Try not to succeed, but rather to have value. Albert Einstein Truly appreciate life and you will find you have more of it. Ralph Marston's Death of a Salesman and Thornton Wilder's Our Town both explore the fulfillment of life. Emily and Willy Loman fail to make the most of their lives because they have the wrong priorities and don't take the time to appreciate what they already have. Willy focuses solely on achieving his dreams of success as a salesman and helping Biff become a great man, leading him to ignore his family, declining status in society, and reality, leading to his death. He never realizes what he has lost by chasing inconceivable dreams; However, Wilder's Emily reflects on her life after his death and begins to understand that her lack of appreciation for the small moments has taken away the fullness of her life. Even though Wilder and Miller tell two unique stories, they use similar methods to show their thoughts on life and essentially convey the same message about how dreams can ruin people and how not appreciating the little things detracts from the quality of life. After seeing both his father and brother find success, Willy attempts to prove himself to his family by chasing his version of the American dream. Willy grows up in the “wild prosperity of the 1920s,” when rags-to-riches stories inspire everyone, making them believe that “the achievement of material success [is] God's intention for mankind (Abbotson, Bloom's Criticism ). Willy's father, a "very large" and "wild-hearted man," made his living by traveling and selling flutes, earning "more in a week than a man like [Willy] could have earned in a lifetime" (Miller 34). Even though Willy barely knew his father, he built him... middle of paper... and Bernard exemplifies how hard work creates success and shows the extent of Willy's arrogance through his stubborn refusals of job offers , and Simon Stimson's negative outlook on life proves to be the most realistic in town. Now you know! This is what it was like to be alive. Moving in a cloud of ignorance; going up and down trampling on the feelings of those... of those close to you. Spending and wasting time like you were a million years old. Always being at the mercy of one egocentric passion, or another. Now you know: this is the happy existence you wanted to return to. Ignorance and blindness (Wilder 101 Stimson)Willy lives his whole life chasing a reality that will never come true, and dies disappointed without ever realizing that he has ruined his life; however, Emily gets a chance to reflect on her afterlife and discovers the truth. Closure