Summary Of Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

Summary

Willy Loman is a man who strives to pursue and achieve the American Dream. One day when Willy is returning from a business trip he almost crashes his car. Later he and his wife (Linda) decide that he should apply for a local office job in New York. Willy thinks he has got it as he is such a great salesman. However he actually has delusions of grandeur and instead of getting the job he gets fired. Willy arrives home to his whole family Linda and his two sons, Biff and Happy. Biff has just returned home after working as a farmhand. That night Willy starts talking to himself, loudly. Linda reveals to her sons that they have been struggling financially also that Willy is depressed and has attempted to kill himself. The whole family decides

The American Dream for those of you that don’t know is that belief that if you move to the US any aspirations or goals (No matter how high) may be obtained. The problem is that a lot of people read this as if you move to the US you will be given fame, glory, fortune and your heart’s desires. However what it is actually saying is that the US gives the opportunities to get your desires however you have to work incredibly hard and be willing to go through a lot in order to get them. I know from transferring to the US culture from South Africa that it does indeed allow people who are unrelenting in achieving their goals to obtain them. Millar does a great job at showing that if you bank everything on getting to the US (Or living in it) and then everything falling back into your lap and more then you are incredibly false. Willy (The Salesman) thinks he is amazing at his job however it is the opposite in this case. When everything comes tumbling down on Willy he relies on the American Dream as a failsafe to reclaim his family’s financial security. As we progress in the novel we see how Willy’s dependency on the Dream to fix everything eventually leads to his demise. The way Millar managed to show how the American Dream works is why the play was such a success. It criticized the dream and many people could relate to it as they

The US at the moment (and has been for a while) is considered the land of opportunity. The place where all your dreams can come true and you can live a better life. This has been a major attraction from countless numbers of foreigners to immigrate to the country. This play shows how the American ‘Dream’ can actually ruin you. We see a salesman (Willy) think he is so great because he has had his job for a while and he thinks he is God’s gift to man. However Willy is not good at his job and because of this he gets fired. Afterwards we see how hard it is to actually get a job, as Willy cannot seem to get one after he is fired. We also see how hard it is to become an entrepreneur as Biff (Willy’s son) can’t even get a loan to jumpstart his business. The novel continues to show how stressful the whole prospect of the dream actually is. Willy wants nothing more than for his family to live a good life. He still believes that the dream could provide that for them, so much so he is willing to take his life so that they can live it. I think any parent would do that for their family. The book highlights many factors which are still relevant and important to modern times. It shows how foolish one can be if they rely on something that is promised without work and earning it, there is an old saying ‘Nothing is free’ I think that this book does show this well. Also unfortunately I think does show that