Play, \"Death of a Salesman\"

¶ … play, "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller, the character, Willy notices his life is changing without his blessing, which has no control over. From there, while he will not accept his life is changing, he continues to think back how his life used to be years ago when he felt as if he was in his prime and had everything going for him and his stable family. "I saw the things that I love in this world. The work and the food and the time to sit and smoke. And I looked at the pen and I thought, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be... when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am" (Miller). From this, it is apparent that Willy wants to hold on to the past since he feels he was happier back then when his children had promising futures as well as himself. Therefore, due to the occurrences in his life, Willy does not like the concept of change because he has to let go of the past in order to make it work.

Willy

Due to the fact that Willy does not want to accept the changes in his life, he compares with his life to eighty-year-old salesman that appears to have his life in order. However, Willy fails to see that this salesman is eighty years old and still working to support his family.

And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. 'Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people (Miller)

From this, it is clear that Willy asks this question to Howard Wagner in Act II, when he decides to discuss how he decided to become a salesman after meeting Dave Singleman, the mythic salesman who died the noble "death of a salesman" that Willy himself covets. With this admiration of Singleman's prolonged success, he demonstrates how he wants to be liked. He believes being well liked by his business contacts will replace what he is not getting from his family.

It is apparent that family structure is highly important to a person's behavior due to the fact it does affect all levels of professional performance, which includes a lifetime of ups and downs. Furthermore, family has a big influence on a person behavior. This is due to the fact when observing, other family members behavior, it is not likely that they will pick up the trait but they will have a trait similar to the one that they observed (Stability and change in personality types). Since Willy has to realize his career is ending, he is trying to hang on to what makes him happy, which is knowing that his business contacts desire his presences. Furthermore, he is unhappy because he knows this part of his life is changing, in order to change, Willy must retire and let go of his career. Due to the fact he has to let go of his career, he does not like the concept of change.

With this change in his career, Willy refuses the emotional support from his wife, Linda. By accepting her support, he feels like he is accepting the change in his life. Social support is related to healthier adult functioning. Support, as a construct, has been defined as a sense of belonging, specifically among peers, teammates, community or family members. Adults reporting strong social support/low isolation exhibit higher levels of resilience and lower levels of suicide risk. Adults are also less likely to be suicidal if they perceive their family, friends, and peers to be more accepting, and if they have more positive friendships. Those who feel supported by counselors, parents, or peers exhibit healthier coping mechanisms and maintain a more positive outlook about their future. Willy knew if he accepts his wife support, he would have to move on and change for the better, which did not fit his idea of being happy because he could not live in the past.

From a counselor point-of-view, it seems that Willy's emotions affected his rational decisions because he did not want ton accept the changes that were occurring in his life. The chances that emotionality would affect rational decision-making are very high since people who blame others for their problems usually live by their emotions, which does not include rational thinking. Furthermore, at times like these, it would not hurt for the counselor to interject their values in the session so that rational decision-making can have a chance to calm the client. This is true even though there are times where the counselor should not share their values with the client especially when he or she is being aggressive with their feelings and emotions. When the client is aggressive with their emotions, they will not be reasonable listening to other values and take them into consideration.

From this example of how Willy is taking the changes in his life into prospective, it is clear that he does not want face them because he had been living in the past, which his personality has reflected aggression

From there, the counselor or anyone else should not push society's values on the client until the appropriate moment time in the session or conversation when they are relax and accepting of further insight into the situation even when it is about anti-Semitism or life altering events such as retirement as Willy had to face. If a person wants to accept a new way of thinking, they are more open to take the counselor's insights and corrections to their views by listening during the session. From there, the counselor can help the client to rehabilitate themselves, which will help them to accept society's norms for their own. Unfortunately, this never occurred with Willy because he would not listen to the people that were around him, which clearly his resistance to change.

Conclusion

Adults and children become very withdrawn when there are adverse changes are occurring in their lives even though they do attempt to express their emotions to their teachers or co-workers. This is a definite sign that they want help with the pain so that they can feel better. They feel that they need to seek out help because at the time, it may feel like they are the only ones with this particular situation.