Death Of A Salesman Failure

The Lomans in the play Death of a Salesman are exemplar of the average American family trying to live up to their aspirations of being extremely successful during the mid 1900s. The American dream for many in the 1950s involved success in the job industry, peace, as well as overall prosperity. However, Arthur Miller develops the Loman family in a way that sets them up for failure as the Lomans are crumbling in terms of their relationship with each other and society itself. For example, Miller states, “consequently he [Willy] is working with two logics which often collide” (Miller.158). These logics that Miller is describing are hindering the ability for the Lomans to achieve any type of success as they are constantly at odds with another.
Happy often exaggerates his position in success to create the image that he his successful in an effort to gain attention from his parents because most of the attention in the family is directed towards Willy and Biff. Happy states, “That’s fifty-two thousand dollars a year coming through the revolving door, and I got more in my pinky finger than he’s got in his head” (24). This is an example of how Happy is trying to exaggerate the position he can get which Biff knows will make Happy displeased with his life. The overall relationship between Happy and his family is distant and leads to the disrespect he experiences at home. This overall disruption of peace in the Loman family does not allow the relationships within the family to progress and grow therefore leaving Linda and Biff crestfallen and in