William "Willy" Loman (1886-1949) was a traveling salesman from Brooklyn, New York City.
Biography[]
William Loman was born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1886 to a Jewish immigrant family, and he was the son of an inventor and was the younger brother of Benjamin Loman, who got rich by finding diamonds in an African jungle. Willy idolized his older brother, following him into the business world. He worked as a travleing salesman for several years, and he married Linda, having two sons: Biff and Happy. Unlike his brother, Loman remained in Brooklyn, and he worked the same job for 35 years, failing to advance. In 1949, his older brother and idol Ben died, and Loman's family life deteriorated as he became delusional, his son Happy became a womanizer with a dead-end job, and Biff failed to make it into a good college. Biff became alienated from his father when he discovered him having an affair on a business trip to Boston, and Willy became delusional, having hallucinations of his brother and of a more successful version of his family. He vacillated between different perspectives of life, and he was childlike and relied on his family for support. Willy and Biff's feud came to a climax after an argument at a restaurant, with the family having an argument back at the home. Biff tried to convince his father that both of them were meant to be ordinary men and should not strive to be anything more, but a delusional Willy believed that his son had forgiven him and that he would become a businessman. Willy, who was suicidal, got himself involved in a fatal car crash so that Biff could use the life insurance money to start up his own business. At Willy's funeral, however, Biff decided not to follow in his father's footsteps, while Happy did.