Willy Loman Foreshadowing

In the early 20th century after the world war I, this was the period when modernism started. There was the industrialization, development of modern technology to solve problems and there was the modernist movement in writing also. This movement was characterized by a lack of confidence in the traditional ways of explaining existence and its meaning. Family, and religion were no longer seen as being dependable. Writers could not find any meaning in the old ways of writing, they did see the need to start writing in new techniques as the world was changing. In a way, Miller was a part of the modernism transition from the traditional way of writing. He made it evident when his characters in Death of a Salesman are attempting to come to terms with a capitalistic society which has been functioning for some period. Miller is trying to express the values society places on material wealth and the role models of success the society towards are not the best solution. In the play Willy is a societal failure, but were the other members of the society as successful as Willy?

The main foreshadowing Miller uses in the play is the title itself, and when Linda tells Billy about Willy trying to attempt suicide. The audience can figure out that Willy will eventually die because of foreshadowing by the title. In the play Willy's death is expected, but it is never fully explained how he dies so we should assume that he killed himself through a car wreck. The unclear ending adds to the chaos in play. The whole story tells us about Willy Loman spent his life chasing a false American dream. This “false” American Dream made him have issues in his life and didn’t have strong enough support to sustain in his life. He depended on his family to support him but they didn’t. As they always say, it comes down to family support when one struggling, but in this case, he didn’t get any support hence Willy’s