My own discussion with Patty

            What part did Willie Loman’s pride and self confidence play in setting himself up to completely have his values and accomplishments swept out from under him?  I think Willie lived in a world completely shut of the perception of others. He was unable to escape his own views even when everything in his life fell apart. In a way this is untrue since he was finally able to escape his own false reality in an eventually successful suicide attempt. He wasn’t able to cope and function in a world that forced him to open his eyes and see that his sons were failures and his dreams had been shattered. Loman had once existed with the thought that he had and could have everything he could ever want. The single turning point in this philosophy, although arguably unrelated to uncontrollable events, was Biff’s discovery of his cheating. From that moment on his family life seemed to come undone starting with Biff’s flight to the West and followed by his career’s downfall into nothingness. In a way Willie had inflated himself full of hot air thinking his life perfect, but by the time this revealed itself to be untrue he clung to the remnants of that air inside of him. Only when he found himself no longer able to cling to the past did he attempt to take his own life.