In the pursuit of the american dream, many forget the pursuit of what’s really important: happiness. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy sacrificed his happiness and family for the wrong dream. His quest for success ruined his children, caused him to never be happy, and made Willy too prideful.
Willy’s dream ruined his children. They are too prideful to do jobs. Biff was made to believe that he was better than everyone else. Biff tells Willy that he “never got anywhere, because [Willy] blew [him] so full of hot air [Biff] could never stand taking orders from anybody”(98). As a child, Biff was told constantly that someday he would be the boss, so having a boss is difficult for him. This is similar to Happy. Happy doesn’t like taking…show more content… Willy expected more than he deserved. Even in his youth, Willy was lying to his wife about his salary. Willy still envisioned to someday “have [his] own business, and [to] never have to leave home any more”(19). The Loman family was made up of failures. Biff made less than 35$ per week as a ranch hand, Happy worked at a store, and Willy was working on commission and couldn’t drive to New England to sell anything. Nonetheless, Willy expected so much from his sons. Especially Biff, Willy assumed Biff would go out into the world with nothing and get something, like Ben had. Willy couldn’t be Ben, and neither could Biff. Yet, Willy expected to be treated like a king. Willy asked his boss to give him a raise from being the New England man to a New York man. Meanwhile Willy wasn’t making any sales in New England. Willy thought himself to be better than everyone else, and thus refused to accept anyone’s help. Every week, Charlie gave Willy 50$ so the Lomans could pay their bills. Even so, Willy was too prideful to take a job for Charlie. Even when Willy was fired. Likewise, during his discussion with Howard about becoming a New York man, Howard fires Willy and tells him to seeks help from his sons. Willy replies with “I can’t throw myself at my sons. I’m not a cripple!”(60). Willy is too prideful to admit that there’s anything wrong with