Death of a Salesman Summary

Arthur Miller

• author of Death of a Salesman
• wrote dramas and essays
• also wrote The Crucible

Setting

• centered around the house and yard - scenes not in the house achieved by ignoring the house walls
• house surrounded by tall buildings - possibly implying a city?
• takes place around the time of the publication of the play
• other settings include Howard's office, Charley's office, the restaurant, and a hotel room in Boston

Plot

Act 1

• Willy Loman returns home after being unable to drive to Boston
• He and Linda discuss their lives and their children - Biff's relationship with Willy comes up
• Happy and Biff talk - Biff reveals his discontent with Willy's dream for him
• Willy begins to talk in the past, setting stage for his later mental lapses
• First Flashback: Willy returns home for Biff's big game; Biff needs to score well in math to graduate, conversation with Linda and interaction with The Woman
• Conversation between Willy and Charley sets up Willy's jealousy and competitiveness in his friend, and Willy's cheating nature with the card game.
• Second Flashback: Ben arrives from past to tempt Willy and offer more history and advice - fighting with Biff, using dirty tricks to get ahead, Biff stealing from the builders
• Linda talks to Biff about loving Willy, how Biff has to either love them both or stop visiting, and Willy's attempts at suicide
• Argument between Willy and Biff; Happy proposes an idea about sports business.  Biff and Willy agree to call truce over it.  Willy reminisces over the past.

Act 2

• Much more optimistic beginning: breakfast and overall cheerfulness.
• Willy argues slightly over his old electronics and mending stockings, told he has been asked to dinner with the boys, wants to plant a garden, reminded to ask for a raise (work in the city)
• Conversation between Linda and Biff over the phone - emphasizes Linda's treatment of Willy as another child instead of as a husband
• Willy talks to Howard, demonstrates his incompetence (acts like the daughter, son, maid, and wife), and is fired - Willy's rantings show his reason for being a salesman
• Third Flashback: Linda and Ben argue over traveling out to Alaska (the woman makes the "wrong" move), Ben leaves and everyone is preparing to leave for Biff's big game, rivalry between Charley and Willy
• Willy goes to Charley's office, meets modern Bernard and sees success, asks where Biff went wrong - reveals some secret occurring in Boston when Biff went to ask Willy for help
• Charley and Willy talk about having a reputation and stating a reputation, Willy's being fired, Willy's jealousy of Charley, and Willy's incorrect belief in the importance of being liked - Willy provides another foreshadowing of suicide.
• Biff and Happy show up at the restaurant.  Happy focuses on getting the girls.  Biff tries to explain his meeting (or lack thereof) with Bill Oliver and his ensuing revelation, but constantly interrupted by Happy.  Happy advocates lying to Willy to keep him happy.
• Willy shows up and argues with Biff about Biff's past "successes", reveals he'd been fired, and makes assumptions about Biff's reception.
• Fourth Flashback: Bernard pounds on the door and tells Linda that Biff failed math and is going to visit Willy.
• Continued argument between Willy and Biff.  Biff promises to make things right, lies to Willy to snap him out of the past, and reverts back to arguing.  Biff tries to get them to stop but ignores them once the girls show up.
• Biff and Happy argue about caring about Willy.  Biff leaves and Happy and the girls follow him.
• Fifth Flashback: The scene in the Boston hotel room is revealed.  The Woman is how Willy gets special treatment and Biff, going to ask Willy to help him get his grade up, recognizes that Willy was lying and cheating.  Biff gives up on life here.
• Stanley interrupts Willy, is a decent sort, shows him to the hardware store and refuses to take money.
• Linda argues with Biff (and Happy) about leaving Willy behind.  Biff reveals self-hatred.
• Sixth Flashback: Not really a flashback, Ben steers Willy's thinking on insurance.
• Biff and Willy talk and argue.  Willy refuses to let Biff do anything other than his dream for him, continues to maintain belief in their abilities.  Biff cries to Willy and leaves.
• Willy sends everyone to bed, listens to his mental Ben, and drives away.  Car crash.

Requiem

• Only ones at the funeral were the Lomans and Bernard and Charley.
• Biff speaks of Willy not knowing himself.  Happy destined to follow Willy's footsteps.  Charley's opinion of Willy changes.
• The house is paid for.  Linda tells Willy that they are free.

Characters

Willy Loman

• Salesman, works under Howard, fired
• Believes in the importance of appearance above actual intelligence and training - "He's liked, but he's not well-liked."  "Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets again.  Be liked and you will never want."
• Did not have a father figure growing up, never managed to find himself
• Refuses to accept any responsibility for the chaos around him
• Violent and mentally unstable towards the end, easily angered, sensitive - "Why do you always insult me?"
• Arrogant and self-important approach to life - "I am not a dime a dozen!  I am Willy Loman!"
• Beaten down by society - "He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine.  And when they start not smiling back -- that's an earthquake."
• Goal to be well-liked - "'Cause what could be more satisfying than to be... remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?"

Biff Loman

• Raised by his father on the importance of appearance
• Aspects of Oedipus Complex on his father instead of his mother
• Had the realities of Willy's life shoved at him to change his mind about following Willy's dreams - "You fake!  You phony little fake!  You fake!"
• Wants to use his muscles and just listen to himself instead of following others
• Fighting against society to properly earn his name - "What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!"

Happy Loman

• Generally ignored by most of his family.
• Determined to do the best he can with what he has.
• Believes in keeping up appearances but secretly hates working for others (subversion through other means). - "...Maybe I just have an overdeveloped sense of competition or something...  I don't want the girl, and, still, I take it and -- I love it!"
• Doesn't learn and will follow his father's footsteps - "I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain...  It's the only dream you can have -- to come out number-one man."
• Hides his head under the grass and doesn't acknowledge what would make life complicated

Linda Loman

• Extremely forgiving to her husband - "He's the dearest man in the world to me, and I won't have anyone making him feel unwanted and low and blue...  I know he's not easy to get along with -- nobody knows that better than me -- but..."
• Is a sort of Madonna - treats her husband more like a son - "Just rest.  Should I sing to you?"  "Did you have some cheese?"
• Quiet strength and very firm in her beliefs - "Biff, dear, if you don't have any feeling for him, then you can't have any feeling for me."
• Illustrates the homely strength of women?
• Her dislike of Ben pushed her husband away from being "successful"?

Others

• Charley and Bernard: Foils to Willy and Biff -- Charley pushed his son to be strong academically and doesn't blow him full of hot air. - "And you never told him what to do, did you  You never took any interest in him."  "The Supreme Court!  And he didn't even mention it!"
• Stanley: Legitimately one of the few good characters in the play.  Had good intentions throughout.
• Ben: Represented success, but also the uncertain and unscrupulous life necessary to achieve it. - "Never fight fair with a stranger, boy.  You'll never get out of the jungle that way."  "The jungle is dark but full of diamonds."
• Howard: Illustrated the changing nature of human enterprise and the role of technology on it

Style and Voice

Point of View

• written as a play so no clear thoughts on characters' inner thoughts
• role as outside viewer attempting to understand the mystery and history of a dysfunctional family
• Willy's flashbacks provide a glimpse into himself and his memories
• The ranting by the characters provide source for understanding motive and inspiration.
• commentary on women through objectification and Linda - "I'd like to find a girl -- steady, somebody with substance."  "Somebody with character, with resistance!  Like Mom, y'know?"

Tone

• Changing tone but mainly pessimistic - cast negative light upon the American Dream
• all exaggerated emotions and tones - provide more archetypal responses and clearer understanding
• Brief moments of optimism punctured by dramatic irony and looming feeling of foreboding

Imagery

• Over-emphasis on objects (the various cars, the refrigerator, etc.) illustrate the materialistic society and its focuses
• Relatively vivid descriptions of characters and actions provide a deeper meaning to particular details that Miller wants to make evident
• Description of setting provide a constrained, jailed, and confined feeling - mirrors society's binds on the family
• Flute music (not always a flute in the movie, but close enough) described to provide a calming, pastoral feel, contrasting past with present

Symbolism

• Flute - past, less competitive and less materialistic times
• Garden/Jungle - place where things can be made to grow, the location where lives can be changed and names made, seeds are proper skills and tools necessary to be successful in the future
• Stockings - specifically serve as an overall reminder of Willy's infidelity, described as "expensive" by Linda who mends her own, given to The Woman as a gift, perhaps showing the cheating nature of the entire situation
• The Mortgage/The House - Willy's life, all of his money and efforts were in order to pay everything off and be in the clear, he dies when the final payments can be made, his mental and physical health deteriorate as the amount becomes closer to being paid off. - "There's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made."
• Silver Trophy - Likely Biff's trophy from his state championship game.  Silver generally denotes second place, like Biff's dreams of passing math and getting a good career.  Willy still keeps it, like Biff's position as second-best, having never gone to college.  Also a symbol of Biff's "second-best" career goal?

Themes

• "The materialistic American Dream is a daily struggle that cannot be overcome through friendship alone and warps all who try."
• Willy focuses on being liked and friendship and dies struggling to be recognized.
• Bernard's success story focuses on education and dedication, allowing him to become successful through his own means.
• Those like Willy, Ben, and Biff who try to "cheat" the system end up cheating, lying, and stealing, and sometimes are still unsuccessful.
• Willy's dream for Biff is essentially the economic American Dream, which Biff, having learned from his father's mistake, refuses for his own dream, which focuses on hard-work and traditional farming.