74 pages • 2 hours read
Arthur MillerDeath of a Salesman
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1949A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
The Distorted American Dream
The central theme of Death of a Salesman is the distortion of the American Dream. The understood definition of the American Dream is the belief that anyone can attain success by working hard. This success can be defined by a variety of factors, including upwards mobility from one’s parents’ financial status, owning one’s own home, and being debt-free. While Willy Loman is extremely committed to the Dream in that he believes that working hard in business is a surefire path to success, his perception of the path to this dream is distorted. Where the pursuit of such a Dream would mean happiness and contentment, the Loman family seems to never achieve the American Dream despite attaining all of the its defining characteristics. For Willy, he is a successful salesman if he proves himself to have a well-liked personality. Though he never truly attains such a status—as is clear from his relationships near the end of his life and the lack of the expected crowd at his funeral—he still spends his life pursuing success as a salesman and is able to provide for his family and pay off their home. Where his father abandoned him, he has consistently provided for his family and refused to abandon them for his attraction to a life in nature.
The Loman family has distorted the image of a seemingly attainable Dream to be something just out of reach. Despite attaining the majority of the factors that qualify one to have achieved the Dream, no one is satisfied in the end. Pursuing this Dream created disillusionment for Biff by giving him a confidence in himself that isn’t deserved. It also created a dissatisfied Happy; though he pursues the life his father desires for him, he is never truly content. Even when attaining the Dream, Willy desperately longs for likeability and acceptance, and to provide his family with a fortune. No matter what he has attained, he sees only what he can still work towards. Thus, Willy dooms himself to the vicious cycle of never being satisfied with what is, and dreaming only of what can be. His suicide only confirms that there is no satisfaction in the true American Dream, and that the Loman’s religious commitment to something seemingly attainable has led them to only dissatisfaction, emptiness, and loneliness in the end.
A Father’s Abandonment and Betrayal
Another major theme embedded in the play is the idea of a father’s abandonment or betrayal, and the impact such things can have on future generations. Whereas the male figures of the play seem desperate to provide for their families and help them attain the American Dream, their inner dissatisfaction clashes with the requirements of the Dream and leads them to abandon or betray their families. Willy’s father abandoned him to venture into the country when Willy was just three years old. His elder brother, Ben, was also a father figure who abandoned him for the call of nature. The abandonment of both father figures leaves Willy with an emptiness and longing for acceptance seen in his commitment to being well-liked by all. Where his father figures came up short, Willy makes up for it in his obsession with the American Dream and what it has to offer his family. Willy believes that fulfilling the requirements of the Dream can help him provide for his family in a way his father never did for him.
However, Willy holds a deep inner dissatisfaction with the realities of life as a businessman. Unable to attain the popularity and success that he believed the Dream promised, and regretting his choice to not go with his brother to the Alaskan wilderness, Willy himself betrays his family by turning to an adulterous affair. Just as his father’s abandonment scarred Willy’s entire life and doomed him to a certain path, his own betrayal of his family pushes Biff entirely out of the folds of normalcy. Before the revelation of the betrayal, Biff was excited to attend the University of Virginia and to follow his father’s footsteps in sales, playing along with Willy’s belief in his son’s “greatness.” However, seeing that the father he looked up to is nothing but a “phony” shatters Biff’s perception of the Dream. Where his father neglected his inclinations towards nature, Biff responds to his father’s betrayal by doing what he loves best instead of dooming himself to a life of dissatisfaction and mediocrity.
Contradictions and the Denial of Reality
Throughout the play, Willy Loman repeatedly contradicts his own statements about himself and those around him, especially his son Biff. These contradictions consistently prove to be a denial of a reality that Willy isn’t ready to face. While he calls Biff lazy one moment, he takes back his statement and says that Biff is a hard worker. When he mentions just how much he hates his car, he immediately follows his statement with compliments for the vehicle. Embedded in his contradictions is his constant reshaping and denial of reality. Willy works hard to maintain a detailed, fabricated reality where he and his son Biff are more well-liked than others and are destined for greatness. When he is faced with situations that prove otherwise, he falls into reveries of moments in the past that he perceives as proof of their greatness. Despite his many denials, however, Willy is unable to escape the realities of his and Biff’s failures, even when falling into the past. Willy denies reality to maintain a particular image of himself and his family, to justify his commitment to the American Dream, and to lessen his guilt about turning down his brother Ben’s offer, who ended up more successful and happier than him.
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