Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
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Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, part of Chelsea House Publishers’ Bruise’s Guides collection, presents concise critical excerpts from Death of a Salesman to provide a scholarly overview of the work. This comprehensive study guide also features “The Tale Behind the Tale,” which details the conditions under which Death of a Salesman was written. This title also includes a fleeting biography on Arthur Miller and a descriptive list of characters.Amazon.com Review
Arthur Miller’s 1949 Death of a Salesman has sold 11 million copies, and Willy Loman didn’t make all persons sales on a smile and a shoeshine. This play is the genuine article–it’s got the goods on the human condition, all packed into a day in the life of one self-deluded, self-promoting, self-defeating soul. It’s a sturdy bridge between kitchen-sink realism and ethereal abstraction, the facts of particular hard times and universal themes. As Christopher Bigsby’s mildly appealing afterword in this 50th-anniversary edition points out (as does Miller in his memoir, Timebends), Willy is closely based on the playwright’s sad, absurd salesman uncle, Manny. But of course Miller made Manny into Everyman, and gave him the name of the crime commissioner Lohmann in Fritz Lang’s angst-ridden 1932 Nazi parable, The Tribute of Dr. Mabuse.
The tragedy of Loman the all-American idealist and loser works eternally, on the page as on the stage. A lot of plays made history around 1949, but none have stepped out of history into the classic canon as Salesman has. Fantastic as it was, Tennessee Williams’s work can’t be revived as vividly as this play still is, all over the world. (This edition has edifying pictures of Lee J. Cobb’s 1949 and Brian Dennehy’s 1999 performances.) It connects Aristotle, The Fantastic Gatsby, On the Waterfront, David Mamet, and the archetypal American movie antihero. It even transcends its leader’s tragic flaw of pious preachiness (which undoes his snoozy The Crucible, sorry to say his most-produced play).
No doubt you’ve seen Willy Loman’s tale at least once. It’s still worth reading. –Tim Appelo
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“Death of a Salesman” is as succulent as a borscht and smacks red of young idealism. Miller clearly expresses his political views through Loman’s struggle to slice his own American pirog as a traveling salesman. Views that would later earn Miller a deserved trip before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Willy (or as I like to call him, Wily) expresses nearly bipolar behavior during the course of a day while attempting to sell some widget or another. The point is, Miller displays an utter contempt at the American Way of Life and makes this unbelievable, paper-thin character to undermine the excellent, wholesome values of capitalism.
Oh, poor Wily Salesman has a rough day. Can’t reasonably cut it in the real world. Well, tough. Am I really supposed to care about some nobody salesman that no one else cares about either? Does Arthur make any semblance of a point by examining the efficiency of capitalism? The answer, reasonably clearly, is ‘No’.
I half-expected this play to come printed on pink stock. Miller casts such a liberal, ivory-tower light on his theme that I nearly read this as farce. Lo Mein’s timely demise couldn’t come too quickly for me, as I was sick of Miller’s blatant manipulation of the audience’s emotions to garner sympathy for his unpatriotic views.
Don’t let Miller peddle this schlog to you.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
I do not normally read such books as this but in school we were assigned to read it. While reading this play I realized the time it was written in and accepted the poor dialogue as a way to show the period of time. Also, the reoccuring spectacle of flasbacks was a tedious yet effective way of showing Willy Lomans inability to accept himself as a failure as is his sons. One more thing, the women being showed as either prostitutes or as second-rate housewifes was demeaning to women. The play was excellent in terms of the theme it showed and how we as humans prefer not to accept the reality of our lives but to choose American dream illusions to make ourselfs feel like we are well liked or well known but additional than that I would have to rate it as a one star play.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
The play Death of a Salesman was not a superior play in my eyes. Its wasn’t something that I wanted to read, but had to read. Usually when you have to read something, you start reading it and either keep reading because the plot is gripping and you don’t want to place it down or you keep reading because you won’t get a excellent grade if you don’t. Well, This play was one of the latter of the two. I didn’t delight in reading it because it didn’t have a riveting tale line.
The signifigance of Arthur Miller writing Death of a Salesman, I reflect, is to communicate to the readers that things around us HAVE changed, not everything is as “peachy” as we reflect it is. It is like having a cake made of asparagus and brocoli and then putting a nice chocolate icing on the top of it. It may LOOK yummy, but it’s not. People may SEEM to be pleased, but they might be covering up what is really happening because they are ashamed or up in arms with what is really going on. Miller wanted to show us that things are changing around us and that things weren’t as they seemed to be. Who really knew that Willy was having an affair? I bet Linda had no thought. I bet Charlie had no thought. Willy might have been a small irate at times but surely he wouldn’t do something like that, right? Incorrect. You can never really know somebody as well as you reflect you do, and I judge that is the poin Arthur Miller was trying to make.
In reading this play, I have establish out that if you aren’t pleased or satisfied with what you are doing in life (as a job) then it’s not worth it. It is better to have a job that you like and get payed just enough to get by then to have such a yucky job that it cacuses problems with your family tree and still get payed just as much. Willy didnt really like his job towards the end of his career. He was no longer the “huge man” salesman that he used to be. He could have just swallowed his pride and accepted the job that Charlie offered him, but no, he was pleased with his job, he was doing fine. When really, he WASN’T doing fine. People no longer knew who he was, even his own boss didnt want him on the workforce any longer because he didn’t make any profit for the compant and obviously was having some probelms. He couldn’t even stay all ears on his driving anymore.
I don’t recommend this play, because I did not find it in the least bit appealing. In all honesty, I establish it very dull. It seemed to go on lacking any real point to where the tale was going to. It was not my thought of an outstanding play. I have definately read better.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Even though this play is really fleeting, it took me a long time to read because it was extremely hard for me to make myself read it. It was hard to tell the difference from the past and the present at times. Don’t read this play unless you really have to!
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
I thought this play, to its entirety, was eccentric. It was really nonessential; some episodes were hard to know. It threw me off in the beginning when Ben, Willy’s brother, came into the picture and all of a sudden left. I soon came to realize that it was a flashback. I thought the book was a repeat, which became predictable, and extremely dull. In few words, I could summarize this play: Willy and Linda fight; Willy is disappointed in his sons; Biff tries and fails at getting a job from Oliver; Willy is unrestricted from his job; Biff and Willy get into a huge fight at their house; Willy kills himself. As a result, Death of a Salesman was a waste of my time and I highly encourage you not to spend your precious time reading this play.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5