"""Willy's falshbacks in Death of a Salesman serve as an escape mechanism. He uses these to cope with his sons' failure." Discuss.""

I agree fully with this
statement, except for one important omission. This is that flashbacks are used as an escape
mechanism, but they are equally, if not more, used as an escape mechanism for Willy to escape
his own failure as well as the failure of his sons. Of course, the two are very closely
intertwined, as part of the failure of the sons is the way that they have been brought up by
Willy. This theme is of course highlighted with Bernard's success as a lawyer compared to Bif
and Happy's lives and what they have achieved.