'And they know me boys, they know me up and down New England. His misplaced values of importance and popularity are shaken to the core by his declining ability to leverage those self-perceived traits successfully as he grows older. His wife not only allows these delusions, but also buys into them, somewhat. He lives in a world with delusions about how popular, famous, influential and successful he is and about the prospects for the success of his sons. According to Charles Isherwood, Loman is the play's dominant character because 'It is his losing battle against spiritual and economic defeat that provides the narrative spine of the play.' Loman is a symbolic representation of millions of white collar employees who outlived their corporate usefulness. The play presents Loman's struggle 'to maintain a foothold in the upward-striving American middle class' while combating his own self-doubt that plagues him in reminders from the past that his life rests on unsolid ground. His business acumen is still at its peak, but he is no longer able to leverage his personality to get by. He has lost the youthful verve of his past and his camaraderie has faded away.

Willy Loman is an aging Brooklyn, New York salesman whose less than spectacular career is on the decline. This does not keep him from multiple suicide attempts. He has difficulty dealing with his current state and has created a fantasy world to cope with his situation. Loman is a 63-year-old travelling salesman from Brooklyn with 34 years of experience with the same company who endures a pay cut and a firing during the play. Cobb playing Loman at the Morosco Theatre on February 10, 1949. William ' Willy' Loman is a fictional character and the protagonist of Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, which debuted on Broadway with Lee J. Cobb, Albert Dekker and Gene Lockhart (1949), George C. Detail of the original 1949 Death of a Salesman Playbill cover art that depicts Willy Lomanīroadway: Lee J.

1949 death of a salesman