He cannot provide for his family financially, and emotionally he feels bankrupt. That is why the brief, transient sense that Biff likes him provides him with so much joy -- it is the proof, however small, that he has succeeded at something in life. However, even his language of 'liking' echoes the language he uses when speaking of being 'liked' at the office, and almost immediately after speaking to Biff, Willy is dreaming once again of diamond mines, and easy money. Willy is incapable, unlike his son, of truly deep self-awareness.
Willy, Biff, and Happy seem ignorant of the American dream's demand that people work hard to move ahead. Willy and Linda blame Biff's math teacher, not Biff, for their son's failure in school, while brainy, hard-working Bernard grows up to argue a case before the Supreme Court (Miller 111). Biff and Happy never concoct honest schemes to earn money, and Willy's dream is of discovering diamonds, not using his brains and sweat to make a profit.
However, Miller, despite his criticism of the Loman family, clearly views their corrupt values and malfunctioning social dynamic as produced, at least in part, by an American system that equates wealth with self-worth....
The idea that a human being is worth more dead than alive, and that Willy can give his family material prosperity and the ultimate dream of a mortgage-free home through killing himself is shown to be grotesque. The only joy, Miller counsels, comes in forgiveness and love, not on gaining social esteem and easy money.
Willy is not a tragic character, despite the tragedies in his life, because he never achieves true self-understanding. For all of the profoundness of the moment of achieving a truce with his son, Willy still uses the language of 'liking' and being 'liked' as the ultimate compliment -- it is the language of his office, never love. He strives to be well-liked at work, and only achieves in being liked by his colleagues and his son. Because of his refusal to see himself and his son honestly, Willy never succeeds in being loved, which Miller suggests should be the ultimate goal of human existence. To give something to his family, Willy gives his life and his life insurance money, rather than giving love, honesty, and truth -- universal values, rather than the values of American capitalism.
Works Cited
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin, 1996.
