Comparing Willy Loman and Holden Caulfield

Willy Loman and Holden Caulfield are two very different people. Willy is an old, experienced, hard-working man, while Holden is a young, 17 year old boy, in between childhood and adulthood. Despite their many differences, Willy and Holden have an uncanny similarity: They both go through an emotional rollercoaster, and many problems lead to their eventual breakdown. The characters of Willy and Holden are the same, in that both of them are “phonies”, they both make sacrifices for someone they care about, and they both have and carry unrealistic dreams. These characteristics of the two characters allow us to see how the two very different personalities of Willy Loman and Holden Caulfield, are very much the same.

Holden and Willy are both phonies. Although Holden expresses his hatred for anyone and anything that is phony, he is a phony himself. He is constantly lying to avoid his problems, especially when speaking with adults. He plays off his fear of talking to adults by eit...