The Themes of Death of a Salesman

【Abstract】：The drama Death of a Salesman is a tragedy happened in an ordinary American family in 1940s. The protagonist Willy Loman is a traveling salesman and his two sons Biff and Happy both are shiftless and jobless. To help Biff and Happy to succeed， Willy kills himself in a planned car accident. It expresses three themes. They are the tragedy of an ordinary person， the disillusion of American Dream and the representation of the author himself.

【Key Words】：tragedy， disillusion， American Dream， representation

1.The Introduction

The play takes place in New York and Boston in the late 1940s. The protagonist is Willy Loman， an unsuccessful traveling salesman aged 63. He believes the American Dream， spending all his life to achieve success. Linda is Willy’s wife and she loves him with the whole heart. Biff and Happy are Willy’s sons， whose lives are not successful according to any standard.

The play is divided into three main parts： Act I， Act II and the Requiem. The story is mainly presented through Willy’s flashbacks. The most of the flashbacks offer essential background knowledge for understanding.

2.The Themes

2.1 The Tragedy of an Ordinary Person

Miller saw the play as a modern tragedy—a play which shows that， despite the apparent ordinariness of every life， one man can still attain heroic proportions. Willy is an ordinary American man in New York. He struggles to fulfill his dreams， but fails. Miller considers that an ordinary man can be a subject for tragedy and the tragedy feeling is evokes in the audience when they are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life to secure his sense of personal dignity.

2.2 The Disillusion of American Dream

Death of a Salesman deals with issues concerning American values as well as the painful conflicts within one family. In the play， Miller charges American Dream with selling a 1 myth： ”personality wins the day”. Willy believes in that a “well-liked” and “personal attractive” men in business will deservedly acquire the material comforts. When he was fire and his sons failed， the blind faith in the American Dream collapsed and he is unable to accept the disparity between the dream and reality. Unfortunately， he goes to grave， never truly realizing the phoniness of the American Dream. After the Great Depression and World War two， Miller saw the disillusion of the American Dream. He alarmed the American people who indulged in the idle fancy.

2.3 The Representation of Auther Miller

First of all， Arthur Miller and Willy Loman both played the role as a father. In the drama， Willy had two children， Biff and Happy. When Miller wrote this drama， he also had two children Jane and Robert with his first wife Mary Grace Slattery.

Second， Miller set his own living background as the background of Death of a Salesman. The play took place in New York and Boston in the late 1940s. Miller wrote this drama in 1949 within 6 weeks. As an American born in New York and living in the late 1940s， he had a deep understanding of the whole society.

Third， Miller and Willy both felt lonely in their life. The word “loneliness” appeared in the drama fourteen times. As a salesman， Willy travels around alone. Besides， he was deserted by his father and his sons couldn’t understand his dream. His wife completely ignored his spiritual world. Willy was alone in his own world. Consequently， he found a mistress to accompany himself. Similarly， though Miller had a happy family， he felt lonely. He fell in love with Marilyn Monroe at first sight in 1951， appreciating her intelligence as well as her beauty. Struggling for 4 years， he divorced with his wife and married Monroe. When Willy cried that he was lonely， Miller expressed his own feeling and desire.

Finally， Miller expressed his understanding of planting in the drama. He held the view that a garden was an extension of oneself--or selves. Willy planting the garden before death to leave something for his family. The seed represented his need and desire for success while the failure for planting seeds was the failure for his life. In The Rite of Spring， he mentioned as follow. “The attraction of gardening…are neurotic and moral. Whenever life seems pointless， you can get in the garden and get something done.” Miller loved gardening when he was old. He thought it is a behavior that belonged to people who were failed in their lives. Only people who was neurotic would turn to plant the garden for comfort. When Willy was planting the seed， saying “ Carrot…quarter-inch apart. Row…one-foot rows.” He measured it off. Miller "believed that the orderliness and thrusting life somehow reflect movement in one’s own spirit world.

3.Conclusion

The drama expresses the compassion to the tragedy of most ordinary people. They work hard to achieve their dream， but it is common that most of them fail to reach the goals in their life. Meanwhile， it condemns the American Dream. The disillusion of Willy’s American Dream is an alarm for all the American people. Finally， In the Death of a Salesman， Auther Miller creates a figure Willy Loman to show his own life. His identification， his loneliness， and the understanding of planting is revealed by Willy.

References：

[1] Liu Jianbo， A Introduction to Literature， Higher education press.

[2] Tian Qian， Death of a Salesman and the Disillusion of American Dream， Private Science and Technology.

[3] Yang Guiyuan， Distorted Characters and the American Dream—On Arthur Miller and his Death of a Salesman， Shandong Foreign Languages Teaching.

[4] Xu Fengtian， Death of a Salesman and American Dream， Chinese and Foreign Literary and Cultural Studies.

[5] Zhu Qing， Death of a Salesman and American Dream， J. of Xuzhou Education College.

[6] Arthur Miller， The Rite of Spring， Contemporary College English.