Death of a Salesman

Summary:

The Loman family is a family of four, including Biff, Happy, Willy, and Linda. Willy is a businessman. In the beginning, Willy comes home after crashing his car, and his sons, Biff and Happy, are home. Biff seems to have a strained relationship with Willy, and they constantly fight throughout the play. Happy seems to want to follow his father's dreams of having a son in the business world, while Biff wants to pursue his own dreams. Willy constantly has flashbacks to the past, where everything was going well in his perspective, although in reality, it was not. He also has visions of his brother Ben, whom he admires a lot. Ben "went into the jungle" (took a risk, that is), and came out rich. Willy often asks the visions about his current life problems. Still dwelling in the past perfect life of his, Willy keeps trying to force Biff to follow Willy's own dreams. Biff manages to convince Willy that he does love him, despite not pursuing his father's dreams. Although Willy interprets this as Biff wanting to go into business, Willy goes out in the darkness and crashes the car, hoping that the compensation money will be enough to help out his family. Even after his death, Biff still refuses to become a salesman, but Happy is more than willing to follow his father's steps.

Basics:

Written in 1949, Arthur Miller sets his play Death of a Salesman in what seems to be Brooklyn, New York City. It is set in the present, although there are constant flashbacks to the "perfect" past that they lived.

Important characters include:

Willy Loman- the father of the family, who works as a salesman. He makes many mistakes in the play, but one cannot help but feel bad for him when he sacrifices himself for the good of the family. He is desperate to thrive as a salesman, but he does not have such skills, so he turns to lewd ways to get what he wants.

Linda Loman- the mother of the family, who works at home taking care of Biff and Happy. She nurtures her family, and can be argued as a mother figure for Willy as well. She is a voice of reason within the novel, and is very sensical.

Biff Loman- Biff is the elder son, who has dreams of exploring the west. However, Willy hopes for Biff to become a salesman, which causes many problems between the two. He is the favorite son, and he was a star football player.

Happy Loman- Happy is the younger, less favored son. He looks up to his brother just like Willy looks up to Ben, and tries to be just like him, only to be overshadowed. He seems to listen to his father more than Biff, but he has a bad habit of stealing women.

Ben- Ben is Willy's older brother who had a much more successful career than Willy did. He often tells Willy to "go into the jungle", or take a risk, just like he did. Ben and Willy's relationship mirrors Biff and Happy's relationship.

Narrative Voice:

In general, this play shows the imagery through the detailed stage directions. The point of view, although in third person, is more shifted towards Willy. Although the play does not follow his each and every step, most of the flashbacks are his flashbacks, are as his dreams and visions. Arthur Miller's tone is not 100% clear in this play, but it is edging towards being slightly somber and melancholy. He uses words with a negative connotation, creating this tone, and emphasizes it with the plot. Miller utilizes many symbols, such as Ben, the music, as well as stockings. Ben represents the American Dream, the music represents the past, and the stockings represent Willy's infidelity.

Quotes:

Ben: "One must go in to fetch a diamond out" (196).

This quote could be used in many contexts, but can most directly explain the motif that one must work in order to reach their dreams. However, diamonds cannot be found anywhere, which parallel's Willy's case; Willy's dream of being a salesman cannot come true, as hard as he tries, because the "diamond" cannot be found. This quote can also be used to explain Happy. He is not a bad person, but he is constantly overshadowed (hence, a diamond in the rough). One must dig through him in order to find the true value in him.

"Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground."

This quote was referring to the garden, but in reality, this refers to much more. It also refers to having nothing planted in the ground as a family -nothing is stable in the family. Having something planted is like having something set in stone, and unfortunately for the Lomans, this is not happening, as Willy's job is not actually stable, and their income is low. The family dynamics are also referenced, as it is unstable as well. Linda treats Willy more as a son than as a husband, and Biff has a strained relation with Willy. He tries to follow Willy's dreams, but he secretly detests this. Happy then follows everything Biff does, which could be good or bad (in the case of stealing, it would be bad). This dysfunctional family truly has nothing planted firmly in the ground.

Theme:

The American Dream is not something that can be obtainable by everyone, and it is often very far from the reality of life.

This entire plot revolves around this theme. Willy has a dream of becoming a successful salesman, but it is far from his lackluster salesmanship, and through the flashbacks, it is shown that Willy lacks the potential that his brother Ben had. The title relates to this theme because the death of Willy Loman ended his suffering, but also brought about new opportunities for his family's "American Dream". Through the melancholy tone, the author portrays that this novel and Willy's situation are not quite the best situations, and that his American Dream was not obtainable since the beginning, and through the family dynamics, it shows that not only did Willy's dream fail, it also created a riff between the entire family, proving the ultimate failure of the Loman's dream.