Analysis on Death of a Salesman

DEATH OF A SALESMAN BY ARTHUR MILLER

SABILLA PRIMADEVI

NIM A320080315 - Kelas A

A.    The Character and Characterization

Major Characters

o   Willy Loman - A 63 year old once famous salesman who has lost his popularity and sales, not to mention his mind. He hallucinates about past events. These hallucinations center on his dreams for a better tomorrow; on the future of his son, Biff, a star football player; and on a woman with whom he had an affair while on a sales trip. During his hallucinations, he sometimes talks to himself. 

o   Biff Loman -  A 34 years old son of Willy who has been searching for himself while working on farms in the west to the dismay of his father. After he returns home from the West, his presence and his failure to get a job exasperate Willy.

o   Happy Loman - The younger brother of Biff who tries in all he can to please his father and attempts to continue his father’s dream after he dies.

o   Linda Loman - The wife of Willy who tries to protect Willy’s feelings and can’t make herself confront him if it means hurting his feelings.

Minor Characters

o   Bernard - A bookish friend of Biff and Happy who urges Biff to study in high school to no avail, however, he himself makes it as a prominent lawyer and goes to argue a case to the supreme court at the end of the play.

o   Charley - Bernard’s father who is fairly successful and offers Willy a job which Willy refuses on the basis of pride.

B.     Setting, time and place

Setting

Late 1940s; Willy Loman's house; New York City and Barnaby River; Boston

Time

Date premiered     : 10 February 1949

Place

o   The action takes place at Willy Loman’s house in the New York City area, as well as other New York locales,

o   In a hotel room in Boston. Some of the action takes place in flashbacks while Willy hallucinates.

C.    Language style

  Miller uses a lot of motifs and repeated ideas through the play to give the viewers an idea of what Willy and his situation is all about.  Personal attractiveness is an oft repeated motif.  It shows that Willy believes that personal attractiveness makes one successful, but his belief is shot down by the success of Charley and Bernard who, in his mind, are not personally attractive.  Other motifs are debt which sadly the Lomans escape after Willy dies, stealing which Willy condones, even encourages, the boxed-in feeling of Willy, the idea that Willy’s life is passing him by, expressed in the quote, “The woods are burning,” and Ben’s success and the qualities that brought about his success.

D.    Plot the story

Willy Loman has been traveling salesman for the Wagner Company for thirty-four years. He likes to think of himself as vital to the New England area. A long time ago, Willy met a salesman named Dave Singleman who could go into a town and pick up a phone and would be able to place many orders without ever leaving his hotel room. When this man died, people from all over the country came to his funeral, and this man became Willy's inspiration.

As the play opens, Willy has just come back home after having left for New England that morning. He tells his wife, Linda, that he just can't seem to keep his mind on driving anymore. He asks about his son, Biff, and he drifts off to when Biff was a high school senior fourteen years ago. Biff was playing in an important football game and people from all over the country were coming to offer him scholarships. Then something happened later that year, because Biff did not go to college and has yet to find himself. It is later revealed that Biff has failed math and had gone up to Boston to ask his father to appeal to the teacher. When he reached Willy's hotel room in Boston, Biff found his father having an affair with a strange woman. After that episode, Biff despised his father and could never bring himself to provide Willy with the happiness of having a successful son.

After fourteen years of being away, Biff returns home. He and his brother Happy think of a job that would enable Biff to settle down in New York. They remember Biff's former boss, Bill Oliver, and plan to ask him for a loan of ten thousand dollars to begin a business of their own. They tell their father about their plans, and Willy believes that the two boys could conquer the world in business together. Willy explains that the important thing in life is to be well-liked and to have personal attractiveness. He tells Biff that Mr. Oliver always thought highly of him (despite the fact that Biff was suspected of stealing from a shipment of basketballs), and he reminds Biff of how good looking he is.

The following day, Willy is supposed to meet the two boys for dinner. He is so excited to have his boys on the brink of success that he decides to ask for a job in New York City. Howard Wagner, the present owner of the Wagner Company founded by his father, tells Willy that there is no room for him in New York, and then explains to Willy that he cannot represent the firm in New England either because he has become detrimental to business. Willy is now forced to go to Charley to borrow enough money to pay his insurance premium. It has been revealed that Willy has been borrowing fifty dollars each week for a long time and pretending it is his salary. Even though Charley offers Willy a good job in New York, Willy refuses to accept it because he says he can't work for Charley. Willy takes the money and leaves to meet his sons at the restaurant.

Biff and Happy met in the restaurant and Biff explained that he has been living an illusion. He tells Happy that he has stolen himself out of every job, including this meeting where he stole a pen from Bill Oliver's desk. When Willy arrives he tells the boys that he has been fired and refuses to listen to Biff's story. Willy sits there and pretends that he has another appointment the following day. Willy becomes furious and is about to make a scene, so he goes off to the bathroom. Biff, out of frustration, leaves, and Happy who has picked up two girls, follows him, leaving Willy alone.

Later that night, Biff comes home and finds Willy out in the backyard planting seeds and talking to the illusion of his brother Ben. Willy has not seen Ben for a number of years, and in fact Ben has been dead for some time. Biff explains to Willy that it would be best if they break with each other and never see each other again. He tries once again to explain that he is no longer a leader of men and that he is just a common person who has no outstanding qualities.

Willy refuses to believe him and tells Biff once again how great he can be. Biff becomes frustrated again because Willy refuses to see the truth. He finally breaks down and sobs to Willy to forget him. Then, Willy is taken aback by his son's emotion toward him. Willy resolves on suicide, because with twenty thousand dollars in insurance money, Biff could be magnificent. So that is what he did, Willy crashed his car and caused his own death. It becomes apparent to the reader that Willy died a forgotten man, because no one came to his funeral except his family.

E.     Conclusion

Morals

Follow your heart:- Willy was well aware of the joy physical labor brought him, but he suppressed those desires to fulfill the meaningless position of a salesman

Know your strengths and weaknesses:- Willy should have chosen a career based on his skills and his interests, not on false perceptions and the opinions of others. He should have encouraged his sons to do the same.

Hard work is what pays off:- Willy did himself and his family a disservice by putting too much emphasis on appearance and popularity, and not enough on the value of hard work. He wound up living in a daydream whenever things went wrong, and his sons were unethical (ex: Biff's stealing and jail time out West) and unsuccessful.