English

"Death of a Salesman" Conflict Essay

Willy Loman experiences several conflicts within the story and makes critical choices about his life because of them. In Act I, Willy has many disagreements with his son Biff. He is not pleased with how Biff has been living, and thinks he is unreliable and no good. Biff did not know what he wanted to and Willy was very angry and pressured him to become more successful. "The trouble is he's lazy...Biff is a lazy bum!" (p. 16). Willy was very upset that Biff turned out the way he did, because he has so much potential to make something out of himself and do a more worthwhile job. In the second Act, Willy faces a conflict with his own life. Willy was choosing between life and death in hopes of helping his sons, and especially Biff, succeed more than he did in life. "You gotta consider, now. Don't answer so quick. Remember, it's a guaranteed twenty-thousand-dollar proposition." (p. 125). Willy makes the decision to commit suicide so that his family can have the twenty-thousand-dollar life insurance policy and he feels, falsely, that they will love him for doing it.

Biff Loman is not sure what he wants to do with his life and feels useless no matter what he does. Biff has worked for years with his hands and loves the outdoors, but he feels like that isn't a real job because of the low wages and feels useless because of this. "I suddenly get the feeling, my God, I'm not gettin' anywhere! What the hell am I doing, playing around with horses, twenty-eight dollars a week! I'm thirty-four years old, I oughta be makin' my future." (p. 22). Biff feels like he is still only a boy and doesn't have a real life. In act two, he finally faces reality of who and what he really is, and that he and his family have been living in a dream their whole lives. "I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you. You were never anything but a hard-working drummer who landed in an ash can like all the rest of them!" (p. 132). Biff tries to make his father see the reality of the situation and that neither of them are special or different, just human beings.

Linda Loman, Willy's wife, also experiences conflicts within the story and is faced with her husband's deterioration. In Act one, Willy talks to Linda about his being laughed at and how it makes him feel very foolish, and Linda is a pillar of support to him and tells him he is doing wonderful and no one really thinks that. "But you're doing wonderful, dear. You're making seventy to a hundred dollars a week." (p. 37). Linda always agrees with what her husband says and believes what he tells her, and she would never think to look past it and see what he has truly become. In the second act, at Willy's funeral, Linda cannot understand why Willy killed himself. She made the final payment on the house that day and tells her husband that their burden of it is now gone, but he is gone too and there will be no one to live in the house they spent so many years paying for. "Why did you do it? I search and search and I search, and I can't understand it, Willy. I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there'll be nobody home. We're free and clear." (p. 139). Linda faced many conflicts with Willy and herself throughout the play and never looked past her respect of him to see the real person and his problems.

Happy Loman faced many conflicts and choices throughout the play that made a major impact on his life. In the beginning of the story, Happy told Biff that he wasn't happy with the way his life was going. He said that he wants a more meaningful job, and to get married and settle down. "I don't know what the hell I'm workin' for. Sometimes I sit in my apartment -- all alone. And I think of the rent I'm paying. And it's crazy. But then, it's what I always wanted. My own apartment, a car, and plenty of women. And still, goddammit, I'm lonely." (p. 23). Happy is only working for himself and it is not making him feel like his life is worthwhile. In act two, at Willy's funeral, Happy is upset with Biff and thinks that Willy's dream was worthwhile and important. "All right, boy. I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It's the only dream you can have -- to come out number-one man. He fought it out here, and this is where I'm gonna win it for him." (p. 139). Happy does not realize who he really is and what his father had become, and begins to follow in his father's footsteps.

Both Willy Loman and his family face many conflicts throughout the story. Willy is consumed by his internal conflict and commits suicide, while his son now has a better understanding of life and hope for the future.