The death of a
salesman.
Author: Arthur Miller
Setting: Mainly in the Loman household, where the roof is
missing, and the walls are incomplete
Characters
Willy Loman: Willy is the main character; he is in his late
sixties and suffers from reoccurring memories. He has been in many car
accidents in the past, and is also plagued with depression, in the end, he
kills himself.
Linda Loman: Linda is Willy’s wife, and treats him like a
child, he takes up so much of her time, that she doesn’t have time for her own children,
who are struggling to get by.
Biff Loman: In the past, Biff was a successful football
player, but when he found out that his father was cheating on his mother, his
life started to crumble. Since then, he hasn’t gotten a higher education, and
struggles to find permanent employment. He has a hard time not stealing things,
and has gone to jail for it.
Happy Loman: an extremely sexualized character, Happy tries
to make everyone happy. He lies his way into women’s hearts, and even sleeps
with his peers’ fiancées. He is almost always ignored.
Uncle Ben: In the book, we only see Willy’s memory of Ben.
We know that Ben went to Africa and obtained quite a bit of money there, this
is not obtained in a dignified manner. In the end, it is the memory of Ben that
convinces Willy to kill himself.
Charlie: The neighbor to the Loman’s, Charlie loan Willy
money every week, and even offers him a job, but Willy never takes it. He is
the father of Bernard.
Bernard: He is more of what today’s society would call a successful
child; he studied hard in school, and is now a big time lawyer. As a child, he
helped Biff cheat his way through high school. This later hurts Biff.
Howard: He is Willy’s employer in the present. In the past,
Howard’s father employer Willy, Willy even helped name him. Near the end,
Howard fires Willy.
The woman: Known to the audience, the woman is a prostitute,
because of her obsession with stockings. However, in the play, she is a
secretary. She is only physically seen once in the play, but her voice is heard
throughout.
Summary: In the beginning, Willy gets into a car crash; he
is shown after the accident, tired and hungry. We see Linda for the first time
taking care of him, taking his shoes off, feeding him, and humming him to sleep
after he gets into an argument with Charlie on cards. Biff and Happy are seen
in their old room, catching up with each other. We see Willy’s first flashback
of Ben, and off the bat are weary of him. He tells of his work in Africa, and
we can assume that he made his living dishonestly. Later on this is proven to
be true.” The Woman” is repeatedly mentioned, even when they aren’t talking
about the same woman that Willy cheated on Linda with.
The Loman family has a conversation, and this is where we
see that Willy isn’t right in the head. He starts to contradict himself, and he
turns against Linda, who is supposed to be like his mother. He gets angry and
starts to have a flashback of when Biff and Willy were young.
There is a lot of focus on the kitchen area; this is where
most of the play takes place. The scene opens to Willy drinking coffee, we know
that the boys were out early because Linda tells Willy that as she cooks him
breakfast. They talks about how much money they owe, and it turns to malfunctioning
technology. Willy decides that he wants to talk to his boss, Howard, to see if
he can get a job working locally.
When Willy visits Howard, he is shown a recorder. Howard is
amazed by it, and refuses to hear Willy out. In the end, Howard fired Willy,
and leaves him alone with the recorder. The second Willy touches the recorder;
it breaks and starts to play random snippets of the recording. Howard has to
rush in and unplug it.
After he visits Howard, Willy goes to borrow more money from
Charlie, and sees Bernard. Bernard is very busy and tells Willy that his is
supposed to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court. Willy is happy for him,
and sees him off. Charlie comes out and gives Willy all the money that he needs
to pay the bills, particularly his life insurance. He offers Willy a job, but
Willy absolutely refuses to take it.
After visiting Charlie, Willy goes to have dinner with his
sons. Before Willy shows up, Happy has a table and spots a beautiful woman
(also maybe a prostitute) he puts on the charm and gets her to go get a friend
for Biff. He lies and tells the ladies that Biff plays football professionally.
When Willy shows up, Biff tells him how he didn’t get the money from his old employer,
so he cannot start a sports team, and Willy gets upset. He stars to have a
flashback in the bathroom, and this is where we meet The Woman.
We start off
hearing someone knocking on the door, and her asking Willy to answer it, but doesn’t.
Eventually, he makes her go into the bathroom, and opens the door to a young
Biff, he had just failed his math test, and wanted Willy to go and talk with
his teacher. The Woman walks out and Biff Realizes what was happening. The woman makes a fuss about her stockings,
and is eventually forced out of the door. Biff is visibly upset, and leaves
with tears streaming down his face.
When the boys get
back from the restaurant, Linda is in the house, ready to pounce on them. She
yells at them and is visibly angry. Out in the back yard, Willy is trying to
plant seeds, and is talking with his imaginary Ben. This is when Ben convinces
him that it’s a good idea to kill himself. They all talk for a while, and then
decide to go to bed. After everyone is upstairs, Willy goes out into the car,
and that is where the play ends.
Theme: Arthur
Miller’s “Death of a salesman” comments that America’s conformist society
inhibits the pursuit of one’s dreams, which can lead to tragic outcomes.
Imagery: We get
most of our imagery from the stage directions, and sounds that flow through the
entire play. The detail is vivid, making the imagery even more important. It
shows Willy as unstable, and crazy, and leaves the reader a bit confused and
annoyed.
Symbolism: There
are many symbols in this play, for example the car is a symbol of Willy,
because it is constantly referred to, and it is constantly under repair from
the accidents.
The seeds
represent Willy’s Children. Willy forces the seeds into the ground, even though
we know that they won’t grow, Linda tells Willy many times that there isn’t
enough sunlight, but tries anyway.
The recorder
represents Willy’s mind. He is broken; he changes his memory to what he wants
to remember. But the recorder can’t do that. It can play back the past
perfectly, and this forces Willy to remember correctly what happened that day,
when Biff found out about the woman.
