Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

This story is about four unethical real estate salesmen who will do whatever it takes to sell undesirable real estate to uninformed buyers. All four salesmen are feeling the constant pressure of management to close sales, but feel they are given poor sales leads. Shelly Levene is a has-been salesman in his fifties, who finds himself in a terrible sales slump, and worries about losing his job. Shelly eventually bribes his manager, John Williamson, to sell him the Glengarry leads, but doesn’t have the cash in advance that John Williamson requests. Ricky Roma has been rather successful, and outwits James Lingk into buying undesirable real estate, by playing to his sense of adventure. Under strain of constant pressure, Dave Moss and George Aaronow devise a scheme to break into the office and steal the Glengarry leads.

We learn that someone has broken into the office and stolen all of the Glengarry leads, and that Baylen, a police detective, is on site interrogating the salesmen. Remembering the bribery attempt, John Williamson quickly deduces that Shelly was the one who perpetrated the office break-in, and stole the Glengarry leads. Upon further questioning, Shelly confesses to the robbery, and is arrested.

The story ends with Ricky Roma demanding fifty percent of Shelly’s commissions, and all of his own commissions. George Aaronow keeps asking of the leads came in yet, to which Ricky says no, I’ll be at the restaurant,

Shelly Levene v. Willie Loman

After reading this story, and Death of a Salesman, I do see similar circumstances surrounding both Shelly Levene and Willie Loman. Shelly is portrayed as a salesman in the middle of a major career downturn, and is faced with losing his employment if his sales do not pick up. ...

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... as predators, and are constantly preying on the uninformed and unaware. I would be willing to bet that Dave Moss, like Willie Loman had a grandiose self image of himself; and because of this image, resorted to deceitful tactics to impress this upon others.

Conclusion

While the two stories do not follow the exact same plot, there are quite a few common ties to each. Deceit, compromising ethics, embellished self image, and the fear of being obsolete, are all common themes I pulled from both stories. Nobody wants to be mediocre, and the fear of losing one’s employment can sometimes compromise one’s behavior to the point of committing larceny or suicide. I think the connection of both stories surrounding salesmanship are minimal, and the similarities are more in line with how far a person is willing go to achieve success in their mind, and in the mind of others.