Death of a Salesman Illusion Vs Reality

Families always have their share of problems. Some may be minor such as having to cope with a disobedient teenager or an irritable child. Others may be more serious and sometimes beyond repair, like having to deal with lack of communication, secrets being kept from one another or possibly a temperamental father. An example of this dysfunctional family can be found in the tragic play Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller. The family presented in this play is the Loman family. They drown themselves in each others lies and dreams in hope of solving their problems, only to cause the destruction of their family. Until you are ready to face reality, living in an illusive world, will lead your life to be full of misery. Willy Loman, the father, is a distressed man who is unable to see the truth in his misleading life. His wife Linda does nothing but worsen his problems by making excuses, when she knows very well the dilemma her husband is in. Willy’s teachings and ethics have caused his two sons, Biff and Happy, to lead illusive lives as well.

Willy’s life is built around dreams and illusions that cause him to miss the truth and reality in his misleading life. This is best exemplified in the career Willy chose for himself. In reality, Willy loved to work with his hands. He had completed large improvements on the house, and prior to his suicide, he planted a garden. However, Willy denied himself of the pleasure of using his hands to make a living because of his dreams to be like Dave Singleman and be so loved that his buyers all came to his funeral. Willy’s blindness made him believe that it was more prestigious to be a less than adequate businessman than a content handyman. He had also blindly decided that he would commit suicide in order to receive money from his life insurance. Yet, he failed to recognize that the insurance policy would not cover a suicide. Even when his brother Ben tried warning him that they might not honour the policy, Willy refused to face the truth. “How can they dare refuse? Didn’t I work like a coolie to meet every premium on the nose? And now they don’t pay off? Impossible!” (Miller,