Death Of A Salesman : A Social Criticism
Since the time of its release in 1949, Death of a Salesman has been the topic of many a heated discussion. No one, not even Miller himself, can fully agree on who Willy Loman is or what his motivations are; whether or not he is a tragic hero, or precisely what the show says about today's American society. It may be "an attack on capitalism" (Weales xv) but certainly "it cannot... be reduced to an old-fashioned propaganda play" (Weales xv) by any stretch. The inability its audience to precisely pin down its message is at the heart of the play's success, for everyone who sees or reads it will think something different about the protagonist, the plot, the theme, even the genre. As with ...
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more suitable to his talents, even though perhaps he could function as a member of society if he did; and he lives in a deluded bubble, angry, self-righteous, too proud for his own good... qualities that simply do not survive in America's production-based, time-crunch, fast-food and fast talk society.
The play opens with Linda, the loving and ever-supportive wife, welcoming Willy home from another grueling and fruitless day's work. Linda loves her husband even though she knows "Willy is essentially a self-deluded man who has lost the power to distinguish between reality and the obsessions that come to dominate his life" (Fuller 242). For instance, Willy believes he is driving his old Chevy from 1928, when in actuality he is running off the road on his present sales route. Linda often accommodates these delusions, encouraging her husband that he is successful, handsome, and well-liked, perhaps just a little tired from all his hard work day in and day out. Somehow she makes ends ...
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says that society's failures have no right to live" (Schlueter, Flanagan 63). He could have avoided his fate by simply being true to himself and not "trying to fit a square peg in a round hole" so to speak. Willy certainly has some talent, note the mention of his satisfaction when working with his hands, but he stubbornly refuses to give up on his pitiful career.
In the Requiem to Miller's play Biff remarks to Happy, "You know something, ... there's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made" (Miller 138) and Linda says, "He was so wonderful with his hands" (Miller 138). Obviously there is continuing need for carpenters, architects, even concrete pourers in ...
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"Death Of A Salesman : A Social Criticism." Essayworld.com. November 22, 2005. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Of-A-Salesman-Social-Criticism/36864.
"Death Of A Salesman : A Social Criticism." Essayworld.com. November 22, 2005. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Of-A-Salesman-Social-Criticism/36864.
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