Discussion Topic
The impact of psychological troubles on family relationships in Death of a Salesman
Summary:
In Death of a Salesman, psychological troubles deeply impact family relationships. Willy Loman's mental instability and delusions of grandeur strain his relationships with his wife, Linda, and sons, Biff and Happy. His unrealistic expectations and constant pressure lead to conflicts, misunderstandings, and ultimately, the family's disintegration. Willy's inability to face reality exacerbates familial tensions and contributes to his tragic downfall.
Discuss the troubled family relationships in Death of a Salesman.
The tragedy in Death of a Salesman is heightened by the fact that the Lomans are essentially a loving family, with the potential for happiness. Linda is a generous-spirited wife and mother. Biff and Happy love their parents and—initially at least—look up to their father. The weakest link in the chain is Willy, but even he cares for the family in his own way, wants the best for them, and ends up sacrificing his life for them.
Willy is an unfaithful husband who does not deserve his wife's devotion. This upsets Biff, but it is not the root of the family's troubles. It is Willy's delusions of grandeur and his shallow worship of success and wealth that poison his relationship with his sons and cause Linda endless anxiety. Biff and Happy react somewhat differently to their father's example and his credo. Happy strives for material success and exaggerates his own...
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importance, as Willy does, all while hating his job and his life. Biff drifts from job to job, unable to concentrate on anything and regarding himself as a failure, even though the standards by which he fails are not his own. Meanwhile, Linda, long-suffering and unappreciated, does what she can to hold the family together in spite of these troubled relationships. This means that she is constantly dragged into the role of mediator, particularly between Willy and Biff.
How do the psychological troubles of individual characters in Death of a Salesman affect the family as a whole?
Willy's psychological problems are at the heart of his family's dysfunction. Three psychological defense mechanisms Willy uses (and you can apply some these to other family members too) are denial, dissociation, and acting out.
Willy expends a great deal of energy trying to deny that his situation is as bad as it is. He doesn't want to admit his dream of sitting in a hotel room in velvet slippers as the easy money from sales rolls in has been a complete failure. Although getting old and tired, he convinces himself he is a valuable enough asset that he can make demands on his boss: a denial of reality that ends up backfiring on him. He never admits that he should have gone into another line of work or developed expertise instead of relying on his personality.
Linda also lives in denial, enabling Willy and not accepting how badly he treats her, denying it for instance when Biff states:
He always, always wiped the floor with you. Never had an ounce of respect for you.
Biff is overstating the case, but there is truth in what he says that Linda refuses to accept.
Frequently in the play, as his world crumbles, Willy dissociates from reality and enters into a fantasy world more in line with what he wants to believe. This is easier than facing reality. He enters into imaginary talks with his brother Ben that include fantasies about their father and about how huge and impressive Willy's funeral will be (in fact, almost nobody comes):
Ben, that funeral will be massive! They’ll come from Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire! All the old-timers with the strange license plates—that boy [Biff] will be thunderstruck, Ben, because he never realized—I am known!
Acting out is a psychological defense mechanism in which a person takes an extreme action, often destructive, rather than deal with a problem in a more rational way. At the end of the play, Willy acts out when he takes the extremely self-destructive step of committing suicide so he can go out with a blaze that aligns with his fantasy self image. Biff, we learn, acts out in high school when he drops out of summer school as a self-destructive response to father's affair.