Competition
Everyman's experience of reality is shaped on all sides by the need to compete for limited resources. He loves his parents, but mostly he needs to compete for their attention against his brother. He assumes that their love is a finite commodity and he seeks to seize most for himself. His brother wins and becomes a successful business person defined by confident participation in life. Everyman finds himself competing in the domain of sexuality, finding ideal mates for himself, but the competitiveness of his personality is a poison that kills those relationships.
Sex and self-worth
As mentioned, Everyman feels inferior to his brother. His desire to secure an ideal mate is a desire for self-worth and sexual validation. He doesn't see sex as a mystic religious sacrament; he sees it as a game, the objective of which is to possess ideal women (as objects), to win, and to get the ultimate reward for victory—self-worth and self-esteem. There are two issues with this abstract imagery; one, it is false and doesn't work, and two, it is abusive and sociopathic.
Family and responsibility
Because his perception of sexuality is limited to his own desire and self-worth, when it comes time for true sacrifice and responsibility, Everyman fails. He doesn't perceive family as a worthy sacrifice, because he doesn't understand the value of his children or their future. They aren't him, so why should he care about them? He doesn't see the poignant, heroic value of accepting responsibility in life, so instead of forming a family, he just climbs the ladder of attractive mates. He ends up winning a supremely attractive Scandinavian model, but still doesn't feel attachment to her. He leaves her without realizing that sacrifice is what yields attachment.
Death imagery
The first and most important imagery of Everyman is actually not life, but death. The narrative covers his life from youth to old age, but the story is framed by his death. Everyman dies in a hospital operation, and this novel is his final reflection of life from the grips of death. His experience is firmly lodged in the domain of death, like in the symbol of the Tao, the white dot is lodged in the domain of black, and his remembrance of life has at its central the nucleus of death, the experience of his parents death and his visiting their grave (like the black dot lodged in white).
