Willy Loman and Individual Opportunity

Throughout the book, Willy Loman constantly elaborates upon his belief that hard work and things such as a “smile and a shoeshine” can help lead to much needed success. He believes in the idea that hard work will lead to success and that his sons have not reached success because they have not worked hard enough. This brings up the interesting point regarding his own lack of success, but Willy does not concern himself with that fact because his delusions lead him to believe he is still a successful salesman. The author of the piece uses Willy and his sons to demonstrate his belief that equal individual opportunity does not truly exist. Biff serves as a demonstration of that, because he has constantly worked hard holding many jobs but has never found what he truly wanted to be and has not earned a substantial amount of money. Through the book, the author carefully uses the characters naïve beliefs in individual opportunity to mock its very existence.