Dreaming of Success

In class we often discussed Willy Loman and his level of success. Our class came to a common consensus that although Willy does provide for his family, he is far from achieving success. Willy only supplies his family with money and expectations of success that he could never reach himself—particularly with Biff. Instead of working harder for the success he so longs for, Willy often dreams of people who have the success he could never have.

Willy admits to having wanted a life of the salesmen Dave Singleman. Willy first gets into the business of selling because of Singleman only “’Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up the phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many people.” Despite his dreams, Willy does nothing to makes his success come true. Rather, he thinks that the success will be laid upon him, like it was to Dave Singleman, and all Willy has to do is make some phone calls. Yet although Willy hopes to achieve this success, he does nothing to fulfill it. We can tell from his relationships with his family that Willy is far from “good” at relationships so this dampers his dreams of having “hundreds of buyers” at his funeral like the ones at Singleman’s. Willy wants to leave some lasting impact on the world like Singleman did since “things were sad on a lotta trains for months after” Singleman’s death. As he grows older, and becomes used up, Willy begins to realize the lack of an impact he will have on the world. Although Willy tried to leave some sort of legacy through having a successful son, Biff is far from successful like his father, for he spends this life wandering from job to job. Willy then in his last moments of despair turns his efforts to planting a garden.

The other way Willy lives in his dream world is through his brother Ben. Willy strives to have the successful life of his brother as he begins to subconsciously mix reality and fiction. When first introducing his children to their Uncle Ben, Willy extols his brother by remarking, “ This is your Uncle Ben, a great man!” Consumed by his jealousy of his brother’s success as he tries to form his own success, Willy begins to mix reality and fiction.

In his attempts to fulfill his dreams, Willy loses sight of the most important elements in his life, such as family, as he becomes consumed with his fantasies of legacy and success. Even his son Biff acknowledges his flaw when he pronounces, "he had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong." Miller teaches us that it is indeed necessary to have goals and dreams, but in the pursuit of our dreams we cannot lose sight of the important aspects of life or it will lead to our demise.