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Both these instances depict Willy's misconception or failure to see what is true. Willy built an ideal world for himself, and anything that did not fit into this worldview of his was either ignored or denied, leading to the creation of a sad but hopeful protagonist.
By telling his wife "good" news instead of telling her the truth and dealing with it as a family Willy is choosing to ignore his problems so that he could live the lie of a life that is how he always dreamt it to be.
This depicts his denial of seeing it rather than accepting the truth for what it is.
This dream of Willy might never come true but that is the beautiful irony of "the American Dream." Putting himself in a position where he could call himself successful has always been Willy's goal in life and that is why he has always been seen conceptualizing that idea.
This is when we learn Willy idolizes Ben because he is the embodiment of the success of the American Dream, wherein he came from nothing and struck gold.
Money mattered a lot to Willy because that is what success meant to him. Growing up in a family that was not well off and seeing his brother get all the riches in the world made Willy understand the power that money gets a person. The same power he wished for his kids to have.
Willy has a flawed idea of how his brother came to be rich, because Willy holds being liked rather importantly. This importance to that virtue leads him to the conclusion that his brother found his way to all those riches just because he was liked and this is largely a misconception that Willy has birthed because Willy thinks people like him and that is why he is rich whereas the truth is that people only like Ben because he is rich.
Willy tells Biff that the coach likes him and is going to let Biff stealing the ball slide because of that. As much as being accepted for what you do important to Willy, on top of that one needs to be well liked. Willy assumes the coach would not be mad at Biff merely because Willy thinks the coach likes him. Despite this being true, Willy's assumption tells us about his ideology of the correlation of success and being liked.
Upon hearing something amusing that Biff had done in class, Willy's primary reaction was to ask about the reaction of Biff's peers to his deed. This reinforces our belief that people accepting what you do and positively reacting to it mattered a lot to Willy in his life. He was always anxious about whether or not people responded well to him.
Willy explains how merely by being accepted by the people one works with, one can easily get far in life. The path to an easier life starts with being widely accepted.
Willy holds things that make him appear a desirable man close to his heart which can be seen in him talking about his chevy quite evidently. Anything that "beautifies" a person is essential according to him
Willy calls Bernard anemic, because Bernard does not fit Willy's flawed concept of a good looking person. Due to this, Willy thinks that Bernard is not going to succeed in life.
Both these instances help us understand the importance Willy holds for good looks. In the first instance he believes that his kids are going to go far in life because of their good looks. In the second instance he is reminiscing about Biff's high school days and how kids used to follow him around, which according to Willy was due to Biff's appealing appearance. This positive reaction that Willy has towards superficial things is a negative reflection of his character.
