Willy Loman

Death of a Salesman

The pursuit of the American dream can inspire ambition. It can transform a person and cause him to become motivated and hard-working, with high standards and morals. Or, it can tear a person down, to the point of near insanity that results from the wild, hopeless chase after the dream. This is what occurs to Biff, Happy, and Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's book Death of a Salesman. In the play, Willy Loman is a traveling salesman whose main ambition in life is wealth and success, neither of which he achieves. Corrupted by their father, Biff and Happy also can not attain success. Biff fails to find a steady, high-paying job even though he's 30, and he hates the business world, preferring instead to live on a farm in California.
Early on, Biff steals a football and, instead of reprimanding him, his father says, "Coach'll probably congratulate you on your initiative" (30). Again, Willy ruins his son by making it seem as if theft is acceptable and sometimes even necessary to prove oneself. Biff learns that stealing is tolerable, just like Happy learns that lying is normal. While Happy uses deception to pretend that he has achieved the American dream, Biff resorts to theft as a form of revenge and contempt for those that are successful. Once again, the motif of theft repeats when Biff says, "I wonder if Oliver still thinks I stole that carton of basketballs" (26). Biff previously worked for Oliver, who was pretty successful since he had his own business. In his mad pursuit of the American dream, Biff deems it acceptable to steal a carton of basketballs because he knows that he is not successful, but tries to attain success by stealing. When Biff goes to visit Oliver to try to get Oliver's support in a business venture, Biff ends up stealing again and he tells Happy that he "took [Oliver's] fountain pen" (104). Happy asks Biff why he did this and Biff answers, "I just -- wanted to take something, I don't know" (104). It seems as if stealing is automatic for Biff because he has acted on his impulses for so long that now, whenever he wants to take something, he does so without thinking.
Willy hallucinates the most about Ben, his older brother who found success in Alaska. Every time Willy pictures Ben, Willy says "If I'd gone with him to Alaska that time, everything would've been totally different" (45). Ben represents a missed opportunity for Willy since Ben found wealth in Alaska, but Willy missed his chance to go. Alaska embodies the many opportunities that Willy passed up, which he now regrets since his dreams of success are not and will not become reality. Because Willy has realized that all of his chances for wealth have passed him by, he tries to live his dreams vicariously through his sons. In another hallucination, Willy turns to his brother for help, asking "Ben, how should I teach [my sons]?" (52). Willy seeks Ben's advice for how to raise his sons because he wants his children to become rich, like Ben. Wealth is Willy's primary concern, which is reflected in the way he raises his sons and in his thirst to help his sons achieve wealth. After Ben tells Willy that he was rich when he walked out of the jungle at seventeen, Willy exclaims, " [he] was rich! That's just the spirit I want to imbue [my sons] with! To walk into a jungle!" (52). Willy's outburst symbolizes his desire to instill longing for riches into his own sons. Also, Willy wants his sons to become rich no matter what. It shows that Willy is willing to throw his