Furthermore, families were once again focusing their attention on the American dream. The ideal American dream meant purchasing a family home in the suburbs that was equipped with a yard for the children and a white picket fence. The husband would commute from his home in suburbia to the corporate world of the city, while his wife stayed home and took care of the housework and their children. In the evening, the family would come together at the dinner table and watch Jack Benny on television.

Incidentally, the rebirth of the American dream influenced metropolitan life as well. As middle class white families moved out of the city to own a home in suburbia, Europe

The Loman family reminds me of an alcoholic home. The family is full of secrets and the relationships between its members are superficial. To have a peaceful existence in this household, everyone must come together to elevate Willy's ego. Displaying of feelings and honoring the truth are boycotted in this family, because it would shatter the tiny threads that tie Willy, Linda, Biff and Happy together.

Meanwhile, the play displays a perfect example of a dysfunctional family unit. With the exception of Biff, the rest of the household is held together by lies and deceit. Instead of confronting Willy about his own inadequacies and the imperfections of his sons, Linda allows her husband to fall deeper into his depression. As a family unit, they feel the best way to protect Willy from himself is to smooth everything over and encourage his erratic behavior.

Willy is a lonely and desperate individual. He is a despondent and washed up salesman who, through flashbacks, is searching for the moment that his life took a downward turn. As a young boy, his father abandoned Willy when he was four and then, eventually, his older brother walked out of his life. As a young man, Willy had aspirations of following in his brother's footsteps and "striking it rich" in Alaska, but Linda talked him out of it. Willy always believed that being well liked was the key to being respected as a salesman. As a father, he would inflate the reality of his business trips to his sons, so that they would continue to view him as a noble man.

After Biff catches him with another woman in Boston and realizes that he is a fake, Willy is devastated because he falls from his son's grace. His son Biff no longer holds him in high regard and that was the beginning of the spiral downward for Willy. Over the years, he is plagued with remorse and believes that he "is worth more dead than alive." With his mind made up, Willy feels he has no other alternative than to end his life.

What about the play moves you? Explain

I grew up in a complex and secretive household. Like Willy, my father was the center of attention and felt the need to inflate his own self-importance. No one in the family was allowed to disagree with my father because it would result in verbal and physical abuse. His expectations of my older siblings and I were unattainable because he would not settle for anything else than perfection. As a result, each of us has struggled with our own identity.

Next, there is Happy Loman. Throughout his whole life, Happy has always played a secondary role to his brother Biff. Over the years, he has become the family peacemaker and the buffer between Willy and Biff. In some ways, Happy seems invisible because he has never been the focus of the family's successes or problems. Yearning to receive love and acceptance from his parents, Happy is the son who remains close to home and tries to follow his father's dream by entering the business world. He is neither successful in business or with relationships. Like Willy, he is a lost soul.

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Approximate Word count = 2228
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)