d over other types of success. Willy may be "an exploited victim of an indifferent capitalist system (Perkins, p. 710)," but he clearly values that very system and has "bought in" to its norms and mores. Thus, when he finds that the one thing which had defined him as a man, a husband, and a father has been taken away from him (e.g., his job), he regards himself as a failure. When Willy Loman's act of sacrificial suicide is completed, it is Linda Loman who is left to cope with the supposed benefits of his "act of love" meant to redeem his house. The character of Linda Loman reflects Willy's own perception of himself; she recognizes that her husband, Willy, is "only a little boat looking for a harbor (Miller, p. 76)." Her sons and her husband are unable to communicate openly; she serves as the conduit through which they express their emotions, worrying throughout the play about her husband's long slow decline into professional failure. It is her tragedy as well as his. The men with whom she lives (and whom she loves with a desperation that is in and of itself tragic in tone) are hateful to each other (Miller, p. 76), a condition that her best efforts and intentions cannot cure. It is Willy's tragedy that Linda responds to throughout the play. He is, she tells their son Biff, a "human being and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid (Miller, p. 56)." Willy is, as Linda knows all too well, a small man who, upon losing his salary as a salesman, can no longer understand the terms of his life. Her tragedy (a consequence of his "failure" as a husband) is that in spite of his shortcomings, his failures, his bombosity, and his arrogance, she loves him and her world revolves around him. Linda's fear is that he will go through with a suicide to save their home; this is a legitimate fear, which is realized when Biff and Willy have their final confrontation and Willy is told, once and for all, that he and his son a...
