Failure in a Success Oriented Society in Death of a Salesman

Failure in a Success Oriented Society in Death of a Salesman In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the playwright focuses on the theme of failure in a success oriented society. Willy Lowman, a failed salesman, is the central character. Willy’s downfall is caused by his belief in the propaganda of a society that only has room for winners. The significance of this theme, still very relevant today, is heightened by Millers skilful use of a range of key techniques, including setting, characterization and symbolism. The drama focuses on the life of a middle aged salesman, Willy Lowman, who, at the outset of the play is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He lives with his adoring but over protective wife, Linda, who†¦show more content†¦The world outside Willys small, fragile home seems oppressive and menacing, threatening to swallow up an economic failure like Willy. Willys yearning for the setting of the fresh outdoors and open spaces is echoed by his elder son, Biff, who sees himself at ease in the open country: To suffer fifty weeks of the year for the sake of a two-week vacation, when all you really want is to be outdoors, with your shirt off. In the competitive setting of the city, he feels out of place and unable to work with his hands, a skill which he has inherited from his father who takes pride in building a front porch and putting up a new ceiling. In the country, Biff is not a success according to the capitalist definition because as Willy points out disparagingly: ...he (Biff) has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week! The background story to Willys father is sketched in by Ben against a setting of wild, open spaces across which the craftsman father travelled in a lifestyle reminiscent of the American frontiersmen. He is represented as someone who was true to his own self, not corrupted by materialism and successful in his own way as Ben tells us: Great inventor, father. With one gadget he made more in a week than a man like you could make in a lifetime. The references to the jungle as the setting for Bens ruthless success carries uneasy connotations of a place where only the fittest will survive and in which weakerShow MoreRelated Illusion and Reality in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman Essay785 Words   |  4 PagesIllusion and Reality in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman       In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy is depicted as living in his own world. The play centers around the end of Willy’s life, when the real world comes crashing through, ruining the false reality he had created for himself and his family. 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