The Alienation of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman Death Salesman essays

The Alienation of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

It is often stated that society is very judgmental. It can be seen

in movies, literary works, or just an everyday walk of life. Arthur Miller

chooses to portray society's prejudice against the protagonist, Willy Loman,

in his play, Death of a Salesman. Society, in this case, rejects Willy

Loman because he isn't upper class, and because he is getting up in age.

Many occurrances highlight society's judging of Willy, including him being

fired, the "spite" that he recieves from his sons, and the way he alienates

himself. All of these eventually lead to the downfall of a strong, but confused,

Willy Loman.

Perhaps the most defeating action that happened to Willy was the

loss of his job. All he had ever been in life was a salesman, therefore it

was the only trade that he was any good at. When he had the conference

with Howard, he had his hopes up. Willy had regained his confidence in

himself and was ready to take control of his life at a very crucial time.

However, Howard crushed all of that by firing Willy, simply because he

thought Willy, "needed some rest." Actually, Howard never intended to give

Willy his job back. He was merely trying to take Willy's position because

he didn't believe Willy could hack it anymore. This is a reflection of

society's present day treatment of the elderly. Younger generations now,

move older people into rest homes and try to keep them out of public view,

for risk of embarassment. This is reflected by Howard's statement, "I

don't want you to represent us anymore." Society's assumption of Willy's

capabilities, in this case, cost him his job.

A second occurrance that displayed Willy's alienation happened in

his own family. Biff doesn't believe whatsoever in his father and has no

hope for him at all. Biff even says in act one that his father has no

character. Biff is a perfect symbol for society in the play. Biff knows

his father has problems, but even as a son, "can't get near him." Even

though he accepts his father as a fake later in life, Biff tries over and

over again to reach his father and to help him, but an unseen barrier

prevents Biff from doing so. Happy is the type that knows what's going on

with his father, but won't try to help him. Although it is never actually

said verbatum, it is obvious that Willy has some kind of mental problem

that needs some attention. Yet even in his own home, he can't get any help

because his family can't bring it upon themselves to help him. This

instance depicts the way society would rather, "Let someone else handle

it," than take action and go against what is popular. This example is

probably the saddest and most heartbreaking part of the play.

A final instance of Willy Loman's alienation is the way he excludes

himself from society. Subconciously, Willy knows what his capabilities and

his problems are, and he exiles himself socially. That could very well be

the reason behind the "conversations" he has with himself throughout the

novel; he feels like he can't talk to anyone else. Willy has a war going

on in his mind, and he is helpless toward ending it. He knows that he can

do well in life and be the man he should be, but he just can't seem to

piece together the correct method of doing so. It's because of this that

he continually defeats himself, and repeatedly fails. Willy Loman wants to

be the best at anything, particularly selling and being a provider for his

family. However, his character is one who owns nothing and makes nothing,

so he is constantly at the far bottom of the totem pole. Even the

merchandise that he sells, which is his expertise, doesn't belong to him,

and just helps to keep him down in the business world and away from society.

Perhaps Willy's alienation is symbolized by the garden he wishes to grow in

his back yard. His back yard is small, fenced in, and unable to bear a

fruitful garden. Likewise, Willy Loman's position in the working world is

constricted, away from everyone else, and won't let him become successful.

Willy was his own worst enemy, a man who couldn't accept himself. Society

added fuel to the fire by not accepting him either.

It is human nature to be judgemental of things, and especially

people. Willy Loman was no exception to this. Yet, Willy was already down,

and society kept him there. He lost the job that he'd worked at faithfully

for thirty-four years, simply because the younger owner couldn't bear with

having an older, less succesful salesman representing the company. Willy

is sealed off from his family, especially from his sons, because of an

unseen force that causes an inability to communicate. Finally, he can't

fight the predicament that society placed him in, because deep down, he

can't accept the fact that he's not what he wanted to be in life. All of

the actions that alienated Willy Loman validate the prejudice and bias of

society.