Death Of A Salesman Summary and Analysis

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.