1. Historical background

The 20th century actually began from the second decade, as the first decade was just a continuation of the previous century. World War I divided the 19th century and modern America. Then it was a period of 30-odd years before World War II, which was characterized by social transformation, economic upheavals and downfalls. People’s outlook of life changed correspondingly in this period. However, the 1910s the 1920s and the 1930s, very different from each other, displayed distinguished features and produced writers of different styles. World War II was another dividing line separating America from the contemporary period. These decades witnessed great literary achievement.

2. About the author

Arthur Miller is widely regarded as one of the greatest American playwrights, whose works include oft-performed classics Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. Miller’s plays are performed not only on Broadway, but also on the stages all over the world.

Arthur Miller was born on October 17, 1915 in New York City, the son of a coat-manufacturer and a public school teacher. In 1928, his father’s business failed and the family struggled to survive. The Great Depression taught the young Miller a lesson about the insecurity of modern existence. After graduation from high school, he worked in an auto-parts warehouse in order to save money for his studies at the University of Michigan. At the University, he won a lot of prize for the plays he wrote.

3. The author’s focus

The works of Miller explore the grave questions of conscience, the torments and tragedies of ordinary men and women striving for dignity, respect, security in an increasingly industrialized and impersonal world. They examine misplaced and misunderstood values, rampant materialism, the conflicts between ideals and reality, between fathers and sons. They are emblematic of an age of change and redefinition in America after World War II.

4. Stage Design

When Death of a Salesman was first produced there was a tremendous feeling of newness. What Miller didi was to wipe out the old realistic stage setting and go back to the Elizabeth kind of stage where the audience saw a house which was only a frame. People could have action in the house; they could wander out of the house. Moreover, in the case of Death of a Salesman, the artful manipulation of light, now shining on the left and now falling on the right, helps to change the setting in a highly flexible manner. The stage setting deals not only with space but with time. As it is “wholly or, in some places, partially transparent,” it can bring back any event or person from the past in an extremely fluid way to help present problem with the suffering Loman is that he cannot dissociate the present from the past, and cannot remember whether he is living in the one or in the other.

5. Synopsis of Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman is Miller’s most critically acclaimed work which portrays the tragic story of the emotional collapse of Willy Loman, an aging salesman, husband and father who has come to symbolize the American Dream gone away. Willy has worked for 35years as a traveling salesman, but his job has given him neither financial security nor a sense of achievement or happiness. He wants to ask from his boss Howard Wagner for a New York position, for he is over 60 years old and finds it increasingly difficult to continue his work as a travelling salesman. Willy’s elder son Biff plans to borrow money from his former employer Bill Oliver to get started in a sports goods business. However, instead of getting a new position in town, Willy is fired by his boss. Biff’s request of a loan is also rejected. Both Biff and his younger brother Happy are in their thirties, unmarried and unsuccessful in career. The two sons invite their father to dinner the next day after Biff saw his boss. Though Willy loves his tow sons, he is often angry with them because they have never amounted to anything. At the restaurant, Willy refuses to hear bad news from Biff and gets angry when Biff tells him what happened. A bitter quarrel follows. Then Biff and Happy go home, leaving their frustrated father behind in the restaurant. Willy buys life insurance and kills himself by planning a car accident, hoping the insurance money can help Biff start his own business.

6. Reading guide

In this selection, we witness what happens at the very end of the play, when Willy decides to commit suicide. Linda is Willy’s wife. Ben, a successful self-made man as well as Willy’s idol, is the ghost of his older brother from whom Willy often seeks advice.

7. Notes on the text

(1) go through the ins and outs of this: consider carefully the details of the proposition.

(2) on the barrelhead: in cash.

(3) gilt-edged: having gilded edges, as the pages of a book; of the highest quality or value.

(4) policy: the document which shows the agreement that you have made with an insurance company.

(5) to meet every premium on the nose: to pay a sum of money regularly (to the insurance company) as required in the insurance policy; on the nose: exactly as prescribed in the policy.

(6) ring up a zero: making no money at all. By now, Willy has lost his job and doesn’t make any money.

(7) Not like an appointment: Willy is referring to the appointment he has with his boss in which his request for a new position is turned down.

(8) he: here it refers to Willy’s son Biff.

(9) call you yellow: call you a coward.

(10) strike oil: become rich overnight.

(11) rap: the act of criticizing or blaming.

(12) lay it on the line: talk about this frankly.

(13) hot air: empty, exaggerated talk.

(14) a dime a dozen: a person of not much importance, cheap and ordinary.

(15) mut: a mongrel, (applied to a person) a term of contempt or abuse.

(16) boot: a quick hard kick.

(17) don: put on.

8. Historical background and cultural background related to the author

In 1929, the Wall Street crash suddenly ended the good “Twenties” and started the Great Depression. Factories and banks were closed. Workers laid off. A terrible drought attacking the Great Plains in 1933 made things worse. Land and crops were ruined. The livestock, machinery and homes were destroyed. Thousands of farmers left for cities or the West to look for work, but in vain. Capital was further concentrated in the hands of a few monopolizing tycoons. Contradictions in the free capitalist system were intensified.

During that intense period, in the early 1930s, Adams put forward a concept: the American Dream. He claims that every ordinary person can change his future through hard work. The American Dream contains three elements: success depends on personal endeavor, not family or background; everyone owns equal rights; everyone has the freedom in belief. Then this idea has been exaggerated and somehow misled many people. And those who failed are paranoid and blaming the country. America was close to collapse.

9. The theme of Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman reveals the phenomenon of ordinary people who believed in American Dream and suffered from it. The play shows a tragedy of a family that takes everything to chase the American dream. It tells us that though dream is a great motivation to strive and achieve success, we should be realistic and admit the fact that sometimes we are just the ordinary people who only need plain happiness.

To be more specific, the theme can be divided into three parts: reality and illusion; disillusion of the American Dream; father-son relationship.

Reality and illusion

For Willy, the reality is that he has lost his working ability and has to borrow money to pay insurance and mortgage. However, the illusion is that he always dreams to be a successful salesman. The more he indulge in the illusion, the harder it is for him to face reality.

Disillusion of American Dream

Willy believes wholeheartedly in what he considers the promise of the American Dream that a “we like” and “personally attractive” man in business will indubitably and deservedly acquire the material comforts offered by modern American life. He also considers hard work without complaint to be the key to success. Actually, Willy’s blind faith in his stunted version of the American Dream leads to his rapid psychological decline when he is unable to accept the disparity between the Dream and his own life. The sickness of American society “Everyone can be successful”.

Father- son relationship

Willy misleads his sons in their progress of value-forming. This causes the loss of their ability to objectively evaluate themselves and reality.

10. The historical significance of Death of a Salesman

In this play, Miller describes death, releases the tense and nervousness audience face in reality. It helps them to overcome the fear of death and bitterness. The death of Willy can be considered a victory which provides audiences the motivation for life and the hope for striving. Willy’s death is destined because of the flaws in his characteristic and the society he lives in. He never stops to pursue materialist success and status identity. Compared to traditional tragedies, Death of a Salesman takes an ordinary person as the protagonist. Miller thinks that the social significance of a tragedy is to be inspiring. It should destroy the confidence inside people, but should encourage them to fight for ideals. Thus it should emphasize the relationship between people and social reality. Through Willy, the victim of American Dream and Materialism, this play stimulates the audiences to feel the limit and the value of life, to find a reason to live, and to create a more meaningful life.