himself and Biff. Biff failing is really what secured the below-average, failed life for Willy, as there were no more ways he or his family could become successful.

Finally, Willy does an extremely poor job in raising his children. He teaches them the worst life skills a man can teach, and even supports the children in using these negative skills. He teaches them to lie, steal, cheat, and take the easy road to success. Having these ideals in mind, no regular person will go far. Bernard starts by explaining to Willy about Biff, "He's gotta study, Uncle Willy. He's got regents next week ... I heard Mr. Birnbaum say that if you don't start studyin' he's going to flunk you, and you won't graduate. I heard him!" (Miller 32) Willy later responds by giving a poor parental lesson, when Bernard stresses the importance of the exam again. "You'll give him the answers!" (Miller 40) Giving Biff these poor life lessons has extremely negative long-term effects. Later in the novel, it is evident that Biff does not benefit from Willy's parenting, when he steals; a very common thing Biff does as a teenager, "The next thing I know I'm in his office - paneled walls, everything. I can't explain it. I - Hap, I took his fountain pen" (Miller 104). This shows that the lessons taught to Willy's children stuck; all the stealing, lying, and cheating carried over into their adult life. With borderline criminal offspring, Willy has failed in parenting, a large part in his life.

With attempts at being a successful businessman-cross-father, Willy makes some of the worst choices a man could make. Willy Loman's is a tragic sob story of failure, poor choices, poor parenting, and possibly poor mental health. He does not see the correct world, he chooses the wrong job, he breaks his wedding vows, he falsely promotes himself, and he ruins his children. Willy made every mistake a human could possibly make in their lives, covering every aspect of life; family, work, and self. As a person Willy is lost, and has no chance of being found. Willy Loman failed himself in life, and brought up life's greatest fear with his own actions and inactions.