Summary and Analysis: Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman:

                A play by Arthur Miller.  The play takes place in New York City, usually in the protagonists’ house, but also in a restaurant, a hotel, and a graveyard at varying point in the story.  The point of view of the reader or viewer is closely aligned with the protagonist, Willy, and you are invited to sympathize with him.  Miller has his characters speak with colloquial, realistic dialogue which emphasizes the fact that the characters’ situation is meant to directly reflect real life.  Miller also presents the reader/viewer with images of an American family fraught with dysfunction and misery to make his point about our society.

·         Plot:  The play begins with Willy returning home after a business trip.  He almost crashed the car because he was flashing back to the past and getting lost in his memories.  Willy is revealed to be aging and becoming confused.  The viewer finds out that Willy’s sons, Biff and Happy, have returned for a visit.  The brothers are upstairs, reminiscing about their childhood and getting excited about the prospect of going out West to own a ranch together.  Meanwhile, Willy becomes immersed in a past memory, when Biff and Happy were in high school.  They are both athletic and successful, and the family laughs at their schoolmate Bernard.  Biff is failing math, but Willy waves it away because he believes the secret to success is being well-liked, at that Bernard will never make it because he’s unlikeable.  We also learn that Willy is is very delusional about his own success, and keeps flashing back to his brother Ben. We learn that Ben made a fortune because he went to Alaska, and that Willy had the opportunity to go with him but turned it down.  Willy seems tortured by this decision.  Biff and Happy join Willy and tell him about their business plan,—and the possibility of Biff “making it” immediately cheers Willy, who advises Biff to go to his old college Bill Oliver.  Despite their strained relationship, Willy really wants to connect with his sons and make them proud.  Willy goes to his boss to ask to work closer to home, but he is turned down and then fired.  Willy then flashes back to the past, right before Biff’s big football game.  Willy lies to Charlie about Biff's sucess, and we learn that Biff saw Willy and The Woman having an affair (this is why he never went to summer school).  Meanwhile, at the diner where Biff and Happy are meeting Willy for dinner, they meet a couple of girls.  Happy flirts with them, but Biff doesn’t have the “old confidence.”   Willy shows up, but ends up in a fight with Biff because he refuses to accept or hear the fact that Bill Oliver didn’t remember Biff and didn’t help him start a sporting goods business.  He is delusional about success and Biff can’t handle it.  Biff and Happy leave without Willy, causing the whole family to get in an argument later on.  Willy goes and buys seeds, then plants a garden while he talks to Ben (in his imagination).  As the rest of the family reconciles, Ben convinces Willy that if he commits suicide, Biff will get the large life insurance policy money and finally be successful.  The family makes up, and then Willy leaves to kill himself in a car crash.  The play ends at his funeral.  Biff criticizes Willy’s dream, but Happy and Charley say that this is the only dream anyone can have.  Happy promises to continue the dream.  Linda weeps at Willy’s grave, lamenting that they just paid off the mortgage, and the curtain closes.

·         Characters:

o   Willy Loman: the protagonist of the play.  Obsessed with making money and material success, Willy is tortured by his own mediocrity and his son Biff’s inability to keep a job.  He is in his sixties and is losing his senses, often flashing back to the past and talking to figments of his imagination.  He seems to love his wife Linda, but had an affair with another woman.  Willy believes in the American Dream of “rags to riches”, and is determined to pass on this belief to his sons.  He also thinks that the key to success is being “well liked”, being physically attractive, and good at traditionally masculine activities (working with your hands, playing contact sports).  Willy represents the “old values” of America, where getting rich without working is possible and the individual matters.  He is crushed by the society Miller is criticizing; a tragic hero.

o   Linda Loman: Willy’s wife.  She is utterly devoted to him.

o   Happy Loman: Willy’s elder son.  He is a mediocre businessman who is constantly vying for his father’s praise.  He cannot seem to get married, instead going out with a variety of girls he never sees again.

o   Biff Loman: Willy’s kleptomaniac younger son who cannot seem to hold a job.  He struggles with his father’s expectations of success and is miserable just trying to get money.  His kleptomania stems out of the values Willy imparted in him about getting something for nothing.  Biff alone sees the problem with society’s rat race obsession with wealth.

o   Charley: the Loman’s next door neighbor.  He doesn’t interfere with his son’s life and helps out Willy in times of need.

o   Bernard: Charley’s son, a math geek who ends up extremely successful by working hard and studying.  Biff and Happy’s foil, representing the new values of America where charm and personality don’t matter and no one cares about the individual.

o   The Woman: Willy’s lover.  Immediately signified by her title as opposed to a name, The Woman is an entity.  She represents Willy’s desire to be attractive and young, at a time when he believe success is still possible.

·         Theme: We live in a consumer-oriented society obsessed with material wealth, where the individual doesn’t matter and anyone who does not conform will be crushed. J Yay!

o   Willy’s obsession with material success is Miller’s main tool in his commentary about society.  Willy is tortured by his “mistake” in not going with Ben to Alaska and making his fortune.  He believes that the only way he can make his family happy and proud is to be successful, and tries to impart these values on his son Biff.  He wants Biff to be happy, so he wants Biff to make money—for him, these are one in the same.  It is this expectation—and his constant delusion that success is possible—that destroys him and his family.  He literally sacrifices himself for money.

o   Though Miller is arguing that today’s society is obsessed with material success, the mere obsession is not all that undoes Willy.  Willy’s final undoing is that while he has the wrong values concerning material success, he also has the wrong values trying to get there.  He believes in the American Dream of “rags to riches”—getting rich quick, on a smile and good looks.  He is constantly emphasizing to his kids that they will be successful because they are so “well-liked” and good looking.  However, Willy represents these old values, and these are not the values which today’s society upholds.  Instead, people like Bernard—those who are mechanized, not individuals, just cogs in the machine—are valued and “make it.”  It is Willy’s inability to adapt to these new ideals that causes his downfall, in addition to his hopeless obsession with wealth.

o   Willy is also portrayed as the tragic hero of the novel—his downfall is not his fault.  This is emphasized especially by Charley’s words at Willy’s funeral which recalls the heroes of ancient Greek tragedy, and Happy saying that his dream was the only one you could have.  Willy Loman is a “low man”—he is an everyman, just a victim of the larger problems of society.

·         Quotes:

o   “Nobody dast blame this man.”  Charley says this at Willy’s funeral.  The sudden change from regular speech to older language causes it to jump out at the reader.  It also connects Willy to the tragic heroes of ancient plays, emphasizing his role as the courageous, hapless victim of society.

o   “I was lonely, Biff.”  This is Willy’s excuse to his son for the affair he has with The Woman.  This reinforces Willy’s pattern of being delusional—this is not why he sleeps with The Woman.  She is an entity, something which proves to him he is desirable.  This very sexual relationship is much more like an interaction between younger people.  Willy wants to feel younger and desirable, because this is a time when success is still possible.  While it is literally only possible when young, since Willy represents old values, it also reflects how success was possible when he was younger—that is, success Willy’s way was once possible, when his values were young.  But Willy is delusional.  Success and youth are no longer possible for him.

o   “He’s liked, but he’s not well liked.”  Willy says this about Bernard.  This essentially describes his values, the things he think will get him success.  He is living in the past, when being charming and handsome could get you rich quick.  But Willy’s values don’t apply anymore—now, people don’t want individuals, they want a cog in the machine.  Bernard is the one who will get ahead.