Willy Loman i 'Death of a Salesman'

The tragic character Willy Loman is in “Death of a Salesman” a sort of paragon of “unmanliness”. I am under the impression that Arthur Miller’s play was written with the intention that people should learn from Willy's mistakes and not repeat them themselves. The play takes place during the after-war America and it shows how the newfound prosperity affected the men. Along with the 1950s came a great pressure on the men, who now not only had to provide for their family, but they should also grant them with the luxuries that the society had come to believe that every household were entitled to. The first great mistake Willy makes is that he lets the advertisers convince him that the American dream is in reach for every man, what he does not know is that this would soon destroy both him and his family. I am not saying that wanting to provide for your family is wrong. Willy just tackled it all wrong.

During the whole play, Willy believes that the key to success in life is to be well liked and that all you need is “a smile and a shoeshine”. Despite that, he also says that if you get popular and get people to like you, then you will have made it in life. Another thing, which he seems to believe in, is that men just happen to stumble into success, as his brother did in Africa. This whole philosophy is what his sons grow up learning, which in the end sentences them to failure. The true recipe for success is hard work and a lot of ambition. Unfortunately, neither Willy nor his sons come to learn this, and therefore they end up failing the game of life.