Well Liked

I found Willy's stance on individual opportunity very strange... and similar to the dad in "Little Miss Sunshine". (his what it takes to be a winner speech). The two are about equally successful in projecting this view- as in, they're not. Willy seems to believe that the only thing that can get someone ahead is being well-liked. Therefore, a person's intelligence gets them nowhere if they are not well liked. Popularity is more important than work ethic, and the number of people that someone knows is more important than how commited they are. There are serious flaws in this idea. However, there are more people in the world that think like this than I would believe possible. Willy is not alone- and though being well liked does get someone somewhere- that somewhere doesn't tend to last very long. This may be a rather pessemistic view on humanity (not that I am trying to be pessemistic), but often times people depend more on each other than maybe they should, and although having people to depend on is healthy and essential for life, so is building onesself. What Willy doesn't realize is that although having supportive relationships is important, the only thing more important than that is the supporting in of onesself. If a person isn't committed enough to do something by him or herself, that person can't use other people as a crutch forever. This is partially the reason why Willy falls apart in the book, because he has no self foundation to base his success off of- only the constant hope and belief that he is well-liked.