Willy Loman's Obsession With The American Dream

Willy Loman’s obsession with the American Dream and its ideals has strongly affected the people Biff and Happy have become. Due to Willy’s teachings and influences, both his sons lead a different life from what they expected. Willy believed that his sons’ attributes would lead them to a successful lifestyle with no conflicts. Yet, being well-liked and attractive lead both sons to live a lie, nowhere near success. Biff becomes an underachiever who can’t hold a job, and feels dissatisfied with the fact that his life has been based on a lie. Happy lives in his brother’s shadow, becoming his father’s younger self, lying and manipulating reality to his favor. Willy’s teachings not only influenced his sons success, but also shaped the kind of people they became. Willy believed that one only needed to be well-liked and attractive to achieve the comforts of the American dream. He emphasized the importance of these attributes, believing they were the key to success. This idea shows its false nature when Howard Wagner fired him even when he states how fond Mr.Wagner was of Willy, claiming that he named Howard, “Your father came to me the day you were born and asked me what I thought of the name of Howard…”(act II, 80). Yet at the end “business is business”(act II, 80).
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Willy Loman dyes still searching for the American dream, Linda Loman continues to believe in her husband’s lies and “success” ,asking, “But where are all the people he knew? Maybe they blame him?”(act II, 137). Happy Loman follows in his father’s footsteps, while Biff Loman breaks free from the lies and follows his own path to seek who he truly is. Biff realizes what Willy fails to: life, in the real word, is cruel and one does not reach success unless you work hard for it and seek your own