Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

Failure in a successful society

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely. (Henry Ford). This quote directly relates to Death of a salesman written by Arthur miller. In the play Willy Constantly fails in everything in his life, However he doesn’t take the opportunity to begin again more wisely. The author has used symbols which are intertwined to accentuate the central meaning of the play. In the play, death of a salesman, Arthur Miller portrays the central theme, which is failure of Willy in a successful society by using meaningful symbols such as, Wire recorder, seeds, and the diamonds.

Throughout the whole play technology has played an important role. Death of a salesman is a story based on innovation and being able to keep up with the innovation of technology. However we see that Willy the main character is not able to keep up with the technology, he is stuck in the past therefore cannot progress in his life. The symbol that Miller used to portray this is the wire recorder. In the beginning of Act II, Willy visits to see Howard, only to find out that Howard is more interested in the wire recorder then he is in Willy’s issues. Willy tries to talk to Howard multiple times but Howard is busy with his wire recorder. “Willy: What’s that Howard?...Howard: Didn’t you ever see one of these, a wire recorder, records things…” (Miller 54). By reading this, we clearly get an idea that Willy has no clue what the wire recorder is. This shows that Howard is moving on with the technology Whereas, Willy is not. “Ha! Howard! Howard! ... Shut it off! Shit it off!” (Miller 48). This quote portrays instead of being up-to-date with technology, Willy does not know what a wire recorder is, and thus he is s...

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...sful Willy really was. Nevertheless, the fact is that with suicide, Linda will probably not get any life insurance nor will anyone come to his funeral. Willy is unsuccessful even in his death.

In conclusion, the symbolisms Arthur Miller used were to emphasize on the character of Willy. All three symbols, wire recorder, seeds, and the diamonds, highlight Willy’s failure in a successful society. The wire recorder shows Willy’s failure to succeed in the business world. The seeds symbolize Willy’s failure to raise his sons, with proper moral and values. And lastly, the diamonds symbolize Willy’s failure to obtain wealth for his family. All three symbolize Willy’s failure in different aspects of his life. Everything that Willy ever thought was distant from reality and lived in a fantasy of illusions. Hence, Willy was a man who lacked success till the end of his life.