Death Of A Salesman

In the first act, Miller introduces Willy Loman (salesman), and Linda Loman (Willy’s wife) first. In this scene, Willy comes home early from the road and claims he wasn’t feeling. Linda fixes him something to eat but when he sits to eat he ends up talking to his flashbacks. In the flashbacks, He is in a hotelroom with another women. The women is revealed to be his mistress when they kiss and he hands her a pair of stockings. Willy uses this mistress to become “well-liked”with the buyers connected to the mistress. Then Willy comes back to reality and finds his wife mending old stockings back together. This makes him mad and begs Linda to stop mending them in front of him. After he cleans up his meal, he daydreams about his sons, Biff and Happy, who had just finished washing their father’s car after Willy has just returned from a sales trip. When Biff tells Willy that he “borrowed” a football from the locker room to practice, Willy laughs at him and whispers that “he will soon open a bigger business than his successful neighbor Uncle Charley because Charley is not as “well liked” as he is.” Willy is very happy in the flashback because he believes that his son is “well-liked” and will do well in the

How can two people watch or read the same story and yet, interpret it completely differently? Does it have to do with the author’s intentions, or maybe it has to do with the viewers’ own backgrounds and ideologies? Whatever the case may be, viewing one piece of work can lead to a wide array of opinions and critiques. It is through the diversity of such lenses that Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller has become one of the most well-known plays in modern history. There are many different ways in which a play can be criticized, however, criticisms from the approaches of a Marxist and reader-response will be utilized to further dissect Death of a Salesman. Marxist criticism sees pieces of works as a struggle between different socioeconomic classes; what better way to see Miller’s play than for what it is at face value, the struggle of a middle-class man trying to achieve the American dream (1750). On the other hand, a reader-response criticism comes from either an objective or subjective view; in this case Death of a Salesman will be viewed with a subjective lens based on Willy’s deteriorating mental health (1746).

In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman’s life seems to be slowly deteriorating. It is clear that Willy’s predicament is of his own doing, and that his own foolish pride and ignorance lead to his downfall. Willy’s self-destruction involved the uniting of several aspects of his life and his lack of grasping reality in each, consisting of, his relationship with his wife, his relationship and manner in which he brought up his children, Biff and Happy, and lastly his inability to productively earn a living and in doing so, failure to achieve his “American Dream”.

Shelley Levene is a character that is always sure of himself and certain of all his actions. He knows that he’s the top person of the firm and to anyone that will listen, tells them so. Jack Lemmon, as his character, exemplifies these traits through his actions and voice. He always appears busy and never seems to keep still in one place, as if he physically has to look preoccupied at all times. When he’s talking, with others and in general, his voice raises in octaves to keep attention focused on him while falling down to a mumble when making offhand comments. It appears charming how he talks to others since salesman have to have certain inflection to their words to get the right reaction from potential buyers. Lemmon knows this, which is why

San Joaquin Delta College presented Arthur Miller 's Death of A Salesman on Sunday the twenty-second of March at 2 o 'clock in the afternoon. This play is about a young man and his father coming to terms with the past and their futures. Willy Loman, an old salesman, is dealing with both financial and health difficulties. He is put under even more pressure when his unsuccessful son, Biff, returns home. Actor, director, and sound designer, Harvey T. Jordan, played the role of Willy in this production. His directing, acting, and sound effects allowed me to grasp the despaired nature of Willy Loman 's character. The theme of this story is respect and the nature of success. Willy wished that when he is dead, his death would be mourned far and wide. Hoping to have the reputation of a famous salesman; in other words he wants to die “The Death of a Salesman”. After Willie heard about a well-liked salesman, one that is known in all the cities he visits and that can make sales just by picking up the phone, Willie thinks that this job is easy, but he soon discovers the stress a truly dedicated salesman must go through.

The interpretation of the American Dream can be different or the same between people. When people come to America or they are already living in the country they want to live up to the American Dream of making it big in life and becoming rich fast. In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman, a working class salesman, believes being well liked and popular is the true way to achieve the American Dream. His values are passed down to his son, Biff Loman, who follows his father's examples, until he realizes his own true American Dream.

Later, Willy asks both Biff and Hap to steal lumber and sand from a construction site for the front porch.  He is not dismayed as the security guard chases Biff. He also raises no objection when Ben encourages Biff to fight unfairly. Willy's mixed moral messages eventually lead to Biff's habitual stealing, which is responsible for his continued failure in life.  Even when his sons are older, Willy continues to promote immoral behavior.  Willy urges Biff to lie to Oliver about his work experience so that Biff might borrow $15,000 and start a business.

Linda entered and the boys were sent to do chores. Willy bragged to Linda about his successful business trip, but it is eventually realized that his trip was somewhat mediocre. Willy worried that his earnings would not be able to cover all payments that he owed. He griped that he was not well liked, and therefore bad at his job. Linda consoled him and Willy heard a woman laughing; he seemed to have a sexual relationship with this woman as they flirted. The woman seemed to have been a day dream within a day dream, and Willy floated back to his original daydream. Bernard ran into the house, looking for Biff to study with. Biff was reminded to return his stolen football by Linda, who also mentioned that he is too rough with girls. Willy angrily erupts at Biff before his daydream scene ends.

Later in a flashback, Willy and Biff are on their way to Ebbets Field for a football game when Charley appears and beings a conversation with Willy. Merely joking around, Charley makes a few comments which Willy takes great offense too and beings insulting Charley and telling him to put his hands up as if to fight. Willy's arrogance shows it's face once again when Willy is talking to Biff about his meeting with Oliver. Completly ignoring what Biff is saying, Willy goes on about how good of a kid Biff is and how impressive he is. Though not directly insulting, Willy ignores what his son has to say and goes off on his own tangents, losing the respect of the reader. Willy then ends up in another flashback in the bathroom of the restauraunt where he met Happy and Biff for dinner. The most disgusting part of Willy is revealed here. Biff walks in on Willy and his woman friend whom hes had a secret relationship with. Willy attempts to cover it up and when that doesnt work he orders Biff around and shows how bad of a person he can be.

He has another flashback of Bernard informing him that Biff failing math and telling him to help his son cheat. Willy begins to regret not going with his brother, Ben, to Alaska and getting rich. Out of pity, Charley, Bernard's father, offers Willy a job; Willy, however, declines. While he is having a conversation with Charley, Willy begins to believe that his brother is there with them and starts talking to a figment of his imagination. The brawl and Ben wins. Willy’s delusions worsen as he imagines Charley coming to his house and yelling at him. Biff and Happy are convinced that their father is a maniac but Linda defends his honor and explains that he’s just overworked. Linda does admit that they’re not doing so hot with paying their bills and supporting the family. Biff is determined to get a job to take care of them. The next morning, Willy announces his plans to plants seeds. Linda asks him to talk to his boss about getting a different job and tells him about a surprise dinner. Howard, the big boss, denies Willy’s request for a new job and Willy practically does everything in his power to convince him even bringing up that he named

The book Death of a Salesman is about an older man named Willy Loman. In the book Willy is a salesman that is trying to make a living for himself in the business world. Willy, just coming back from an unsuccessful business trip, has lied to his sons about the riches that he fantasized he made. He then turns on his oldest son Biff about his failures in his trips out west. Biff gets fed up with the argument and goes off and this results in the end of act 1.

Arthur Miller begins his play with an excellent description of the setting of the play. This makes it easy for the reader to imagine themselves actually watching the play and causes the reader to be able to better relate to the play. Because Death of a Salesman can be considered an emotional play, it qualifies as being a timeless work of literature, especially because it has the ability to touch the human heart. Willy Loman is a salesman, who lives in New York City with his wife Linda. From the beginning of the play, Miller makes it obvious that Willy struggles with many obstacles, such as anger and even confusion since there are many times throughout the play where Willy becomes severely confused. Many characters throughout the play,

Willy’s relationship with Biff and Happy also becomes strained throughout their lives. Since Biff was the older son and football star he made his father proud, and Happy was left without the praise that he needed and deserved, as he was always second best. Biff also was the one who caught his father having an affair with a woman in Boston, causing friction between himself and Willy. More importantly, Biff is extremely disturbed by his father's later behavior, including participating in imaginary conversations and reacting to his memories as though they were happening in the present. Willy's job also falls apart from the beginning of the play towards the end. Willy had been making enough money to support his family, but his unwillingness to learn new sales techniques or utilize modern technology resulted in lackluster sales and the loss of his job. Willy’s house had a mortgage until his death, implying that the family was not even secure in their own home. Finally, the family car, a symbol of pride within the Loman household, was destroyed when Willy committed suicide. This was the last example of Willy's destruction of all that was once important to him. Willy Loman, in this regard, follows Aristotle's suggestion that the tragic hero has "...a change of fortune... from prosperity to misfortune...." (Aristotle,1303)

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman tells the tale of Willy Loman, a man who falls from the top of the capitalism system in a resonant crash. Being controlled by his fears of the future, and stuck in his memories of the past, Willy fully contributes to his self-victimization by putting little blame on his own mistakes. Although Willy is perceived as selfish, it is important to see that he is misguided. His character is one of a common man, he has never been anything special, but he chose to follow the American Dream and continue the “destiny” it gave him. However, in my reading of the play, I feel it was not an unlucky destiny that pushed Willy to damage his own life and the lives of his family,

The play "Death of a Salesman" shows the final demise of Willy Loman, a sixty-