Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays)
by Arthur Miller
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Book Reviews of Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays)
Book Review: attention perfectionists! learn from his mistakes in this great play!
Summary: 4 Stars
The play in its entirety displaying the trials and tribulations of living an unfulfilling life is a caveat to those that will not settle for anything less than perfection. Willy's constant battles with his self conscience lead only to his apparent insanity and ultimately suicide, signifying that one should be content with the life they live and be able to realize their limitations before pushing themselves too far.
Through his numerous mental breakdowns and moments of delusion, Willy demonstrates the true dangers of living a completely disgruntled life where the only apparent way out is death, warning others of this dastardly fate. Ever since the beginning of the novel, Willy is never seen as being truly happy--the only times when he is in a good mood are when he believes that something miraculous is occurring. Unfortunately though, this never happens because he sets his expectations too high to a place where they cannot even be touched. He expects everything to happen exactly the way he wants it to--but this is simply not the case. The main reason for his high expectations and consequently let downs for Biff is because he refuses to take responsibility for the reasons Biff is not as capable as he could have been. It is Willy's fault that Biff does not graduate high school and go on to college because when Biff discovered that Willy had a mistress whom he was more dedicated to than Linda, he gave up. Willy blocks out these memories and only lets them come to life in his subconscious. His rejection of these memories leaves him continually bewildered and let down, never allowing himself to be happy with Biff's condition. When Willy can finally bear no more regret, he ends his suffering by the only way he knows how--death.
By so willingly turning to drastic measures to end such a brutal life, Willy sends out even stronger warnings in his death to all those in his situation. Immediately after his death, Linda asks why he couldn't have waited just a little longer until all the bills were paid. She "made the last payment on the house" on the day of his funeral. The day that they can finally be "free" is the day that he is being buried. This brings about the question of why he didn't wait just a little longer. Hold on just a little longer to be able to finally relax and live life carefree. That is what everyone wants yet no one is usually patient enough to wait for it. However, that is what is needed if one truly wants to be happy. Happiness will come in due time as long as it is recognized when it comes and accepted for what it is. There is no life if nothing is ever good enough so the simple pleasures in life need to be recognized as the blessings they are. If that can be accomplished, then all else will follow.
Book Review: The Rise and Fall of Willy Loman
Summary: 4 Stars
The one element that Death of a Salesman does is create a sense of what it takes to succeed in a shrewd business world. The idea that sometimes the great have to fall to make room for others is one essential idea in Miller's work. There have been the rise and fall of great leaders, but we don't know just how good Willy Loman was as a salesman in his prime, mainly because he tends to askew the facts at points in this play. However, the bigger problem with Willy Loman is that he tends to take this idea of success and run with it to the point that he becomes obsessive and self-centered on his one goal: to have the best for him and his family. Although this seems like a noble and honorable quest, he seems to dismiss and ignore those who don't directly fit in with his grand ideas, namely his wife and Biff, who are largely ignored. His dream's actualization seems to be only in his mind, and he seemingly loses grips with reality because, as a man who has outlived his greatest successful days, he cannot bear the burden that the successes he hoped for--Biff being a great sports hero or a success, him being the greatest salesman---have not become reality.
The play itself, although a brief work, can be confusing at times because of its symbolic nature and because of the many flashbacks and references to Willy's dead but successful brother, Ben. Biff is constantly stealing things, perhaps as a gesture that he needs to steal away success that he hasn't live up to, or perhaps for the approval of Willy. Happy is losing weight, representative of him vanishing from importance in Willy's life. Linda, despite being the faithful wife who always mends stockings, is not given the proper respect by Willy, and is cheated on when Willy goes to see a woman in Boston. Ben represents the hope for success for Willy, and, in the flashbacks, Willy is constantly asking Ben about what it takes to succeed; he wants to know the answer of life, how to get though the "jungle" of life unblemished.
Willy is the ultimate tragic hero because he cannot see the bigger picture in life: he has to life in the past and in a fantasy world to create perfection. Miller uses Willy Loman perhaps as a vehicle for questioning the essence of success in America, not only what it takes to have success or feel successful, but to feel at peace with one has accomplished. You can read this play and really look at Loman two ways: 1) as a loser incapable of facing the truth or 2) as a man so passionate about success that he is blind to what is going on around him. (Or perhaps you can see a little of both). At any rate, the gripping part of this play is Miller's ability to depict the struggle of an individual who keeps dreams at any cost
Book Review: Unfullfilled Expectations
Summary: 4 Stars
Arthur Miller's most famous play, "Death of a Salesman" proves to be a power-packed tale of desire, betrayal, and ultimate abandonment. Willy Loman, an aging salesman whose best years are far behind, leads a frustrating and futile existence as he attempts to chase after the most money and most success. Miller's portrayal of Willy and his underachieving sons provides a potent warning to those who champion popularity and likeability over hard-work and perseverance.
In Willy's mind, the American Dream is one where the most likeable and most handsome will succeed. Yet, this is unrealistic and unattainable. Willy inflates his worth through self-delusions of grandeur, and constructs an alternate reality for himself and his boys. He is convinced that his worth is decided on how much money and new appliances he brings home. Although he may have been content to work with his hands and be with his family, he must excel in the business world, or else he is a failure. It seems as if his desire to succeed is an attempt to get the approval that he never received from his father, who abandoned him, or his eldest brother, who made a fortune in South Africa and recently died.
Ironically, the ones who most meet the American Dream ideal of hard work and success is his neighbor, Charley, and son, Bernard. In a sophomoric manner, Willy is jealous of Charley's success and measures his life against his. Furthermore, he despises his son, Bernard. In high school, Biff was the big football star with the bright future and Bernard a pencil-necked geek, yet now in their adult years Bernard is a successful lawyer and Biff is a glorified drifter who cannot support himself.
In the end, though, Willy proves to be a sympathetic character. Perhaps it is society that drives him to these unrealistic expectations and the desire to "keep up with the Joneses." Although Willy nearly succeeds into turning Biff into a creature of self-delusion, he dearly loves him. He is heartbroken that he has not succeeded and is racked with guilt for the incident and betrayal that caused Biff to abandon his college football dreams. In the end, he views himself as a martyr, as his death will provide a financial windfall to his family and the only meaning to his failed life.
A true classic, "Death of a Salesman" should be on the short list of any reading list. Alhtough it is a quick read, Miller's style of flashing back in time with no transitions may be confusing at times, so it does provide a bit of a challenge. And, of course, it provides a power-packed punch in the gut to all those who view the pursuit of material wealth as the ultimate goal in life.
Book Review: Missed Dreams and Unrealized Hopes
Summary: 5 Stars
Money and materialism are strong themes in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman". One gets a real sense of this from beginning to end. In the first scenes, already the importance and pursuit of wealth and money are key in understanding what the play is about, and we see this in the frustrated dialogue exchange between the husband and the wife. The main character (the husband) is an aging door-to-door salesman named Willy Loman, who is obsessed with the American dream of financial prosperity as epitomized through his exceptionally successful big brother, Ben, but he's hounded by bills because he doesn't make enough money on commission; he says to his wife Linda: "I just ain't makin' the sales I used to." Therefore, he's forced at one point in the play to go to Howard, his employer, for a raise to get a more convenient position at the sales firm as a desk sales clerk. But Howard doesn't believe in Willy's ability to make enough money for him and refuses to give him the job, or any raise. In fact, he fires Willy on the spot. "Go home, Willy," he says, "take a vacation", in an attempt to get Willy out of his office. Willy feels humiliated and more desperate than ever. He goes straight to his friend and neighbor Charley to borrow money but refuses to take a good job offer from him because he's too proud to be dependent on Charley for his income. "Here's the 500 dollars, Willy," says Charley, to which Willy is quick to respond: "You know I'm good for it, Charley." Willy is hounded by debt and he begins to wish he had gone to Alaska with Ben as a young man and made a fortune mining for gold, but instead he settled for the life of a salesman and its hard, unrewarding occupation. Willy is full of regret and feels he has wasted his life. Throughout the play, from beginning to nearly the end, Willy is left wishing his older son, Biff, had succeeded as a football player and been accepted at a college, but he came just short of graduating and that was the beginning of the end of Willy's dream of fulfilling his own materialistic dreams through Biff. And he is constantly reminding Biff of his failure and blaming himself for it just as much. "If only you had passed your math, things would have turned out different," he says to Biff in the hotel room after he's caught by Biff in adultery. But instead, Biff, for whom Willy had such high hopes, turns out to be an even bigger failure than himself. This play is one big story of missed dreams and unrealized hopes in terms of money and the materialistic pursuit of wealth in a capitalist system.David Rehak
author of "A Young Girl's Crimes"
Book Review: Death of a Salesman
Summary: 4 Stars
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.