Death of a Salesman (1949)

By Arthur Miller

Characters

1) Willy Loman: a salesman who belongs to a middle class (63 years old)
2) Linda: Loman’s wife
3) Biff: Loman’s older son. He is a football player (34 years old)
4) Happy: Loman’s younger son (32 years old)

5) Howard Wagner: Loman’s boss

6) Uncle Ben: Loman’s older brother. He is dead. He is the symbol of success to Loman
7) Charley: Loman’s neighbor and friend
8) Bernard: Charley’s son

Capitalism in Death of a Salesman

Willy Loman embodies the average worker, who works his whole life for the same
company and then gets fired when he is of no use for the company. Miller shows how the
average man is exploited by the system and thrown away in the end. With this, Miller
tries to show how heartless and inhumane this system can be.

American Dream

The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or
what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where
upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is achieved through risk-
taking, hard-working, and being well-educated, not by being well-liked.
Willy Loman as a modern tragic hero (How his tragic flaw leads to his downfall)
➢ Loman has a tragic flaw in his character which is self-deceit, the inability to adjust to the
present (the inability to adapt to changes), and his belief in the wrong values that define
success. He mistakenly believes that the myth of easy success (the idea of being well-
liked) will enable him to attain the American Dream. His tragic flaw leads to his downfall
as at the end of the story, he kills himself, for Biff would get twenty thousand dollars of
insurance money. At Loman’s funeral, no one is present. He dies as a pathetic, neglected,
and forgotten man.

➢ To Willy Loman, the foundation of success is not education or hard work, but rather
being well-liked and having personal charms. Loman believes so much in this value that
he ridicules Bernard who is a hard-working and studious character.

➢ Willy Loman suffers from inner conflict, always escapes to the past, sometimes he fails
to distinguish between the past and the present. He lives in a confused mental state.

➢ Willy Loman is a victim of his wrong values, his failure to change or adapt to changes,
and is also a victim of harsh business world.

Father-son relationship (Willy Loman and his sons)

➢ Biff and happy are victims of their father. Loman instills in his sons the idea that being
well-liked is the key to achieve the American Dream.

➢ Loman deceives himself with unrealistic hopes for himself and Biff. He does not want to
admit that his son Biff is a failure. He believes that because Biff is attractive, liked, and
was a star football player in high school, he would achieve the American Dream easily.
He tells Biff how great he is and how successful he can become despite his failure in
education and that he has no real skills and no leadership ability.

➢ Both Loman and Biff want to achieve the American dream but in a different way. Biff is
realistic but Loman has a tragic flaw of self-deceit, the inability to adjust to the present,
and his belief in the wrong values that define success.

➢ When Biff went to his father to explain to him his failure in math, he found Loman in his
hotel room having an affair with a strange woman. Afterwards, Biff held a grudge against
his father, never trusting him again.
Linda (Willy Loman’s wife)

➢ Linda is very loyal to her husband. She knows that Willy is suicidal, irrational, and
difficult to deal with; however, she goes along with his illusion and fantasies.
➢ She tries to fix the relationship of Willy Loman with his children and sacrifices her
relationship with her children for Willy Loman (the idea of fixing relationships, mending
stockings).
➢ In fact, she even throws Biff and Happy out when their behavior threatens to upset Willy.
➢ Even though Willy is often rude to her and there is the possibility that Linda suspects
Willy may have had an affair, she protects him at all costs. In many ways, Willy is like a
small child, and Linda is like a mother who anxiously protects him from Biff, Happy, and
the rest of the world.
➢ Linda knows that Willy is secretly borrowing money from Charley to pay the life
insurance and other bills.
➢ When Willy notices a stocking in Linda’s hand, he tells her not to mend stockings.
➢ She has discovered the rubber hose behind the heater and lives in fear that Willy will try
to asphyxiate himself. She is also aware that he has attempted to kill himself several
times before. Despite all this, Linda does nothing, afraid to aggravate Willy's fragile
mental condition.
Summary

Willy Loman has been a traveling salesman for the Wagner Company for thirty-four years. He
likes to think of himself as being vital to New England. As the play opens, Loman has just come
back home after having left New England earlier that morning. He tells his wife Linda that he
has returned unexpectedly because he cannot seem to keep his mind on driving anymore. Linda
thinks that he needs a long rest.

Loman has trouble understanding why Biff, his thirty-four-year-old son, cannot find a job and
keep it. Biff is attractive and was a star football player in high school; however, he could not
finish his education, for he flunked/failed in math. When Biff went to Boston to find his father
and explain the failure to him, he found Loman in his hotel room having an affair with a strange
woman. Afterwards, Biff held a grudge against his father, never trusting him again.

Biff and his brother Happy try to think of a job that Biff could get that would allow him to settle
down in New York. Biff thinks of a man named Bill Oliver, for whom he was worked; Biff
believes he can get a loan of ten thousand dollars from Oliver in order to begin a business of his
own. Biff and Happy tell Loman about their plans. Loman explains to his sons that the important
things in life are to be well-liked and to be attractive. Loman assures Biff that he is attractive and
that Oliver has always liked him.

The next day, Loman is to meet his sons for dinner at a restaurant to hear how Oliver has reacted
to Biff's request for a loan. Loman himself goes to young Howard Wagner, the present owner of
the company for which he works and asks for a transfer to New York City. Wagner tells him
there is no room for him in New York and then explains to Loman that he cannot even represent
the company in New England anymore. This news turns Loman’s life upside-down. Suddenly
unemployed, he feels frightened and worthless. He goes to Charley, an old friend, to borrow
money to pay his insurance premium. After Charley lends him the money, Willy goes to the
restaurant to meet his sons.
Before Loman arrives, Biff tells Happy that Oliver did not recognize him. He admits that he is
tired of living a life filled with illusion, and plans to tell his father not to expect anything from
him anymore. When Loman arrives, he tells Biff and Happy that he has been fired. He also
refuses to listen to Biff’s story and simply believes that Biff will have another appointment the
following day. Out of frustration, Biff leaves the restaurant. Happy, who has picked up two
women, follows him, leaving Loman alone.

Later that night, Biff comes home and finds Loman planting seeds in the backyard and "talking"
to a long dead brother, Ben. Biff again tries to explain to Loman that he has no real skills and no
leadership ability. In order to save his father from disappointment, he suggests that they never
see one another again. Willy still refuses to listen to what Biff is saying; he tells Biff how great
he is and how successful he can become. Biff is frustrated because Loman refuses to face the
truth. In anger, Biff sobs telling Loman just to forget about him.

Loman decides to kill himself, for Biff would get twenty thousand dollars of insurance money.
Then Biff could start his own business and make it a decent living. At Loman’s funeral, no one is
present. He dies as a pathetic, neglected, and forgotten man.