“The present and the past coexist, but the past should not be a flashback” -Alain Resnais. The play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller follows the life of a man named Willy Loman and his family life with his two sons; Biff and Happy Loman and wife Linda Loman. Throughout the show, Willy has delusional episodes of past life events, which he believes he is reliving, and these flashbacks provide him with an escape from dealing with the obstacles he is facing in life. The reader discovers that Willy is having an affair with a lover entitled The Woman, and retreats into memories of their time together for an ego boost, even though he is actually arguing with his children. Willy meets his brother Ben at the same time as he is playing cards with his neighbor Charlie, and because Willy's mind is so far in memory, Charlie leaves. During this flashback Willy compares his life to that of his successful brother, but does not accept his inability to be a salesman. His final flashback is a false encounter he believes he has with his brother, and this progresses to Willy's final act of suicide. Willy's flashbacks are evidence that he is delusional because he cannot distinguish between a past event and reality. In the restaurant, Willy, Biff and Happy are discussing Biff's meeting with Bill Oliver, the man Biff goes to see to get money to start his sporting goods business. Commercial activity. During the conversation, Willy begins to be drawn into a delirious flashback with The Woman, and is unable to continue the discussion with his children:HAPPY: Make him sit down, Biff!BIFF, go get him: Come on, slacker, drink it under the table . To hell! Come on, sit down, man. At Biff's last insistence,... half of the paper... is the ultimate cause of his death. Willy Loman experiences flashbacks of past events and hallucinations that never happened. . Use flashbacks with The Woman to escape the current problem. His delusions are so powerful; he loses contact with reality, as in the case of The Woman in the Restaurant and with his brother Ben and Charley. His delusions become so strong at the end of the show that Willy is unable to interpret what really happened and what is an illusion. He has a flashback with his brother, although he makes up what his brother says. Willys' delusions are what ultimately leads to his final act of suicide. Works cited Miller, Arthur and Gerald Clifford Weales. Death of a salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1996. Print.Unknown. "schizophrenia." TheFreeDictionary.com, 2014. Web. 11 April 2014. .