Summary and Analysis of Death of a Salesman

Author: Arthur Miller was born in 1915 in Harlem, New York City. He was the second child to Polish-Jewish immigrants. He also had a strained relationship with his father, which is thought to have been the basis for Willy and Biff's strained relationship in his play. He wanted to write a play that was relatable to all those who had experienced hardship.

Setting: The Late 1940s, with memories from Willy's past. Most scenes take place in the Loman house, but one also takes place in Frank's Chop House in New York, a hotel room, and an office. These are either in New York or Boston.

Characters:
Willy Loman:  Willy Loman is a man who had dreams of becoming well-liked and accepted. By witnessing a popular salesman's funeral, he decides that becoming a salesman will be the best way to liked by large masses of people. He repeatedly tells his family that he is doing extremely well in his work as a salesman and encourages Biff to be violent and womanizing. He is unkind and borderline abusive to his wife Linda. He has an affair during a business trip. He becomes unable to connect to reality as he thinks back to everything that happened in his past. He is proud and will not accept the fact that he is losing his job and is in large debt. In the end of the play, he kills himself using his car, giving his family life insurance money.

Linda Loman: Willy's wife. It is unknown if she is aware of her husband's infidelity, but still endures his rude and unappreciative manners throughout the play because she loves him. She is the glue that holds together the family. She even stretches the truth when talking to Willy in order to make him happy.

Biff Loman: Biff is a strong, somewhat violent man who has lost trust in his father and his words. He had a promising future as a football player and was going to go to university with a scholarship, but he failed math class. After seeing his father give his mother's stockings away to another woman and having an affair, Biff feels lost and doesn't believe his father anymore. He decides not to retake his math class and he decides to go out west to discover himself. He attempts to create a business in order to please his father, but then realizes everything that is wrong with his father and the beliefs that he forces onto Biff. He spends 14 years working odd jobs in order to find the real meaning of life for himself.

Happy Loman: The younger of the two Loman brothers, he has his own apartment and works at a department store. He unfortunately feels that he is always ignored for his older brother. His unhappiness and desire to be loved is similar to Willy. He has relationships with his boss' women, and mentions his desire to marry many times in the play.

Charley: A neighbor to the Lomans. He frequently hears them get into arguments and plays cards with Willy. He is sympathetic to Willy. This is seen as he loans Willy money each month after he is put on commission and he even offers Willy a job.

Bernard: Bernard is Charley's son. He used to look up to Biff. He even helped Biff with his studying in order for him to pass math. Willy used to make fun of Bernard for being weak and a nerd. However, Bernard goes on to be successful as an attorney.

Ben: Willy's older brother, deceased. At a young age, he becomes very wealthy mining diamonds. He is the role model for Willy. He appears in Willy's daydreams as the man that has all the answers.


Summary: Willy Loman enters the kitchen. Linda is clearly worried about Willy's feelings and his well being. Willy has been losing control of his car and has had a few accidents, indicating his suicidal thoughts to his wife. Willy's son's, Biff and Happy, are both largely uninterested in their father. Biff has been out west, searching for personal growth while Happy has found a little success in his lower ranked job. Biff's stealing, violence, and womanizing ways are enforced by Willy's encouragement and permissiveness while Happy seems to feel left out and ignored by the rest of his family. Willy cannot come to grips with the fact that he is losing his job due to his pride and dreams. Biff used to idolize his father and his large amount of admirers. The view of success that Willy had pushed upon Biff is no longer well received after the day that Biff walked in on Willy and his mistress in a hotel room. That day changed Biff's view of his father as he realized that everything that his father believes in is fake and not ideal. Biff cries with his father and Willy realizes that Biff loves him. At the end of the play, Willy commits suicide and ultimately sacrifices his life by driving his car off the road, giving his family the life insurance money.

Tone: The tone of the play seems to pity Willy Loman and the Loman Family. Concurrently, it is straight forward in shaping Willy Loman as a failure in what he, and the rest of the characters, consider the American Dream.

Imagery:
-The imagery of the apartments closing in the Loman house shows how he feels closed off from the rest of his life. His dreams and connection to his family have failed him and he now sees no other option but suicide.
-The imagery of burning woods also shows the feeling that Willy Loman experiences. He feels that everything is closing in on him and he has no where else to escape to. His debts, relationships, and time are all failing him and he feels trapped. Ironically, Ben using this phrase often when speaking of his successes in Africa. In terms of Ben, the burning woods represent him working towards his goal of becoming rich. To Willy, however, it represents him failing and becoming increasingly unable to come to grips with reality.

Symbollism:
-Stockings: Linda's stockings represents Willy's infidelity and his failing relationships with his family. As Willy gives his mistress Linda's silk stockings, it represents him putting his mistress before his wife and ultimately his entire family. Despite his family's financial hardships and never ending debt, he still decides to give away something that could have benefited his family greatly. The realization of this as Biff witnesses this tears the father-son bond that had controlled Biff up until that point. Even as Linda mends her stockings some time later, the guilt that floods Willy as he remembers his affair fuels him to be aggressive and throw away her stockings. It represents the affair and the consequent strained family relations.
-Willy's Cars: Willy and his cars may represent several things in Willy's life. Willy stages accidents with his cars. It is suspected that these wrecks are not actually accidents, but rather suicide attempts. In a way, his cars represent his cry for help and attempt to bring attention to his mental instability and his unhappiness in his life.
It can also represent his love of working with his hands. Willy loves his cars and finds the most joy when he works manually. It creates a contrast between his clear love of working with his cars, and what he believes is success in his work as a salesman. It creates a bit of irony because Willy seems to look down upon people who work with their hands despite this joy.
-The seeds that Willy purchases and attempts to plant towards the end of the play represent Willy's attempts to grow strong and tall. The apartments around the Loman house will not allow Willy's seeds to grow because of the shade they create.
They also represent Willy not reaping his rewards. Willy does not take full advantage of everything that he has until it is too late. He could have began to grow his garden, but he waited too long until the apartments prevent sunshine from reaching the plot of soil. Now it is too late to garden, which represents his failure.
-The flute music represents Willy's father, who was a flute maker. It signals all of the times that Willy goes from his flashbacks to the present time.


Significant Quotes:

-"The way they boxed us in here. Bricks and windows, windows and bricks."
This quote, found in Act One, shows Willy's disappointment with the way his is boxed in by the Apartments surrounding him. These apartments, as stated before, represent the feeling that all of Willy's failures-- his relationships, his debt, and job loss -- are closing in on him. He is feeling more and more like a failure and he sees suicide as the only way out. Also, it keeps him from being able to grow in his garden. The syntax in this sentence also signifies the fact that bricks and windows are all he is able to see around him.

-"'Cause I get so lonely-- especially when business is bad and there's nobody to talk to. I get the feeling that I'll never sell anything again, that I won't be making a living for you, or a business, a business for the boys." 
This quote is taken from Willy's original flashback to his affair. He talks to the woman, confiding in her his feelings as a failure. It is almost as if Willy is filling his emptiness that he gets from feeling his American dream slip further and further away from him with the infidelity and happiness he gets from his mistress. Not once does he mention wanting to make a living for Linda. It contrasts Linda and her unwavering love for Willy despite his rude attitude towards her, and Willy, an unfaithful man who does not even think about Linda.

-"Let's hold on to the facts tonight, Pop. We're not going to get anywhere bullin' around. I was a shipping clerk."
In this quote, Biff attempts to be straightforward with his father. Even with Happy's suggestion of lying to Willy, Biff stands his ground in order to cut through the dishonesty and lies that come between them. He wants to show his father that he has not, and probably will not, embody the beliefs and wishes that Willy had for him. He wants to push all that aside and let Willy love him for him. After this, Willy is still confused and loses his sanity once more, pushing Biff to lie to him a little before crying and abandoning him in the resturaunt. It shows the dynamic between the two. It helps explain the reasoning behind why Willy and Biff have never been able to fully overcome the differences in the American dream.

Theme:
Willy and his idea that well-liked and personable people will find success in America has become his American dream. The disconnect between the idea of finding success from hard work and Biff's idea of the American dream is not understood by Willy, resulting in his loss of sanity as he is unable to differentiate not only the difference between these dreams, but the past and present.

This is supported by his deteriorating sanity as his flashbacks become more frequent. His conversations with Ben are also proof of his deteriorating sanity. Proof that his dream and relationships are falling apart show his failure. Biff does not sympathize with him and is creating his own idea of the American Dream. Bernard, a boy that he once made fun of for being nerdy, has now become more successful than his sons and Willy, toying with Willy's idea of how to achieve the material possessions that he associates with the American Dream.