Death of a salesman
In Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”, the theme is how important it is to confront reality and change in order to achieve the American dream. Miller uses conflict within the setting and with the characters throughout the play, but mainly with the main character, Willy Loman whom can’t face reality. There are certain characters that have conflict going on in the play. First, Willy has a major conflict with himself. Second, Biff and Willy have conflict with each other. Third, Howard has a problem with Willy. The main situation of the play is the conflict Willy has with himself. There are some scenes where Willy Loman shows how much he struggles with himself. First, Willy’s main problem is that his hopes overshadow reality. Throughout his life he built up certain fantasies to deny rather than accept how clear it is becoming that he has become somewhat of a failure. For example in Act 1, Arthur Miller shows how Willy considers himself a great salesman and says that he was always known by many people, when in reality no one even knows of him now. Second, Willy struggles with finding happiness through success. For example during Act 1, the author describes in the beginning of the play that things are falling apart and money is a problem. Instead Willy hides behind his fantasies and believes that he has still not failed and that wealth is what’s important and being well-liked will soon bring him to the top. Third, Willy chooses trying to make a name for himself over his family. Willy wants to be well known badly that he doesn’t realize that his family is more important and loves him either way. He wanted to do anything to achieve that American dream even if it meant putting his family through his struggles. Unfortunately, Willy also had conflict with his eldest son Biff. There are three reasons why the father and son have conflict with each other throughout the whole play. The first reason would be that ever since Biff was a child, Willy taught him his