Death of a Salesman

     In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller portrays a classic American home with a husband and wife with their two sons and their conflicts. It is, in my opinion, a little more relatable than our first play which was The American Dream by Edward Albee. Willy Loman, the protagonist, struggles with his professional life as a salesman and his family life with his wife Linda and his sons Biff and Happy. The play is centered around their home where the family struggles to overcome their internal problems and work towards a better future. The reader does not truly know the cause of the family's problems until Willy's frequent excursions shows them the events of the past. Willy is constantly reminded of his inability to be popular and successful unlike his older brother Ben who struck rich in the diamond industry while in Africa. Unable to fulfill his dream, he channels his desires into his son Biff who reveres his father as a person yet is also popular due to his athleticisim. When he fails in his academic endeavors, he visits Willy on one of his business trips and finds Willy with a prostitute. Utterly horrified, he loses his respect for his father for his disloyalty to Linda, leading to Willy’s eventual downfall. The play focuses on Willy's inability to deal with his recollections of what could have been and his comparison to what is. After many attempts to secure his relationship with his family, he eventually realizes his inability to sustain them and commits suicide in the hopes to provide the insurance money to his family.

      The characters in this novel are quite straightforward. Willy is a travelling salesman who has big dreams for his son Biff. He believes that for one to be successful, one must be well-liked and popular. Biff is Willy's older son who first idolizes his father and believes his father that he is truly special. He eventually realizes that he is not as special as he once thought himself to be and breaks from his father completely when he finds Willy with the Woman. Willy's other son, Happy also looks up to his father. Unlike Biff, he seems to be unable to please Willy despite his best efforts and is always overshadowed by Biff. Willy's wife, Linda is always supportive of Willy despite his peculiar behavior at times. She often gets frustrated with her sons for not showing love for their father and supporting him as they should be. And the last character is Ben who is Willy's older brother. He only appears in Willy's flashbacks and Willy regrets his decision not to go with him into the jungle where Ben got rich by starting a diamond mine. He is often seen as Willy's idea of success.

The theme in Death of a Salesman is the futility of the American Dream as Willy sees it. Willy realizes his inability to be “well-liked” and recognizes his eventual decline, coupled with the strained relationship with his family, in a society that progresses on competition and materialism and values traits such as ability and functionality more than popularity and personality.

The seeds that Willy sows near the end of play are symbolic of his inability to provide sufficiently for his family, coupled with the loss of his job, and his final attempt to grow food, representative of his helplessness in a difficult situation. Also the rubber hose is yet another symbol for one of Willy’s many attempts to kill himself in a desperate attempt to provide for his family with the insurance money after his death. Moreover, the rubber hose shows how Willy is even having difficulty providing his family with the most essential element of comfort, heat. Also, the frequent appearances of Ben serves to shed light on the theme and the values of the American society. The work of the title serves to reinforce Willy’s dedication to his job and his death as a salesman rather than his death as Willy Loman.

Quotes:
"Willy, when are you going to grow up?" - Charley, Willy's friend
"Pop! I'm a dime a dozen and so are you!" - Biff talking to Willy