Death Of Salesman And Willy Loman Essay, Research Paper

Compared with other Characters Literary Journalists have spent lots of time

researching different characters in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, and

have focused primarily on Willy Loman, since he is the most complex character in

the play. There have been many different theories about the relationship between

him and the other characters of the play. Certain Journalists have gone beyond

that point and have compared him with other characters. These comparisons allow

the reader to see Willy from a different perspective, which also allows the

reader to understand the position of Willy Loman. D. L. Hoeveler has explained

Willy’s standpoint to the other characters in Death of a Salesman as

Psychomachia. From Milkman to Salesman: Glimpses of the Galut by Dan Vogel

compares Willy to Tevye, another fictional character, while John S. Shockley has

proved that Willy "shares a number of important traits with the most

successful American politician of the late twentieth century, Ronald

Reagan" (quote). All of these authors have tried to show and explain Willy

Loman in a different perspective by comparing him to other characters. If one

wants to understand a character in any sort of literature it is necessary to

look at the other people who he/she has contact with. Hoeveler has analyzed

Willy by looking at the other characters and has shown how they are affected by

him during the play. According to Hoeveler, Willy "has forced his family to

play the parts that he has designed for them. They are all characters in a

dream, Willy’s dream of reality" (634). All the characters in the play

represent a certain trait, just as in the play Everyman, written in the late

15th century. The reader is shown that the individual characters "represent

aspects of" Willy’s "splintered mind" (632). Linda is a voice

that guides and acts as a security for Willy. His son Biff represents the

failure of Willy to achieve the American dream. Willy’s other son, Happy, is a

personification of "Willy’s belief in success at any price" (635).

Ben, Willy’s brother, represents the dreams of financial success. Willy is

easier to understand if one knows what he is. He is a man that has enforced his

ideas unto his family and therefor has caused his personality to be divided

among the other characters to an extent. The Requiem at the end of the play

shows how all the characters are seemingly freed of Willy, "but each of the

characters continues to embody the values that Willy demanded of them"

(635). They are actually not free at all because they have become Willy. He is

best explained when the deeds he has done to others is analyzed. This was what

has been done first in order to get a better insight on how Willy thinks and

acts towards the characters around him. One of the famous characters that

Miller’s Willy Loman has been compared to is Sholom Aleichem’s creation, Tevye

the milkman. This is a very rational comparison, which is discussed in Dan

Vogel’s article From Milkman to Salesman: Glimpses of the Galut, because it is

easier to understand a character if another person is in almost the same

situation. Willy Loman and Tevye are both heroes that have to deal with

"life’s debilitating existentialist ironies and insults" (174). The

way they deal with their problems is not by brute force on a battle field. The

difference is that Tevye is defeated with dignity whereas Willy chooses

destruction. There is an obvious difference between the strength of characters.

Both are salesman that have to deal with the bursting of their dreams. Tevye’s

daughters all end up doing something he does not approve. One commits suicide

because of love, the eldest marries a tailor that dies young and the third one

falls in love with an exiled Marxist. Tevye invests money in the stocks and ends

up losing all his money. Willy, who is used to a wonderful life is confronted

with apartment buildings all over the place, a car that can be thrown away, a

son that has run away and a loss of his job. The real important differences and

similarities between these two characters are noticeable when the reader looks

at the way they both deal with these problems. Both have a major problem with

self esteem. They are constantly in search of themselves. Tevye and Willy boast

about themselves and then realize that they are no better then anyone else. This

bothers them a lot. "Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a

person" (56) as Willy because "he’s a human being, and a terrible

thing is happening to him" (56). This attitude is the same one that Sholom

Aleichem has towards Tevye. Also, both have raised a child that becomes a

renegade. Biff runs off to become a worker on farms and Chava converts to

Christianity. Tevye and Willy are very sad and still long for their children

even though they have been betrayed. When the renegades return home they are

embraced with the family again. The fathers act very similar towards their

children. The prime difference is that Tevye would never go as far as committing

suicide because of his problems. Willy has a weaker character and therefor is

more prone to commit suicide, which he does. This weakness can also come from

the difference in both beliefs. Tevye believes in God and is not forced to face

the destruction of this belief. Willy, on the other hand witnesses the complete

destruction of his belief, the American dream, through Biff. Hence, he is much

less stable than Tevye. "For Willy, acculturated to the American Galut,

there is no Messiah to hope for, only to be liked if not well liked by the sons

of men; and no God, only the bitch goddess Success" (177). The reader has

come another step closer to fully understand Willy and his behavior by seeing

how his acts have been compared to the characters in the play and another

fictional character existing in another place and time. Hence, the last step is

to compare Willy to a historical character that most people are familiar with.

In the article Death of a Salesman and American Leadership: Life Imitates Art

John S. Shockley has compared Willy to "the most successful American

politician of the late twentieth century, Ronald Reagan" (quote). The first

similarity is that "both were selling themselves and the American

dream" (quote). They dreamed this dream and believed that the fulfillment

of a man should not be hindered. To believe the American dream and live by it

both men had to deny certain facts. Willy tried very hard to still believe that

his sons were not failures and that he was also not failing as a salesman. He

just had to deny these facts. Linda constantly gets to hear lies from Willy

about how popular he is and how much money he is making. Ronald Reagan who grew

up with an alcoholic father who had failed to achieve success. "As Willy

loved telling jokes to highlight his personality, Reagan loved entertaining

others" (quote). The denial of unpleasant facts continued throughout

Reagan’s whole life. These denials had a bigger effect on Willy because he was

not as successful as Reagan. The search for close friends was very hard for both

characters, and they never were able to achieve this goal. In the end, the only

people that stood by them were their wives. Willy and Reagan had the same

problem with children. Reagan had great problems with his adopted son and

daughter. This is partly due to the fact that both had no father figure to help

them out. The differences of the two compared characters are also very important

in determining what Willy is not. Ronald Reagan had a better chance in becoming

a success because he inspired people and made them feel good about themselves.

Another disadvantage of Willy is that he does not know what is happening to him,

whereas Reagan has a very good idea about himself and the position he is in.

Reagan also faced career problems but was rescued by friends and supporters.

Since he "was quite willing to accept help and funds from anyone"

(quote) he was able to keep his self-confidence. Nobody tried helping Willy

which caused his self-worth to collapse. "Ronald Reagan, in sum, was what

Willy Loman wanted to be: well-liked, at least in a superficial way;

entertaining without being a bore; successful; handsome; and not fat"

(quote). Hence, "Willy Loman committed suicide. Ronald Reagan became

President of the United States" (quote). Looking and analyzing a character

is always important to understand the character in any type of literature. The

reader must compare the character to other people and find out what is

essential. Many Literary Journalists have done this to see Willy Loman from many

different perspectives. The reader then draws a conclusion that he/she is

satisfied with. These three authors have exhibited how a character is to be

seen, which should make all the readers very happy.

Brucher, Richard T. "Willy Loman and The Soul of a New Machine:

Technology and the Common Man." American Studies 17 (1983): 325-336.

Ferguson, Alfred R. "The Tragedy of the American Dream in Death of a

Salesman." Thought 53 (1978): 83-98. Hoeveler, D.L. "Death of a

Salesman as Psychomachia." Journal of American Culture 1 (1978): 632-637.

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin, 1976. Rosinger,

Lawrence. "Miller’s Death of a Salesman." Explicator 45.2 (1987):

55-56. Shockley, John S. "Death of a Salesman and American Leadership: Life

Imitates Art." Journal of American Culture 17.2 (1994): 49-56. Vogel, Dan.

"From Milkman to Salesman: Glimpses of the Galut." Studies in American

Jewish Literature 10 (1991): 172-178.