Presently reading Gil Bailie’s new book, “The Apocalypse of the Sovereign Self” in which Gil unpacks Miller’s classic through mimetic desire. So I needed a refresher.

What a play! Such power, profundity and emotion. Truly great. ( )

Not a happy play. Very instructive on the role of work, and how we can't all expect to feel passion about our jobs. ( )

It’s weird sometimes how in life media can appear at the right time. The day I finished Death of a Salesman I also watched Synecdoche, New York, a movie that features Death of a Salesman heavily in its first half. Understanding Death of a Salesman’s themes helps to understand where Synecdoche, New York is going before it gets there. Do these appearances mean anything? Probably not. It’s likely just a frequency illusion: a cognitive bias where a term or book (or play) someone has become aware of recently seems to appear with an unlikely frequency. Or maybe it does mean something.

Anyway, Death of a Salesman: I’m impressed with playwright Arthur Miller’s ability to write about a salesman, yet never condemn (and barely touch on) the societal pressures of the American Dream expressed in capitalism. Willy Loman is a family man in his sixties with a long-suffering wife, Linda, and two grown sons, Biff and Happy. Willy and Linda have typical American Dream debts: the mortgage, the car, the fridge. The play shifts between present day and Willy’s deluded memories of happier times or things that led to his current situation. Willy will be happy only when he’s rich or his sons are successful, not realizing that he has succeeded in the American Dream of family. Linda’s dream is for Willy to recognize his success in her and their sons, who do love their father. Biff wants to make his father proud by being a salesman also, but his heart truly lies in the West and working outdoors. He’s torn between these two pillars of his life. Happy lives only in the moment and tries to keep a peace between his family, yet doesn’t want to acknowledge their real family problems.

The majority of the play is concerned with Willy’s memories and flights of fancy. Willy’s consciousness streams in and out of reality as he holds conversations with characters both in his house and in his head at the same time. He remembers his sons as young with their whole lives ahead of them, he imagines his uncle Ben (who wandered into Africa and got rich on the Gold Coast) giving him empty advice, he recalls his failures as a father that led to the downfall of his promising sons.

This isn’t a failure of the American Dream so much as it is the failure of a man to understand when he’s won and that comparison to others is not a mark of success.

Lines I liked:

- “It’s a measly manner of existence. To get on that subway on the hot mornings in summer. Devote your whole life to keeping stock, or making phone calls, or selling or buying. To suffer fifty weeks of the year for the sake of a two-week vacation, when all you really desire to be outdoors, with your shirt off.”
- “Sometimes I sit in my apartment — alone. I think of the rent I’m paying. It's crazy. But then, it’s what I always wanted. My own apartment, a car, and plenty of men. And still, goddammit, I’m lonely.” ( )

4,1 stars

I first read this play in university as part of a lit class and analyzed it to smithereens. I remembered next to nothing about it now, on my second read, and enjoyed it much more for it.

This isn't a happy play and it managed to put me in a pretty depressive mood, but it does have a good point about living the life that makes you happy in stead of the life you think you should want in order to succeed.

And now, I need something much more uplifting to read. ( )

Play read with my granddaughter. She didn't like it. I didn't mind it at all. ( )