How Does Death Of A Salesman Define Happiness

Pursuing ones happiness can be a very troublesome and a hardening journey that can strengthen ones character and resolve. However, the pursuit of happiness can also be debilitating and will require a lot of vigor that can make or break the person. To really achieve personal contentment, one must first know what it is that they want, then, determine if it is realistic, and finally, figure out a way to achieve it. In the modern play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller we are delved into a story of disillusionment and unrealistic expectations and values. Willy Loman, a man down on his luck develops mental issues that cause him to hallucinate and have illusions of grandeur. His son, Biff, has developed his father’s value of, “if you are well-liked,
A snake. He will wrap around anyone and squeeze the life out of them to get them to if he so chooses. Or, he can lie his way into success, and be way in over his head in his endeavors. While he can seem like a inspiring man going through a troubling time, in reality, he did this to himself, and he is going to drag everyone and anyone down with him. Willy is the best example of someone who has too unrealistic expectations and values, and he always ends up crashing and burning when he attempts to pursue his dreams. If one wants to fulfill their dreams, they must set pragmatic expectations for themselves. Without sensible expectations we tend to find ourselves always failing and we look for easier ways out. Add that on top of Willy’s need to lie, cheat, and fake his way to the top, and there is a disaster waiting to happen. There is a right and a wrong way to get through life, and taking the easy way out, lying, stealing, and justifying the unjustifiable, is not the right way. The right way is to be honest and hard working, and actually try, rather than make people like you to get to the top. Willy also suffers from illusions of grandeur, in other words, he believes he is some amazing god-like person who is all-knowing, and unfortunately, this mentality has infected his sons too. This is reinforced by the fact that he thinks he plays some vital role in, everything, “I’m vital to New England!” When in reality, he is not. In the end, Willy cannot pursue his happiness, because he takes short cuts that end up in more failure that bring him back even further than where he started. To counteract this, in life, we must not cut corners, doing this will lead to us having real, lasting contentment, rather than a fake, short, meaningless feeling of bliss if we do cut