Arthur Millers Death Of a Salesman Exposes Morals and Values of American Culture :: Death Salesman essays

Arthur Miller's Death Of a Salesman Exposes Morals and Values of American Culture Arthur Miller's play, "Death Of a Salesman" is a very  Ã‚   elaborate play that tells the story of a man's dream to achieve greatness from nothing. It almost seems to make fun of American society's competitive nature, "Imagine? When the mail comes he'll be ahead of Bernard again!" Willy(1215)  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The title "Death Of a Salesman" leaves nothing to the imagination of how this play ends. Indeed this is a story about the noble, cowardly death of Willy Loman, a traveling salesman. Arthur Miller used the efficient idea of using flashbacks to allow the play to take place within a few days instead of years. Willy Loman as the central character, lives with his wife, Linda and has two sons, Biff (elder) and Happy. Willy Loman who is quite literally a "low man" has so many personality traits accurate to real life, this is no surprise since Miller based Willy's character on his uncle, Manny Newman. Miller said, "That homely, ridiculous little man had after all never ceased to struggle for a certain victory, the only kind open to him in society - selling to achieve his lost self as a man with his name and his son's name on a business of his own"  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Willy was defiantly in a struggle however, he was certainly not in a struggle to convince himself he was doing better than he really was, "I can park my car in any street in New England, and the cops protect it like their own." Willy (1165).   Willy Loman did not want to die, he went to Ben to seek approval of what he thought would please the family"...Ben, I want you to go through the ins and outs of this thing with me. I've got nobody to talk to, Ben, and the woman has suffered, you hear me?" Willy (1210) He also proved this with his many "near incidents" and the rubber pipe. According to "Suicide:The facts and myths" by Judi Marks, "Attempted suicides are a sorrowful form of communication, but they're also trial runs for the final event."  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Anyone who commits suicide actually does not want to die and reality, just wants a solution to end their problems or  pains. In this case Willy's problem was he thought he was so  well-liked by society, however what he wanted most was for  his sons to like him, and for his wife to not have to suffer his torment anymore.