Arthur Miller's (1915-present) character Ben in Death Of A Salesman helps the development of the main character Willy. Ben is used as somewhat of a mentor for Willy; Ben is everything that Willy wants to be in life. We can see who Willy is by exploring who Ben is. Ben's morals and actions are everything that Willy believes in and wishes for himself and his sons. When we understand who Ben is, we can see the theme of the book appear, that is, you cannot let yourself get caught up in the "American Dream." Ben only appears three times in the entire play, first in a flashback, second in a quasi-flashback where Willy has inserted him into a scenario that actually happened, and finally in a complete hallucination. When we compare and analyze each of these occurrences, it gives us the chance to see who Willy Loman really is. This is Miller's main purpose for Ben in this play; he is a utensil that allows us to understand what Willy Loman is thinking.

Arthur Miller was born the second of three children to Isidore and Augusta Miller in October of 1915. Miller was born in Harlem, which at that time was an "...elegant, mixed neighbourhood..."(BBC Education) but later

The second flashback, or quasi-flashback, has Ben in a scene in Willy's mind even though he was never there. Miller makes us believe that before the first flashback, Ben only came once, as can be seen in Charlie's line, "You never heard from him again, heh? Since that time?"(Miller, 45) Suddenly Ben shows up in another scene, appearing the same as before. This gives us a glimpse of how Willy thinks, how he sees things as they could have happened, and he actually believes them until he is put into a situation where he is forced not to. For example, Willy was telling Linda how much he had sold while on his sales trip, and it turns out that he actually sold less than what he thought he did. In his mind, if certain different things had happened, he would have actually sold that much. However, when he is forced back to reality, he recants his claims of wonderful sales and sees the truth. (Miller, 35) Ben is used as a scapegoat for Willy in his head. Willy was jus!

Ben first appears in this play as a flashback in Willy's mind. Willy is feeling bad about his present situation and the flashback is meant to interrupt this feeling. Willy has returned home from a selling trip, unable to concentrate, and unable to keep his mind in the present. Ben, in Willy's flashback, becomes a way for Willy to forget about his problems and feelings. We are presented with a large amount of information about Ben in this flashback, and we can in turn apply this information to Willy as well. We first learn that although Willy and Ben are brothers, they did not grow up together. Ben is also a lot wealthier and more successful than Willy. (Miller, 44) Although Ben and Willy were never close, Willy idolizes Ben. "Ben! I've been waiting for you so long! What's the answer? How did you do it?"(Miller, 47) Obviously, Ben has achieved what Willy wishes he could achieve. He has made it in life basically by using other people for everything he can. "When I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by god he was rich."(Miller, 52) Willy truly believes that this is a wonderful way to make money and with that, we learn a lot of the character of Willy. He does not believe that people need to put in hard work to gain success. The other main thing that Ben shows us happens during his fight with Biff. He says, "Never fight fair with a stranger."(Miller, 49) His morals and values that you cannot trust people and you should always take advantage of people you don't know is brought out in this quote. The essence of Ben, that you should take advantage of which you can and use it for your own good in any way possible can be very plainly seen. Willy believes that Ben is the perfect example of success and that his boys should follow this example. We have evidence in the play that Willy does believe that you should take advantage of people when he tells Biff not to worry about his math, that Bernard will let him

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Approximate Word count = 2002
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)