Happiness is what every individual strives to find within their lives. Every motivation and objective a person has is for the purpose to attain happiness and without happiness involved there is not a self-satisfaction for one to obtain. Without happiness, people lack the main reason to pursue their goals in life. In the Death of the Salesman by Arthur Miller, take a closer look at the Loman’s family happiness. Were Willy and his family truly happy with their lives or were they just watching the days go by longing for a different life? Willy thinks that being liked by others will make him successful and bring happiness to his life. Happiness is more about one’s self-feelings rather than another person’s feelings. Happiness is being contented with life and enjoying the little moments, not thinking about the future.
Willy Loman is described to be looking for happiness in someone else dream, instead of finding his own. Willy eventually ends up making an alternate reality in his head to create happiness for himself. Willy develops his dreams and expectations that his father might have had for him. In the Death of a Salesman, Miller describes willy’s older brother ben as “walked into the jungle and out, at the age of twenty-one and he was rich” (Miller,1949). As a result, Willy thinks of his brother as a father figure. Since Ben never really showed him attention as a child, Willy created a world in which he pretends that he is well liked. Years later, Willy became a salesman after seeing that Dave Singleman was loved by many. Willy pretends that he is good at his job, and brags about traveling to well-known cities, but he makes very little money and does not have many friends. Willy continues to strive for the American dream, forcing himself to live in denial. This denial influences him to make an unrealistic reality which he believes in. Willy then tries to impose his own dreams onto his son Biff, which inflicts with Biff’s desires to own a ranch. By the end of the play, Willy believes that to prove to his sons that he is successful and well-liked, he must commit suicide. By Willy committing suicide his sons and his wife can collect insurance money and live a better life.
“Willy calls his wife, Linda, his foundation and support” (Bloom, 1991). Linda is the glue that keeps the Loman family together, but is she truly happy? Linda refuses to see Willy false reality to protect his feelings and dreams. Linda equates happiness and freedom as material wealth. Linda is the only member of the Loman family that is a realist and is not caught up in Willy’s dream of being well liked. Linda’s happiness is her family and being devoted to her husband. Linda ultimately fails to achieve happiness with her husband and sons, resulting in her being alone at the end of the play.
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In The Pursuit of Happiness by Carol Graham, it is stated that “we do not define happiness for the respondent; each respondent defines happiness for him or herself. Biff Loman must define his happiness Willy cannot do it for him. As for Willy’s son Happy, his life is also a lie. Happy’s dream of success is much like his fathers, and the route that he gains his success is like Willy’s also. Hap is a lonely, womanizing man, who lies, cheats, and steals to gain success Happy believed that being well-liked and lying about his status will earn other people’s respect and in return, he will be successful. Happy and Willy are almost the same in the way that their father figure was absent from their lives. Willy focused solely on Biff, which left Happy longing for him to pay attention.
