Death of a Salesman Essay In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the author uses Ben as a catalyst of Willy’s past regrets catching up to him, and demonstrates how these regrets impact Willy’s present life, as well as his self-worth. Willy craves the easy wealth Ben had, but is unsure of how to get it, which causes him much confusion in his professional and family life. Willy is a salesman, but it is never revealed throughout the play what he sells, implying that he is unsuccessful. He never promotes or talks about his product, and although he spends many hours traveling, the amount of work he actually does is questionable. He returns home every day exhausted, and puts on a facade for his family so that they believe he has been prosperous.…show more content… He turned down Ben’s offer to come join his business in Alaska, claiming that he was “building something” in the States, and he could still “end with diamonds”, simply on the basis of being liked by others (65). He declines Charley’s job offer for the sake of keeping himself above Charley. Willy believes that Charley is “liked, but not well-liked”, and accepting his help would be detrimental to Willy’s status, and put him on the same level as Charley (18). Willy insists on staying consistent in his ways, and never taking risks, but then becomes frustrated when he does not get anywhere. He also refuses to admit that he is struggling in order to maintain his image as the man of the household, and someone who is capable of providing for his family. If Willy had put his pride aside for a moment and joined Ben at his business, he would have finally experienced the success he ends up spending his whole life searching…show more content… He appears to emphasize how hard he is working everyday, yet consistently returns to the concept of being well-liked. He is creating more insecurity for himself by being so uncertain about what he values, what his goals are, and how he is going to get there. He seems to have an end goal in mind, no matter how unrealistic it is, yet fails to forge a pathway for himself or take steps to get there. He is stuck, and does not want the same for his sons, so he abandons his faith in hard work and encourages them to take a different path; one that in his distorted mind seems to be the answer, but in reality is just as delusional. Relying solely on the acceptance of others for fulfillment is dangerous and often has the opposite of the desired effect. Biff and Happy find this out early on in their adult lives as they become stuck just like Willy. None of the Lomans ever really worked a day in their life, placing value and faith in the wrong concepts, but expecting extraordinary results. All of them are humbled by the realization that they are merely average, because someone has to be. Ben was special, an outlier. But the rest of the Loman family is “a dime a dozen” (105), and must put forth effort to get positive results in their life, just like the typical middle class American. Biff, Happy, and Willy all break free