Capitalist Society in The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
"Death of a salesman" is a "tragedy of a common man". Throughout the
play the reader sees how Willy Loman struggles to achieve something,
which is beyond his capability. He has a dream, the American dream of
success and accomplishment. And yet, he is not able to ever thrive
because his idea of how to succeed is wrong. The times have changed,
the play is set in the period of an economic boom and increasing
desire for material goods in America and the Loman family is now
living in a capitalist society, however, Willy seems not to have
realised that things have changed. He is constantly battling between
the present and the past, the reality and a dream. The play is about a
conflict between a man and his society, it's a "hanging fire" between
suicide and intolerably changing world.
To begin with, however, it is important to identify what is meant by
the term "capitalist system". Capitalist system is a type of an
economy where the owners of the businesses retain all the profits for
themselves. This type of a system encourages people to want more, as
they hold total responsibility of how much they earn. The importance
of the employer and employee relationship increases, as the workers
are judged by the quality of the work they are putting into the
company. It becomes a tough competition between the staff to survive
and keep their jobs. There is now a need to impress on the employer
with the effort and work you put into his firm and consequently climb
up the ladder of success. The relationship between Howard and Willy in
the play is very ambiguous. Howard on one hand is running...
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... physically and mentally. He
desperately tries to integrate, but he was left behind the modern
world. Unable to control his senses of past and present, mixing and
confusing the two, Willy fails to see the flawed nature of the system
he functions in. He follows wrong dreams and ideas, which are mainly
imposed upon him by the society, only to prove himself; nonetheless he
is "crushed" by the unjust, competitive culture. And in addition, his
personal failures add to the self-perceived wasted life of a "common
man".
1. C.W.E. Bigsby: "A critical introduction to Twentieth-century
American Drama"; Volume One 1900-1940
2. York Notes Advanced: "Death of a salesman, Arthur Miller"; editor:
Adrian Page, 1998
3. Stratford-upon-Avon Studies: "American Theatre"; general editors:
John Russel Brown, Bernard Harris, 1967
Willy Loman’s character is capable of making errors. He believes he is a very successful salesman and well liked. He also thinks that the company likes what he is doing. He once said, “I’m the New England man. I am vital in New England” (Miller pg. 32) Because of his false belief about his success Howard fired him. After he got fired charley offered him a job, but he refuses to accept, because he is too proud and jealous to work for Charley. His actions were wrong because at no time was a successful salesman. He is not a powerful character. Willy lives in his fantasies where he is the man. Who goes out to another place and comes out rich, he is love by everyone and admired by his family. In real life, he is lazy and does not live up to his own ideals. “As Aristotle explains, a tragic hero must be one of noble character and must fall from power and happiness.”(Www.ccd.rightchoice.org/lit115/poetics.html) but Willy neither has a noble characteristic nor does he fall from power because he does not have a position of power.
A logical fallacy can be defined as a “flawed argument” (Kirszner and Mandell 84). It can be considered, “ a writer who inadvertently uses logical fallacies is not thinking clearly or logically…” (Kirszner and Mandell 84). In the play, Death of a Salesman, there is an assortment of situations exemplifying different kinds of logical fallacies. Cognitive distortions are also present in this play. Some of the characters in Death of a Salesman have thoughts that seem to be slightly unclear. These distortions sometimes result when people “…think in extremes…” (“Cognitive Distortions”).
Throughout the play Death of a Salesman the main character, Willy Loman, struggles to find a medium between his family and career life. Such an occurrence is common throughout history, and one only needs to look at celebrities to see that such a statement is accurate as more often than naught, the pursuit of wealth and a tight family unit don’t often correlate well together. Perhaps this is a matter of balancing one’s personal life, and one’s career. Yet few have managed to succeed in maintaining both on equal level, as one is valued above the other. This may not be seen as a drastic problem, for most people, as they are happy with their income rates and family relationships, and thus doesn’t see a need to change to improve either one. Some might even argue that it’s the normal thing, and that the other side is not affected by the amount of time that they prioritize with either their family or work. In fact, most might say, that in focusing more on one aspect, be it their job or their family, the other simply balances out. However, this tends to be more noticeable in families that prioritize their relationships above their career, as they see their wealth as something that
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman exploits the notion of the American Dream and the promises made by the American Government towards its citizens. Throughout the play, Miller makes references to dreams that each character carries but the failure in the fulfilment of the same. He recaptures the disappointments and disillusionments that the American nation suffers from for the American Dream is as well as death. Miller was the first playwright of his time who sheds light on this fact that the dream that every American carries a torch for is dead and gone.
A white picket fence surrounds the tangible icons of the American Dreams in the middle 1900's: a mortgage, an automobile, a kitchen appliance paid for on the monthly - installment - plan, and a silver trophy representative of high school football triumph. A pathetic tale examining the consequences of man's harmartias, Arthur Miller's "Death of A Salesman" satisfies many, but not all, of the essential elements of a tragedy. Reality peels away the thin layers of Willy Loman's American Dream; a dream built on a lifetime of poor choices and false values.
Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, portrays the cost of selling oneself to the American Dream. Willy Loman, the central character, is madly determined to achieve affluence that he overlooks the value of his family and himself in the process. He instills in his sons, Biff and Happy Loman, that being charismatic will hand them a prosperous lifestyle. Happy trusts in his father’s ideology while Biff’s beliefs contradict them. Biff deems that success is a product of happiness and contentment, not a paycheck. Out of all the sociological theories, social conflict best emphasizes the author’s perspective of how conflict, through class and family, can deteriorate the American dream. By analyzing the play’s themes- social class and family- through the sociological perspectives: structural-functional, social conflict, and symbolic interactionist, we can predict what drives these characters to behave and perceive things the way they do.
The American Dream; the belief that anyone regardless of where they were born or what their social rank is, can attain their own version of success in society. This dream is one that Americans strive for. They strive for that overwhelming feeling of success knowing they made an impact in society. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman searches for this dream while unconsciously destroying the relationships with his family and friends around him.
Willy Loman equates success as a human being with success in the business world. When Willy was a young man, he heard of a salesman who could "pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without ever leaving his room, at the age of eighty-four, make his living." (81) This salesman is Willy's inspiration; someday to be so respected and so well known that he can still provide for his family, even at an old age. Of course, Willy is no good at being a salesman because his heart isn't in it. The only time Willy puts his heart into anything is when he works with his hands, and his son, Biff, comes to realize this. "There's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made." (138) Willy never comes to the realization that it is not being a salesman that he cares about, but rather being well known and, perhaps more importan...
would give hope for a moral future. In the play there was little hope for
Willy’s hubris makes him feel extremely proud of what he has, when in reality he has no satisfaction with anything in his life. Willy Loman’s sons did not reach his expectations, as a father, but he still continued to brag about Biff and Happy in front of Bernard. Willy Loman caused the reader to empathize with him because before his tragic death he did everything he could for his family. Empathy, Hubris, and Willy Loman’s tragic flow all lead him to his death that distends from the beginning. He is unable to face reality and realize that he’s not successful in life or at his job; he remains living in a world where he thinks he’s greater than everybody else because he’s a salesman.
Death of a Salesman was written in 1949 in the period of literary realism (Na). In this play, Miller also integrated naturalism and expressionism. Expressionism is seen in the work because Willy sees not only reality, but also his past and he sees his brother Ben who is dead (Hoeveler). Willy imagines that his death will cause his son to praise him because through the insurance policy, the family would receive a sum of money to provide for themselves, but in reality, Linda, Biff, and Happy, wish that he wouldn’t have done that. Miller wanted Death of a Salesman to imitate a Greek Tragedy. In most Greek and Shakespearean Tragedies, the tragedy begins because of a flaw of the protagonist and in the end, the protagonist either
The struggle for financial security and success has always been prominent in the American culture. The idea of the American dream captures the hearts of so many, yet leaves almost all of them enslaved in the endless economic struggle to achieve high status, wealth, and a house with a white picket fence. In Arthur Miller's, Death of a Salesman, we see how difficult it is for Willy Loman and his sons to achieve this so called American dream. In Lorraine Hansberry's, A Raisin in the Sun, she examines an African-American family's struggle to break out of the poverty that is preventing them from achieving some sort of financial stability, or in other words the American dream. Both plays explore the desire for wealth, driving forces that encourage the continued struggle for dreams, and how those dreams can lead to the patriarchal figure’s downfall. However, the plays contain minor differences, which have a common underlying factor, that leads A Raisin in the Sun to have a much more positive outcome than Death of a Salesman.
The “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller is a play deeply composed of many fundamental Marxist ideologies and beliefs. Marxists mainly believed Capitalism would lead to greed and uncontrollable consumerism which is applicable to the play as it follows the protagonist Willy Loman, a door to door salesman in mid to late 1940’s America, who in the later stages of his life is struggling to live up to his expectations of the ‘American Dream.’ The major theme in the play is the pursuit of this dream and the title represents the falsehood of it. The word ‘death’ in the title of the play initially foreshadows the death of Willy but also symbolises the death of the ‘American Dream.’ This is shown by Lois Tyson in “Critical Theory Today” through saying:
Willy believes that he is much more successful than he is in reality. The first sign of Willy’s illusion about his life occurs rather early in the play. He has the illusion that “[he’s] the New England man. [He’s] vital in New England” (14). In reality any person could have taken Willy’s position at work. This illusion leads to his downfall because as his life begins to fall apart, he lives in the illusion that he has enough money to support his family, so he does not recognize that he has to put the pieces of his reality back together. More towards the end of the play, in an outburst of anger Willy refuses to be called “a dime a dozen” and states “I am Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman” (132), as if the Loman family is a special figure in society. His unclear view of his place in society leads to his destruction; with only one view of his life, Willy believes that he is living his life to the fullest.