What Role Does Boy Willie Play In Achieving The American Dream

Nikko Araujo
Monday, April 22nd, 2013
The Road to Achieving the American Dream

When it comes to Willy Loman from “Death of a Salesman” and Boy Willie from the “Piano Lesson” it is no secret that these two main characters have a very unique personality. They both seem to be very headstrong and demanding whenever they wanted to get something done. They are good examples of representative and quintessential characters because they are ordinary people, and they also embody an entire group. These characters were very entertaining to watch, and I really enjoyed seeing how they would try to achieve their goal whenever they had their mind set on something. These two men would go through anything and anyone to achieve the American Dream, that is
the reason why they are both great examples of representative and quintessential characters. First, I am going to discuss how Willy Loman represents a representative and quintessential character. During the movie “Death of a Salesman” I was kind of getting aggravated with Willy. He thought that he was seriously something that he was not. He was just a normal salesman for his entire career, who’s super objective was to be liked and be rich; that was the only goal in life that Willy strived for everyday. He seemed to be a very insecure guy. The reason I say that is because he would always lie to his family, especially to his wife, and to himself. He never wanted to believe that he was not rich. In his delusional mind, Willy was an extremely successful salesman who had a perfect life and a lot of money, just like his older brother Ben. As mentioned by sparknotes.com, “He cannot grasp the true personal, emotional, spiritual understanding of himself as a literal “loman” or “low man.” Willy is too driven by his own “willy”-ness or perverse “willfulness” to recognize the slanted reality that his desperate mind has forged” (Spark Notes Editors). The truth of the matter was that Willy had really bad anxiety problems, and self-doubt. He would usually try to cover up this image from others by acting confident, and arrogant.
Eventually, Willy finds himself in a huge hole that he cannot get himself out of. He desperately went to the successful people around him for support, but he soon realized that he was never well liked or even good at his job of being a salesman. It all goes down hill from there, and Willy actually decides to commit suicide and end his life. The trait of being cocky and lying really messed up his life and he had no idea what to do. He tried so hard to get to his goal of being rich and successful that he would do anything such as lie to his family just so they could be happy. This ended up backfiring on him because in the end of the story his family was very upset with him. Even though Willy obviously failed to meet his life goals, he still tends to cling to the belief that anyone who is good looking and well liked will reach the American Dream. He had a very bad relationship with most of the other characters. One character that had a major problem with Willy was his son Biff. Willy tended to look up to his son, and tried to live through him by making sure he succeeds in life. The problem was that Biff did not have any type of respect for Willy once he found out that he had been cheating on his wife, Linda. Willy then decided to stop associating himself with his son instead of feeling guilty about his actions.
Even though he always seemed to mistreat his wife, she still managed to love him. The major thing that makes Willy Loman a representational and quintessential character is that he is an ordinary guy that represents all salesmen. This could have happened to anyone that is struggling with his or her job as a salesman. They go through hard times and it can really affect their minds and even their relationships with their families. I have heard of many cases of salesmen going away on business trips and end up cheating on their wives. This is a sad thing that goes on in our world, and the people that struggle the most are the children. “Death of Salesman” was written in 1959 by Arthur Miller. It was known as one of Miller’s best plays. According to shmoop.com, “The play is a scathing critique of the American Dream and of the competitive, materialistic American society of the late 1940s.” This play was written right after World War II. Arthur Miller tried showing the new definition of the American Dream in this time period was all about getting materialistic things. This is a lot different from what the original American Dream symbolized. Now I am going to talk about the character Boy Willie from “The Piano Lesson”.
He has a few similar traits to Willy Loman. They are both loud, funny, and they both seem to want the same thing in life, which is to achieve the American Dream. These two characters are men that do not make a lot of money, but they have this imagination that they will eventually be rich one day. Boy Willie’s super objective from the beginning of the play to the end is to sell the piano that is in his sister Berniece’s house. The reason why he wants to sell the piano so bad is because he wants to use the money to buy the land his ancestors once worked as slaves on. I believe that Boy Willie is so passionate about owning this land because he would feel a sense of accomplishment. Another reason why I think that Boy Willie wants to buy the land is because he knows how much pain and suffering his ancestors went through, so that one day he can be alive and succeed.
Throughout the whole story Boy Willie and his friend Lymon try to persuade Berniece to let them sell it, but she won’t let them. Boy Willie is so determined to finally reach the American Dream that he attempts to steal the piano multiple times. This really made many of the other characters dislike him and it brought a lot of controversy inside of the household. The main character that did not like Boy Willie was Berniece because she felt like he was being greedy and did not care about the history that the piano
obtained. That leads me to the topic on why I believe Boy Willie is a representative and quintessential character. Since this movie took place in 1936 it really shows how most African-Americans were feeling in this time period. Slavery was non-existent in this point in time. There were still racist people, but African-Americans were getting closer and closer to getting equal rights. Boy Willie represents the ordinary African-American who just wanted to be somebody in that point in time. He felt like he had the chance to be the first person from his family to own his own land. Anyone that was put in his position would want to do the same thing. The only reason why Berniece did not care about owning her own land was because she already had a house of her own and a happy family. She also wanted to keep the piano because it represented slavery, and family. It was not just an ordinary piano, it was a piano with a lot of sentimental value and it had a meaningful story behind it that was passed down from generation to generation in their family.
Willy Loman and Boy Willie play such different roles but have such unique personalities. The character they both portray is a representative and quintessential type of character. Willy and Boy both show their character qualities whenever they have their mind set on something. They both base their goals off of The American Dream, and will do anything and go through anyone to achieve it.

Works Cited

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Death of a Salesman.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.

"Death of a Salesman." Shmoop. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.