It is well known that if you want to be successful, you have to sacrifice something in your life. Whether it's time, money, family, or virtue, you need to lose weight if you want to reach your goal. However there is a point where the sacrifice is not worth the reward, and there is a point where the reward becomes unattainable. In Arthur Miller's comedy Death of a Salesman, businessman Willy Loman sacrifices nearly every aspect of his life and his family for the sake of business, in the hope that one day he will make it big and retire rich. However, Willy Loman finds nothing but defeat at the end of his journey. Willy sacrifices his family, his time and his mental health for his career in sales. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original EssayWilly valued his job more than his mental health. His job often involved very long trips to cities along the entire East Coast, and the only way to get there was in a car with him behind the wheel. While someone might do this from time to time on big business trips, it would be completely unimaginable to see someone do it day after day, just like Willy did. He never had time to go on vacation or relax with his family, which ends up exhausting his mind and leaving him confused and ill at a relatively young age. In the most difficult moment of his life, Willy seeks the help of an old friend and student named Howard, asking him for a better job, even though he has exceeded his limits. Willy's tragic flaw also comes from the fact that he misinterpreted the American dream. , the belief that we can go from rags to riches. For Willy, the success of that dream depends on appearance rather than substance, on wearing a white collar instead of a blue one. It is this snobbery, combined with a lack of practical knowledge, that leads to his downfall. The capitalist nature of the American dream: the belief that through the pioneering virtues of hard work, perseverance, ingenuity and fortitude, one can find happiness through wealth. Implicit in this dream, however, is the assumption that money brings fulfillment, regardless of the type of work done to achieve it. Although Willy himself has never been successful as a salesman, he remains confident that his son Biff will be able to make it big in business thanks to his good looks and his past glory as a high school football star. Willy makes the mistake of celebrating popularity over know-how, style over substance. He taught Biff that being "well-liked" would prevail, thus ignoring the damaging truth that Biff's habit of petty theft - whether it was lumber from a nearby construction site or a soccer ball from the locker room - would eventually lead to the ruined boy. How this theme informs the play is also key to its form, as Willy constantly relives the past through a series of flashbacks. These scenes present Biff and Happy as they appeared in high school, giving the audience a glimpse into the happy past that shaped the unhappy present. Yet, when Biff confronts his father in the final scene, he has an epiphany, a sudden explosion of knowledge: Biff realizes that success involves doing enjoyable work, which for him means working on a farm, outdoors, without T-shirt. Work life and the city are not for him, and he sees his happiness in everyday life rather than in the goals imposed by society or his father. Happy, meanwhile, lacks the courage for honesty and remains trapped in the rat race, again,.