Death of a Salesman, Movie Review Example

Introduction

“Death of a Salesman” is a play by Arthur Miller. Its primary theme revolves around the hollowness of the American dream. It is depicted mostly around the character of Willy Loman who like majority of middle-class working people, is involved in everyday battles of attempting to offer financial security to his family. He never stops to dream about attaining his dream of financial triumph in the future. Willy works as a travelling sales clerk for several years. However, the only things he can show for this is a worn-out vehicle and house with an overwhelmed spirit.

The misfortune of a dysfunctional family is another primary theme that Willy Loman carefully exposes using this art. The theme avidly manages to keep the American dream alive. It is well brought out through the characters of Linda and Happy. They industriously work at their jobs to ensure they keep the hope of the American dream of success alive. In this kind of setup, the wife is restricted in her role as a homemaker. She takes care of the house while at the same time reinforcing her husband’s sense of worth and determination. Interestingly, the wife is paradoxically given the responsibility of being the family’s financial manager. This way, the wife Linda struggles to find a balance between living with the harsh realities of a working class family and at the same time managing to make her husband accept the misleading notion that his pay is more than adequate. As Willy attempts to achieve financial security, it is also evident that the need to guide his son’s future is one of the greatest motivations of his in the struggle. He clearly does not perform well in both endeavors.

It is not difficult to connect the story in Miller’s work to the realities in real life. For instance, a great majority of the working class in America never usually attain this dream. This group of people usually stays in the same state their entire lives despite the illusion of economic mobility in the country. This is evidently the illusion that Willy Loman bases his entire life on. Regrettably, this illusion just like for many working class Americans never fit their realities. Towards the end of the play, Lowan is seen taking the other alternative of killing himself so that the family can collect and live on his life insurance.

Conclusion

The mood in the play is unnervingly deceitful and disheartening throughout the film. The audience can consistently see the family’s dishonesty attempting to hide the truth from each other. The inability to achieving the American dream is always visible making the audience have question marks on its steadfastness to the false dream. Willy clearly is seen having the perception that opportunities that commercial cities like his surrounding in Brooklyn, New York represent the ability to achieve the American dream. However, this is far from the truth as seen by the ability of his father to achieve financial triumph in Alaska. At the same time, his brother also finds his own financial success in Africa. Two places that Willy rules out in his fantasy represent his failure. It also dispels the fallacy of what commercial cities like New York have to offer. Clearly, a person can find content even in farming and not only sticking to the comforts of what the city and a good personality has to offer.