In act one, page 46, Linda is speaking to Biff and Happy about Willy. She claims that he is trying to kill himself.
“Linda: He’s been trying to kill himself.”
This proves to me that Willy just wants to end his life because he feels sorry himself, and he can’t live with the truth of his life, He keeps on referring to his past, because he missed it, and he knows he’s done mistakes but he can’t admit it.
He ruined his relationship with his song Biff, and ruined Biff’s future, because he was a liar and an unfaithful husband. Biff decides he doesn’t want to go to university anymore on account to Willy’s lying. Biff felt betrayed by his father, to which he admired so much when he was younger.
Page 95
“Biff: You fake! You phony little fake! You fake!”
Here, it shows how Biff’s view of his father changes completely. Then there’s when Biff tells Willy he isn’t going to college anymore.
Page 95
“Willy: He certainly will listen to me. You need those points for the U. of Virginia.”
“Biff: I’m not going there.”
This is when Biff looses respect for his father.
I feel sympathy for Willy because he is a struggling man. He’s lost his son; his sons are turning into him, which he doesn’t want. Linda calls Happy “philandering bum”. And Linda believes she is helping Willy, by not letting him see the truth and letting him leave this dream life of his.
He has the tendency to usually think of himself in situations. He switches back to his past, where I believe after reading the play, that he was quite happy in his past than he is now. Towards the end of the play, I start to feel a deep sympathy for this troubled man because I can see that he is a very caring man inside, he just doesn’t like or want to show it. He really cares about Biff but he has trouble admitting it because he pretends to dislike Biff so much, because he thinks Biff is lazy and he ruined Willy’s dream for him.
Happy admired Willy a lot, ever since he was younger he was trying to impress his father just so he could get as much attention as Biff did. He was always the one left out; just like Linda was a lot of the times.
Page 53
“Happy: I’m gonna get married, Mom. I wanted to tell you.
Linda: Go to sleep dear.
Happy: [ going ] I just wanted to tell you.
Willy: Keep up the good work. [ happy exits ] God… remember that Ebbets Field game? The championship of the city?”
You can see how happy is treated by the whole family because of Willy always putting him last. Willy and Linda pay no attention to what he just said because they are used to Happy always trying to impress Willy. And Willy went on to think about the past when Biff was a quarterback for the school team. Willy also does this to Linda quite a lot.
Page 51
“ Linda: Oliver always thought the highest of him –
Willy: Will you let me talk?
Biff: Don’t yell at her, Pop, will ya?
Willy: I was talking, wasn’t I?
Biff: I don’t like you yelling at her all the time, and I’m telling you, that’s all.”
Biff here is very protective over his mother because he knows Willy had an affair a long time ago, and Biff doesn’t like Willy betraying, disrespecting, and lying to Linda, like he did to Biff. Because he knows she doesn’t deserve it, after what she’s been through.
Willy doesn’t try to fix his life, he doesn’t try to do things right either. He knows his job doesn’t pay him enough keep them alive. He spends all his time frolicking around with this woman of his, when he should he working very hard to make enough money to pay for the daily expenses. Although I have no evidence for this, after reading the play I gathered that he probably never tried hard in the end and turned into a failure.
Charley offers Willy a job, but Will refuses because of his pride. He always wanted to be better than Ben or Charley, or at least he wanted to level with them, and he wasn’t prepared to stoop down to their level by taking Charley’s job offering. This brings me back to my point about the “American Dream”, because Willy always wanted to be better than other people so he could feel better about himself because he is wealthy.
Page 33
“Charley: You want a job?
Willy: I got a job, I told you that. What the hell are you offering me a job for?
Charley: Don’t get insulted.”
After finishing reading the play, I have concluded that Willy could be a ‘hero’. I’m not going to say that I believe it completely because he killed himself for Biff’s sake because he believed Biff couldn’t make it by himself. This makes me think less of him. But the fact he killed himself to give Biff twenty thousand dollars just so Biff could have a better life than he did, it’s almost like he was saying sorry for everything he’s done, and for everything he has said or hasn’t said. I thought that was a very strong and amazing thing to do just for your son.
Page 107
“Willy: Oh, Ben, I always knew one way or another we were gonna make it, Biff and I!”
But he was thinking of only Biff when he killed himself and he once again referred to his dreams.
I feel more sympathy towards Linda, who has always been by his side, who has always loved him, and who was prepared to stop talking to her sons for Willy’s sake. All those years she’s suffered with his struggling, I believe she was a very strong character in this play after what she dealt with. But, I have come to the conclusion that Willy could be a ‘hero’ because of what he did for his son. My opinion changed after writing this essay because I thought a lot about the title and decided that I was wrong when I believed he was not a ‘hero’ for what he did.
Word Count: 1,307
