Death of a Salesman

1. Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (1949) captures the importance of success in the American Dream that every man has. Miller shows the struggles faced by the aging salesman, Willy Loman, who is beginning to realize he is not the big business man that he hoped to be. Loman has to support his wife, Linda, along with his two sons, Biff and Hap. Throughout the play Willy Loman has flashbacks, in some he is speaking to a younger woman and in others he is speaking to his brother Ben. Loman is first introduced coming back from a business trip he failed to do and later one can see that the relationship he has with his sons is very distant now. He underestimates them especially Biff and feels as if they do not love him. His relationship with Biff is very weak since Biff has left them alone before and has not helped them out much. Throughout the entire play Willy insists that he is a big businessman and that everyone knows his name. He is not making much money and his only hope are his sons. Hap does not seem to care but Biff does so he attempts to get into business. A number of flashbacks that occur show Loman is a lonely, tired man. After making peace with his son Biff and realizing that his son does love him he has another flashback of Ben. Only to realize that Ben was not there he got in his car and drove fast to his death.With the use of intense scenes, Arthur Miller's purpose is to present the fights one must face in finding success for themselves and for their children. His audience targets everyone because within every family there are arguments but in general Americans since it covers the desire of reaching the "American Dream". 


2. Vocabulary: 

• pompous (adj.) : Affectedly and irritatingly grand, solemn, or self-important
• simonizing (v.): Polish (a motor vehicle).
• immersed (v.): Involve oneself deeply in a particular interest
• chamois (n.):  a small goatlike bovid
• primps (v.):  to dress, adorn, or arrange in a careful or finicky manner
• incarnate (adj.):  invested with bodily and especially human nature and form
• laconic (adj.):  using or involving the use of a minimum of words
• valises (n.):  old-fashioned : a small suitcase
• caliber (n.):  degree of mental capacity or moral quality
• saccharine (adj.):  of, relating to, or resembling that of sugar

3. Tone: Sincere, Intense 


4. Rhetorical Strategies: 

• Idiom: "Knocked 'em cold in Providence, slaughtered 'em in Boston" (33).
• Analogy: "Biff a man is not a bird, to come and go with the springtime" (54). 
• Rhetorical Questions: "Why shouldn't he talk to himself? Why? When he has to go to Charley and borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend to me that it's his pay?" (57). 
• Anecdote: "Well, it seems she was walking down the road and saw his car. She says that he wasn't driving fast at all, and that he didn't skid. She says he came to that little bridge, and then deliberately smashed into the railing, and it was only the shallowness of the water that saved him" (59). 
• Similes: 
• "Like when you worked for Harrison's. Bob Harrison said you were tops, and then you go and do some damn fool think like whistling whole songs in the elevator like a comedian" (60).
• "I slept like a dead one" (71).
• Personification: "Once in my life I would like to own something outright before it's broken! I'm always in a race with the junkyard! I just finished paying for the car and it's on its last legs" (73). 
• Metaphor: "...And be sweet to him tonight, dear. Be loving to him. Because he's only a little boat looking for a harbor" (76).

5. Discussion Questions

1. What role does the fear of being alone play in Willy's life?
2. What explanation does Biff have for his failure to succeed and what is Willy's? 
3. How does the flashbacks of Ben affect Willy? 

6. Quote:
"The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell" (97).