Denial In Death Of A Salesman

The lives’ individuals lead are frequently interrelated with others; resulting in the concept that every choice a person makes will affect those who surround them.. This concept is dramatized for those who are a part of a family unit, and directly pertains to parents and the reflection their decisions have on their children. Naive children who have not developed their own opinion on the world base their views and ideals around those closest to them. Therefore, when a parent continuously lies like Willy Loman in Death of a Salesmen, they force their child to see life through a frosted glass, perpetually torn between the reality of society and how they were told to view it. These contorted views reach children first but begin poisoning the
Upon walking in on his father's extramarital affair, Biff is notably changed and no longer idolizes his father or the goals he has set for himself. Observing Biff no longer possess the ambition to pursue college after the incident in Boston, Bernard, Willy’s neighbor, notes how strange that he could tell“ he’d [Biff] given up his life”(Miller 94)after that moment. Biff’s hero fell from the ivory tower and became another one of life’s disappointments, however Willy lives in denial, attempting to escape “from the conscious recognition of the role he played in Biff’s failure”(Griffin). After realizing his father’s unfaithfulness, Biff loses all hope in family and struggles in finding and maintaining romantic relationships. Refusing to recognize the strain the affair put on his family, Willy cries out, questioning “how do [Biff and I] get back to the great time? When he was so full of light and comradeship”(Miller127).In this moment a yearning for something other than material prosperity is seen to be a priority to Willy. He subtly addresses the pain he feels in his severed connection with Biff, displaying how deeply he yearns for “the love and respect of his family and the self-esteem which he has lost”(Centola) due to his
What began as slight fabrications to heighten himself in the eyes of his family grew into a hungry beast which demanded to be fed. Willy can no longer reveal his own weaknesses to himself nor his family and fights to maintain the unrealistic image he has created. Although Willy drives miles away to states where he is unacknowledged and ignored, he furthers these stories by boasting to his sons that the doors to any place they would like to visit “will be open sesame for all of [them], cause one thing, [he] has friends”(Miller 45). After years of lies, Willy becomes incapable of distinguishing reality vs delusion; however as he sinks further away from reality, Biff surfaces upon it only to discover his father is not the man he claims to be. By exaggerating his success in work Willy believes his sons will finally see his value, showing how he “confuses the two and futilely tries to transfer one value system to the other's domain, creating nothing but chaos for himself and pain or embarrassment for everyone around him”(Griffin). Furthermore, Willy cannot maintain this facade forever, and as he watches his ideal image disintegrate he hopes to convince his family one last time that he is a man of worth through suicide. Willy proclaims that “the funeral will be massive. And that [Biff] will be thunderstruck-because he will realize I am known!”(Miller 126). The final effect of the