Willy Illusions

Individuals have a tendency to hold on to the past when they haven’t had time to fully reconcile with different challenges that have come up in their life. The individual will feel as if they’re trapped in this illusion like state which ultimately disrupts how they act in real time. Sometimes they use their illusions to try and run away from their present problems, and when they feel the happiness of some of these moments it’s like their problems are put on hold. In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller demonstrates that when problems arise in Willy’s life and he attempts to run away into his fantasy/past dreams it just makes life more difficult for everyone around him which ultimately makes him feel bad about his self image.
When Willy Loman was away from home on a business trip, he was feeling lonely and was missing
He sees Ben as a very successful rich man and he’s longing for that strong family relationship that he never really had. There’s signs that he wasn’t paid attention to when he was younger and all of the attention was on Ben, and that’s exactly what’s happening to Happy in the family, they were constantly trying to do things to impress their parents to get love and attention. Willy feels insecure about his current selling job and he longs to change the past and go with Ben and be rich so he’ll never have to wonder how the next bill will be paid. He doesn't feel like his efforts are paying off and he's constantly trying to borrow money from Charley but never accepts the job he offers him. This displays that Willy doesn't want to admit that his job is failing and also doesn't want to take a “pity” job from his neighbour. Ben usually tells Willy that the way he’s doing things is good and it makes Willy feel good about himself, it seems as if Willy really wants Ben’s approval about the way he’s living his