Summary:
Death
of A Salesman begins with Willy Loman traveling home in his automobile. As
he enters his house, the recurring flute begins its song. Willy and his wife
Linda begin discussing his travels, and Linda soon begins to ask him if he had
gotten into another accident. Willy is quick to respond saying that he didn’t,
yet he gets a little bit distracted and lost in time while he is having this
conversation with Linda. Because of this, Linda thinks that it would be better
for Willy if he got a job closer to home in New York. Willy then tells Linda
that he will talk to his boss about it tomorrow, and everything will work out.
In
the mean time, his sons Biff and Happy are both home visiting him and Linda at
home. Biff isn’t exactly the definition of success, and Happy isn’t either.
They have been lying to Willy about how successful they are. Happy has a job
and is more successful than Biff, but he still isn’t perfectly happy with his
life. Biff then asks him to join him out West, because that is where Biff has
been residing the last couple of years. They are in the kitchen at this time,
and Willy is eating some cheese. Biff and Happy have awoken from Willy and
Linda’s conversation, and are now in the kitchen with Willy. They are talking
about the past, and how Biff hasn’t lived up to Willy’s expectations.
Suddenly,
there is a scene of Willy and his sons washing a car from the past. Biff and
Willy are discussing the big game coming up for Biff and how he is going to be
so successful based on how well liked he is. Happy keeps trying to get Willy’s
attention, but Willy never gives it to him. Willy begins telling his sons how
one day he is going to start his own business bigger than Charley’s (their
neighbors) and be far more successful than him. Meanwhile, Bernard, Charley’s
son, comes over in search of Biff. He is looking for him because he knows that
Biff needs to study for his final math exam or else he will fail and he won’t
be able to graduate. Then, we are introduced to the women’s laughter. She is
just telling Willy thanks for buying them for her, when all of a sudden we are
brought back to the other flashback and we see Linda mending a pair of her own
stockings. Willy gets mad when he sees this, and forces her to throw them out. Bernard
then starts again with Biff telling him how he is going to fail, when Willy
just tells him to let Biff cheat off of him. He doesn’t realize how this is
nearly impossible on a state test. He goes on to wish he moved to Alaska with
his brother, Ben. He keeps having a flash back of Ben being with his family and
arguing with them, trying to teach them about reality.
As
the scene sets back in reality, we see that Linda is talking to the boys about
Willy’s problems. She tells them about how he isn’t really earning his own money
and how he has tried to commit suicide. Biff then tries to talk to Willy about
how he will stay and help but Willy is to filled with pride and they end up
getting in an argument about it. Soon enough, Happy jumps in and tells Biff
that them two brothers should start a sporting goods business. This fills Willy
with happy thoughts and pulls him back to his normal “happy” self.
As
act two begins, we are informed that Happy and Biff are taking Willy out to
dinner. Willy is still happy about the future because of his boys’ future plan
about starting a business, and he tells Linda that today is the day that he is
going to talk to Howard Wagner about getting him that job in New York so that
he doesn’t need to travel. Howard rejects his offer though, and doesn’t seem
the slightest bit interested. He tells Willy to take some time off. And then
Ben reappears and tries to tell Willy to join him in Alaska. But then we are
taken to a flash back and Linda reminds Willy how important his boys and his
job is, and that he cant leave them behind.
At
the restaurant Biff and Happy get distracted by other women that are there.
Biff ends up getting angry at Happy for lying and being such a player that he
storms off, and Happy takes the girls and chases after him, leaving Willy all
alone in the restaurant. Willy goes to the bathroom, and is taken back to a
time when he was in a hotel room. The women’s laughter fills the air, and
suddenly we hear a knock on the door. It is Biff coming to inform Willy that he
has failed his math exam. However, Biff realizes that Willy is cheating on
Linda, and gets so angry at him that he breaks down in tears and won’t accept
anything that Willy is trying to tell him anymore and tells him he wont be
going to college. Then, back in the present, Willy exits the bathroom and
leaves the restaurant in search of seeds.
When
everyone arrives home, Linda confronts the boys about what they have done and
starts yelling at them about how they don’t even care about Willy. This is
occurring while Willy is out trying to plant his seeds in the garden that will
never grow anything. Biff brings Willy into the house where he enters the
argument, and Biff tries to get everyone to start telling the truth because the
whole household is filled with lies. After minutes of arguing, Biff and Willy
make peace, kind of. Biff cries to Willy, and Willy finally thinks that his son
truly loves him. To make it even better, he knows that if he kills himself, the
family will gain 20,000 dollars. After everyone goes up stairs to go to bed,
Willy leaves and takes his car and kills himself so that his family can have
something worth more than he thought he was worth.
At
the funeral, only Bernard, Biff, Happy and Linda are there. They all talk
together about how he lived the life of salesman, but how he was really meant to
do something with his hands, he just wanted a different image. Linda then asks
to speak to Willy alone, where she tells him that she made the final payment on
the house today and now she has no one to share it with.
Author: Arthur
Miller was an American playwright and was an influential figure in American
theatre. He has written other works called The
Crucible, All My Sons, and A View From The Bridge.
Setting: The play
takes place in the 1940’s. It is mainly shot in Willy’s house that is
surrounded by other homes and apartments in Brooklyn, New York. There are a
couple scenes shot in the city of Manhattan, such as when he goes to the
restaurant and then he goes to Boston in the hotel room scene.
Characters:
Willy: The main character that
lives in a world filled with hot air and pride that shouldn’t be there. He grew
up and raised his children to believe that being well liked is the key to
success in life. The plot of the story revolves around him and his beliefs of the
American Dream.
Linda:
Linda is Willy’s wife. She is the one that has to handle a lot of the problems
that go on in the household. She is in charge of Willy’s problems and because
of them; she treats him much like a child. She starts putting the blame of his
problems on Biff and Happy for arguing with him so much.
Biff:
Biff is Willy’s oldest son. He is also his most favorite. He used to be a
really good athlete in high school and almost went to college for it, but
because Willy taught him that grades don’t matter and success was based off of
how “well liked” you were, he didn’t become very successful. Once he discovered
that Willy had cheated on Linda, their relationship fell apart and he moved out
west, where he soon discovered himself and that being a salesman is not the job
for either him or Willy.
Happy:
He is Willy’s second son. He is always trying to impress Willy, because Willy
never really noticed Happy when they were younger because he was always tied
with Biff. Happy now is involved in business and gets around with women, he
isn’t truly happy though and he is just trying to please Willy.
Charley:
He is Willy’s neighbor. He is a foil to Willy, because he is very successful
and raised his kids successfully and they are continuing on the pride. He is
willing to help Willy and provide him money and he even offers him a job, but
Willy is too prideful to accept.
Bernard:
He is Charley’s son. He is Biff’s foil. They went to school together and he was
always concerned with school and his grades. This proves to lead to success
when we see him later on in the play as a lawyer living a good life.
Ben: Willy’s older brother. Whenever Willy
gets in one of his crazy spells, Ben appears (though he is dead) and Willy
talks to him nonstop as if he’s really there. Ben was very successful, and he
is always trying to get Willy to be successful too. Willy looks to him for
advice.
Narrative
voice/symbols:
Overall,
the feeling given off from this play is sad and kind of depressing. Since it’s
a play, everything is told from a direct point of view. We aren’t questioning
whether what we are being told about other characters is true or not. There are
many different symbols used in this play, like stockings, dairy products,
seeds, and geography. The stockings represent the lies and betrayal that has
been done in the family. The dairy products represent child like behavior and qualities.
The seeds represent Willy’s ideas and version of the American Dream, and him
planting them in a place where they will never grow shows how his dream will
never work. The geography used in the play comes up a lot. Biff goes out to the
West where he discovers himself. Willy always travels north and east to his
job, and then Ben in persuading him to go south.
Important Quotes:
1) “Nothing’s
planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground.” (pg. 96)
~ Willy is saying this when his sons stand him up at the
restaurant. He realizes that he has nothing. No success, no children that
really love him, and his life has kind of been nothing but a lie. He finally realizes
and wants to try to make a change, but it’s too late. The seeds that he is
trying to plant will never grow; he is planting them in a dead garden. Much
like how he planted his sons in a world of lies and how he can’t make his own
living because he’s too prideful.
2) “He’s
liked, but he’s not well liked.” (pg. 20)
~Biff is saying this about his neighbor Bernard to Willy. In
the play, we are taken to a flashback of when Biff and Willy and Happy were out
in the backyard and talking about Biff’s future in sports and how that alone
was going to make him successful. Then when Bernard comes along, he starts
trying to tell Biff that he needs to study for his Math exam, because if he
fails he won’t go to college. Biff blows him off, and Willy tries to get Bernard
to cheat off of him, but it doesn’t work. This explains a lot of what Willy
told the boys as they were growing up, and what he taught them worked in the
real world. Being popular and well liked and having a good physical appearance
is all that Willy was concerned about, he didn’t care much about what was
inside of a person, just what was on the outside. This is a central idea
throughout the whole play, and one that helps summarize what Willy’s idea of
the American dream was in a short sentence.
Theme: You are
the only person that can change your future and you can’t be blinded by the
lies that may be fed to you.
~
In this play, we see many different peoples lives in front of us and how they
have been told to live. We hear the ideas and lies that are being fed to these
characters, and we watch their lives unfold in a less than positive way. The
only way that you can avoid these though is if you stick to what you believe,
and don’t do what you are told. For example, we see this in Bernard. He grows
up next to Willy and Biff and the common idea of Willy telling Biff that he is
going to be so successful because a lot of people like him. Bernard always knew
not to give into this though, and he stuck to his studies. He tried to get Biff
to study too, but Biff was too filled with hot air from Willy, and he thought
that he would get along just fine because of what was being fed to him, but
little did he know that this was completely wrong and he needed to step up for
himself and change his life ways. Willy had multiple opportunities to change
his life around, but he didn’t choose to take any of them. He had too much
pride. The setting in the play helps show how everyone around him is always
changing. Many houses have been built around his house, and this shows how they
are all being successful, but he is still living in square one, right where he
started. Also, the tone helps back this theme. It is mainly dark and
pessimistic, until Willy starts talking about his future and how he is going to
become successful. This shows how you can change your life, but you have to
have the drive and willingness to do so.
