Arthur Miller believes that a common man can think, aspire, suffer: and that a common man can give his life for "his sense of human dignity." Willy Loman demonstrates such a notion. His main thought is of the American Dream. Because he knows that he is unsuccessful, Willy wants his sons to be successful in his place. Willy suffers a great amount whenever he thinks about his son Biff and how he never amounted to anything. In the end, Willy took his life when he found out that Biff really loved him. This gave him back his dignity and he took his life for it.
Willy wanted the perfect job and the perfect family. This was his American Dream. For a long time, his job was perfect; where ever he went, people knew and loved him. He wanted to provide for his loving family. In order to do this, he felt that he needed money. When he could no longer work well, Willy did not have the money he needed. Because he loved his family so much, he would ask others for money, losing his dignity. His family was all Willy thought about. All he wanted was to fulfill his American Dream.
His whole life, Willy aspired to be successful. As he got older, he could no longer bring in the money his family needed. Because he was no longer successful, he wanted his sons to become accomplished. He had always had big dreams for his sons, especially Biff. Willy always thought Biff had such great potential and when he made nothing of himself, it was all Willy could think about. All of his aspirations were placed on his son.
There is an immense amount of suffering within this play. Willy had always dreamed about what a great success his son Biff could be and when he did not make anything of himself, it was Willy who suffered the most. He would often think back to the past when he and his son were close. Often getting lost in his thoughts, Willy would believe it was really happening. He would start talking out loud to people who were not there.