Summary/Analysis: Death of a Salesman

Author:
Arthur Miller is an American playwright who began his career in writing during his time at the University of Michigan. His notable plays are The Crucible, All My Sons, and Death of a Salesman. A fun fact about him was that he was married to Marilyn Monroe.

Setting:
This play takes place primarily in Brooklyn, New York. Most of the scenes are in Willy's house (specificially in the kitchen). However, there are some flashbacks which took place in Boston.

Significant Characters:
Willy-
Willy is all bark but no bite. He is too optimistic and talks about what he is going to do, but never acheives it. His attempt of gaining the American Dream fails, so he deludes and pushes his sons to reach for it. Willy does not like to confront his problems, as he has numerous flashbacks whenever someone tries to talk to him about those problems.
Linda-
Linda is Willy's supportive wife. She tries to be realistic about their family's issues, but always continues to persevere with Willy. She is very caring and goes with Willy's unrealistic dreams.
Biff-
Biff is the eldest son of Willy and Linda. He is Willy's "pride and joy" as when he was in high school, he was a star in football and had a great personality. However, after he failed to graduate high school, Biff stole his way out of every job he got. He is a failure, mainly because Willy instilled so much fluff into Biff's mind. Biff doesn't know how to work hard to get what he wants.
Happy-
Happy is the other son of Willy and Linda. He is often ignored and feels the need to womanize to gain attention. Happy is the younger version of Willy, as he says will carry out Willy's dream after Willy died.
Charley-
Charley is Willy's successful neighbor. Willy is very jealous of his success and even though Charley offers Willy a job, Willy turns it down as he doesn't want to be in a "lower" position than Charley. Willy says Charley is his only friend.
Bernard-
Bernard is Charley's son. Although Bernard was labeled as a "nerd" when he was in high school, his hard work ethic payed off. He is now a successful lawyer. He is Biff's friend and always looked out for him.

Narrative Voice:
N/A (it is a play).

Plot:
Willy comes home from a long drive at work. Biff and Happy are upstairs discussing their lives. Willy has a flashback to when Biff was a football star while Bernard pushed Biff into studying math. Willy makes fun of Bernard for not being "well-liked" and brags about his successful business trip. Linda tells Willy that his trip wasn't as successful as he thought and then a woman's laughter pulls Willy out of his flashback. Willy goes into another flashback to when he is talking about moving to Alaska with Ben. Willy goes outside and Biff and Happy come downstairs. Linda tells them that Willy is trying to committ suicide. Willy makes Biff go see Bill Oliver to get hired as a businessman. The next day, Willy gets fired from his job and goes to beg Charley for money. Willy, Biff, and Happy eat lunch together where Willy learns that Biff didn't get the job and stole Oliver's fountain pen. Willy is upset and goes to the bathroom where he has a flashback about Boston and the woman he was cheating with. Back at home, Biff and Willy get into an argument that ends with Willy thinking Biff loves him. Willy drives off and committs suicide, hoping that the insurance money will help Biff succeed.

Quotes:
"'Cause I get so lonely -- especially when business is bad and there's nobody to talk to" (Miller 38).
       This quote foreshadows Willy's suicide. Willy cannot cope with his problems and always tries to avoid them. When Willy says he always gets so lonely, it foreshadows his affair with the woman. When Willy is away for business (like his trip to Boston), he meets up with the woman as he doesn't have anyone else to talk to.
"Yeah. He was a happy man with a batch of cement" (Miller 138).
        Here, Charley implies that Willy would've been better as a carpenter rather than a businessman. This shows that Willy did what he thought he was supposed to do in his society. Businessman were very "successful" and even though Willy kept failing, he continued to pursue this unattainable dream. He would've been much better off doing something he liked to do and was good at.

Style:
Arthur uses imagery, detail, tone, symbolism, and diction in this play. There is no point of view since it is a play and there is no narrator. Imagery is used many times during flashbacks to vividly show the reader what happened in the past. One example is when Willy is telling the boys how to polish the car. Willy describes in detail what he wants the boys to do, like "Get the chamois to the hubcaps," (Miller 28). Detail is also used to provide extra information for the reader to understand the story better. For example, Willy tells Linda in much detail of his long drive home from work. Through this detail, readers can already become suspicious as to why Willy is "...all of a sudden I'm goin' off the road!" (Miller 14). Miller uses tone to show the characters' personalities, like when Willy has a harsh tone as he tells Linda to be quiet. Readers can see that Willy does not appreciate Linda very much. One symbol that Miller uses is the seeds that Willy tries to plant. His failure of starting a new garden symbolizes his failure in life. He cannot start a successful career in business and he cannot grow anything, as his sons (symbolized by the failure of plants growing from the seeds) are also unsuccessful. Finally, diction like, "crestfallen" and "sour" describe characters' mood and tone. The diction also contributes to the characters' personalities.

Theme:
The main theme of Death of a Salesman is that Willy has a deluded version of the American dream.
Willy thinks the American dream is about being "well-liked" and that this will lead him to success. For example, Willy explains to his sons that being "well-liked" is most important, "Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead" (Miller 33). However, this is not the case as Willy states Bernard is not well-liked, but Bernard ends up very successful later in life. Willy does not see that the real American dream is that hard work and perseverance, not likeability, leads to success.