“After all the highways and trains and years, you are worth more dead than alive” (Miller, 98). This quote was said by the main character in Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman: Willy Loman. This tragedy takes place in Connecticut in the late 1940s. It is the story of a salesman, Willy Loman, and his family's struggles against the American dream, betrayal and abandonment. Willy Loman is a failing salesman recently demoted to commission and unable to pay his bills. He is married to a woman named Linda and has two sons, Biff and Happy. Throughout this play, Willy is constantly tormented by his and his son's inability to succeed in life. Willy believes that any man who is “well-liked” and “personally attractive” should be able to rise to the top of the business world. However, despite his efforts to raise perfect sons and be a perfect salesman, his attempts were in vain. Willy's only constant supporter has been his wife Linda. Although Willy continually treats her unfairly and pays her no attention, she demonstrates an unrelenting, almost obsessive, loyalty to her husband: even when that loyalty has not been reciprocated. This family's discord centers around the broken relationship between Biff and Willy. This rift began after Biff failed his final year of math classes and discovered his father was cheating on Linda. This confrontation marks the beginning of Biff's "failures" in Willy's eyes and Biff's distancing from Willy's noble goals for him. This estrangement is just one of the many abandonments Willy suffered throughout his tragic life. These abandonments only made Willy cling more quickly to his desire to shape his family into the American dream. They began with the departure of his father who left him and... middle of paper ...... rcissistic) Seller: an integrative model of fragile self-esteem. Psychological Inquiry 14.1 (2003):57.Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Internet. February 18, 2010. Ribkoff, Fred. “Shame, Guilt, Empathy, and the Search for Identity in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.” » Modern Drama 43.1 (2000): 48. Literature Resource Center.Web.February 16, 2010.829838&v=2.1&u=i mcpl_indy&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w>.Romano, Catherine. “Death if I’m a salesman.” Management Review 83.9 (1994): 10.MatherFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web February 16. 2010.