Death of a Salesman

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Recommended: The death of a salesman literary analysis

Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, is the story of a traveling salesman whose life

is dwindling away. He lives in a world of illusions, refusing to accept reality. He

eventually loses his job, the only thing that kept him going. Finally, he commits suicide

so that his son, Biff may receive insurance money and possibly live a better life than he.

This play is confusing at first because Willy, the main character, drifts between his

fantasy world filled with illusions and the real world. At times, the two worlds even

coincide. However, as the play continues, we learn the reason for his wanderings. At the

present time, Willy is very unhappy. Neither of his sons, Happy or Biff, is as successful

as he would like. Biff says, "I'm not married. I'm not in business, I just--I'm like a boy."

(Act I) Happy also says, "All I can do now is wait for the merchandise manager to die."

(Act I) Willy has always had much more successful plans for his children. He also has

many unpaid bills, such as on the house, car, and refrigerator. Also, Willy is not very

successful at work and ends up losing his job. Being a salesman is the only thing he has

ever known, so without his job, Willy is lost. To escape his misery, Willy often has

flashbacks to the past when he was happy. During these flashbacks, he often talks to his

dead brother Ben and asks him for advice.

Most of Willy's unhappiness can be attributed to his own character flaws. Rather

than valuing intelligence or hard work, he puts more emphasis on good looks and

popularity. In fact, one of the reasons that he in unhappy is due to his insecurity about

being popular and well-liked in New England. He also instills these values into his sons.

He tells Biff, "The man who makes an appearance in the business world...is the man who

gets ahead." (Act I) This idea keeps Biff from studying, so he focuses on things that will

make him popular, such as football and good looks. However, when he arrives in the

business world he realizes that these traits are much less valuable than expected. At the

same time, his childhood friend, Bernard, who focused on studying, becomes a successful

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