The Death of a Salesman

Camille Franchine
April 13, 2009
English
Death of a Salesman
Dreams and Success
Many people have big dreams, but few people are able to have their dreams come true. However, although all of a person’s dreams didn’t come true, that doesn’t mean that that person doesn’t have a good, successful life. A person who works hard to achieve their goals and make their dreams come true, usually go on to have bigger dreams. I think that dreams are meant to stay dreams. If everyone’s dreams came true, they would interact and interfere with one another and would just cause complications. A person who doesn’t try so hard to make their dreams come true, will be happy with what he/she has instead if always wanting more.
I don’t think that Charlie is one hundred percent right when he says we are only worth what we can sell. However, I do think that how far a person can go depends on how far they are willing to push. A person’s vision of a better life is determined by how badly they want it and how much they are willing to try. Some people do have to try harder than others, and most people won’t get the exact lifestyle that they want; but having a good life is mostly about be happy for what you do have and not always having bigger dreams. A person is not only worth what they can sell, a person is worth what they believe they are worth and how far they are willing to push themselves.
Willy’s hopes and dreams are just like everyone else’s. I don’t blame him for wanting to be respected. I don’t think that there was a specific time when Willy went wrong. Nothing in particular stood in his way. He was a successful businessman, but he just wanted to become more successful. He kept on trying to make a better life for himself until he just couldn’t take it anymore. His dreams were so big that his good life seemed bad compared to them.
Willy cheats on Linda so that he can feel better about himself. He feels that if he has another woman besides his wife that will make him more respected and better off. He tries to raise his sons so that they will be as successful as he wants to be. He pushes them to follow their dreams and to focus on becoming great. He doesn’t think that they will be happy unless they are that successful and he tries to teach them that.
All in all, Willy Loman is just like anybody else. He dreams of success and spends his whole life trying to be the best. He would have to been happy to live his life and enjoy his family, but he was trying too hard to make his life better. To die the Death of a Salesman means to be pushed by yourself so far that you can’t take it anymore, and that’s exactly what Willy did.