Happiness is something individuals spend their entire lives searching for. In countless shapes and forms, although the 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 realize our happiness. Willy Loman, in the novel “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, is trying to find happiness in an indirect and unrealistic way. Rather than understanding the unique things that bring him joy and striving to obtain them, he creates a reality for himself in which he pretends to be happy and wears other people's accolades as if they were his own. By neglecting to recognize their personal and realistic dreams, individuals will never be truly satisfied with their lives, regardless of the trials and tribulations they may overcome. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Willy Loman is an eccentric family man with big dreams and plans, often unrealistic, which lead him to failure and unhappiness. As a child, abandoned by his father, Willy was thrown into a world of uncertainty where he created the expectations his father might have for his future. He has also been pushed to adopt a sort of father figure 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 for success. he creates a world in his mind where he is well-liked and successful as compensation for his sterile childhood and constantly seeks how to fill the void in his heart labeled parental attention and affection. He chooses a career as a salesman after meeting a Mr. Dave Singleman of whom he is immediately in awe; Dave could “pick up the phone and be remembered and loved by so many different people.” Willy subconsciously compromises his personal pursuit of happiness to align his life more with Ben Loman and Dave Singleman as he decides that this combination was his father's dream for him. He is convinced that popularity and success, the ideas presented to him at an influential age, are the only options when trying to find happiness. Willy pretends to be a top employee, regularly boasts of his talent and notoriety as a salesman, and confidently declares his earnings. In reality, unfortunately, none of this is true and Willy's lack of sales and companions make him unhappy and relegate him to his fantasy world. Instead of developing his talents and embracing them, he decides that only his friends equal happiness. According to Willy, having many people like you and being extremely popular was the ultimate goal in life and achieving it meant you would make it. He continually tells his children his stories of excellence as a salesman and promises them that he will be “better than Uncle Charley! Because Charley is liked but isn't much loved. Willy's fantasy begins to interfere with his real life as his frequent internal monologues are actualized to the point that "it's getting embarrassing." He begins to blend real life and his disturbing memories together and sees vivid scenes that he is unable to distinguish from reality that dissociate him even from those closest to him. His final success is to die happily as a salesman surrounded by all his loved ones and companions. However, at the funeral his disappointment is fully exposed by the embarrassing turnout. Without any ambition or desire to feel proudly his own, Willy is driven to take his own life in a disappointed attempt to help once againhis family avoiding his problems and without addressing or correcting his path to true contentment. Growing up, Biff Loman was always under the influence of his father's vision for his future and adopted it wholeheartedly; Willy was his hero and he gave him all the attention in the world growing up. For this reason he never had the chance to discover his ambitions. For Willy, Biff was everything he wanted to be when he was young and guiding him to success was a way for him to achieve his dreams and be happy in ways he couldn't. Biff is clearly treated as the favorite among Happy; Willy's youngest son, and receives constant praise and admiration from Willy which Biff takes to heart. The lessons Willy teaches his sons, such as “personal attractiveness” and leadership skills, take men beyond book smarts and drudgery, all foster an unsustainable sense of happiness because while “the man who creates self-interest, it is the man who gets ahead”, hard work and ambition is the true tool that leads to success. Biff receives mixed messages when he steals a soccer ball from Willy who doesn't tell him what etiquette is and how men don't steal, but is almost praised by saying that “if anyone else took that ball, there would be an uproar. " For him this means that it is okay to steal and he is unable to develop core values ​​and beliefs to guide his own life. Instead, he follows a path to happiness laid out for him by someone else who desires his vision of happiness over Biff. He goes to university, plays football amazingly and even decides to be a salesman to please his father Biff can never stop to think about what he wants to pursue for true happiness or his true dreams, compromising his real life. for a life that Willy has convinced him he wants; a cycle waiting to happen. Enrolled in an institution for which he has no passion, Biff fails in mathematics and travels to Boston to see his father there is shocked to find his father involved in an affair with "the woman", Biff's unnamed lover has an epiphany and realizes that the countless stories his father told about his greatness were lies sold like stones and who has stopped trying to align his happiness with his father's. Through self-discovery, Biff realizes that he needs to be himself and stop compromising his needs for his father's rude needs to develop his own ambitions and follow his dreams. He realizes that Willy's empathetically naked lifestyle of escape and ego won't get him far, even if he "doesn't know what he should want." Biff tries "twenty or thirty jobs since he left home" but nothing he tries seems to excite him or stick with 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 path. When he reaches Bill Oliver's office, he finally realizes what a "ridiculous lie" his whole life has been; his family told stories of being extremely wealthy and respected that weren't true in the slightest. As he begins his process of self-discovery for fulfillment, Biff discovers that he really enjoys the outdoors. Specifically; livestock and agriculture. Reflecting on his life of compromise, confusion, and ego boosts, he comes to terms with the fact that he "could never bear to take orders from anyone." He goes home and tries his best trying to explain to Willy that he's fine being "a dime a dozen" but Willy doesn't listen. Biff would rather be happy living an authentic, hard-working life doing what he cares about.