Skewed In Death Of A Salesman

When we are young, we are always told that actions speak louder than words. In other words, what we do means more than what we say we will. Oddly, this concept is slightly skewed in notable literature. The best literature is developed through the character itself, rather than the plot. This is seen in Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman. Not much of a plot occurs in this play, but the ways the characters are created speak loudly. This work, with deliberate selection of character name, revealing dialogue between characters, and having opposing opinions among characters for the same situation, is more character-driven than plot-driven, thus can be considered with higher literary merit. A way in which Miller develops his characters is through purposeful selection of names. Some names are ironic, like Happy. Despite his name, Happy is quite unhappy. Though he is successful and somewhat confident, it is to the extreme, similar to his father. He even tries to deny that Happy is his name:

It’s really Harold, but at West Point they called me Happy (80)

Perhaps Happy is aware of the misrepresentation of personality in his name, or maybe his trying to avoid attention, but regardless Happy doesn’t seem proud of his name. It may also be that he lives under the shadow of Biff, which makes his unhappiness even more ironic. Willy’s name is also of interest. The meaning of William is protector. Despite his flaws, Willy’s goal is to protect and do what is best for his family. He insists that there is some place better for