How Does Death Of A Salesman Relate To People's Life

Most books that we read in high school are read due to the style they were written in and because they are iconic books in american literature, but they often do not relate to our lives. However, Death of a Salesman is different, it is a book that is read because it is relevant to people's lives. The book follows the Loman family which consists of Willy and Linda, the parents of Happy and Biff. Willy is a salesman who has recently been struggling with his job and talking to himself. Willy talks to himself more when his son Biff is around. Willy always thought Biff would be incredibly successful since he was well liked, so Willy is unable to come to terms with Biff’s lack of success. The audience also sees Happy and Biff’s perceptions of Willy. While Happy idolizes Willy, Biff seems to have some resentment towards him. The main reason Biff resents Willy is that he caught Willy having an affair.
Ultimately Biff ends up blaming his father for his failure. This happens soon after Willy was fired from his job, which was practically all he had left in his life, and Biff was denied a loan that would have given him a business opportunity. Willy realizes that Biff has always loved him and he feels guilty for what he did to Biff. Feeling guilty for
what he did to Biff, wanting to give him the business opportunity, and wanting to get money so Linda to be financially stable, he commits suicide so his family will get $20,000 from his life insurance. The significance of this book is that it shows that reality is not ideal and is not always how you expect it to be. In this book Willy believes that if you are well liked you will be incredibly successful. That idea of Willy’s is best shown when he says, “Be well liked and you will never want,” (33) and, “Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him.” (33) Those quotes show that Willy thinks being well liked will get you what you want but being smart and not well liked, how Willy thinks of Bernard, will get you nowhere. Also, when Biff fails math Willy acts as though the situation will work out because Biff is well liked. However, in reality, Biff, who was well liked, is unsuccessful in business, and Bernard is incredibly successful in business. This is an important theme because it is true in the real world. In every major accomplishment someone has they had to overcome many different obstacles. This book shows that the idea that you can accomplish great things with no obstacles, like Willy thinks people can if they are liked, is not true and that idea will just be detrimental to your success. This novel also is about other issues in the real world, such as coming to terms with your success or lack thereof.
For example, Willy thinks of himself as an incredibly successful salesman and cannot come to terms with the fact that he is average. That is best shown when Biff says, “Pop! I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you!” (132) and Willy responds with, “I am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman.” (132) Unlike Willy, Biff is able to come to terms with his lack of success which is shown when he says, “Pop, I’m nothing! I’m nothing, Pop. . . I’m just what I am, that’s all.” (133) This is a real world issue because while many people have big dreams they are often difficult to achieve and are not
achieved. While many people wish they could easily accomplish great things and that they are an amazing and unique person it may not be true. Death of a Salesman is exceptionally blunt when it comes to those matters and it shows what the real world is like. While this book varies greatly from other books we read in high school, it is important to read because of the realist perspective it give.