DEATH OF A SALESMAN

          " The Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller took place in 1949 in a small house in New York surrounded by apartments buildings.  Death of a Salesman is not a realistic play. It shows that world of dreams is as real as the " real world ". People struggle to live up to the " American Dream " and having too much in pride in them. Which lead in some people cannot accept their own failures of not living up to the " American Dream "
         Willy Loman is a traveling salesman in his sixties. The title of the book automatically tells us that he is going to die. He is experiencing an emotional problem. His past, recurring to him in visions, is interfering with the present. Each time he experiences visions from his past, he brings with him a discovered piece of information that throws new troubles to his present. He realizing that he lived his whole life by the false standard that you lie and cheat to make money as long as you are " well -liked" or be accepted by others. Willy wants his life to make a lot of money by being well liked.  However he wanted success so badly that he lost realistic sense of himself. Willy is like a boy in his impulsive enthusiasm and sudden discouragement. The many contradiction in his character reveals a man, who doesn't know himself at all. For instance, he will borrow money from his neighbor Charley but refuses to take a job working for him. He would rather die. Until the day he dies Willy never stops dreaming up ways to better his life. He is fully of imagination, even to the point of committing suicide in a scheme to make $ 20, 000 on his insurance policy.
        "You are my foundation and my support " Willy tells Linda. Even though he may be understanding her devotion and trust to be. She is the model of a loving, devoted, patient wife. Willy sometimes treats Linda cruelly or insensitively, but she understands the pain and fear behind his behavior, and forgives him. Willy cannot tolerate his wife's disagreeing with him, so Linda has long practiced ignoring her own opinions. She has always supported Willy in his illusions about himself. He had so her of his possibilities at home that she talked him out of his one chance to got Alaska with Ben. She manages to be cheerful most of the time. Willy's guilt turns her into even sweeter and more humble woman. We also see that it is Linda who has kept clear picture of their finances. When Willy boasts of big sales, she gently questions until she learns the truth never rebuking for lying. She does the best she can with their little income to pay for their endless bills. She must manage well, for we can see in the Requiem that she has made the last payment on their on their house and they are " free and clear". Linda has made a child of her husband, always indulgent and affectionate with him. She senses Willy is in trouble, and go to protect him, and to protect him she is terrifyingly tough on the two grown-ups. She is a good understanding mother, but will never tolerate her sons crossings their father. Linda knows her beloved Willy is a " little boy " but she feels he deserves the respect of his sons.
         Biff is 34 and has just come home again from farm work in the West. A star athlete in high school, Biff would conquer the world, thought Willy. Biff's success would mean that Willy had raised him right. But Biff is not a success. He feels "mixed up," confused, uncertain, as though he's wasting his life. Is he wasting his life, though? When he talks about the farms where he's worked, from the Dakotas to Texas, he speaks with such enthusiasm and eloquence that his brother calls him a "poet." While he was growing up, Biff had idolized his father, and Willy had thought Biff could do no wrong. But during Biff's senior year of high school something happened between him and Willy that no one else knows anything about. The two of them have not admitted, even to each other, what happened, but it has affected their relationship ever since. Willy believes--and makes Biff believe--that anyone so confident, so gorgeous, so natural a leader has the right to make his own rules. He doesn't punish Biff for "borrowing" a football from school; he lets Biff drive without a license; he encourages Biff to steal from a nearby construction site. Biff so believes in his father that when he fails a math exam, he's certain Willy can talk to the teacher, and goes to Boston to find him. When Biff discovers something about his father that shocks him, he gives up on himself and on his father. He refuses to grow up and accept responsibilities. At 34, Biff says to his brother, "I'm like a boy." Biff, like his father, has refused to see what he has actually done with his life. But on this return to his parents' home a crucial difference between Biff and Willy develops. Biff is aware of his own unhappiness. He takes a long and clear-eyed look at himself--and at his father. He insists on telling his father what he sees: that he has never been what his father thinks he is. From that new and painful truth, Biff is able to understand Willy and to forgive him and to give him the love that has long been stilled between them. The hope we are given at the end of the play is that Biff is capable of accepting himself.
         Happy is 32, two years younger than Biff. Like his brother, Happy is an attractive and powerful man. In the scenes from the past we see Happy doing everything within his power to get his father to notice him. Happy told his mom " I am getting married Mom, I wanted to tell you. "he throws in at inappropriate times, desperate for attention. He's learned how to say what people want to hear, but neither of his parents takes him seriously. On the face of it, the grown-up Happy appears to have achieved the things Willy wanted for his boys--a steady job, the social life of a popular single man, a car, and his own expensive apartment. However, Happy turns out to be a shame. Instead of a buyer, he is an "assistant to the assistant" buyer. He takes bribes from salesmen who want to do business with the company he works for. He seduces women in whom he has no real interest, especially women engaged to executives above him in the corporate structure. He confesses to his brother that he has "an overdeveloped sense of competition." He is lonely and longs for the chance to prove himself. He wants to meet a woman of substance like his mother.  But he never will. He is a man without any real desire to develop a life with values. He is generous enough to send his father to Florida for a vacation, but he isn't interested in spending time with him.  Hap abandons his father in the moments Willy is most distraught, saying to the girls he's picked up, "No, that's not my father. He's just a guy." Its no wonder Happy rejects his father after his father's lifetime rejection of him. But over his father's grave he exclaims, "...Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It's the only dream you can have--to come out number-one man." Happy seems destined to be another Willy.
         At the office, Willy's young boss, Howard is playing a recording of his family new office machine. At last, when Willy can get a word in, he asks Howard for a New York position, but is refused even when he drops his request to forty dollars a  week, Desperate, he raises his voice to Howard, who tells him to pull himself together and leaves the room, Shaken, Willy accidentally swtiches on the machine, with so unnerves him that he calls out Howard to come and turn it off. Howard takes the opportunity to fire Willy, telling him to put away false pride and turn to his sons for support.
Willy Loman, a traveling salesman, comes home in the middle of the night when he is supposed to be on a business trip. He tells his wife, Linda, that couldn't keep his mind driving, and kept going off the road because he was daydreaming. She urges him to ask his boss for positions with the company's headquarter in New York, so he won't have to travel anymore, and he agrees to see his boss the next day. The family gathers to discuss his trouble situation. Linda says he is trying to kill himself because after 36 years with the company they have now taken his salary and his is back on commission like a beginner, and broke because he can't sell anything, His pride is shattered and he is exhausted.
         Biff returns from the west to visit his family although he doesn't know how long he's going to stay.  Happy is glad to see him, but Willy seems strangely irritated.  He talks to old friends he imagines to the chagrin of his family, but no one has the heart to confront him about it.  Willy has a flashback of a time when Biff and Happy were promising high school students.  In the flashback, Willy gives his sons a punching bag.  He also condones Biff's stealing of a football and doesn't encourage them to study as much as they should.  Charley comes to Willy's house at night complaining of not being able to sleep.  Charley and Willy play cards, but at the same time, Willy holds a conversation with his imaginary brother.  Charley has no idea what's going on and leaves.  Willy continues the conversation regretting that he stayed in American while he could have gone to Alaska or Africa with his brother and made a fortune.  While Willy is having this imaginary conversation, Biff talks with Linda and asks her about Willy's condition.  Linda explains that she can't bring herself to confront Willy about it.  She also tells Biff that Willy has attempted suicide by crashing the car several times.
        Willy decides to go to Howard the next day to ask if he can work in New York so that he wouldn't have to drive 700 miles to work..  The next day Willy goes to Howard and Biff goes to see Oliver.  They decide to celebrate their success by going out for dinner at night.  When Willy talks with Howard, he loses his temper and begins yelling at Howard who in turn fires him.  After Biff goes to see Bill, Bill doesn't remember him and doesn't lend him money.  At night, Biff and Happy arrive at the restaurant before their father.  Biff explains to happy that he didn't get the money, and happy encourages his brother to lie.  Willy arrives.  Biff tries to tell Willy that he didn't get the money and that he stole a fountain pen from Bill.  However, Happy is at the same time lying to Willy that Bill warmly welcomed Biff.  Willy apparently accepts Happy's version.  Willy tells his sons that he was fired and falls into his reverie having a flashback of the time Biff caught him in his affair.  He remembers that it was that moment that Biff's life ended.  Happy does not want to put up with his father and leaves with Biff and two girls they met earlier at the restaurant.  The two of them arrive home late and the coldly receives by Linda.  Biff confronts Willy about his suicide attempts and Willy denies everything.  He tells Biff that he did not get any money from Oliver and has no hope go get any money.  He accuses Willy of not know who he really is.  However, after this, Biff cries and leaves.  Willy realizes that Biff loves him and decides to celebrate by killing himself by crashing the car which would give his family 20 thousand dollar in life insurance.  No one but his family and Charley goes to his funeral.
         Willy Loman not only wreaks his own life, but the life of his sons. The cause of his own confusions is visited upon on them. Unaware of what is going through his mind and behavior, he commits suicide in the conviction that a legacy of twenty thousand dollars is all he needed. Arthur Miller says in this play that any man can have as great fall and be as great tragedy as a king or other famous people. Just because people are common does not mean that their fall is less steep. Also one must find oneself to be successful in life. Some people want to be living up to the " American Dream ". Historically the American Dream meant a promise of freedom and opportunity for all. We American seem to feel we deserve money and other things as our privileges. If we don't have enough money to buy everything we want, we feel incomplete in somehow or envy other who have them.
             The Death of a Salesman is a true classic. It made me realize that people who have too much pride in them don't know how to handle their own mistakes and failures or face the reality. After, finishing reading this play and other smiliar books related. I wonder  " Should people have high expectations or low expectations of yourself. " If you have high expectations of yourself and some how you may not be able to live up to that expectation. Would people be like Willy Loman? On the other hand, if people don't have a high expectations, have no goal in life, would they feel like Biff, feeling useless and wasting time.