Individual Opportunity

Willy's idea of individual opportunity was one's opportunity to be well liked and generally accepted by the people around him and he consistently illustrated this throughout the novel. Willy always was content when others displayed appreciation for him, mostly by means of making a great sales deal. He would also commonly brag about how well he was liked by the world to his family, which created a bit of resentment with his son. His death further displays his connection with his personal image. When his main contacts died, the world stopped recognizing him, and his son illustrated resentment for him as well, Willy ultimately realized that he was a failure in his own eyes, and he killed himself.

The author's idea of individual opportunity was likely different, and by means of Willy he wished to portray to the world that being well liked is not one and the same with success. There is no clear point in which the author suggests his personal opinions on what it means to be successful, but he likely believed that success consists of a multitude of different aspects, and that believing and chasing only one of them, will most likely lead to one's personal death and realization of personal failure.