Willy Death Of A Salesman

Throughout the years many have tried to analyze and interpret Arthur Miller's character Willy in the novel Death of a salesman, attempting to establish his real influences and manipulation of the plot and fellow character's outcome. After my studying of the novel I have come to the conclusion that Willy's character is both a victimizer and a victim. Willy's action influences his family's lives in various ways such as brainwashing his son Happy into pursuing his competitive and destructive desire to be "well-liked" and attain the "American dream", while he has a bipolar relationship with his other son Biff. Willy is a very dominate character in the play and although he desperately relies on his wife Linda, he is emotionally unavailable to
She is obliged into becoming a faciliator between him and his sons, and is expected to mother Willy. He often disrespects her and shows child like behavior, such as being stubborn, having a false sense of importance including reality. Linda is expected to feed his ego, sing him to sleep and tell his sons to "be nice to him". In Death of a Salesman, Act one p.66 Linda is seen trying to mend the broken relationship between her husband and son Biff, while babysitting Willy at the same time, Linda (speaking to Biff): Please, dear. Just say good night. It takes so little to make him happy. Come. She goes through the living-room doorway, calling upstairs from within the living-room: Your pajamas are hanging in the bathroom, Willy!" She is basically forced into become a single parent as Willy illusions begin to consume him. Throughout the play there's always a sense that Linda is walking on eggshells around her husband. She attempts to sugarcoat whatever she has to say, or simply doesn't say anything in order in shelter him from his own realties. Sadly this is necessary as Willy often has explosive reactions to situations where he feels belittled, threatened, or "insulted". This is not a healthy or common relationship held between spouses, when a partner is forced to assume a role like Linda's. Moreover he often demeans her, interrupts her or simply ignores her calls. Willy is very selfish in his
In ACT TWO, page 120-121 Biff's declares his new views on Willy screaming " You Fake! You phony little fake! You fake!" Willy destroyed all the trust and faith Biff had bestowed on him, and upon discovering his fathers infidelity's, the pedestal Biff placed his father on disappeared instantaneously. Biff feels as though he's been deceived and begins to resent his father. The Scene in Boston also changes Biff's future completely, as Bernard states on page 94 " ... And he came back after that month and took his sneakers -- remember those sneakers with "University of Virginia" printed on them? He was so proud of those, wore them every day. And he took them down in the cellar, and he burned them in the furnace. We had a fist fight. It lasted at least half an hour. Just the two of us, punching each other down the cellar, and crying right through it. I've often thought of how strange it was that I knew he'd given up his life. What happened in Boston, Willy?" This statement is a clear indication of how strongly Biff reacted to the scene that unfolded in Boston making the strain of their relationship apparent to the conscious reader, and how it changed both characters lives for the