Happiness is something that individuals spend their entire lives searching for. In countless forms, although this feeling is universally understood, it is unique to each individual and cannot be shared or imposed on others, no matter how hard one tries. So, someone else's dreams cannot bring our own happiness. Willy Loman, in the novel “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, attempts to find happiness vicariously and unrealistically. Rather than understanding the things that are unique to him and that bring him joy and striving to achieve them, he creates a reality for himself in which he pretends to be happy and carries the distinctions of others as his own. By neglecting to recognize one's personal and realistic dreams, individuals will never be truly satisfied with their lives, no matter what trials and tribulations they may overcome. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayWilly Loman is an eccentric family man with big dreams and plans, often unrealistic, that lead him to failure and to misfortune. As a child, abandoned by his father, Willy was thrust into a world of uncertainty where he created the expectations his father might have had for his future. He has also been encouraged to adopt a father figure of sorts and, seeing his older brother Ben at the age of 21 "come out of the jungle" rich, Willy is naturally drawn to him as a sort of mentor to success. creates a world in his mind where he is appreciated and successful as compensation for his barren childhood and constantly seeks how to fill the void in his heart called parental attention and affection. He chose a career as a salesman after meeting a Mr. Dave Singleman whom he instantly admired; Dave could “pick up the phone and be remembered and loved by so many different people.” Willy unconsciously compromises his personal pursuit of happiness in order to more align his life with Ben Loman and Dave Singleman as he decides this combo was his father's dream for him. He is convinced that popularity and success, the ideas exposed to him at an influential age, are the only options for finding happiness. Willy presents himself as a star employee, regularly bragging about his talent and reputation as a salesman, and declares his earnings with confidence. In reality, unfortunately, none of this is true and Willy's lack of sales and companions makes him unhappy and reclusive in his fantasy world. Instead of developing his own talents and accepting them, he decides that only his friends are synonymous with happiness. According to Willy, having a lot of people like you and being extremely popular was the ultimate goal in life and achieving that would mean that you had succeeded. He constantly tells his sons his stories of excellence as a salesman and promises them that he will be “better than Uncle Charley!” Because Charley is liked but not very liked. Willy's fantasy begins to interfere with his real life as his frequent inner monologues become actualized to the point where "it's getting embarrassing." He begins to merge real life and his haunting memories and sees vivid scenes he is unable to distinguish from reality that dissociate him even from those close to him. His ultimate achievement is to die happy as a salesman surrounded by all his loved ones and companions. However, at the funeral, his delusion is fully revealed by the embarrassing attendance. With no ambition or desire to be proud of himself, Willy is driven to commit suicide in a delusional attempt to once again help his family while avoiding their problems and without confronting or setting his path to truecontentment. Growing up, Biff Loman was always influenced by his father's vision for his future and embraced it wholeheartedly; Willy was her hero and gave her all the attention in the world growing up. For this reason, he never had the opportunity to discover his own ambitions. To Willy, Biff was everything he wished he could have been when he was young and guiding Biff to success was a way to achieve his dreams and be happy in a way he couldn't. Biff is clearly treated as the favorite between Happy; Willy's youngest son, and receives constant praise and admiration from Willy, which Biff takes to heart. The lessons Willy teaches his sons, like "personal attractiveness" and leadership skills, take men further than book smarts and grinding, all foster a feeling of unsustainable happiness, because even though " the man who creates self-interest is the man who advances,” hard work and ambition are the true tools that lead to success. Biff gets mixed messages when he steals a football from Willy who doesn't tell him what proper etiquette is and how men don't steal, but he is almost praised because "if anyone else took this ball, there would be an uproar. » He takes this to mean that it is acceptable to steal and that he is not capable of developing core values ​​and beliefs to guide his own life. Instead, he follows a path to happiness laid out for him by someone else who wishes his vision of happiness on Biff. He attends university, plays football wonderfully and even decides to become a salesman to appease his father. Biff never stops and thinks about what he wants to pursue for true happiness or his real dreams, compromising his real life for a life Willy has convinced him he wants; a cycle waiting to happen. Enrolled in an institute for which he has no passion, Biff fails in mathematics and goes to Boston to see his father. His hero. There, he is shocked to discover that his father is involved in an affair with "the woman", Willy's unnamed mistress. Biff has an epiphany and realizes that the countless stories his father told about his greatness were just sold lies and that he is done trying to align his happiness with his father's. Through self-discovery, Biff realizes that he must be his own person and stop compromising his needs for the ill-mannered needs of his father in order to develop his own ambitions and pursue his dreams. He realizes that Willy's empathetic, escapist, ego-free lifestyle won't get him far, even if he "doesn't know what he's supposed to want." Biff has tried "twenty or thirty jobs since he left home", but nothing he tries seems to excite or interest him. His whole life had been filled with unrealistic expectations and superficial ideas of happiness and at this point in the game he didn't know where to start to get on the right track. When he arrives at Bill Oliver's office, he finally realizes what a "ridiculous lie" his whole life has been: his family told stories of being extremely well-off and respected that weren't true at all. As his process of self-discovery for contentment begins, Biff discovers that he really enjoys the outdoors. Specifically; livestock breeding and agriculture. Reflecting on his life of compromise, confusion, and ego boosts, he accepts the fact that he "could never stand to take orders from anyone." He comes home and does his best to try to explain to Willy that he's okay, but Willy doesn't listen. Biff would rather be happy living an authentic, hardworking life doing what he really cares about, rather than.