In the iconic play, "Death of A Salesman," (1949), Author Miller evidently introduces the American Dream, abandonment, and betrayal in the play, Miller portrays to his readers that the play takes place in one of America's most difficult time period, the Great Depression. The Great Depression consist of crisis and struggles that led to many American families suffering and unemployment. First the setting of the play begins with Willy insisting that his son Biff gets a job, by doing so Willy creates some type of suspense through using telegraphic sentences, and technical details to emphasize on what Biff should try to do to portray the American Dream by finding a job. Through the struggles and crisis Willy and his father faced by finding a job its difficult because both of them don't recognize that they are exactly similar and they distress one another because of that. Willy may taunt his son Biff because he wants the best for him in the future, he doesn't want Biff to face the reality he had faced in the past with his father, Willy's dad abandoned him when he was only three years old. Miller illustrated this by creating an personal anecdote and understatement to explain the reality of what Willy endured. There was quite a betrayal Willy played, his poor wife Linda thought he was very ill and too innocent but Biff knew the truth calling him a "phony" throughout the novel. In the play Willy’s preoccupation with Linda’s stockings foreshadows his affair with The Woman some type of person he known in the past. Miller foretells his affairs with the women by using dramatic and situational irony. However, these three following events led to misleading relationship with his son, emptiness in his heart of loneliness, and distance from his wife in the end which eventually followed to his death. The purpose of the play was to represents a democratization of the ancient form of tragedy; achieving greatness, the tone ranges from sincere to parodying, but at times the treatment is tender, and sometimes brutally honest to Willy's truthfulness, which leaves the audience being readers prone to intellectual curiosity and mystery.
- Indignantly: Characterized by or filled with indignation.
- Simonizing: to shine or polish to a high sheen, especially with wax.
- evasively: Inclined or intended to evade.
- resentment: Indignation or ill will felt as a result of a real or imagined grievance.
- Saccharine: of the nature of or resembling that of sugar.
Tone: Sincere, Brutally honest, Parodying.
Strategies:
- Preposition: "I wish you'd have a good talk with him." (15)
- Allusion: "I think the fact that you're not settled, that you're still kind of up in the air..."(10)
- Simile: "Maybe I oughta get stuck into something. Maybe that's my trouble. I'm like a boy. I'm not married. I'm not in business, I just-I'm just like a boy."(11)
- Dialogue: "You're a poet, you know that Biff? You're an idealist!"(11)
- Personification: "But you didn't rest your mind. Your mind is overactive, and the mind is what counts, dear."(3)
Questions:
- Compare the way Biff treats his father with the way Happy does. Why is it hard for Biff to tell Willy the truth? Why doesn’t Happy want him to?
- Discuss the symbolism of the two heavy sample cases and the stockings. How does Miller use the characters’ names as symbols? What do they mean? What is the significance of Loman? Why Willy instead of Bill? What other symbols does Miller use and to convey his purpose in the play?
- Can the American Dream to its civilians cause tragedy or prosperity?Explain?
Memorable Quote: "In the greatest country in the world a young man with such-personal attractiveness, gets lost. And such a hard worker."(6)
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