Death Of A Salesman

In the play "Death of a Salesman"� by Arthur Miller, reality and illusion is a major theme and source of conflict. Willy, main character of the play, has a hard time distinguish between reality and illusion. His flashbacks, mostly back to the time when Biff was still in his high school year, always overlap with the present days. He cannot see who he and his sons are. He believes his elder son, Biff, and his youngest son, Happy, are great and successful and cannot accept the fact that they are not. Biff cannot see the illusion Willy lives in, as well as the reality he is in until the end of the play. Happy, on the other hand, is like another Willy who cannot see the reality and is always trying to redeem himself in his parent's eyes. Linda, who is Willy's wife, knows Willy is unhappy and is near the end of his life, but tries her best to make Willy happy and keep the peace in the Loman's family.

The conflict between Willy and Biff is the main material of the play. Willy wants Biff to be a successful man and be rich. On the other hand, Biff has an internal struggle between pleasing his father and doing what he feels is right. Biff has this struggle for fifteen years. He flunked math during his senior year and was not allowed to graduate; however, he was going to make it up in summer school but in the meantime, he caught Willy being unfaithful to Linda. This shock ruins everything Biff believes in. The Willy he used to know is just a "fake"� (58). He used to believe in his father and his value, but after that point, he doesn't respect his father anymore and was lost for fifteen years. Biff is not able to see his father's illusion but being able to see the reality of the situations has made Willy uneasy. Toward the end of Act II, after the boys come home from Frank Chop House, Biff has a big argument with his father and this is where the climax of the play is. Biff yells "The man don't know who we are! The man is gonna know! We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house!"� (131). Biff is trying to bring his father back to the reality but had failed. Before that day, when Biff stopped by the Oliver's building, he saw "the sky"� and asked himself: "why am I trying to become what I don't want to be?"� (132). Biff finally chooses not to please his father as also tries not to let Willy continue lives in his illusions by telling him the reality. Biff has his own life and his own value of the word successful. He not only has accepted the reality of the situation, but also tries to convince Willy to get away from his illusions. Biff says, "Pop! I'm a dime a dozen, and so are you!"� (132). But again, Willy still lives in his illusions in which he believes he is "not a dime a dozen!"� (132), he is Willy Loman, and his son is Biff Loman. Although Biff realizes the reality of their lives, Willy continues live the illusion.

Happy is the "second son"� of Willy and cannot see the reality throughout the whole play. He always tries to show off himself and to please his parents. Unlike Biff, Happy is very respectful to Willy and will try everything out to please him. At the end of Act I, Willy and Biff was having a big argument. Happy was there trying to comfort the two; he stepped in and said, "He's going to see Oliver, Pop."� (62). He also raised up an idea of a sporting goods business, which he simply made that up just to make Willy smile. Happy is lack of moral and will do anything to stay on Willy's side and to keep him happy. By doing this, Happy not only to keep Willy happy, but also to keep Willy lives in his illusions. He remains unchanged till the end of the play. In the funeral, he argued with Biff that "Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It's the only dream you can have "" to come out number-one man. He fought it out here, and this is where I'm gonna win it for him"� (139). Biff, who knows the reality and is something that will not going to happen, glanced at Happy hopelessly and walked away. Happy, who always respects his father, is another form of Willy who cannot see reality and lives on with illusions.

Linda is very protective of his husband. She respects Willy and being very supportive to him. She is always standing in the middle, tries to keep peace in the Loman's family. Toward the end of Act I, Linda had a conversation with the two young men. She is very upset with the fact that Biff does not respect Willy. Linda knows Willy "is dying"� and "is trying to kill himself"� (58). She knows Willy is trying to commit suicide but she hadn't had stop him because she is afraid that she will just insult him and make the matters worse than before. She finds herself helpless to the situations; she has known that Biff is not a man for business and has accepted what he simply is, but all she can do is to tell Biff to try his best to keep Willy happy and to try to keep him from hurting himself.

In the requiem, Biff says, "He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong."� (138). Willy is the one who can see and accept the reality. At the end, he realizes the illusions that Willy lived on and he no longer has to be what Willy had wanted him to be. Happy, on the other hand, fails to see the reality says that he will continue his father's dream. Linda knows the reality. She knows the reality and illusions Willy lived on, but she is no help of the situations. All she can do is to keep Willy in high esteem and to make him a happy man.