The Death of a Salesman

Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" is a despondent tale of an unsuccessful salesman, Willy Loman, who beguiles himself and his family into believing he is noteworthy and fruitful. Willy is married to Linda Loman. Together, they have two sons, Biff and Happy.
Many arguments could be made for the actions of Willy. He could be described as depressed, disillusioned, or just utterly misinformed on life. I have come to the conclusion that it is a combination of all three, starting with his misguided view on the ways of the world. From there, it snowballed into depression and disillusionment. From the beginning of the story, Willy's philosophy on how to be successful in life is to be "well-liked". This, he believes, is the true key to success. He deceives his wife and children on a daily basis into believing this as fact. In reality, Willy is not "well-liked" at all.
Linda Loman, the wife of Willy, does nothing to hinder his ways. She is the biggest culprit in aiding his eventual complete delusion. The argument could be made that she herself was not aware of his reality. But since she was always assisting, if not controlling, the bills and family finances, she had to be somewhat acquainted with Willy's success, or lack thereof. She never questions anything positive he tells her. She even refuses to confront Willy about his suicidal thoughts.
Biff is loved and spoken of the most out of the two sons. The problem is, Willy only raised him to be "well-liked" and encouraged him to ignore other things such as school work. Biff's relationship with his father, along with his reliance on what was taught to him, begins to deteriorate once he finds out he is having an affair. Biff will never look at him the same.
Happy is the more successful of the two sons but also, the more forgotten. He is constantly trying to gain attention from his parents but to no avail. Despite moderate success, he remains unhappy and lonely due to the neglect practiced by his parents.
This story really brought up mixed emotions in me. On one hand, Willy was not the most respectable father and apparently not a loyal husband. Although it is not revealed whether he was perpetually unfaithful, he was never honest with Linda about his infidelities. This inexcusable act coupled with his constant deception will not allow me to respect him. On the other hand, he was just a man struggling to provide for his family. Maybe it's a cycle of morals passed to him from his father. This is one thing I wish was addressed in the story as Biff lived a good portion of his life adhering to his father's teachings. Could the same be said about Willy? Does that make Biff a bad person as well? I'm not so sure.
Overall, this was a near painful read. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but there was almost no positive emotions drawn from this. Still, I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys reading. If anything, it should help the reader realize what constant self deception could lead to in the end.