Miller's Death of a Salesman expresses his themes of illusion and reality through the main character of the novel, Willy Loman. Willy is a 60 year old, senile salesman who is at the end of the rope and has been trapped inside a world of delusional reality. Believing that he can become successful as Dave Singleman, he continues on with his illusion. In addition, through Willy, his sons and wife are influenced by his falsified ideals. Since Biff's high school days, Willy and his family has never been able to break free from the illusion they are trapped in.

Willy's illusion of a popularity contest infested the minds of Biff and Happy since they were in high school. "Bernard is not well-liked, is he? (transition to Biff) "He's liked, but not well-liked." (page 33, Miller) This clearly shows Willy's strong assent to the idea of popularity. Willy believes that in...