Marxism Death Of A Salesman Essay

Death of a Salesman through a Marxist Lens

In the late 1940s, America was recovering from the stock market crash in ’29. That very crash initiated the worst economic downfall in history, the Great Depression. Caught in the middle were middle and lower-class citizens who had faith in the stock market, heavily invested, but later sold their stocks in a panic causing the crash. Willy Loman is a salesman that thrived in his early years, however, succumbed to the downfall of the American capitalist society that Loman admired, and Karl Marx was so critical of. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman tells a story aberrant to the idea of achieving the American Dream, instead showing how Willy Loman is slowly wrung out to dry in his final years due to his career choice.

The illusion of class transcendence contributed to the ultimate downfall of his career. This mindset caused Willy to uphold ridiculous standards for his son Biff. On the surface, it seemed as if he was uplifting his son, but the lies and deceit they were built on caught up to him afterward. “Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world, a young man with such—personal attractiveness, gets lost. And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff—he’s not lazy.” (Miller 16). Tired of pursuing his father’s false hopes of success he tells him, “Will you let me go for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?” (Miller 133). Willy and Biff are both part of the proletariat, Willy struggling to overcome his working-class status and Biff accepting it. No matter how much Willy was liked and how much he worked, due to his financial status, he would never be able to achieve that