Death of a Salesman, Book Review Example

Introduction

“Death of a Salesman” is one of the most famous works by the American novelist Arthur Miller. This play is widely acknowledged as a true masterpiece of the 20^th century literature: the topics that author discusses remain urgent even today, decades after the play was published.

Conflict of generations is the first essential issue that is going to be analyzed in this paper. Misunderstandings that exist between the protagonist of the play, Willy Loman, and his sons are rather common for any family. Miller demonstrates that the conflict between generations is a frequent, but not a typical phenomenon. In each separate case, parents and children may fail to understand one another for various reasons – both psychological and social ones. According to Miller’s play, conflict of generation does not only exist parents and children, but between the two brothers too, as well as between the two business generations that can not coexist normally. Miller lets the reader look for the reasons of the conflict himself, but it can bee seen that Loman’s failure to keep up with the standards of the time. Failure to keep up with time leads to inability to comply with the norms and understand others well.

Conflicts of Generations

Arthur Miller describes a number of conflicts between generations in his play. The most obvious conflict is between the father – Willy Loman and his son, Biff. They share different ideals and sets of values. Quite interestingly, though: Biff sees the problem and realizes it perfectly well, while Willy fails to do that and stick to an image he has drawn for himself.  The younger son, Harold “Happy” Loman also lacks understanding and attention inside the family and suffers because of that. The two brothers – Happy and Biff also go through some conflicts, primarily because of the age difference and father’s inability to treat them equally and fairly. It can also be claimed that the termination of Willy’s contract is a result of the misunderstanding of the two generations – the new business people, presented by Howard Wagner and the people of conservative business type, presented by Willy Loman.

Conflict Between Brothers

Today it is considered to be a norm that the younger kids in the family get most of the attention and care. However, it has not always been so. In the America of 1940’s it was entirely different: the older brother had most of the privileges and chances. The person coming of age first was expected to assist the family, earn a living for himself and the others. This way Biff got most of the family love and attention; the main hopes were laid upon him, while Happy was somehow left behind. Harold certainly feels jealous of the older brother and thinks he deserves more than he is actually given. Staying in the shadow of the older brother certainly influences his behavior and worldview. At the same time, Biff does not pursue his father’s ideals and view and actually suffers from the load of expectations. The conflict surely arises: one brother lacks attention and wishes more, while the other tries to escape responsibility. Happy wishes what he doesn’t have and is not likely to get – father’s approval, while Biff hates the fact that his father thinks he is successful and promising. Ideally, the problem would have been resolved if Willy switched his hopes and dreams from Biff to Happy, but that is surely not possible.

Father – Son Conflict 

This conflict is one of the basic ones in the plot of the play. The problem that lays ground for it is eternal and was frequently addressed in the literature before. While describing the father-son relations in “Death of the Salesman” Miller addresses deep social and psychological issues. Willy Loman and Biff Loman have very different approaches towards career and future. Willy is entirely materialistic, mostly judging people based on their income and business success. Money is the basic and the most important criteria for him. Biff was brought up under the influence of these ideas and was the “star” of the family – intelligent and successful in sports. However, as he grows older and gains his own experience, he starts to doubt his father’s approach.

While the play progresses, the reader notices more and more differences in two men’s character. Father blindly follows the “American dream” and is quite sure Biff should do the same. Willy in fact does not know his elder son at all and cares little about his life perception. He fails to notice the changes that occur in Biff. Loman senior is absolutely sure that he is a perfect role model for his children and frequently sets himself as an example to be followed.

Biff used to share his father’s perception, but changed after graduating from high school. He failed the math tests, which eventually ruined the chances to enter a college and have a good career. When he came to Willy to share his problem and ask for advice, he saw his dad cheating with an unknown woman. This was the day when his entire world was ruined. His father used to be an ideal, which Biff wanted to reach one day. But he clearly realized that his dad was just a regular small man with his vices. After that the life he was living had little sense. Biff got disappointed in the American dream the way his father put it. Loosing the entire value system in one day is definitely hard, Biff realized that all the hopes that his dad had in him were nothing more than the reflection of Willy’s failures. Willy Loman just wanted his son to achieve everything that he himself failed. Such sublimation is rather frequent for the father-son relations. Biff is greatly disappointed with the fact that his father wants to make all the decisions for him. Willy just doesn’t leave any choice, it seems that he will only love his children if they are rich and successful. Otherwise, they will be considered a failure.

The reader may think that Biff has higher moral values than his dad: he doubts the materialistic approach, does not agree that good appearance is the only thing that matters in business and tries to go his own way. This, however, is actually not true. Biff ruined his system of ideals, but failed to create a new one. He despises his father’s approach, but does not have his own. He turns out to be a real looser: switches the jobs too often, barely earns enough for a living and has no motivation. Biff does not agree that appearance only matters in business, but does not come to a logical conclusion that hard work and commitment actually make success. This is best proven by Willy’s advice to Biff: “Be liked and you will never want”[1]. Eventually, the conflict between two generations – father and son can be summarized as follows. Two people fail to understand each other, though they are rather similar. Both are neither smart nor hardworking, both failed in their careers and do not even manage to communicate inside the family well. They surely love one another, but are not ready to make appropriate steps towards understanding.

The conflict is not resolved until almost the end, when Biff finally tells father the truth: “Pop, I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you! . . . I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you.”[2] This moment leads to the logical end of the play, as Willy Loman comes home and realizes the uselessness of his life and decides to commit a suicide, hoping to get money from insurance for the family.

Conflict of the Generations in Business

This problem is not as specifically described in the play, but still remains vivid. Two people from the different business environments confront each other: Willy Loman represents the old approaches to commerce: respect towards the boss, personal relations in business. He is sure that a nice appearance is all that matters: if the person looks goods and behaves well, he will eventually succeed. Howard Wagner is his antipode in this case. This young man inherited the business from his father, Willy’s good friend. The personal attachments, however, do not matter for him. The only thing he cares about is efficiency. “The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates a personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want.” [3]  Due to his age, Willy has been underperforming for some time and only received commission from the sales, no salary. Even despite the fact that he struggles to support the family, the boss does not wish to help. In fact, Wagner fires Willy after he asks for a transfer to New York. Howard pursues simple business logic: the inefficient ones should go away. This confrontation is symbolic for the American society of those days: the elder generation was often underperforming, but still had a human face. “After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive”[4]. The younger businessmen were concerned about efficiency, but became rather cruel. They often thought it was much easier to improve technology rather than people. American dream, after all, is based on the idea that everyone is responsible for himself: only the best should earn, the rest may suffer if they fail to perform well.

Failure to Keep Up With the Time

This is another core problem of the play that has to be discussed. Arthur Miller focuses his attention on the fact that Willy Loman is not capable of meeting the standards of the time he lives in. This is caused by several reasons, most of which are psychological.

Willy Loman is very unrealistic in the perception of himself. He lives in some virtual reality, which he created himself. In this artificial world Willy is successful, prosperous and has perfect children. He lives of his past, being sure that he was a great salesman once. His past successes are the only thing that matter for him. He also thinks the future of the family is great – his children will earn a lot and the living standard will grow dramatically.  Present condition is not that important: only the past and the future are important. Loman’s frequent hallucinations, being flashbacks that are decades old are the best proof to that.

Such attitude is surely a great mistake. The person can only be evaluated by what he is at the moment. The current time only matters, past and future make little difference. Meaningfulness of a man is not determined by what he thinks of himself or what he says, but by his real actions. If he is not successful now, the previous victories are devaluated. It doesn’t matter how well one used to know orthography or math at school, but whether he still is capable of writing and counting without mistakes. It is very important when the person sets great goals for himself, but the means to achieve these goals are also significant, as well as the time that took to get there. If it takes years to achieve something, it is not always a valuable victory, especially if it is virtual. Despite the very high standards that Willy Loman has set for himself, he failed completely. He refused to keep up with the time from both economic and psychological point of view.

This failure is certainly quite tragic, as the entire hopes and dreams of the person have been shattered.  The main problem however is not simply in this inability to reach goals, but failure to actually acknowledge the defeat. In order to put up with this fact, Willy made up an unreal world that existed in his imagination only, which would substitute his miserable life. Biff was the first and if not the only character in the book to fully realize that[5]: “He never knew who he was.”

Failure to Keep Up With the Business World

Willy Loman had very basic and primitive ideas over the market economy. The business model that he established for himself had been ineffective for years. Capitalism is a cruel, but honest structure: only the best ones win. In order to be competitive, the person has to demonstrate that he is capable of true actions, and not plain and abstract promises. Loman is stuck with one single thought: good presentation is the key to success. But that is definitely not so: only ability to deal with real problems and perform well was the standard in those days. That is possible under two conditions: bright ideas and hard work. None of these can be observed in Willy’s actions. “Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!”[6]

Failure to Be Psychologically Mature

America of the 1950s, the tome that is described in the play, was the place for realistic adult people. While the plot is being developed, the reader sees that Willy Loman is in fact a psychologically immature person, who did not grow up entirely. It can be observed from several points of view. To begin with, Loman’s relations with his wife are indeed strange. A man is supposed to be a true cradle for his wide and his children. A woman is supposed to be a partner that drives the person ahead, stimulates his success, and helps to recover from failures.

In the case of Willy Loman, his wife is more of a mother, rather than a real life partner. Linda helps her husband hide from the reality, supports his hallucinations and mistakes and even tries to approve and rationalize his unreasonable actions, including the suicide attempts. Willy does not simply drop out of business reality, but actually does not fit his real age. Such infantilism is definitely a sign of failure to keep up with the time.

As a result of it, Loman’s children suffer as well. Each father should be an example for the kids, is supposed to set high standards that have to be achieved. How can a person bring children up, when he is immature? Willy tries to exaggerate his importance in front of the sons all the time, claiming that he is a “vital person in New England”.

Frequent hallucinations are the best manifestation of the emotional failure to keep with the actual age and time. These hallucinations are actually Willy’s dreams, which help him deal with the reality that he is dissatisfied with. This is surely childish behavior. Ability to make dreams become goals is the characteristic of a grown person. Lack of this skill is the sign of a kid or a teenager. Loman is the aging man that remains childish by nature. His wife and children see the problem and try to maintain the illusions – support the unreal world in which the protagonist of the story leaves.

Consequences of this behavior are tragic: after the conversation with Biff and Happy in the restaurant the unsuccessful salesman suddenly realizes that his dreams are never going to come true: he is fired and has no money or perspective in the career, the family is extremely poor and his sons are not likely to achieve anything big. Under these conditions suicide seems to be the best solution. Even the night before his death, Willy refuses to accept reality, as in his last hallucination he thinks his funereal will attract a great number of people who care. At the funereal day Lind Loman says her husband was a small man who failed to find a peaceful harbor.

Conclusion

Generation conflicts and failure to keep up with time are vital topics in “Death of a Salesman”. Arthur Miller masterfully depicts the reason for the conflict between son and a father. According to him, main hero’s inability to change and adjust to the realities of time causes great problems for both his career and family. Willy Loman pursues wrong ideals from the very beginning and wants to have full control of his elder son’s life. In order to get the same attention, the younger son copies father’s mistakes and grows to become his reflection, with the same vices and weaknesses.

This is obviously dangerous, as the father-son conflict partly resolves only when Biff leaves for fourteen years, halting any communication with the family. Willy’s rejection of the changes that occur with him and in the world around leads to truly tragic consequences for the salesman and his dear ones. The play gives the elder generation a valuable advice: don’t afraid to change and move on with the time, keep up with the progress, leave the kids a right to choose which path to follow.

Works Cited

Miller, A. “Death of a Salesman” – Penguin Plays 1998.

Corliss, R. “Death of a Salesman” – Time Entertainment, February 5, 2005, accessed April 29, 2009 from:             http://www.time.com/time/columnist/corliss/article/0,9565,1027439,00.html

Phelps H. C. “Miller’s Death of a Salesman” Explicator. Vol. 53, 1995. accessed April 29, 2009 from: http://www.questia.com/read/98292631?title=Miller%27s%20Death%20of%20a%20 Salesman

[1] Miller, A. “Death of a Salesman” – Penguin Plays 1998.

[2] Miller, A. “Death of a Salesman” – Penguin Plays 1998.

[3] Miller, A. “Death of a Salesman” – Penguin Plays 1998

[4] Miller, A. “Death of a Salesman” – Penguin Plays 1998

[5] Miller, A. “Death of a Salesman” – Penguin Plays 1998.

[6] Miller, A. “Death of a Salesman” – Penguin Plays 1998.