Death of a Salesman is set in the 1950s, a time when the American Dream was still alive and well. Willy Loman, the protagonist, is a salesman who has devoted his life to chasing this dream, but it’s slowly starting to slip away from him. He clings to illusions of the past while reality starts to catch up with him.
Miller’s play explores the theme of illusion vs reality in a number of ways. For example, Willy lives in a fantasy world where he is always the successful salesman, despite evidence to the contrary. He also believes that his sons will take over his business and continue to make him proud, even though they’re both failures. Reality finally catches up with Willy when he’s fired from his job and his sons refuse to help him.
Death of a Salesman is an important piece of American theatre because it shows how the American Dream can become a dangerous illusion. It’s a harsh reminder that chasing after lofty dreams can often lead to disappointment and heartbreak.
The Loman family in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman can’t tell reality from fantasy, especially Willy. This topic is demonstrated throughout the play and eventually leads to Willy’s downfall. Throughout the play, Willy has numerous illusory notions. He thinks that being well-liked and personally attractive would help him succeed in the business world. This is an illusion with which Willy believes wholeheartedly and cannot escape from.
In the beginning of the play, Willy is fired from his job. He believes that it is because he wasn’t well-liked by his boss and not because he was caught stealing company property. This is an example of how Willy lives in his own world and creates his own reality. Another example of Willy’s illusion is when he talks to Biff about going out West. He tells Biff that they’ll be able to start a business with the money they make and be their own bosses.
This is an impossible dream for the Loman family because they do not have enough money to start a business let alone travel out West. Willy continues to believe in this dream even though it is clear that it will never happen. The biggest illusion that Willy has is regarding himself. He believes that he is a great salesman and will go down in history as one of the best. This is far from the truth. Willy is actually a very average salesman who has never been able to achieve anything great in his career.
Despite all of this, Willy continues to believe in his own greatness and lives in his own world where he is the star salesman. The Loman family’s inability to tell the difference between reality and illusion eventually leads to their downfall. Willy’s obsession with being well-liked and personally attractive leads him to have an affair. This affair not only destroys his marriage but also his relationship with his son, Biff. Biff’s discovery of his father’s infidelity is what causes him to fail math and lose his chance of going to college on a football scholarship.
This event changes the course of Biff’s life and leads him down a path of unhappiness and disappointment. Willy’s illusions also cause him to lie to his family about his job and how much money he is making. He does this in order to keep up the appearance that he is successful. In reality, Willy is struggling to make ends meet and is in danger of losing his job. The stress of living a lie eventually catches up to Willy and he has a nervous breakdown.
This breakdown not only destroys Willy’s mental state but also his relationship with his family. They can no longer trust him or believe anything he says. The Loman family’s downfall can be traced back to their inability to distinguish between reality and illusion. Willy’s illusions cause him to make bad decisions which in turn, leads to the destruction of his family.
In reality, anybody might have filled Willy’s job. This deception contributes to his downfall since as his life begins to fall apart, he continues to believe that he has enough money to sustain his family, so he does not realize that he has to put the pieces of his existence back together.
Willy Loman’s suicide can be seen as the ultimate tragedy of an illusion destroyed by reality. Death Of A Salesman is a play that reflects on the American dream and how it can lead to disaster. Willy is a salesman who has spent his life chasing after this dream, but in the end, it destroys him. Miller shows how the gap between illusion and reality can be deadly.
Willy tries to live in an imaginary world where he is successful and loved by everyone, but in reality he is a failure. His sons despise him and his wife is tired of supporting him. Willy’s illusions lead to his downfall because he does not recognize the reality of his situation.
Biff sees the truth and understands that he is a dime a dozen. Willy continues to believe in this deception and replies, I’m not a dime a dozen! You’re Biff Loman, and I’m Willy Loman!. Because of it, Willy is unable to escape from his mountain of lies and eventually kills himself. Literally, Willy frequently lapses into a flashback where he appears to be re-living conversations and events from years ago. This is known as being blind to reality. The bulk of the tale is told through flashbacks.
In Death of a Salesman, Miller uses the technique to communicate Willy’s state of mind. Willy is an excellent salesman because he can create illusions for himself and others. He often tells his sons that he is not a salesman, but a Businessman. This is just one example of the many illusions that Willy creates.
He wants to believe that he is successful and important. His wife Linda tries to keep him grounded in reality, but she is not always successful. Biff is the character who sees the most truth throughout the play. He realizes that his father is a failure and that all of his bluster and boasting are just lies. This leads to a conflict between father and son.
Death of a Salesman is a play about the failure of the American dream. Willy Loman is a salesman who has been unable to adapt to the changing economy. He is stuck in a past where he was successful. His sons, Biff and Happy, have both failed to live up to his expectations. They are both disappointments to him. Willy is also disappointed in himself. He believes that he should have been more successful than he was. This leads to a state of despair in which Willy is unable to see reality. He creates his own world in which he is still a successful salesman. This world eventually crushes him under its weight.