The Daily Objectivist said that a hero is any person who applies rational virtue to achieve rational value at least 67 percent of the time, even when it is difficult or scary to do so, and in a way that significantly betters himself and others in the process ("What is a Hero"). Additionally, hero is defined as someone or something that is qualified to earn respect from others as well as having to sacrifice its own will towards their love. From Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is qualified as a tragic hero in the traditional sense because of his total will towards his job as a salesman and the sacrifice of his life tells how heroic he is.
The security of one's personal dignity is one of the key instances that exemplify a hero. Willy Loman lived his entire life as a salesman and nothing else. His job as a salesman was what he primarily loved and it was the only thing that he actually put his pride in.
Actor Dustin Hoffman with Lee J. Cobb, who origina...
1st edition cover (Viking Press)
Death of a Salesman (1951 film)For instance, he misses many opportunities of being successful. He could have gone to Africa and become a rich man, but he stayed in New York simply because he is a salesman (Dwyer). Furthermore, he refuses to accept the job that Charley have offered him and just borrows some money to pay off his insurance bill. Willy Loman speaks not of "success," so much as of being "well liked" ("D. of a S. Tragedy of a Common Man"). This means that throughout all of the hardships that he went through, he wanted to look highly regarded as a salesman. Biff once says that "a carpenter is allowed to whistle" (I. 76). He is saying that people should do something that interests them the most. As for
Jung 2...