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Amanda Relue
Farrar
ENC 1102
29 April 2012
Success: A Product of Being Well-liked?
The year 1945 marks the long awaited end of World War II that brought about major
changes throughout the entire world. The United States overall economy and society was
especially affected by these because it altered the values of many people and manipulated the
true meaning behind the American Dream. Arthur Millers 1949 play, Death of a Salesman,
explicates all of this perfectly by pointing out the flawed American values held by the Loman
family, and also by demonstrating the devastation a too literal interpretation of the American
Dream causes. Willy, the father and husband in the play, thoroughly believes that one must be
well-liked in order to be successful. Despite his lifelong endeavor to be loved by everyone, both
in his personal life and his professional life, Willy still became a failure as a father, a husband,
and a salesman; thus, invalidating this belief in many aspects. Willys overly superficial and
childish mindset serves to make him susceptible to numerous hardships as a salesman and as a
person, all of which have been cultivated by his childhood chalked full of abandonment and
confusion.
Willy Lomans unhealthy assertion that being well-liked and physically attractive is the
key to success proves to be the root of all his issues; thus, making him wrong. The delusional
reasoning behind his opinion is found in this quotation in Act I:

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Bernard can get the best marks in school, yunderstand,
But when he gets out in the business world, yunderstand,
You are going to be five times ahead of him. Thats why I thank
Almighty God youre both built like Adonises. Because the man who
Makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates
Personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you
Will never want. You take me, for instance. I never have to wait
In line to see a buyer. Willy Loman is here! Thats all they have
To know, and I go right through. (Miller 1384)
Willys phony overconfidence provides clues to the readers that indicate his questionable belief
system and personality. The juvenile arrogance Willy exudes in the preceding lines allow for
great analysis of Willys self-esteem and how it affects his beliefs of what it takes to be wellliked. According to Jessica L. Tracy and Richard W. Robins information based off of Kernis
Model, Willy has a fragile and narcissistic type of self-esteem that has four dimensions:
defensive, dissociated explicit and implicit, contingent, and unstable (57). Willys self-esteem is
defensive because he constantly presents himself to his sons in a deceptively positive light,
which was clearly seen in the quotation provided (57). Willy also presents himself in a defensive
manner during his discussion with his boss Howard, which only leads to him getting fired.
Furthermore, Willy is thought to have dissociated explicit and implicit self-esteem since [h]e
explicitly views himself in an idealized manner as a successful father and salesman, but his

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suicide attempts, which occur when he is in a semiconscious dream-state, suggest the presence of
deep-seated feelings of self-doubt (57). This aspect of his self-esteem illustrates how extremely
confused Willy is despite his conceited faade. This then gives rise to the contingency of his
personality. His internalized self-doubting nature leaves him amply vulnerable to others
opinions of himself, which causes him to be easily manipulated and swayed in the wrong
direction because he is so deeply insecure. His affair, for example, undeniably illuminates this
portion of his personality because it exemplifies his insatiable yearning to be desired and loved
so he can feel better about himself, even if he is betraying his family. Willys unstable selfesteem also causes his emotions to rang[e] from complete arrogance to, at times, desperate selfpity (57). In essence, Willys unsound and firm philosophies of being well-liked are what
ultimately poisoned his and his familys lives, resulting in his death.
Willys incorrect assumptions about being well-liked indisputably aid in the additional
vulnerabilities he faces as a salesman. While he may typically choose to radiate excessive
amounts of deceptive confidence, Willy is secretly insecure with himself which can be vastly
detrimental to a person, especially if they happen to be a salesman. Brenda Murphy says [i]n the
early part of the century, it was character that was considered to be the paramount factor in sales
success. Aspiring salesmen were urged to develop the qualities of character that would make
customers respect and want to buy from them (3). It is quite reasonable to assume that most
buyers Willy came in contact with were able to recognize his phony and fake personality,
thus hindering his effectiveness as a salesman. Murphy also mentions that [t]he salesman was
urged to be thoroughly honest with himself when performing his task of introspection for the
salesman can develop only by earnestly striving to discover and eliminate his negative qualities,
while at the same time he makes every effort to strengthen his positive ones (Jones 170-71).

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This indicates yet another example of Willys failure as a salesman; his diluted sense of self
renders any form of enlightenment from occurring during the act of introspection. Additionally
and inversely, the devastating failures Willy experiences as a salesman drastically affects him
mentally. The realization that he failed to live up to his dreams of being a salesman like his father
and Dave Singleman is what ultimately led to his suicide at the end of the play, because he
believes that [a]fter all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you
end up worth more dead than alive (Miller 1415).
Willys disheartening childhood irrefutably played a vital role in his emotional weakness.
After being abandoned by his father at the age of three or four, and then having Ben, his older
brother, leave as well in search of their father in Alaska, Willy chose to stay behind only to
become lost in his journey to find acceptance. Due to his severe issues with abandonment, the
adult Willy relentlessly searches for approval and belonging through his profession. Willys
hopeless obsession with being well-liked and conforming to what he thought the American
Dream was meant to be, all a resulted from Willys unpleasant upbringing. Inevitably, this
preoccupation is what also led Willy to his tragic end because he never found himself or the love
he so desperately longed for.
In the end, all Willy Loman accomplished to really sell is himself. The countless years he
spent striving to belong and succeed in his dream of being remembered and loved and helped by
so many different people, unfortunately never paid off (Miller 1407). This tragic play is
significantly relevant to all readers this day in age because it is important for individuals to know
that being well-liked and physically attractive is not the only way to achieve success. Success is
brought to those who work hard and remain healthily focused on their goals until they achieve

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them. Phoniness and poisonous insecurities clearly do not lead one down the correct path needed
to prosper in life because, as Willys character portrayed, it all ends in nothing but disaster.

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Works Cited
Miller, Arthur. "Death of a Salesman. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Eighth
Ed. Karen S. Henry. Boston: Bedford, 2009. 1372-1436. Print.
Murphy, Brenda. Personality Wins the Day: Death of a Salesman and Popular Sales Advice
Literature. South Atlantic Review 64.1 (1999): 3-4. Print.
Robins, Richard W. & Tracy, Jessica L. Death of a (Narcissistic) Salesman: An Integrative
Model of Fragile Self-Esteem. Psychological Inquiry 14.1 (2003): 57. Print.