Death of a Salesman notes 1
ENG 102: English Composition II
Lecture Notes #2:
Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller (1949)
Pages 1018-1099
Social Context
The play takes place at a time when Americans are trying to resume normal lives after years of involvement in World War II. The surviving soldiers have returned home and are settling down to careers and family life. The pursuit of peaceful domestic life leads to a move away from urban centers and the growth of suburbs, making automobile ownership more common.
As Americans returned to the pursuit of the American Dream, Miller observed that the ideal of the American Dream had become distorted. Historically, it implied an equal opportunity for comfort and success to those who were willing to work hard for it. In post-World War II America, Miller felt that excessive emphasis was being placed on competition, material goods, and economic success at the expense of a strong work ethic and values such as those that Willy Loman sees disappearing: respect, and comradeship, and gratitude.
Themes
Past vs. present: Willy clearly longs for the past in both his career and family life. The numerous flashbacks in the play all evoke a better, happier time. However, the play also suggests that his choices and actions from the past come back to haunt him in the present with detrimental consequences for his family and himself.
Resistance to change: Because of Willys idyllic vision of the past, he dislikes any form of change, whether in the character of his neighborhood or in the kind of cheese Linda buys. He rigidly clings to his personal worldview, which contributes to his demise.
Truth vs. illusion (or, reality vs. appearance, facts vs. dreams): This conflict is central to the play as several characters in the Loman family have illusions about themselves, each other, and the world in which they live. The progression of the play is a movement away from illusion and towards truth, for some of the characters. As you read the play, try to identify the illusions that some of the characters live in.
Self-knowledge: This theme is related to the one above. Coming to know and accept the truth about oneself becomes the measure of success in the play. As you read, consider which characters succeed in this respect, and which do not.
The integrity of the family unit, particularly fathers and sons: Miller felt that the family was the foundation of American society. The breakdown of the family could have ripple effects across successive generations of society. Therefore, the values, lessons, and behaviors that fathers model are crucial to their sons, grandsons, etc. in a repetitive cycle. Consider how this theme applies to multiple examples of father/son relationships in the play:
Fathers Sons
Father, who left when Willy was three Willy and Ben
Willy Biff and Happy
Ben seven sons
Charley Bernard
Old Man (Frank) Wagner Howard Wagner
Bernard Bernards two boys (just babies)
Personal ethics/morality: Related to the above theme is that of unethical behavior learned from some of the fathers. The play highlights multiple examples of unethical behavior such as abandonment, disrespect, stealing, womanizing, and cheating (in marriage and in school). Note the differences between the ethics of sons who had positive role models vs. those who did not. (The Wagners appear to be an exception.)
Guilt: Willys guilt over his affair and the effect that Biffs discovery of it had on his life is a driving force of the play.
Tragedy: Death of a Salesman is often considered a 20th-century version of a Greek tragedy. On your list of drama terms are two key terms that pertain to tragedy, as it was conceived in Ancient Greece.
tragic hero: protagonist who falls from greatness, or the potential for greatness, through some flaw in his character or error in judgment
tragic flaw: the weakness in character or error in judgment that causes the tragic hero’s downfall ( hamartia in Aristotle’s Poetics)
Key to ancient Greek tragedy is the concept that the tragic hero is responsible for his own downfall; he is not some innocent victim or bystander. Character flaws or mistakes he makes contribute to his fate. Consider who in the play might be a 20th-century tragic hero. Does more than one character meet this description?
Symbols: Several symbols are used throughout the play to reinforce the above themes.
Apartment buildings: The new apartment buildings that surround the Loman house represent progress and modern development literally closing in on Willy. Note his repeated references to being unable to grow his garden anymore because the new construction has blocked out the sun.
Tape recorder: The tape recorder that Howard Wagner is playing with when Willy goes to see him about his job serves a similar function. It is a new technological development that clearly takes precedence to Howard over Willys desperation. Again, it is the new replacing the old.
Nylon stockings: Linda is frequently seen at home mending her stockings, which enrages Willy. The stockings are a reminder of Willys guilt over the affair he had in Boston with the Woman to whom he gave brand new stockings from the clothing line he sells. (Nylon stockings would have been an expensive item in post-World War II America.)
Uncle Ben: Throughout the play, Ben repeats variations of this line: . . . when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out . . . And by God I was rich. Ben represents Willys ideal of a get-rich-quick scheme, what Miller viewed as a distortion of the American Dream.
Flute music: Flute music in the stage directions usually signals a flashback to the past. This is because according to Ben, Willys father was a [g]reat inventor who made and sold flutes. It is also a reference to working with ones hands, a preference that Biff expresses over going into business.
The West: Biff repeatedly expresses a desire to work outside on a ranch out West rather than to compete in the rat-race of the business world in New York. In the early days of the nation, young men were urged to go West in search of fortune and adventure. The West represents this lost American ideal.
Rubber pipe: This small rubber tube that Linda finds in the cellar which can be connected to the gas pipe indicates Willys thoughts about committing suicide.
A twenty-thousand-dollar proposition: Another indication of Willys thoughts about committing suicide, this refers to the payout from life insurance that the family would receive upon his death. After Howard fires him, Willy increasingly thinks of this proposition as the solution to his problems.
Cars: Cars have multiple connotations throughout the play. They are a sign of financial success; Willy speaks of a red Chevy that he owned in 1928, a time when not every American family had a car. Cars also evoke happier times as Willy fondly recalls how Biff used to simonize (wax) the car. In the present time of the play, cars represent Willys deteriorating condition, as he has had increasing difficulties driving, resulting in numerous car accidents. Ultimately, cars will be associated with his final fate.
University of Virginia sneakers: Biff prints University of Virginia on his sneakers. Of the three schools that have offered him a football scholarship, that is the one that he plans to go to. After his disastrous trip to Boston to tell Willy that he failed math and cannot graduate, he burns the sneakers in the furnace, thus ending his own and Willys dream.
Dave Singleman and his green velvet slippers: He is an 84-year-old salesman that Willy met who became Willys ideal of the salesman:
And old Dave, hed go up to his room, yunderstand, put on his green velvet slippersIll never forgetand pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without ever leaving his room, at the age of eighty-four, he made a living. . . . what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up his phone and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people? Do you know? when he diedand by the way he died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers in the smoker of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, going into Bostonwhen he died, hundreds of salesmen and buyers
were at his funeral.
Notice that this ideal of success depends upon making money with relative ease, not working terribly hard, and being well liked. Also note that the title of the play comes from these lines.
Seeds: Seeds become a symbol of laying the groundwork for something that will yield fruit, results, in the future. Towards the end of the play, Willy repeatedly says, Nothings planted. He is referring to not having anything to leave behind for his family, especially Biff.
Biffs thefts: a football from school; carton of basketballs from Bill Oliver; materials from a construction site (which Willy tells him to take); a suit in Kansas City, for which he is jailed; a fountain pen from Bill Oliver. These all reflect the sense of entitlement that Willy instilled in Biff. The play suggests that these thefts end after the Bill Oliver meeting when Biff realizes, Why am I trying to become what I dont want to be?
Mortgage: Linda makes the last payment on the 25-year mortgage on the house on the day that Willy dies, [a]nd therell be nobody home. This suggests the futility of Willys life and dreams.
