Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman is the tragic tale of the play's protagonist, Willy Loman. Loman is a pathetic shell of a man who displays himself to be more than he is by lying. This need to lie about many of the facts of his life is attributed to his lack of self confidence, and general disappointment with his life, and his unfulfilled dreams. Loman often contemplates suicide, dreaming about how people will actually care about him if he actually dies, because as long as he is alive, he is truly nobody. Willy is constantly pushing his oldest son Biff to be better, and specifically to be liked by people, which, Willy thinks at least, is the most important thing in life. Willy's emphasis on the importance of being well liked is a result of experiencing not being well-liked himself. Willy's convoluted stories and lies about his life, as well as his criticism of his eldest son Biff, are meant primarily to impress people, but specifically his son Biff, and make his own dreams be fulfilled by Biff in his life, as well as to keep Biff from becoming a failure as Willy himself has.
             Willy is a hard working, yet very unsuccessful traveling salesman who has worked for the Wagner Sales firm for almost thirty-five years. At the age of sixty-one, Willy has just been demoted, and is now paid strictly on commission. Willy has two grown sons, both of whom live at home along with himself and his wife, Linda. Willy pays the most attention to the elder of the two sons, Biff, and he is also very critical of Biff. Linda claims that Biff is trying to find himself, which Willy views as ridiculous, saying that it is simply too late in Biff's life to be "finding" himself. "How can he find himself on a farm? In the begging when he was young, I thought well, a young man, its good for him to tramp around... and he has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week(Miller 16)!" Willy criticizes his son because he d...