APIB English Literature and Composition
Major Works Data Sheet Title: Death of a Salesman Author: Arthur Miller Date of Publication: 1949 Genre: Tragedy Death of a Salesman was published at the end of the World War II era, a time of social turmoil everywhere in the world. There were many different kinds of conflicts present, including war, discrimination, and the lingering post-1920’s economic failure. This time frame also introduced the conflict of influence between the United States and the Soviet Union, leading into the Cold War. Furthermore, the decade also saw the rise of several new states, including Israel and India.
Arthur Miller lived from 1915-2005 and was an American playwright. His most famous works include Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, All My Sons, and A View from the Bridge. Miller was at one point in his life connected with the American Communist Party, for which he was put on trial by the House Un-American Activities Committee. The Crucible has a lot to do with his experiences with the “witch hunts” of the cold war era. Miller was also marred to Marilyn Monroe for a time and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The genre of tragedy is an ancient form of entertainment that paradoxically offers the audience pleasure through the suffering of the characters. Death of a Salesman takes the form of a more modern tragedy, which deals with more current societal issues.
Death of a Salesman is the story of a salesman named Willy Loman, his family, and the tragedy surrounding his eventual suicide. Act 1: The story begins as Willy comes home from a long work trip. His two sons Happy and Biff are both visiting, and Willy complains to his wife Linda that Biff has yet to anything significant with his life. Meanwhile, Biff and Happy are discussing their lives, and begin to talk about buying a ranch out west and Willy slips into a daydream about his younger years. First he recalls a scene with his two boys, as they happily wash his car and joke with him affectionately. Then he begins to speak with Linda, and it is revealed that Willy isn’t the salesman he makes himself out to be, as Linda draws the truth of an unsuccessful trip out of him. The daydream then becomes mixed in with another with some woman, who thanks Willy for the stockings he gave her. Then Willy returns to the prior dream, where he and Linda begin to argue about Biff. Willy then begins to dream about his brother Ben. The story then returns to the present, where Biff and Happy are arguing with Linda about Willy’s mental state. He is revealed to have been trying to commit suicide. He soon comes inside, and Biff cheers him up with prospects of going to get a loan from an old employer the next day. Act 2: Willy wakes and is told by Linda that he is to meet his sons for dinner that night. He leaves for work, and upon trying to convince his boss, Howard, to let him work in New York, gets nowhere. He begins to daydream again, and before long causes a commotion, at which point Howard fires him. Willy goes to his friend Charley’s office, and speaks with Biff’s childhood friend and Charley’s son Bernard. Bernard asks why Biff didn’t go to college, but Willy doesn’t answer him. Willy asks Charley for a loan, at which point Charley offers Willy a job, but Willy refuses. Willy leaves to meet Biff and Happy for dinner. Biff has had no luck getting a loan from his ex-employer, but Willy refuses to believe it. Finally, Biff and Willy begin to argue almost violently, and Biff and Happy storm out of the restaurant. Willy slips into a daydream in which he is caught cheating on Linda by Biff. Back at home, hours later, the boys return home and Willy is in the back yard trying to plant seeds in the dark. He is talking to his dead brother Ben about a $20,000 proposition. He soon moves into the house, where he and Biff argue about the fact that Biff has done nothing with his life. Biff begins to cry, touching Willy. Willy begins to mutter about the $20k proposition, before driving the car off and committing suicide. Requiem: Linda, Biff, Happy, and Charley are at Willy’s funeral, where they discuss his life and his death. Happy vows to live up to his father’s name, whereas Biff decides to move back out west. Linda states that Willy is finally free.
Major Works Data Sheet
Page 2
As Death of a Salesman is a play, it is composed entirely of dialogue and stage directions, and there isn’t really a point of view. Thus, there is also little style in terms of traditionally literary techniques. The entire story and its issues are revealed through the players’ speech and actions. The primary style of dialogue that reveals these things is the way the author throws Willy back into daydreams, thereby revealing the past that has created the drama of the present.
“Willy: You’re the best there is, Linda, you’re a pal, you know that? On the road – on the road I want to grab you sometimes and just kiss the life outa you… (The laughter is loud now, and he moves into a brightening area at the left, where The Woman has come from behind the scrim and is standing, putting on her hat, looking into a mirror and laughing) The Woman: Me? you didn’t make me Willy. I picked you. Willy: You picked me?”
Memorable Quotes Quote
Significance
Willy: It’s all right. I came back.
This is Willy’s first line of the play, but it epitomizes many of the events in the play, especially his hallucinations and daydreams.
Willy: Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there’s no one to live in it.
One general theme throughout the play is that Willy has worked all of his life for his boys and his family. But as hinted by this line, it seems that almost all of it has come to naught, now that they are gone.
Willy: Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world a young man with such – personal attractiveness, gets lost. And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff – he’s not lazy.
This line by Willy is indicative of two things. First, it shows the loopiness of Willy’s thoughts. He goes from calling Biff lost to stating that he’s not lazy within two sentences. Secondly, it is representative of the respect and obsession that Willy has for his son Biff. This obsession becomes even clearer as the play progresses.
Linda: He drives seven hundred miles, and when he gets there no one knows him anymore, no one welcomes him. And what goes through a man’s mind, driving seen hundred miles home without having earned a cent? Why shouldn’t he talk to himself? Why? When he has to go to charley and borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend to me that it’s his pay? How long can that go on? How long? You see what I’m sitting here and waiting for? And you tell me he has no character? The man who never worked a day but for your benefit? When does he get the medal for that?
This is part of a speech given by Linda to Biff and Happy towards the end of Act I, before Willy walks back into the kitchen to argue with Biff. It clearly shows the love and respect that Linda has for her husband. It also paints a picture of a man who has worked so hard all of his life, only to be rejected, even by his own sons. Furthermore, the passage demonstrates that Willy works for the benefit of his family.
Biff: Pop! I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you!
This statement epitomizes the whole point of the play Willy Loman, the everyman, has been unable to come to terms with the fact that he and Biff are no extraordinary salesmen. They are a dime a dozen, and here Biff pleads with Willy to understand that.
Major Works Data Sheet
Page 3 Characters Significance The central story and conflict of the play is centered around Willy and his life, as well as his failure as a salesman and a father.
Name Willy Loman
Role in the story The main character of the story, an old salesman in New York who has never really fit in the sales world.
Adjectives Idealistic, delusional, kind-hearted, obsessive
Biff Loman
Eldest son of Willy, Biff was a popular football star in high school but has done nothing with his life since.
Biff is largely responsible for much of Willy’s unhappiness. Willy idolizes his elder son, so when Biff ends up unsuccessful, Willy turns bitter and becomes lost in the past.
Angry, lazy, sad
Linda Loman
Wife of Willy, Linda is quiet and ever supportive of her husband.
Linda constantly serves as Willy’s guiding force, always there for him and constantly loving him. She is probably the sole reason he maintains any sanity.
Loving, caring, thoughtful, faithful
Happy Loman
The younger son of Willy, he is flashy and promiscuous. He is more successful than his brother.
Happy serves as a sort of foil to Biff, as a more successful but less loved son. His personality overcompensates for the fact that he is less esteemed than his older brother in the eyes of his dad.
Whimsical, idealistic
Charley
Charley is the best friend and neighbor of Willy. Willy constantly borrows money from Charley, and is jealous of him.
If Linda is the voice of love in the story, Charley is the voice of reason. He supports Willy financially without ever expecting any return. He was truly the only real friend Willy had.
Realistic, kind
Bernard
The son of Charley and childhood friend of Biff, Bernard is a smart boy who eventually becomes a lawyer.
Bernard is also a foil to Biff, but in a different way. He serves as Biff’s rival in Willy’s mind, and Willy often criticizes him for not being well-liked. Ironically, he is successful in the end.
Kind, intelligent
Ben
The dead elder brother of Willy.
Ben is Willy’s idol of success, and Willy allows his memories of Ben to lead him astray.
Ambitious, unreal
The Woman
The woman Willy cheats with on a business trip.
She is the reason that Biff begins to resent Willy, which causes him to drop out of school.
Flirtatious, unfaithful
Howard Wagner
Willy’s boss.
Symbolizes the new business world.
Realistic, merciless
Stanley
Restaurant keeper.
Respectful
Miss Forsythe and Letta
Girls from the restaurant (probably prostitutes).
Flirtatious
Jenny
Charley’s secretary.
Impatient
Major Works Data Sheet
Page 4 Setting
Significance of the opening scene
This play is set in New York City, where the Lomans live and work. Most of the play takes place within the Loman household, particularly the kitchen. This set is described in detail in the stage instructions. Several scenes occur outside the house or in the bedrooms. In Act II, a couple of episodes take place in business offices in New York. Willy speaks with Howard Wagner in Mr. Wagner’s office, and then goes to Charley’s office. And, of course, one of the most climactic scenes in the play takes place in Frank’s Chop House, a restaurant.
The opening scene of Death of a Salesman is important because it introduces all of the major characters as well as sets the ground for the social rifts within the family. The audience witnesses Willy’s first journey to the past, so they are able to compare the family of the past with the Lomans of the present. The conflict surrounding Biff and Willy’s failures in the business world is also quickly revealed.
Symbols
The Car / Rubber Hose: Symbols of Willy’s desire to commit suicide Stockings: Representative of Willy’s unfaithfulness and conflict with Biff Diamonds: The source of Ben’ success, symbolic of success and ambition
Significance of the ending/closing scene
The ending scene of Death of a Salesman also serves as the climax of the play. All of the prior issues that Willy has been ignoring and Biff has been holding back come to the table, and Willy is forced to acknowledge the failure of his son, as well as his own failures. Furthermore, the scene becomes very intense once it becomes apparent that Willy’s $20,000 deal is his life insurance policy, and that Willy is contemplating suicide. The Requiem closes the story after Willy’s death, and shows where each character stands after the tragedy. Works Cited
The Football: The football that Biff stole, symbolic of his failures and shortcomings Seeds: Symbolic of Willy’s desire to provide for his family
Whaaaaaaa????
Possible Themes: Use 3 text examples for support. Document correctly.
The American Dream, Betrayal Biff: Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens? o This line, from the climax of the play, is directed at Willy as Biff desperately pleads with him to let go of the American Dream he has for himself and for Biff. The Loman family is ensnared by this dream. Willy: I see it like a diamond, shining in the dark, hard and rough, that I can pick up and touch in my hand. o Willy, however, is forever in pursuit of achieving this dream. Even in the darkest time, he is reaching for the diamond. Biff: You fake! You phony little fake! You fake! o This line exemplifies the reason that Biff dislikes Willy: his betrayal of the family through adultery.
