Willys Inability to Adapt to Modern Society in Death of a...

Willy Loman is an old salesman (63 years old) who is no longer able to earn a living. He receives only a small commission as he ages, and he slowly loses his mind and attempts to kill himself by inhaling gas from the water heater or from crashing his Studebaker. Dave Singleman is his role model, he wants to become well liked and rich. He spends most of his time dreaming instead of doing anything to improve his life. He is obsessed with the post-war interpretation of the American Dream. In the end, he kills himself by crashing his car, hoping to get the life insurance money for his family. He is fervently determined to succeed in his contemporary competitive society. In a conversation with his children about Bernard, he enumerates a few†¦show more content†¦(Miller 86) It gets obvious that next to becoming successful, Willy also longs to be regarded by other people, he wants to be known and popular, he does not want to lead the life of a nobody. However, it is not enough for him to be liked; Willy wants to be â€Å"well liked†. Charley realizes this strong need of Willy to be respected and liked by everybody, but when being asked why everybody has to like him; Willy knows no answer to this (Miller 104). In my eyes, Willy’s need to be liked shows that he has many self-doubts. He does not want anybody to think that he might not be the successful salesperson he pretends to be. For that reason, he always longs for reassurance that other people – mostly people who have success, like Charley and Bernard – are not well liked either. (Miller 30, 33). To sum it up, Willy presumes †[†¦] a brash personality, a ready smile, a fast joke, and a glittering appearance - as the key to fame and fortune [†¦]† (Nelson 105). Does Willy fail because of society or does society let him fail? One of the reasons for Willy’s failure is that he cannot adapt to modern society. He tends to compare the past with the present, he is not able to let go of the past and accept the present times and the changes that have taken place within the society. He repeats that things were better in the old days when â€Å"[†¦] old man Wagner was alive [†¦]† (Miller 10). At that time, the business world had stillShow MoreRelatedGrowing a Garden in Death of a Salesman746 Words   |  3 PagesGrowing a Garden In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses motifs and symbols to express some of the problems of the main character, Willy. Miller motivates Willy to start a garden in the backyard of his apartment, even though the garden won’t grow. This showed Willy to be the type who does not accept defeat, as he believes he can grow a garden, but to the reader, it’s obvious that he can’t. 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