Fate and Responsibility: Death of a Salesman At the end of Death of a Salesman, a number of Willy Loman's closest friends and relatives, including his wife Linda and friend Charley, pay homage to Willy Loman. They praise him as one of the small, powerless people who have little sway over their existences. "And for a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine," says Charlie, of the way that Willy seemed unable to realize his dreams for himself or his family, "A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory" (Miller 108). Willy is rejected by his sons and discarded by the company he worked for. But although playwright Arthur Miller makes it clear that Willy is treated unjustly by the capitalist system, he also demonstrates that Willy has a number of character flaws, including his dishonesty and his lack of faith in the value of true hard work. Although the system Willy buys into may be bankrupt, Willy's character flaws exacerbate those flaws.

This is perhaps most clearly demonstrated in Willy's behaviors towards his sons. When his boys were younger, Willy was contemptuous of boys like Bernard who applied themselves academically in school and told his sons that all that mattered was that they were liked and looked good, with the enthusiasm of the professional salesman he is: "Bernard can get the best marks in school, y'understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y'understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him" (Miller 21). Although Biff is a successful high school athlete, he is unable to translate that success into real life, partially because his father encouraged him to cheat on tests and dismissed the importance of honoring his commitments. When Biff returns home after years of drifting from job to job, Willy's first instinct is to try to get his older son a job selling, given that sales were such a promising occupation for himself: "I'll have a nice talk with him. I'll get him a job...

He could be big in no time. My God! Remember how they used to follow him around in high school?" (Miller 8). But Biff is no salesman and he has no interest in trying to please a boss in a desk job. Willy only sees what he wants to see, not what Biff truly is, a man who likes to work with his hands.
Willy views his success as a salesman as part of his identity but when he loses his ability to sell and make money, he loses his sense of self-worth. His wife Linda views him purely as a victim. She tells his sons: "He works for a company thirty-six years this March, opens up unheard- of territories to their trademark, and now in his old age they take his salary away" (Miller 39). Although Willy fantasizes about making money and doing little work, the image Linda paints of her husband's life is far different than his idealistic vision: "He drives seven hundred miles, and when he gets there no one knows him any more, no one welcomes him. And what goes through a man's mind, driving seven hundred miles home without having earned a cent?" (Miller 40). Viewed in this light. Willy's fantasy about running away with Ben and making money from diamonds seems more understandable. His years working hard as a salesman helped his company but did not enable him to personally profit from his work.

On the other hand, Miller seems to imply that the problem was in the work that Willy did. Unlike a lawyer like Bernard or a doctor, Willy did not create anything of value. He relied upon his personal charm and his personal connections because that is the nature of a salesman. But as he got older and his connections either died or retired themselves, so did his work. Real work that produces real things does pay off but work that is solely based upon making a good impression, like the work that Willy does, does not.

The audience also knows that Linda's idealistic vision of her husband's sales career is not the whole picture. Willy was also unfaithful to Linda and one of the reasons Biff became…