What are You Trying to Sell?

What is a salesman? To me, it is simply someone who must educate you on a product and then convince you that you MUST have it. Therefore, in a sense we are all salesmen. We are all trying to sell ourselves in some way. Whether we are selling our personalities or interest to fit in or possibly selling ourselves to friends that they can't live without us. Maybe even to our significant other that they need us for help to get through each day with passion and love.

But with that being said, in "Death of a Salesman" a whole new meaning is approached. Willy is a salesman, and his neighbor Charley tells him, “the only thing you got in this world is what you can sell” (1256). Willy doesn't recognize this. All he thrives off of is his past and gets angry because he has nothing to sell. Men were defined by their job in the 1940's. They didn't have much of a relationship with family or children. It was simply money. I believe that Charley is trying to help Willy find himself in the life he is really in. Willy seems to be so wrapped up in his emotions and past relationships along with mistakes that he has nothing left to sell.

Today, this statement changes to something different. The world is centered on wants more so than needs. People want anything anyone has to sell. We take things for granted even in struggling economic times and push the barrier a little further and further concerning relationships and friendships. We sell unnecessary items in order to be better than someone else or to have more stuff to show. Much like Willy, many struggle with shame and guilt from their past but instead of confronting them, individuals will attempt to cover these mistakes and sell the person they choose to present to everyone they meet.

I guess, to me, everything, every day is simply just a sale nobody wants to miss.