Customer Reviews
Superb look at the Human Condition 
2008-06-18
This classic play by Arthur Miller (1915-2005) examines human failure, high expectations, and the dark side of the American Dream. Willie Loman is an aging salesman whose figures have fallen to the point where he no longer makes a real living. Not only is his job in jeopardy; so is his family and self-worth. Loman reacts by deluding himself, living in the past, and by holding his sons to unrealistic expectations. Miller does a superb job in presenting a broken man sliding downwards. Such occurs in the sordid race of materialism and corporate success - one that leaves many broken souls in its path. Willie needs to face reality, and mend himself and his struggling family (and his family should help him too), but Miller's powerful script doesn't go there. Instead we have a deluded, beaten man sliding into mental illness - and worse.
Miller penned this play in 1949, as the USA was moving into postwar changes and a more suburbanized, corporate society. This play about the brutish world of expectations, materialism, and the illusive American dream is as much on target today as in 1949.
Rat Race Lost, State of Denial 2008-03-31
Hopeless fathers & sons were a favorite theme of Miller. The pressure of failing aspirations. The horror of failure. Drawn between overconfidence and self-doubt. Flashbacks on scenes from a dreary life. Lies to others and oneself. Failures in job and family.
The play is one of the quintessential pieces of modern American theater. Its themes are known and have been expounded endlessly. Why is it still fresh? I have never watched it on stage nor screen. I have known it for ages, but could not find enough interest to look for a performance, nor to read it. Now LoA does it.
Looking at the reviews here on the Penguin modern classic page, I am wondering about the spread in reviews. From 5 to 1 stars all is there, with a downward slope towards the negative votes. The play has more friends than foes, but on an absolute level, the nays would sink an ordinary ship. Of course quality questions are not decided by democracy. One particularly daft observer produced a perfect inverted version of cultural Stalinism. With perfect perverted logic, he tells us that only positive depictions of the American dream are acceptable. That is completely in line with 'socialist realism': if the artist fails to enthuse about the reigning system, he is condemned.
Thanks to LoA for making me get to know the man Miller. I will definitely look for a movie version or go to a play if I find an opportunity.
Great Play! 
2007-12-29
Summary:
"Death of a Salesman" is a play by Arthur Miller about an aging man named Willy Loman and his broken dreams. Willy is in his sixties, and had just been demoted from his once fruitful job as a traveling salesman. Because of his growing depression and his frequent car accidents, he had his salary taken away, and has been put on commission.
Throughout the play, Willy recalls his life in a series of flashbacks, while we see what he has become in the present. He went from having an illustrious career where everyone loved him and he brought home a large salary, to a depressing home life and earning money off the occasional sale. His two sons Biff and Happy, were once successful athletes. Now Biff is 34 years old with no job and no high school diploma. Happy appears to be following in his fathers footsteps, making many of the same mistakes that he did. Willy can't stand to be around his wife, Linda, anymore because of his overwhelming guilt over an extramarital affair that happened several decades ago, that his son found out about.
Near the end of the play, Willy fantasizes that he is talking to his dead brother Ben, who had been an inspiration to him since he struck it rich in Alaska. Willy attempts suicide several times, once by hooking an exhaust pipe to the gas heater, and several times by purposefully driving recklessly.
When he tries to get his original job back, he gets fired by a man young enough to be his son. He tells this man, Howard Wagner, how he expected his life to turn out, and how he was let down:
"...Oh, yeah, my father lived many years in Alaska. He was an adventurous man. We've got quite a little streak of self-reliance in our family. I thought I'd go out with my older brother and try to locate him, and maybe settle in the North with the old man. And I was almost decided to go, when I met a salesman in the Parker House. His name was Dave Singleman. And he was eighty-four years old, and he'd drummed merchandise in thirty-one states. And old Dave, he'd go up to his room, y'understand, put on his green velvet slippers - I'll never forget - and pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without ever leaving his room, at the age of eighty-four, he made his living. And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. `Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people? Do you know? When he died - and by the way, he died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers in the smoker of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, going into Boston - when he dies, hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral. Things were sad on a lotta trains for months after that. In those days there was personality in it, Howard. There was respect, and comradeship, and gratitude in it. Today, it's all cut and dried, and there's no chance for bringing friendship to bear - or personality. You see what I mean? They don't know me any more."
Later, he finds out that his son, Biff, doesn't get the job he was counting on. After a failed attempt to plant a vegetable garden, he decides that he couldn't live anymore and drives his car off a bridge.
My rating: 4/5
Commentary:
This was a good book. It had good character development and an intriguing plot. However, since I wasn't seeing the actual play, it was hard to tell what happened in some of the scenes. Anyone who likes period pieces will probably want to read this.
A Modern Tragedy 2007-09-20
"Death of a Salesman" is a modern American tragedy. Yet, it can apply equally to any society where individuals become self-obsessed, lose touch with the bigger picture and allow themselves to be deluded by dreams of riches whilst ignoring the beauty of the day to day world.
Poor Willy Loman is a very sad figure. He wallows in the past. He has grandiose dreams about himself and his two adult sons, Happy and Biff. But these dreams are not rooted in any reality. Quite simply, Willy is lost and lonely.
Arthur Miller's play is a masterpiece. Few other 20th century playwrights have been able to surgically dissect society so well. Miller's work is not for those seeking a happy ending where everything is resolved and the characters happily fade away. No, this work is brutal in comparison. Willy Loman is an anti-hero. He is hard to like. He is, however, worthy of our pity. His life, at least through his own eyes, is one of failure. But, in reality, Willy is no failure. He is simply deluded. He has swallowed the American dream to the point where its goals merely impoverish him. The dream, any dream, is what you make of it and should not be imposed upon the individual. Willy allows the dream to ruin his life. Willy is the ultimate tragic.
Many deem "Death of a Salesman" to be a critique of American society. This is unfair. Miller's work is the précis of a tragic life. Willy is that tragedy. To dream is magnificent. To allow a dream to dominate your very existence is a disaster.
Take a Second Look 2007-09-18
I wasn't terribly impressed with "Death of a Salesman" while I read it. The play simply didn't live up to its acclaim, its noble status in American literature. I've heard Salesman referenced countless times over my life, all 22 years of it. Salesman was written in 1949, a post-war era that supported the belief that starting anew was possible and wishes do come true. My first impression of the play was that it attempted to shatter the ubiquitous belief of an American dream, making it merely a quixotic fantasy. But after rereading certain passages and thinking about it for this review, I saw how very human its message is and how it is actually an incredibly despairing masterpiece that throws a new light at the idea behind the American dream. Through the utterly destroyed and distraught protagonist, Willy Loman, Miller represents the demise of the American dream and suggests the need to reassess such a unrealistic dream.
Loman is a revised, twentieth-century version of the classic tragic character. He does not display the typical chivalrous characteristics that many literary tragic characters do, such as Beowulf and Oedipus Rex. Loman, in fact, is pathetic and repugnant. As an older aged, crazy, and impoverished character, Loman isn't close to the traditional heroic figure. He cheats on his wife; builds up impratical hopes for his two sons; and makes imprudent business and life decisions. Such characteristics are sinful and generally not seen in the traditional tragic literary figure. But these traits are also very real and humanistic. Miller deftly jumps from the present to the past and back again, slowly "peeling the onion" (as Grass would call it) of the true Loman. This peeling process reveals what went wrong and what should've been avoided to prevent this most tragic ending. It appears that Miller is suggesting that seemingly innocuous decisions can--and do--destroy the American dream.
Such a bleak perspective on the American dream shouldn't come as a surprise to the reader/viewer. The late 1940s was a period of transition: America was forced to adjust from the war-driven, ration crazed society to a very corporate-driven, forced-fed consumer culture. Post-war America was full of tenuous hopes to climb the corporate ladder and to acclimate to a life of plenty, i.e. family members and money. For an ordinary, hard-working American, like Loman, this proved to be too much. Despite the play having a backdrop in the 1920s and '30s, it takes place in the late '40s, in the very much consumer focused society. It is fitting that the land of plenty left Loman and his family with nothing.
The play is very much alive today as it was nearly sixty years ago. Do read it. I'm going to try to see the play the next time it comes to town.
Questions for life's inventory 2007-07-30
The tragedy of a typical American--a salesman who at the age of sixty-three is faced with what he cannot face; defeat and disillusionment.
I read this play last year for my high school ap english II class. 2007-06-25
It was a very well written play. It's major theme is the American dream. The main character Willy Loman is a very depressed man with a wife and two sons.
Loman doesn't like how his life has turned out which is what makes him depressed. When reading a play in class it is best to go and get a chance to see the play live or see the movie of it. The movie with Dustin Hoffman as Willy really does justice to the play. Plays aren't intended to be read like a book. They are intended to be performed and watched by everyone.
thank you for your time,
Loran
Death of a Salesman 2007-06-12
Death of a Salesman slaps me back to reality, as it includes realistic suppositions about a family's and society's expectations. As the father won't settle for anything else but success, his family falls apart, reminding me of the potential result of any family.
Attempting to effect change in the new American society, brainwashed in an even newer American Dream, Arthur Miller hopes to vanquish the false illusion of that fact that everyone and anyone can succeed in America with wealth and fame. Miller argues that American society puts so much emphasis on financial success that it actually drives people the other way, into insanity. Because everyone thinks he or she can succeed, people begin to unrealistically face an overly ambitious approach towards making a fortune. In the end, when only a few can actually succeed, the rest fail in misery. In order to battle this false notion in American society, Arthur Miller writes of this fact and warn people not to submit to the American Dream and create one, in which everyone can succeed without monetary domination.
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman argues that even if an individual is determined enough to chase a dream to the ends of the earth by any means necessary, his social status would remain the unchanged and perhaps even diminished. Left with no choice, Willy Loman is forced to dream big in order to gain monetary success. Because of societal pressures, he is coerced to think of a way to succeed, and the best way is gain a financial fortune to gain respect. However, the fact that he thinks of himself as a self-important individual really causes him to feed on his ego. His confidence grows increasingly grander, until it becomes overwhelming for both his family and himself. As he becomes more greedier, his dreams become more grandiose. This false illusion he creates of his world actually set himself up for a disastrous collapse. Eventually, he admits that he has never achieved anything at all in his life. Consequently, he notices he has nothing left to do but to give up, when he has actually wasted his whole life chasing after an unrealistic goal. Ultimately, he ends up in a suicide. Because of this tragic ending, Arthur Miller argues that a society with this kind of emphasis on materialistic success sets people up for a catastrophic downfall. Subsequently, Miller contends that America should rebuild society's foundation, and create a country, in which wealth does not entail success.
Because the book does appeal to me, I recommend this book only if you're into themes about the pressures from society - applauding those who succeed materialistic.
Not everyone's cup of tea 
2007-06-12
Having read both The Crucible and The Death of a Salesman, I would have to say that The Crucible is Miller's better work, simply because I enjoyed the storyline a lot more, but maybe that's just my personal bias.
Now, don't get me wrong, this play is by no means bad, but it may not be for everyone. The story follows the Loman family, a typical American middle-class family struggling to stay afloat. Willy Loman, a failed salesman, has his own version of the American Dream: to be a successful and respected salesman. What he refuses to accept is the fact that his career is a faliure, and instead dwells in his own memories and fantasies, stubbornly declaring himself as a successful salesman. Willy's mental and psychological disorders puts a strain on the Loman family, especially for the sons, Biff and Happy, who, following their fathers' philosophy, ended up as failures themselves.
The story in itself is sad and moving, but at times uninspiring. It doesn't hit the right note and doesn't move me as a story of such contect probably should. Miller's writing style in this story is straighforward and comprehendable, if even at times plain and bland. However, what I do like about the play is the fact that Miller employs engaging imagery, and really puts everything into historical context. The Loman family isn't special or significant in any way, but could be any American family in real life.
A fine dream; the wrong approach. 2007-06-12
Death of a Salesman is a moving play that touches the most human of our sentimental emotions. In it, a father suffers from neglect from his own family and from his coworkers, eventually leading to his demise. In it, a man has what many would consider the perfect family, with a devoted wife and two strong, capable, and loving sons, but is unable to cope with it all because of his preoccupation with other, more materialistic achievements. Willy Loman possessed his own version of the American Dream: that of the glorified salesman, with a face known across town and respected among peers. And he held onto this dream even after his prime had passed, even after his health started to fail him; even then, he tried to force this dream on his sons, with unfortunate consequences. The play carries a message speaking out against the pursue of materialistic gains, and urges instead for people to focus on the more immediate pleasures of life, such as the joys of family and love. Miller employs a simplistic diction and engaging imagery, along with an overlap of reality and hallucinations to provide a tale that not only entertains but also imparts a lesson in life.
