Death of A Salesman recent NYT article intrigued me: Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” … is the most devastating portrait of punctured middle-class dreams in our national literature. … [It] has consolidated its prestige as an exposure of middle-class delusions. … Mr. Miller later wrote …. that he had hoped the play would expose “this pseudo life that thought to touch the clouds by standing on top of a refrigerator, waving a paid-up mortgage at the moon, victorious at last.” … Mr. Miller remembered worrying in 1949 that “there was too much identification with Willy, too much weeping, and that the play’s ironies were being dimmed out by all this empathy.” … Miller’s outrage at a capitalist system he wanted to humanize has become our cynical adaptation to a capitalist system we pride ourselves on knowing how to manipulate. (more ) I didn’t remember the play offering a critique of capitalism, but looking around I see this view is common: Critics have maintained that much of the enduring universal appeal of Death of a Salesman lies in its central theme of the failure of the American Dream. Willy’s commitment to false social values—consumerism, ambition, social stature—keeps him from acknowledging the value of human experience—the comforts of personal relationships, family and friends, and love. … Some commentators perceive the play as an indictment of American capitalism and a rejection of materialist values. … Willy’s … penchant for blaming others has been passed onto his sons and, as a result, all three men exhibit a poor work ethic and lack of integrity. Willy’s inability to discern between reality and fantasy is another recurring motif. (more ) So I just re-read the play. And it does contain critiques of status, ambition for status, and self-delusion to gain status.
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Transcript
Death of A Salesman
recent NYT article intrigued me:
Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” … is the most devastating portrait of
punctured middle-class dreams in our national literature. … [It] has consolidated its
prestige as an exposure of middle-class delusions. … Mr. Miller later wrote …. that
he had hoped the play would expose “this pseudo life that thought to touch the
clouds by standing on top of a refrigerator, waving a paid-up mortgage at the moon,
victorious at last.” … Mr. Miller remembered worrying in 1949 that “there was too
much identification with Willy, too much weeping, and that the play’s ironies were
being dimmed out by all this empathy.” … Miller’s outrage at a capitalist system he
wanted to humanize has become our cynical adaptation to a capitalist system we
pride ourselves on knowing how to manipulate. (more)
I didn’t remember the play offering a critique of capitalism, but looking around I see
this view is common:
Critics have maintained that much of the enduring universal appeal of Death of a
Salesman lies in its central theme of the failure of the American Dream. Willy’s
commitment to false social values—consumerism, ambition, social stature—keeps
him from acknowledging the value of human experience—the comforts of personal
relationships, family and friends, and love. … Some commentators perceive the play
as an indictment of American capitalism and a rejection of materialist values. …
Willy’s … penchant for blaming others has been passed onto his sons and, as a
result, all three men exhibit a poor work ethic and lack of integrity. Willy’s inability to
discern between reality and fantasy is another recurring motif. (more)
So I just re-read the play. And it does contain critiques of status, ambition for status,
and self-delusion to gain status. It is indeed sad to see a success-driven man
unwilling to admit his failure, or to accept charity from friends, choose instead to kill
himself. But I see no further critiques of materialism or capitalism in the play.
On materialism, Willy Loman and his similar son Happy mainly want to be liked and
respected. Sometimes they care about money, but mainly to keep score, and get
respect. When they want luxury goods, such as stockings or fancy drinks, it is mainly
to get women to sleep with them. In contrast, Willy’s other son Biff wants “to be
outdoors, with [my] shirt off.” Perhaps those other women are materialistic, but not
these men.
On capitalism, the play might hold critiques of failing to save for hard times, or of
success based on who you know, good looks, and likability. But these are not
intrinsic to, or even obviously correlated with, capitalism. For example, North Korea
today is nothing like capitalism, yet it has strong status differences, people who
struggle for status, in part to gain sex, and success based in part on good looks and
who you know. A story about an old self-deluded status-seeking North Korean
failure would make just as much sense as Willy Loman’s story.
This seems to me a common situation – things said to be critiques of capitalism are
often just critiques of humanity. Humans vie selfishly and self-deludedly for status.
Some succeed, while others fail. The struggle, and the failures, aren’t pretty. Yes
capitalism inherits this ugliness, but then so does any other system with humans.
It is interesting to note that, compared to most occupations, the world of Miller the
playwright was especially like the salesmen Miller described:
For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. … He’s a man way out there in
the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—
that’s an earthquake. … A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.
Like salesmen, playwrights succeed when others like them. Even though most fail,
most self-deludedly think they will be the exceptions, and can be crushed when they
eventually learn otherwise. But few playwrights lament this, or blame it on
capitalism. Why?
I suspect this is because playwrights see even failed playwrights as high status, and
successful salesmen as low status. A hidden message of the play is “Poor Willy
can’t see that even if he sold a lot, he’d still be a failure in our eyes.” Which is part of
why it bothered Arthur Miller that his audiences empathized so much with Willy.
Audiences thought Willy could have high status.
Some key quotes from the play:
To suffer fifty weeks of the year for the sake of a two-week vacation, when all you
really desire is to be outdoors, with your shirt off. And always to have to get ahead of
the next fella. …There’s nothing more inspiring or—beautiful than the sight of a mare
and a new colt. …
And whenever spring comes to where I am, I suddenly get the feeling, my God, I’m
not gettin’ anywhere! What the hell am I doing, playing around with horses, twenty-
eight dollars a week! I’m thirty-four years old, I oughta be makin’ my future. …
Sometimes I want to just rip my clothes off in the middle of the store and outbox that
goddam merchandise manager. I mean I can outbox, outrun, and outlift anybody in
that store, and I have to take orders from those common, petty sons-of-bitches till I
can’t stand it any more. … I gotta show some of those pompous, self-important
executives over there that Hap Loman can make the grade. I want to walk into the
store the way he walks in. …
That girl Charlotte I was with tonight is engaged to be married in five weeks. …
Sure, the guy’s in line for the vice-presidency of the store. I don’t know what gets
into me, maybe I just have an overdeveloped sense of competition or something, but
I went and ruined her, and furthermore I can’t get rid of her. And he’s the third
executive I’ve done that to. …
I mean, Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets
out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him.
That’s why I thank Almighty God you’re both built like Adonises. Because the man
who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal
interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. …
Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You’ll never get out of the jungle that way. …
See—I put thirty-four years into this firm, Howard, and now I can’t pay my insurance!
You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away—a man is not a piece of fruit! …
Willy was a salesman. And for a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He
don’t put a bolt to a nut, he don’t tell you the law or give you medicine. He’s a man
way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not
smiling back—that’s an earthquake. And then you get yourself a couple of spots on
your hat, and you’re finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to
dream, boy. It comes with the territory.
DEATH OF A SALESMAN: FREE NOTES / BOOK SUMMARY
THEMES
Major Theme The falsity of the American Dream is the dominant theme of Arthur Miller's play. Willy Loman represents the primary target of this dream. Like most middle-class working men, he struggles to provide financial security for his family and dreams about making himself a huge financial success. After years of working as a traveling salesman, Willy Loman has only an old car, an empty house, and a defeated spirit. Miller chose the job of salesman carefully for his American Dreamer. A salesman does not make his/her own product, has not mastered a particular skill or a body of knowledge, and works on the empty substance of dreams and promises. Additionally, a salesman must sell his/her personality as much as his/her product. Willy Loman falsely believes he needs nothing more than to be well liked to make it big.
Minor Theme The tragedy of the dysfunctional family, which helps to keep the American Dream alive, is a second important theme of Miller's play. Linda and Happy especially work very hard to keep the fantasy of the dream of success alive. In the dysfunctional Loman family, the wife is restricted to the role of housekeeping and bolstering her husband's sense of self-importance and purpose. A contradictory role given to her is that of the family's financial manager. In effect, Linda juggles the difficult realities of a working class family while making her husband believe that his income is better than adequate. Willy attempts to provide financial security and to guide his sons' future, neither of which he does very well. Unlike the myth of economic mobility in America, the vast majority of people in the working class stay in the working class generation after generation. However, the myth is what Willy Loman lives on. Unfortunately, his illusions do not fit his reality. Finally, the only solution to providing for his family is to kill himself so that they can collect on his life insurance.
MOOD The mood is uncomfortably false and depressing throughout the play. The audience is always aware of the family’s trying to keep the truth from one another. The failure of the American Dream is ever present and makes the audience question its own commitment to false dreams.
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman as Social Commentary
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman portrays the Loman's and all the family conflicts they faced. It's also apparent on a bigger scale that this play is a social commentary. It touches all the problems brought on by wealth and success in our culture. Death of a Salesman is more effective as a reflection of society and the problems it faces than as a depiction of family conflicts.
The play showed how Willy Loman's longing to be successful controlled his life and ruined his family. Willy also represents a large piece of society. He portrays the people in our culture that base their lives on acquiring money. Greed for success has eaten up large numbers of people in this country. It's evident in the way Willy acts that his want of money consumes him. This constantly happens in our society; people will do anything to crawl up the ladder of success, often knocking down anyone in their way.
Death of a Salesman also reflected how families treat people once they are older. Willy raised Biff and Happy when they were completely dependent on him, but the boys aren't willing to help Willy out when he needs them. This is more effective when looked at as if Willy represents all the older people in our society. It shows how the elderly are looked down upon, are thought to be crazy, and have their jobs taken away for no reason other than age. At times you feel sorry for Willy because these things are happening to him and he is powerless against them. This makes the reader stop to examine our own culture and the ways we discriminate against people who should be our equals and treated with respect.
This play also represents how Willy's actions affected his entire family. He always pushed the boys to have to be the greatest at everything they did. This made the children grow up to always feel like they could never do enough to please their father. They ended up doing things against what they truly wanted. Biff never found a sufficient occupation and was forced to do things like steal. Happy ended up lying to make things always seem better than they were. But it's how this represents society that makes it so effective.
The biggest issue this play imitates is peer pressure. Willy's pressure on the kids is like pressure from friends to do things you normally wouldn't do. Our culture thrives on peer pressure. It can sometimes be positive, like when it pushes you to give your best effort, and sometimes negative, like when it causes you to conform excessively. Either way, Death of a Salesman shows the effects of society's pressure on normal people. Willy is just a man who wanted to be well off. To him, this meant rich and successful. Many people are just like Willy; they have to be well liked because to them, that's what success is.
Death of a Salesman shows both family and society conflicts. However, it's definitely more effective when looked at as an exposing of society's conflicts. It forces you to evaluate the morals and values of this culture. It shows what kinds of things we hold most important and all the hurt that results from making those the most valued things. The play is a depressing but truthful reflection of our society.
The Dangers of ModernityDeath of a Salesman premiered in 1949 on the brink of the 1950s, a decade of unprecedented consumerism and technical advances in America. Many innovations applied specifically to the home: it was in the 50s that the TV and the washing machine became common household objects. Miller expresses an ambivalence toward modern objects and the modern mindset. Although Willy Loman is a deeply flawed character, there is something compelling about his nostalgia. Modernity accounts for the obsolescence of Willy Loman's career - traveling salesmen are rapidly becoming out-of-date. Significantly, Willy reaches for modern objects, the car and the gas heater, to assist him in his suicide attempts.
Gender RelationsIn Death of a Salesman, woman are sharply divided into two categories: Linda and other. The men display a distinct Madonna/whore complex, as they are only able to classify their nurturing and virtuous mother against the other, easier women available (the woman with whom Willy has an affair and Miss Forsythe being two examples). The men curse themselves for being attracted to the whore-like women but is still drawn to them - and, in an Oedipal moment, Happy laments that he cannot find a woman like his mother. Women themselves are two-dimensional characters in this play. They remain firmly outside the male sphere of business, and seem to have no thoughts or desires other than those pertaining to men. Even Linda, the strongest female character, is only fixated on a reconciliation between her husband and her sons, selflessly subordinating herself to serve to assist them in their problems.
MadnessMadness is a dangerous theme for many artists, whose creativity can put them on the edge of what is socially acceptable. Miller, however, treats the quite bourgeois subject of the nuclear family, so his interposition of the theme of madness is startling. Madness reflects the greatest technical innovation of Death of a Salesman--its seamless hops back and forth in time. The audience or reader quickly realizes, however, that this is based on Willy's confused perspective. Willy's madness and reliability as a narrator become more and more of an issue as his hallucinations gain strength. The reader must decide for themselves how concrete of a character Ben is, for example, or even how reliable the plot and narrative structure are, when told from the perspective of someone as on the edge as Willy Loman.
Cult of PersonalityOne of Miller's techniques throughout the play is to familiarize certain characters by having them repeat the same key line over and over. Willy's most common line is that businessmen must be well-liked, rather than merely liked, and his business strategy is based entirely on the idea of a cult of personality. He believes that it is not what a person is able to accomplish, but who he knows and how he treats them that will get a man ahead in the world. This viewpoint is tragically undermined not only by Willy's failure, but also by that of his sons, who assumed that they could make their way in life using only their charms and good looks, rather than any more solid talents.
Nostalgia / regretThe dominant emotion throughout this play is nostalgia, tinged with regret. All of the Lomans feel that they have made mistakes or wrong choices. The technical aspects of the play feed this emotion by making seamless transitions back and forth from happier, earlier times in the play. Youth is more suited to the American dream, and Willy's business ideas do not seem as sad or as bankrupt when he has an entire lifetime ahead of him to prove their merit. Biff looks back nostalgic for a time that he was a high school athletic hero, and, more importantly, for a time when he did not know that his father was a fake and a cheat, and still idolized him.
OpportunityTied up intimately with the idea of the American dream is the concept of opportunity. America claims to be the land of opportunity, of social mobility. Even the poorest man should be able to move upward in life through his own hard work. Miller complicates this idea of opportunity by linking it to time, and illustrating that new opportunity does not occur over and over again. Bernard has made the most of his opportunities; by studying hard in school, he has risen through the ranks of his profession and is now preparing to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court. Biff, on the other hand, while technically given the same opportunities as Bernard, has ruined his prospects by a decision that he made at the age of eighteen. There seems to be no going back for Biff, after he made the fatal decision not to finish high school.
GrowthIn a play which rocks back and forth through different time periods, one would normally expect to witness some growth in the characters involved. Not so in Death of a Salesmen, where the various members of the Loman family are stuck with the same character flaws, in the same personal ruts throughout time. For his part, Willy does not recognize that his business principles do not work, and continues to emphasize the wrong qualities. Biff and Happy are not only stuck with their childhood names in their childhood bedrooms, but also are hobbled by their childhood problems: Biff's bitterness toward his father and Happy's dysfunctional relationship with women. In a poignant moment at the end of the play, Willy tries to plant some seeds when he realizes that his family has not grown at all over time.
Arthur Miller was born in New York City on October 17, 1915. His career as a playwright
began while he was a student at the University of Michigan. Several of his early works won
prizes, and during his senior year, the Federal Theatre Project in Detroit performed one of
his works. He produced his first great success, All My Sons, in 1947. Two years later, Miller
wrote Death of a Salesman, which won the Pulitzer Prize and transformed Miller into a
national sensation. Many critics described Death of a Salesman as the first great American
tragedy, and Miller gained eminence as a man who understood the deep essence of the
United States. He published The Crucible in 1953, a searing indictment of the anti-
Communist hysteria that pervaded 1950s America. He has won the New York Drama Critics
Circle Award twice, and his Broken Glass (1993) won the Olivier Award for Best Play of the
London Season.
Death of a Salesman, Miller’s most famous work, addresses the painful conflicts within one
family, but it also tackles larger issues regarding American national values. The play
examines the cost of blind faith in the American Dream. In this respect, it offers a postwar
American reading of personal tragedy in the tradition of Sophocles’ Oedipus Cycle. Miller
charges America with selling a false myth constructed around a capitalist materialism
nurtured by the postwar economy, a materialism that obscured the personal truth and moral
vision of the original American Dream described by the country’s founders.
A half century after it was written, Death of a Salesman remains a powerful drama. Its
indictment of fundamental American values and the American Dream of material success
may seem somewhat tame in today’s age of constant national and individual self-analysis
and criticism, but its challenge was quite radical for its time. After World War II, the United
States faced profound and irreconcilable domestic tensions and contradictions. Although
the war had ostensibly engendered an unprecedented sense of American confidence,
prosperity, and security, the United States became increasingly embroiled in a tense cold
war with the Soviet Union. The propagation of myths of a peaceful, homogenous, and
nauseatingly gleeful American golden age was tempered by constant anxiety about
Communism, bitter racial conflict, and largely ignored economic and social stratification.
Many Americans could not subscribe to the degree of social conformity and the ideological
and cultural orthodoxy that a prosperous, booming, conservative suburban middle-class
championed.
Uneasy with this American milieu of denial and discord, a new generation of artists and
writers influenced by existentialist philosophy and the hypocritical postwar condition took up
arms in a battle for self-realization and expression of personal meaning. Such discontented
individuals railed against capitalist success as the basis of social approval, disturbed that so
many American families centered their lives around material possessions (cars, appliances,
and especially the just-introduced television)—often in an attempt to keep up with their
equally materialistic neighbors. The climate of the American art world had likewise long
been stuck in its own rut of conformity, confusion, and disorder following the prewar climax
of European Modernism and the wake of assorted -isms associated with modern art and
literature. The notions of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung regarding the role of the human
subconscious in defining and accepting human existence, coupled with the existentialist
concern with the individual’s responsibility for understanding one’s existence on one’s own
terms, captivated the imaginations of postwar artists and writers. Perhaps the most famous
and widely read dramatic work associated with existentialist philosophy is Samuel
Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Miller fashioned a particularly American version of the
European existentialist stance, incorporating and playing off idealistic notions of success
and individuality specific to the United States.
The basis for the dramatic conflict in Death of a Salesman lies in Arthur Miller’s conflicted
relationship with his uncle, Manny Newman, also a salesman. Newman imagined a
continuous competition between his son and Miller. Newman refused to accept failure and
demanded the appearance of utmost confidence in his household. In his youth, Miller had
written a short story about an unsuccessful salesman. His relationship with Manny revived
his interest in the abandoned manuscript. He transformed the story into one of the most
successful dramas in the history of the American stage. In expressing the emotions that
Manny Newman inspired through the fictional character of Willy Loman, Miller managed to
touch deep chords within the national psyche.
As a flute melody plays, Willy Loman returns to his home in Brooklyn one night, exhausted
from a failed sales trip. His wife, Linda, tries to persuade him to ask his boss, Howard
Wagner, to let him work in New York so that he won’t have to travel. Willy says that he will
talk to Howard the next day. Willy complains that Biff, his older son who has come back
home to visit, has yet to make something of himself. Linda scolds Willy for being so critical,
and Willy goes to the kitchen for a snack.
As Willy talks to himself in the kitchen, Biff and his younger brother, Happy, who is also
visiting, reminisce about their adolescence and discuss their father’s babbling, which often
includes criticism of Biff’s failure to live up to Willy’s expectations. As Biff and Happy,
dissatisfied with their lives, fantasize about buying a ranch out West, Willy becomes
immersed in a daydream. He praises his sons, now younger, who are washing his car. The
young Biff, a high school football star, and the young Happy appear. They interact
affectionately with their father, who has just returned from a business trip. Willy confides in
Biff and Happy that he is going to open his own business one day, bigger than that owned
by his neighbor, Charley. Charley’s son, Bernard, enters looking for Biff, who must study for
math class in order to avoid failing. Willy points out to his sons that although Bernard is
smart, he is not “well liked,” which will hurt him in the long run.
A younger Linda enters, and the boys leave to do some chores. Willy boasts of a
phenomenally successful sales trip, but Linda coaxes him into revealing that his trip was
actually only meagerly successful. Willy complains that he soon won’t be able to make all of
the payments on their appliances and car. He complains that people don’t like him and that
he’s not good at his job. As Linda consoles him, he hears the laughter of his mistress. He
approaches The Woman, who is still laughing, and engages in another reminiscent
daydream. Willy and The Woman flirt, and she thanks him for giving her stockings.
The Woman disappears, and Willy fades back into his prior daydream, in the kitchen. Linda,
now mending stockings, reassures him. He scolds her mending and orders her to throw the
stockings out. Bernard bursts in, again looking for Biff. Linda reminds Willy that Biff has to
return a football that he stole, and she adds that Biff is too rough with the neighborhood
girls. Willy hears The Woman laugh and explodes at Bernard and Linda. Both leave, and
though the daydream ends, Willy continues to mutter to himself. The older Happy comes
downstairs and tries to quiet Willy. Agitated, Willy shouts his regret about not going to
Alaska with his brother, Ben, who eventually found a diamond mine in Africa and became
rich. Charley, having heard the commotion, enters. Happy goes off to bed, and Willy and
Charley begin to play cards. Charley offers Willy a job, but Willy, insulted, refuses it. As they
argue, Willy imagines that Ben enters. Willy accidentally calls Charley Ben. Ben inspects
Willy’s house and tells him that he has to catch a train soon to look at properties in Alaska.
As Willy talks to Ben about the prospect of going to Alaska, Charley, seeing no one there,
gets confused and questions Willy. Willy yells at Charley, who leaves. The younger Linda
enters and Ben meets her. Willy asks Ben impatiently about his life. Ben recounts his
travels and talks about their father. As Ben is about to leave, Willy daydreams further, and
Charley and Bernard rush in to tell him that Biff and Happy are stealing lumber. Although
Ben eventually leaves, Willy continues to talk to him.
Back in the present, the older Linda enters to find Willy outside. Biff and Happy come
downstairs and discuss Willy’s condition with their mother. Linda scolds Biff for judging Willy
harshly. Biff tells her that he knows Willy is a fake, but he refuses to elaborate. Linda
mentions that Willy has tried to commit suicide. Happy grows angry and rebukes Biff for his
failure in the business world. Willy enters and yells at Biff. Happy intervenes and eventually
proposes that he and Biff go into the sporting goods business together. Willy immediately
brightens and gives Biff a host of tips about asking for a loan from one of Biff’s old
employers, Bill Oliver. After more arguing and reconciliation, everyone finally goes to bed.
Act II opens with Willy enjoying the breakfast that Linda has made for him. Willy ponders the
bright-seeming future before getting angry again about his expensive appliances. Linda
informs Willy that Biff and Happy are taking him out to dinner that night. Excited, Willy
announces that he is going to make Howard Wagner give him a New York job. The phone
rings, and Linda chats with Biff, reminding him to be nice to his father at the restaurant that
night.
As the lights fade on Linda, they come up on Howard playing with a wire recorder in his
office. Willy tries to broach the subject of working in New York, but Howard interrupts him