Themes in Death of a salesman
...the individual within the family, indicating an even larger alienation of the individual in the world. There is little communication or happiness portrayed in the Loman family. It is Linda who points out the tragic predicament of Willy Loman: "he is not the finest character that ever lived. But he is human being and a terrible thing is happening to him." Willy’s limitations and errors are combined with a noble parental passion and a heroic effort to maintain his self-esteem and dreams in the midst of a competitive capitalist society. Willy Loman’s alienation validates the fact that because of his dreams he wasn’t able to be a part of the world as it is. This is the reason behind the "conversations" he has with himself throughout the play. He feels like he can't talk to anyone else. Having a dream can lead to dishonesty if the dream is not perceived as it is. Willy dreams of being a great man, famous and popular, and pretends to be one. In Willy's life there is a double standard which society has encouraged: while at times proclaiming to his sons the virtues of clean living, friendliness, sportsmanship and honesty, his own life denies these qualities in that he has a mistress on the road and he lies about his business success. A basic tolerance of dishonesty permeates his actions, a dishonesty which is reflected in the lives of his sons. This honesty failure can be measured by the superficial values that Willy encourages his sons to develop. He stresses the importance of being 'well liked', of being physically attractive and good at sport, of being able to 'sell' oneself: these gain preference over academic achievement which he scorns in Bernard. But his personal motto, 'Be well liked and you will never want', turns out to be ironic in the face of Willy's constant state of debt and inability to see beyond dreams. Willy's sons illustrate other significant areas of this theme of honesty: when Biff and Happy steal building materials, or when Biff steals basketballs and a fountain pen from Bill Oliver. Willy cheats on his wife and then does his best to lie his way out of it. Biff is the first to understand that he has been blinded by false dreams, unable to honestly address who he is or where he belongs in life. The result of this understanding is that he finally faces his father with the brutal self-knowledge: 'Pop! I'm a dime a dozen and so are you.' And also he is the first one to see that all their image of honesty and success is a consequence of the fact that all their actions were based on illusions and dreams: 'We've been walking in a dream for fifteen years'. It is part of Willy's tragedy that at the moment when he is asked to confront the truth, he cannot because the dreams clouded his mind and he cannot stop lying to himself and to others. Time is a very important element of the play. By ignoring the present, Willy fails to deal with reality. He has a tendency of living in the past and thinking of the future. He always thinks that if he had done something differently then this could have happened, or things will get better as time passes. His habit of distorting the past, never allows Willy to realize what is going on in the present. There are no flashbacks in this play but only a mobile concurrency of past and present. In his desperation to justify his life, Willy destroyed the boundaries between now, and then. Willy Loman is gradually losing his identity as a thriving salesman who is well known, has many friends, and is idolized by his family. These identity issues stem from his relationship to time, as his present does not match the aspiratio...