Summary of Death of a Salesman Play by Arthur Miller Free Essay Example, 1250 words

Wily is often arguing that despite being a successful salesman, he has nothing concrete to leave behind to his family. Such statements reflect the growing disillusionment of Willy with his life but he averse to acknowledge the same because he is afraid of losing the respect of the people and his family members and friends. In one of reviews in The New York Times , Brooks Atkinson, asserted that through the play Miller has looked with compassion into the hearts of some ordinary Americans and quietly transferred their hope and anguish to the theatre (Atkinson, 11 Feb 1949). All through the play, Miller has shown that the illusions of Willy are important factors that help him to hide his failures, both as a salesman and as a person and which make it easy for him to move on in a world that is ruthless and highly competitive. Willy is obsessed with American dream that want Americans to pursue their ambitions and become successful. Willy thus develops images of sons as highly successful persons, especially of his younger son Biff and starts having unrealistic expectations from them. We will write a custom essay sample on Summary of Death of a Salesman Play by Arthur Miller or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page The twisted ideologies and inconsistent behaviour of Willy send conflicting signals to his sons, right from their childhood which influences their character and probably becomes responsible for their failures in life later on. Willy, while praising his son Biff s skill as a football player, inadvertently approves stealing because he does not scolds Biff when he brings the ball from the school without his teacher s permission.