Death of a Salesman

In death of a salesman Willy believes that individual opportunities comes from hard work and determination.  In order to be a success you must want to be successful and work hard, because it is not handed to you.  Willy worked very hard all his life to achieve a substantial reputation for his company, yet he was later fired and regarded an unimportant weight when he get old.  Willy did not see how this was plausible because he had worked so hard for the company and given it so much, But Herald, his boss, did not even take this into account.  All that mattered was the success of the company, and Willy was not seen as a contribution to this success no mater how hard he worked for it.  Willy also saw his son Biff as unsuccessful because he was lazy and did not have any determination to make a lot of money.  This frustrated Willy because he wanted to have sons that were successful, and didn't think that they could achieve success without determination and hard work. 

On the other hand, the author, Arthur Miller thought the exact opposite.  He made the implicit argument that success was based on luck and what you were born into.  He did his by have a number of characters in the book that were successful based on luck or fortune passed down to them.  Ben, Willy's brother, was a character that was brought up many times in the play.  Every time he was brought into a scene he would mention that he walked into the jungle and happened to find a diamond mind and walked out a rich man.  This implies that it was simply luck the gave him success.  Willy's boss was also did not work hard to achieve his success, he was simple handed down the business from his father.  

Because of the fact that in the end, Willy was not successful and fired from his job, and his two boys failed at their attempt of become a success together proves that the author thinks that success in society is based off of luck and status, not hard work and determination.