Death of a Salesman #2

Death of a Salesman, as an overall play, is a very moving piece with a message that not many people want to see or even acknowledge in their lives: the possibility of ultimate failure. The play has the father of Biff and Happy, Willy, deal with the exact realisation of this message. Willy is constantly in a state of delirium, remembering the past and seemingly reliving it in his mind as the time he last remembered everything being alright, his “American Dream” still intact and on the way. However, the present is different (as shown in the last blog I did). Willy’s dreams of having Biff be successful in his life and becoming rich like his brother, Ben, are completely destroyed and he can’t come to terms with this fact. This is especially shown whenever he even so much as glances at Biff, which continually wears on Biff since the reason he ultimately gave up his early successes was because of Willy. In the book, Biff progressively tries to get Willy to see that his dream is dashed and it slowly wears on Willy, eventually having his flashbacks show him that the reason Biff gave up was because of an affair Willy had with his secretary. When Willy finally sees this fact and opens his eyes to the reality of what has happened to his dream, he becomes extremely depressed to the point where his wife, Linda thinks Biff and Happy are only doing what they’re doing to cause Willy pain and suffering instead of opening his eyes for him. In the middle of this depression Willy thinks of a way to show his boys that he is well known and successful to inspire them all while giving them the money to become successful themselves: suicide. After doing so by crashing his car, however, it has a mixed effect on his family. No one comes to his funeral except his family and his best friend Charley with his son ,successful lawyer and childhood friend of Biff ,Bernard. Biff, Bernard, Charley, and Linda only question his motives, saying he didn’t have to do it. Happy, however, takes Willy’s intended message and strives to become a successful salesman and fulfill Willy’s dream of a successful child. A flute plays, symbolising hopelessness and failure, as

the curtain falls.