Provide detailed background on the playwright and his method of inquiry. Death of a Salesman is one of Arthur Miller’s most famous works. It talks about the painful encounters within one family. It also tackles larger problems about American values. The play shows the faith in the American Dream. Miller proves that America is selling false dreams and hopes. Contrast, compare, or contextualize this in relation to other works by Arthur Miller. Arthur Miller's work covers a collection of themes. The American working class played a huge part in his writing. An example is Joe, in All My Sons. They are often portrayed as being shallow and simple, but its society that makes them like that. The family’s poverty makes them …show more content…
Despite his hard work, the Loman family has always lived on the edge of poverty and Willy has always been an underling in his company. Yet Willy constantly tells himself and his family that the "big break" he deserves is just around the corner. He has raised his two sons, Biff and Happy, to also believe that somehow life has cheated them and insists that one day they will get their due. Linda is Willy's loyal wife, lives in denial that her husband has so long tried to keep from collapsing. Willy finds that because of changing economic conditions the company has no further need for his services. Willy is shocked and is unable to understand how his employer could just cast him aside after so many years of faithful service. Willy’s old boss died, leaving his son the company. The new owner sees Willy as having outlived his usefulness to the company. Willy gets fired and soon discovers that he is unable to find another similar job like his previous one. He begins to slowly kill himself by inhaling gas fumes from a hose in the garage. The gas also jumbles Willy's mind, past, present, and future. This shifting through time and space shows how much pressure there has been on Loman to be accepted only if he makes money and provide for his family. He desperately wanted to be "well liked," and without the status of being a manager who makes more money, the dream is impossible. Willy Loman dies as he has …show more content…
It takes place in what seems to be the New York City area. “Willy Loman’s, the main character, house is in Brooklyn surrounded by apartments. This makes Willy mad because I get the feeling his house used to be much more open without buildings surrounding it. The years during which the play takes place is roughly around the 1950′s. I’m assuming this because cars were present and things seem to be prospering, so it must have to have been after the great depression. Willy wants to live the ideal American life that was so sought after in the 1950′s. This included a white picket fence in the front yard, a big yard to plant a garden, and to have enough money to support his whole
Within Death of a Salesman, there are many themes, motifs and symbolism shown to help readers and audiences alike understand the writing. Arthur Miller implemented these developmental characteristics through showing the theme of success and failure, features of a tragic hero and the germination within characters. Through Millers writing, it is shown that the American Dream does not always end in a happy
Moseley, Merritt. “Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.” The American Dream. Ed, Blake Hobby. New York: Info Rose Publishing, 2009, 47-55
Though the summary of the Death of a Salesman didn’t turn out the way readers were expecting, I recommend this to students going on to the high school because in order to understand this better, you’ll need to know the major idea in reading drama plays like an American Dream. Expectation is a vital factor of tragedy. Sure, when we watch a tragedy, we fully expect death, destruction, and sadness by the play’s end. But how will the death occur? What will bring about the destruction of the leading character in a
Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, Americans have idealized the journey towards economic success. One thing people do not realize, however, is that journey is not the same for every individual. Media often leads its viewers toward a “one size fits all” version of success that may help themselves, but will rarely help the viewers. This is seen in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Miller includes multiple instances of symbolism and personification to reveal to the reader the situational irony in Willy’s life, underlining the theme of self-deception in regard to the American Dream. This American Dream, fueled by money, is the main source of anxiety in Willy’s life. The anxiety of income is reflected today in the issue of minimum wage. James Sherk, a writer of the Tribune News Service, plots thoughtful points against raising the minimum wage. However, his use of over-exaggeration and odd comparisons leave his argument less than convincing.
Murray, Edward. “The Thematic Structure in Death of a Salesman.” Readings on Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman. San Diego: Greenhaven Press Inc., 1999.
In 1949, the pinnacle of contemporary American playwright, Arthur Miller, published his works “Death of a Salesman”. After the advent of this play, not only caused a sensation in the theaters in the United States, but also became the Western model of modern tragedy as one of the most important drama after America's World War II. Miller was twice won the “New York Drama Critics Award” and also awarded the “Pulitzer Prize.”[
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman; Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem. New York: Viking, 1949. Print.
Miller, Arthur “Death of a Salesman” Literature: Craft and Voice. Ed. Nicholas Delbanco and Alan Cheuse. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2012. 205-13. Print.
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a story about the dark side of the "American Dream". Willy Loman's obsession with the dream directly causes his failure in life, which, in turn, leads to his eventual suicide. The pursuit of the dream also destroys the lives of Willy's family, as well. Through the Lomans, Arthur Miller attempts to create a typical American family of the time, and, in doing so, the reader can relate to the crises that the family is faced with and realize that everyone has problems.
One major theme in Death of a Salesman is the pursuit of the American dream. Playwright Arthur Miller details main character Willy Loman’s misguided quest of this dream. Death of a Salesman was written in postwar America, when the idea of the American Dream was a way of life. The United States was flourishing economically, and the idea of wealth was the base of the American Dream. Capitalism was alive and well, and by living in a capitalist society, everyone in America was supposed to have a chance to become rich and successful. Miller makes the reader realize this dream is a falsehood, because it doesn’t always work for everyone as planned. In the play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is a prime example of someone trying desperately, yet unsuccessfully, to pursue the false hope of the American Dream, directly resulting from capitalism’s effects.
Miller, Arthur. "Death of a Salesman." Compact Literature. Ed. Laurie Kirszner and Stephen Mandell. 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 1262-331. Print.
Prosperity, job security, hard work and family union are some of the concepts that involves the American Dream, generally speaking. Some people think this dream is something automatically granted; or in contrast, as in the story “Death of a Salesman” written by Arthur Miller, as something that has to be achieved in order to be successful in life. The play takes issues with those in America who place to much stress on material gain, instead of more admirable values. American society is exemplified with Miller’s work and demonstrates how a dream could turn into a nightmare. Arthur Miller’s, “Death of a Salesman”, is a play that portrays the author’s life and the psychological problems that brings the collapse of the American Dream for this in a lower-middle family in an economical depression.
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a play that follows the troubles of a salesman named William “Willy” Loman, whose overzealous definition of true success inevitably leads to his suicide. I feel that a few of Willy’s unique characteristics contribute to his downfall, but that his unstable point of view and completely misconstrued concept of reality make the greatest contributions.
Miller, Arthur, and Gerald Weales. Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman: Text and Criticism. New York: Viking Press, 1971.
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