Death of a Salesman

This is my second experience of reading Arthur Miller (I've never seen him in performance, alas), and though Death of a Salesman lacks the emotional punch of The Crucible, it's still pretty dang good. Willie Loman is one of those people I can't help but empathize with, as he throws himself into his work to the utmost extent. Shame he's got two lackadaisical sons, and shame even more that it appears to be his fault. The flashbacks are confusing on the written page, but I'd imagine they'd look pretty good on stage. A damning indictment of the principles by which I sometimes feel I live my own life.

I was struck by the closeness of the ending to some aspects of It's a Wonderful Life, which came out only three years before this, and though show more the two very obviously have different tones, I can't help but think there's something in that. Death of a Salesman attacks the very principles upon which that film rests; furthermore, it attacks the entire 1950s before they even happened, which is both clever and depressing. show less

Lire du théâtre, ce n’est pas toujours simple, mais ici ça prend, pas de problème, les jeux de personnages, de lieux, de temps, très bien ; ça donne envie de la voir sur scène, ce qui me semble être plutôt bon signe.
L’histoire n’est pas bien joyeuse, on pourrait même dire violente, une histoire de famille, de fierté, de façade, de réussite sociale (ou d’absence de...), d’illusions sur soi, sur les autres. On a un peu envie de secouer les personnages principaux pour qu’ils grandissent un peu, mais en même temps on comprend l’espèce de spirale dans laquelle on peut tous et chacun s’engluer. Une pièce donc très humaine, mais pas le côté le plus reluisant de l’humanité...

"… what goes through a man's mind, driving seven hundred miles home without having earned a cent?" (pg. 45)

Though bleak and nihilistic, the most debilitating thing for a reader of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is its complexity. The play is essentially two scenes, each the length of an Act, in which multiple characters talk over one another (rarely being straight with each other), and in which flashbacks and delusions repeatedly bleed into the conversation. It is challenging, to say the least.

It is a play you're too busy trying to decipher to really appreciate; the sort that – in my case, at least – only becomes tolerably clear after extensive googling. It is essentially a dissection of the American Dream, and Miller does show more quite well at portraying the various chasers of that dream, from Willy, the titular salesman, who has been broken down by the pursuit, through to his son Biff, who wants to walk away from it altogether. Individual moments bring out the shabbiness of this increasingly sour dream, such as Willy's boss (the son of the last boss, natch) firing Willy despite decades of loyal service to the company, and doing so not without some condescension.

However, it was never clear to me (even after all that googling) quite what the play was trying to say. We are presumably meant to be critical of Willy, who has not realised in his long life that perseverance in a job he hates is not the road to success; maybe I'm weak, but I think a dues-paying sad-sack who works a job he hates in order to support his family deserves more respect than the play is willing to give him (for example, a casual affair is held against him as some unforgivable sin). Conversely, Biff is seen as the breakout hope, despite not knowing what he wants, only that he doesn't want to answer to anybody; this social ennui is understandable, but his uncannily modern attitude doesn't offer an alternative, or even seem to want to seek one.

This, perhaps, is why I struggle with Death of a Salesman; it rightly criticises the soulless grind of working, consumer-driven life, but it misaligns its targets. Whereas writers like, say, John Steinbeck would criticise the American Dream as something that had become corrupted and lost its way, Miller seems to attack it in its entirety, as though the Dream itself was wrong. To which, one response is: can you think of anything better? Miller seems to want us to discard Willy as a sucker, someone who worked hard at something useless and not hard enough at finding his true calling. Willy's worldview, that personality and connections carry the day, and hard work doesn't, is scoffed at; the neighbour's boy, Bernard, on the other hand, works hard and studies and becomes a successful lawyer.

This, to be frank, rings extremely hollow nowadays. Networking does indeed carry the day, hard work is at best contributory, and if you don't believe me, then ask the university-educated barista who brings you your coffee. As strange as it sounds, I couldn't help but look on with envy at Willy's life: a house, a regular job, a family… These would be rare treasures indeed for the current generation; we are all expected to be salesmen and side-hustlers today, without even those basic rewards and securities, sometimes without even enough to make rent. Biff is portrayed as an anomaly because he is thirty-four and hasn't made anything of himself; nowadays, it wouldn't seem remarkable at all, and rather than individuals like Willy failing to realise their calling, the system seems geared towards producing people who can be readily exploited and discarded. Death of a Salesman was a disappointment primarily because I was hoping it would have a more astute insight into the mechanisms behind this bewildering and sickening state of affairs. show less

Death of a Salesman is a brutal play about idealism, dysfunction, failure, and the vanity of the American Dream. Simply put, it is a truly devastating piece that dissects the painfully fruitless life of Willy Loman, a representative of thousands of American workers, as well as the debilitating effect that his romanticized view of the pursuit of success has on his children. While the play succeeds in many ways, what I find most fascinating and poignant about it is the ease with which it captures the exhaustion, disappointment, and horror that comes with one's realization that they have not truly accomplished anything in life, that they have failed, and, worse, that such failure extends beyond themselves and impacts those they love most. show more By focusing on Loman's desperate and futile attempts to deny such a realization, the play draws more attention to it and puts it front and center until it is actualized through the collapse of Loman's family. The effect of such an approach is simply world-shattering. I have not read anything that feels as visceral and human as Death of a Salesman for a long time, and for that reason alone I cannot recommend it enough. show less

I generally prefer romantic plays, thus this play is not among my favorites. However, I admire the play's brilliant structure and style. While its development of character and underlying exposition are reminiscent of Ibsen, Miller has imprinted his own approach in the drama. Going beyond mere dialogue he devised a complex mixture of present event, selective memory, and hallucination. The result is a bold new version of naturalism that is impressive. This play is great while presenting a world view that I personally reject.

(MILD SPOILERS)
I went into this book with no idea what to expect. Never saw it on a theater or heard a word about it. My experience of the story began on page 1 and ended on the last page.

I have to commend Arthur Miller for his work here. To call it a masterpiece would be no exaggeration. This play describes the tragedy of a man and his two sons and wife, and how his whole life collapses around him.

Willy's ideas about life are flawed, and so are those about his own identity. He plays with his own rules thinking they are the rules of the game, believing he has two gods for sons--"Adonises" in his own words--only to find that his very beliefs, the inflated picture he has instilled in their young minds, is the reason why they have turned show more out to be failures. Like himself.

I found the dialog to be perfectly suited to the plot's needs, and the theatrical exposition and the flashbacks worked very well. To deliver such a complex portrait, such a difficult plot, in a little over a hundred pages speaks to the author's masterful skill in telling the right story in just the right way.

Death of a Salesman deserves a strong recommendation from me. show less

Oh wow. This short, sweet play hits you hard, like a quick punch to the gut you'll be feeling for a while.

Aren't we all Willy Loman?