"Death Of A Salesman"- Critical Analysis
"Death of a Salesman" - Critical Analysis
Miller’s story ”Death of a Salesman” is more than a mere story of the death of a man. The story delves into the dreams and aspirations of a salesman and follows his decline as they fail to come true. Willy Lowman is a former successful salesman who has seen his life change. Willy remembers the days when he could sell enough to provide for his family, buy luxury items, and even keep a mistress. He dreamed of his sons’ success and particularly his son Biff’s entrance into the University of Virginia. Willy traveled everywhere selling his wares and living life as he viewed it should be. To Willy, the most important thing was to be “well liked” by everyone. Unfortunately Willy lived to see the world around him change and pass him by.
As Willy grew older he lost his ability to travel to any place and sell anything. Willy began to see the loss of his beloved lifestyle and the onset of bills and debt just to survive. Slowly this change from the ideal to the real took its toll on Willy. This toll showed itself in Willy’s struggle to remain in his dreams and to maintain hope for things that were never to be. Willy’s increasing difficulty in dealing with machines, his irrational focus on a garden, which will never grow, and his constant Hallucinations all serve to illustrate Willy’s steady desperation to fulfill his dreams and his refusal to deal with reality.
One of Willy’s greatest struggles in the play is his struggle with his car. . As a traveling sales man, Willy spends much time driving great distances in his car. After arriving home early from a highly unsuccessful sales trip, Willy berates his car and blames it for his inability to bring home enough money to pay outstanding bills. Willy refuses to pay a mechanic bill for fixing the carburetor on his car going so far as to say “that goddam Chevrolet, they ought to prohibit the manufacture of that car” (Miller 1470). Willy...
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