, Research Paper
Death of a Salesman
by Kyle Pearce
All throughout Arthur Miller s play Death of a Salesman, tension and falseness has been displayed by each of the characters but near the end of Act 1, it has become more evident than ever. The family, awoken by Willy in the middle of the night, gathered in the kitchen for their first confrontation. Each character in the play hides their real personalities and emotions, which creates chaos because they do not really know their own family or themselves. Therefore, it can be argued that the falseness and dishonesty towards each of the characters causes much of the problems that the Loman family has.
As the play progresses in Act 1, the book suggests to the reader that Willy Loman is having an affair with an unknown lady, while Biff is the only one who knows about it. This affair that Willy is having has caused him to be false to his wife, Linda, and the rest of the people who love and trust him in his life. As a result, Willy is lying to his family and to himself.
Happy, Willy s youngest son pretends to be enjoying the life that he lives, but he is really empty inside. All through Act 1, Happy is constantly attempting to impress his father to receive attention from him. Biff was Willy s favorite son and Happy was nothing. This was clearly shown in a number of scenes. Happy misleads his family by pretending that his life is great, when he is in a living hell.
Linda Loman is a very supporting wife to Willy but to the point where she is too supportive. Linda will support Willy even when he is wrong or has made a bad decision. It is very hard for anyone, including Willy, to correct their mistakes when someone is always telling them that they are making the right decision. Linda is aware of the wrong decisions and mistakes that Willy makes; yet, she lies to him and doesn t let him learn from his mistakes. This makes Linda a lair and a false person to her husband and her two sons.
In many scenes of Act 1, the falseness of the Loman family is illustrated drastically and effectively to display to the reader how misleading each family member is to one another. Willy s affair with another woman, Linda s supportive lies, and Happy s immoral life is just three examples of how false the Loman family really is.