Mike Rose
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An inheritance may consist of property, money, and securities to provide surety for its beneficiaries. The condition of the estate may be the product of birthright, hard work or even immoral acts. The deeds, beliefs and ethics of the bestower can have a deeper impact on the heirs than the estate itself. The scions lives may be affected by the psychological, emotional or spiritual components of their inheritance.
Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman undermines the belief that a legacy would benefit ones posterity, and demonstrates how heirs may be instead be afflicted by inheritance. What Willy bestows his sons is not affluence, but deeply rooted character flaws. These deficits prevent their personal growth, and are barriers to self-fulfillment.
Willy Loman, is a failure within the capitalist model, as he has struggled all of his life to earn a living as a salesman. “I get the feeling that I wont sell anything again, that I wont make a living for you, or a business for the boys” (38) he tells his wife Linda. In spite of his professional disappointments, he clings to his belief that likeability and attractiveness are the cornerstones of achievement. He preaches that a mans natural gifts are more valuable than his efforts or integrity. “Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, who creates persona interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want”(33). He dramatically overstates his appeal to his sons, and pretends to be a great man. This delusion creates the roost of dishonesty in which his sons are raised. Biff and Happy feed on falsehoods that deform their senses of identity, their perceptions of reality, and concepts of morality. Willys lies ensure that distortions become their truth, dishonesty their trade, and unhappiness their harvest. This web of deceit is the Loman legacy, and its destructive dividends are paid throughout the boys lives.
Willys fabrications are rooted in abandonment, and he filled the void with a mythology of genealogical. His father is remembered as a great man: he, too, was a traveling salesman, and great inventor whose success was the stuff of folk tales. His brother A secondary father figure who appears to Willy in hallucinations is his brother Ben. We are to believe that Ben “walked into a jungle, and comes out, the age twenty-one, and hes rich”(25). There is no mention of what Ben did to achieve this success, nor is it ever clear whether he succeeded at all. For Willy, this legend is proof enough that a man needs only to dream to succeed. Willy fantasizes that he possesses this rugged appeal, and believes that charisma provides access to the American Dream. He does not put value on true virtues like hard work, professionalism and business savvy. With neither appeal or diligence, his faces constant failure. His fantasy is greatness; his reality is insignificance.
Unable to accept his mediocrity, Willy creates a fictional depiction of his selling life. In this version he is a well-liked, welcomed hero throughout New England. “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”(33). He inflates his sales figures, fooling his sons, but not his wife. “Did you sell anything?”(34), she knowingly asks. He privately admits that he “talks too much” and is “foolish to look at” (37), but makes no effort to improve. Instead, he perpetuates his failed ideology by deluding his sons into believing that achievement is assured by being attractive, popular and virile. Since their fathers simple prescription for success falls short, the boys are also doomed to a life of discontentment.
Biffs identity is tied to his athletic prowess and favor with the ladies, while Happy struggles for his fathers attention by extolling his weight loss. The boys are lead to believe that success is style over substance and form over function. Willy directs them to ignore the need to work hard, as if it is beneath them and ridicules the studious neighbor Bernard. “Bernard can get the best marks in school, yunderstand, but when he gets out in the business world, youre going to be five times ahead of him. Thats why I thank almighty God youre both built like Adonises” (33).
The belief in the power of physical superiority becomes a handicap. Biff loses a college football scholarship because he ignores the need to perform in math. As an adult, he cannot keep a job because he sees working for others as below him. He recalls that “[Willy] blew me so full of hot air, I could never stand taking orders from anybodyÐ I had to be boss big shot in