Individual Opportunity

Willy Loman believed success came through the perception others had of you, physical appearance and confidence instead of the hard work and perseverance. Individual opportunity to Willy was to have both of these qualities. Willy instills his ideals into his sons, Biff and Happy; he always stressed the importance of having confidence and pride in oneself because in Willy’s eyes the American Dream was of easy success. His son’s don’t actually fulfill his hope that they will succeed where he has failed. Although, Willy was happy that both of his sons were well liked by many, especially the women. To me, Willy’s main flaw was that he failed to admit his personal failures, instead he kept wanting more. He was never satisfied with what he had, even as he aged, he still was looking for a better job that he didn’t have to move anywhere. Eventually Willy reached a point in his life where he just unraveled and started hallucinating and attempting suicide.

Arthur Miller, the writer of the play, believes that success is achieved through hard work and perseverance. The characters in the play that had achieved success through hard work were Charley and his son Bernard. Charley owns a successful business and Bernard has become a very wealthy and important lawyer. Willy was always jealous of the success this family had achieved. The character of Charley functioned as a person that Willy could confide in because he was grounded firmly in practical reasoned analysis. Charley’s son Bernard had the same qualities as his father. He was always looking out for Biff when they were growing up. There is an obvious parallel between these characters to balance out each other’s flaws. Arthur Miller most likely used the characters Charley and Bernard to show that you can be successful through hard work and dedication.