Death of a Salesman

English 101

May 1, 2016

Death of a Salesman: The Power of Illusory

It was a cold winter night; the full moon was out and starring at me through my window. I was lying on my bed desperately covering myself with anything I could find. I was freezing; to me it felt as if I were standing in the middle of Antarctica with no clothes on. My feeble toes were slowing turning the color of blue; my burnt fingers were already beginning to feel numb. To me though, I was okay just a little cold. I began to breath warmly onto my hands trying to warm them up, I couldn’t turn on the lighter because my fingers at this point had no more strength, they were like icicles ready to crack.  Growing angrily I pulled a candle out of my pillow and somehow was able to quickly turn on the lighter and light it. I reached for a piece of aluminum and the sickening white glory that was besides it.  I placed the aluminum on top of the foil and with all my strength tried to keep it still. I slowly began to inhale the white smoke that was coming out, I hovered my face over the smoke to try and capture it all. I was an addict and I was doing everything I could just to get lit. Finally I was done, and satisfied. Suddenly I could no longer feel my feet, and my heart was beginning to beat so hard I could see it move. I thought to myself what it could be and I came to the conclusion my body might be a little hungry. I ran to the kitchen and chugged down half a gallon of milk. Still nothing changed. I was a complete addict by this time that I believed in my own world of delusion. I believed that I was fine and had no health problems. Later that week I went to the doctors because I felt very sick, I found out I was anemic and had pneumonia as well as bronchitis. Suddenly I began to think to myself if all I was giving to my body was actually harming it, with tears in my eyes I finally accepted the world wasn’t how I imagined it to be. I was an addict weighing merely about 90 pounds on the verge of death. If I didn’t change then, then I would clearly have died within the next couple of months. Thankfully I was able to accept reality and began to change my life around. Similarly this is the case in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Willy Loman is a man who has lied to himself, his family, and the world all his life. He is a man in denial who has gotten lost in between all his lies, so much so that he is not able to split what is real with what is not. Sadly this is what leads to his ultimate death.  Willy Loman brought upon the downfall of himself, his job and his sons by living in a world of delusion.

Willy Loman was anything but an honest man, his whole life circled around the lies he made-up. In The Death of a Salesman Willy believed he was a well-liked man, “Be liked and you will never want. You take me for instance” (1,33). He truly believed that everywhere he went he was accepted with open hands, “I’ll go to Hartford. I’m very well liked in Hartford” (1, 36). He pictured his own world where he was the greatest and most liked person, “I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England and the cops protect it like their own” (1, 31). The truth was that everyone around him did not like him at all. They thought Willy Loman was a crazy joke. Even Willy himself knew this but tried his best to deny it. “People don’t seem to take me […] I know it when I walk in. They seem to laugh at me” (1,36).  Still Willy didn’t want to admit that he was not a well like person, instead he made up lies trying to cover up why they didn’t greet him with open arms, “I’m not dressing to advantage” (1,37). Unfortunately Willy went though out his whole life denying himself the truth and in the end that is what brought him to his demise.