Author:
Author Miller who is a famous playwright who is critical of capitalism and the "American Dream" and expresses his opinions through his characters in the play.
Setting:
The story takes place in Brooklyn, New York. Miller says it doesn't take place during a specific place in history but it takes place after the Great Depression. The time period is similar to the late 1940s with flashbacks back when Happy And Biff were in High School.
Plot:
The first scene in the play takes place when Willy comes home late from one of his sales trips. Willy is clearly aging quickly and his wife Linda tells him to talk to Howard (his boss) about getting switched to a position where he won't have to travel as much. Their conversation quickly becomes about Biff, who has just returned home. Willy is clearly disappointed in Biff's lack of success and what he believes his Biff's "laziness". Next Biff and Happy talk about their glory days in high school and their concern about their father's mental state. The next scene is one of Willy's flashbacks that takes place at their home (in a much more open setting). Willy has just come back from a business trip and brags about his success to Linda, but Linda reveals that it really wasn't nearly as successful as Willy was making it out to be. Bernard is looking for Biff in the scene to warn him that he is failing math and he needs to study or else his will fail the class and not be able to graduate. Then Willy has a daydream within the flashback of his misstress laughing and thanking him for giving him stockings and then snaps out of it to see Linda mending stockings. Before the flashback ends, Linda reminds Biff to return the football he stole. When the flashback ends Happy goes to talk to his father and tell him to go to bed. Willy is now upset with himself that he never went with his brother to Alaska. Charlie comes in and gambles with Willy as well as offers him a job. Later when Willy is outside, Linda tells her two boys about her and Willy's struggles including his apparent suicide attempts as well as showing them the rubber pipe which Willy plans to use to kill himself with. When Willy returns Happy comes up with the idea that they should open up a Sporting Goods store together. Willy and Biff are thrilled with the idea and the act ends on a happy and opportunistic note with Biff planning on talking to Bill Oliver tomorrow to ask him for a loan.
The next act opens when Willy comes down to breakfast as happy and as hopeful as he has been in a long time. Linda tells him that Happy and Biff are going to take him out to dinner that night to celebrate their new business. Willy then goes to talk to Howard to ask him for a position that will allow him to just stay New York instead of him traveling. Howard first shows him his new voice recording machine and then when Willy asks him he says no. Willy has a meltdown and claims he used to be this "fantastic" salesman and begins to tell Howard what a awesome salesman he used to be back in his "glory days". Howard leaves for a minute then Willy completely loses it and breaks down, before Howard comes back in and fires him. Once Howard leaves again Willy has another flashback to right before Biff's big football game. Ben offers him the opportunity to go to Alaska but Linda tells Willy to be content with what he has here in Brooklyn which convinces Willy to turn Ben down. Right before they leave Bernard and Happy fight for who gets to carry Happy's helmet into the locker room and it is clear they both idolize Biff. When the flashback ends, Willy is in Charlie's office. He begins to talk to Bernard who is now a successful lawyer, but when the topic got to Biff things started to get heated. Bernard asks Willy why Biff never when to summer school and what happend when Biff went to visit him him in Boston. Willy goes on one of his total denial rants where he gets super defensive and he doesn't take any of the blame for what happened with his son. Then Willy goes in to talk to Charlie and asks for more money. Charlie offers him a job, but Willy is still in denial about getting fired and is too proud to work for Charlie. Charley ends up giving Willy the money and Willy makes a comment that you are worth more dead than you are when you are alive, which Charley quickly claims isn't true. The next scene take place in the restaurant where Happy orders expensive champagne and lobsters to celebrate. He meets a women who is most likely a call girl and he begins to flirt with her. When Biff arrives, Happy introduces him to the girl and tells her that he plays for the New York Giants. Biff begins to tell Happy how Oliver had no idea who he was and how he was totally embarrassed when Willy walks in. Biff begins to tell his father the truth, but then Willy interrupted and said he was fired. Biff continues his story until Happy interrups and lies about Biff's meeting to try to cheer his father up. Biff continues to try to tell his father what really happened as his father goes into another flashback about Bernard telling Linda that Biff flunked math. Biff admits to stelling the pen which angers his father then he tells him that he is going to have lunch with Oliver tomorrow to cheer his father up even though it isn't true. Then Willy angers Biff and Biff tells him what really happened with Oliver. Biff then gets angry then takes his father to the restroom. Biff gets angry at Happy for not caring about their father and he storms out of the restaurant and Happy and the call girls leave as well. In the restroom Willy has the flashback when Biff came to Boston to tell his father that he failed out of school and needed his father to talk to his teacher, but he accidentally witnessed his father having an affair. This completely devastated Biff and caused him to loose all the faith he once had in his father. Willy wakes up from the flashback and the waiter helps him leave the bathroom and go outside. Back home, Linda scolds her sons for leaving their father and she continued to defend him. Willy tries to plant the garden in the dark and has a daydream where he talks to Ben about a proposition involving 20,000 dollars. This is what Willy believes he will get from life insurance if he kills himself. Ben warns him that "they" might not hold up their end of the bargin and tells Willy that Biff will view him as a coward. After the daydream, Biff tells his father the complete truth and really expresses his hanger towards his father which enrages Willy. Then Biff really raises the tention in the scene by showing his father the rubber pipe. Biff declares that his isn't a "leader of men"and neither is his father in a long rant and then breaks down crying and hugs his father. Everyone is very touched by Biff's actions and everyone goes to bed except Willy. Willy talks to Ben about how Biff could use the $20,000 and then speeds of in his car.
The final scene is at Willy's funeral, that very few people showed up to. Biff continues to be the only voice of reason at the end of the play while Charlie defends Willy saying that Biff should not blame his father because it is a hard life being a salesman. The play ends with Linda speaking at Willy's grave saying that she made the last house payment and she ends her line by repeating "we're free..."
Significant Characters:
Willy: He is the main character of the play. The story places the most emphasis around his life (and flashbacks). His inability to accurately gauge his own position and value in society ends up leading to his downfall. Willy's tendency to dance around major problems is passed on to his sons and has made their transition into adult life very difficult. He preaches the importance of being well liked instead of the importance of hard work. He ends up killing himself in order to get the insurance money that will allow Biff and Happy to open a Sporting Good store which in his mind will lead to their "success".
Happy: Happy is Biff's younger brother. Throughout the play he is constantly trying to impress his father throughout the play. When Biff was trying to tell his father the truth about the meeting, Happy was trying to protect his father from the bad new and was encouraging Biff to lie about it in order to prevent his father's deep disappointment and anger. Miller talks about how Happy has all the same issues that Willy has and will end up going down the same path as his father.
Biff: He his Willy's oldest son who returns home after serving time in jail. He has been a constant disappointment to his father because his lack of success since his high school football days. Biff begins to see his fathers hypocrisy and disillusion about his place in society when he walks on his father having an affair and fully realizes it by the end of the play.
Linda: She is Willy's life who constantly supports him throughout the play, but she is also acting and Willy's enabler. She is always trying to make Willy happy and she is too afraid to confront Willy's real issues like his suicidal actions. With the rubber pipe she can't bring herself to hide it or confront him about it so she brings it upstairs only to take it back down to he cellar when he returns home.
Ben: Ben is Willy's brother who also has been somewhat of a father figure to Willy because Willy's dad died when he was really young. Ben represents risk taking and opportunity in the play. He offered Willy the chance to come with him to Alaska to seek new opportunity, but Willy was convinced by Linda to stay.
Charlie: Charley is Willy's foil. He preaches hard work which proves to be much more effective in the real word than Willy's philosophy of the importance of being liked. Charlie ends up having to support Willy because Willy barely brings in any income from his job. Miller talked about how Charlie continues to support Willy because he is somewhat fascinated by Willy's exciting character since Charlie is a very boring person himself.
Bernard: Bernard is Charlie's son and Biff's foil. He really admired Biff when they were in high school and he tried his best to help Biff pass math. Charlie passed down the importance of hard work to Bernard which allowed Bernard to be successful in his career unlike Biff.
Style/Narrative Voice:
The play jumps from live action to flashbacks throughout the play. Miller uses the flashback to reveal important facts and events that have shaped the characters and caused things to be the way they are currently. Miller's voice and style create a dark cynical view of capitalism in American and the future of American society. The play uses third person point of view but we are not able to see the characters inner thoughts besides Willy's thoughts through his flashbacks. The tone varies drastically throughout the play. It begins with a pretty dark tone and continues to get more ominous and hopeless until the very end of the first act when it turns around and becomes hopeful and optimistic. In the second act the hopeful tone slowly fades away as a very serious tone continues to intensify throughout the rest of the play. Imagery is used especially in the flashbacks. The shinny red Chevrolet is an example which is used to help show Willy's perception of his success in his own mind. This imagery creates the illusion that Willy was a very successful business man when in reality he wasn't. Symbolism is also used throughout the play. Africa and Alaska represent opportunity and fortune. By not taking advantage of his opportunity to go out west with Ben, Willy feels that he turned town his opportunity for wealth and success. The seeds that Willy attempts to plant unsuccessfully represent Willy's inability to create an environment for his family that will allow his son's to succeed.
Theme:
Hard work and the ability to accept your place in society are needed to be able to live the American Dream.
Willy exaggerates his success throughout the story and values being well liked over working hard. He passes this attitude on to his son's which results in their lack of success in the real world. This is especially true for Biff who can't keep a job in large part and he feels entitled to success. Bernard who is Willy's foil is able to have a successful career because he understands the importance of hard work. The symbol of seeds reinforce Willy's inability to help the next generation. By using flashbacks Miller is able to show that Willy's self-proclaimed "glory days" were not as glorious as Willy believed they were. Willy's family has clearly been living beyond their means which has resulted in debt and Willy acts as if he was an incredibly successful business man when in reality he ends up getting fired and has needed to barrow money to pay the bills. By the end of the play, Biff realizes how his father has set him and his brother up for failure once he experiences the harsh realities American Capitalism and he understands that knowing his true role in society and working hard are the keys to achieving success.
Quotes:
"The wonder of this country, that a man can end with diamond here on the basis of being liked!" (Miller 65)
Willy is saying that it the most important thing in the business world is to be well liked with the diomands symbolizing success. This is signifant becasue it ends up being leading to the demise of Willy because he focuses on being well liked instead of being a good employee and father. Willy is talking to his sons in this quote and it is one of the examples of Willy giving his children bad advise that poorly prepares his children for the harsh realties of the business world.
"Pop! I'm a dime a dozen, and so are you!" (Miller 105)
Biff is telling his father that the glorified views that his father has of himself and Biff are not true and they are really just ordinary people. This exemplifies Willy's problem that he has an unrealistic view of himself and his children that lead to their troubles in the real world. This line shows that Biff has finally realized his true place in society which his father was never able to do.
"Every day I go down and take away that little rubber pipe. But, when he comes home, I put it back where it was" (Miller 43).
Linda is describing how she takes the rubber pipe that Willy intends to use to kill him, but she always has to put it back because she don't want Willy to know that she has seen it and knows about his plans. This is an example of Willy's family's inability to address problems directly and try to solve them. Instead of confronting Willy and getting him help, she just pretends like she never saw it and just hopes Willy won't use the pipe. This inability to address problems is another main reason the members of this family have trouble achieving success in the real world.
