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Death of A Salesman (平装)
by Arthur Miller
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Fiction, Play |
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| MSL Pointer Review:
A powerfully sad story of the American Dream gone awry when a small man is destroyed by society's false values. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
One of the most popular and famous plays of post-O'Neill theater, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is the playwright's masterpiece and a true classic not only of American drama, but also of American literature as a whole. Though it came out in the late 1940's, its universal applicability has endured throughout the ensuing decades and the play still has much to tell us today. As has been noted, 20th century American drama tended to focus primarily on the family. The family presented in Death of a Salesman - like the families in Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof - is, in many ways, the prototypical American family, although many would not like to admit it. Salesman's dys- functional family preceded the rosier, harmonious families that would come to dominate 50's television; it doesn't take a prophet or even a sociologist to determine which of the two is more true-to-life. In the Loman family, we can see much of ourselves and our families - even if it is the parts that we would rather not think about and focus on. The play also deals with the capitalist system as it stood in the middle of the 20th century; most agree that, to the extent that it has changed since then, it has only been for the worse. Willy Loman, the play's main character and the prototypical Everyman, is a victim of the dog-eat-dog world of business that is a true manifestation of "survival of the fittest": good times are forgotten; nobody cares what one has done in the past: all that matters is, What have you done for me lately? The play shows how a man - and yes, a man: the play was written in the 1940's, after all... and notice that the matriarch, despite the family's hard times, does not work - is judged not by whom he is, not by his virtues, but simply by what he does and how much money he makes (of course, nearly 60 years later, this now extends to women as well.) It doesn't matter how good a man is, how much he loves his family, how much he cares for his children, how much he loves his wife - if he can't make enough money to keep food on the table. A man who doesn't do that, at least in society's eyes, is a complete and total failure: nothing else matters. Willy's inability to escape from this system leads to his total and complete focus on money and work, driving his attention away from what matters most to him, his family, and ends in his tragic fate. Such a plight is, no doubt, familiar to many Americans. The right to the "pursuit of happiness" may be in the Declaration of Independence for all to read, but achieving the proverbial American Dream isn't always that easy: it's trying, it's difficult, it's hard - and, indeed, it can be fatal. This is what the play tells us, and its truth is why the play has endured through the years and why it will continue to endure. This is a true masterpiece that deserves to be read by all. |
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Mack (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
I first fell in love with the work of Arthur Miller while I was doing my undergraduate studies several years ago. Death of a Salesman was among the assigned readings. I instantly fell in love with the story and wrote a paper about it. When I recently saw a used copy of Death of a Salesman for fifty cents, I seized the opportunity to enjoy this work again.
The main character, Willy Loman faces a hopeless situation. He receives no sense of fulfillment from his job, his sons are disappointments, and he is haunted my missed opportunities of his life. The only opportunity to save Willy from his demise seems to be the poteantial of his sons to become successful. While their failure seems eminent, Willy sees hope in their attempts. When the sons attempts at success prove futile, it leads to Willy's demise.
Any person who feels underappreciated in life can empathize with Willy Loman. Statements that Arthur Miller made about the American landscape then are still applicable today. Some people would rather not succeed in life as long as they can enjoy themselves. Our missed opprtunities can haunt us for the rest of our lives. But Miller's loudest statement is that in spite of your work and dedication to others, it is possible that nobody will go your funeral. A sad but true statement about a fast paced society.
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Michael Crane (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, while confusing when just read through the text alone, is an awesomely crafted play that takes drama to the next level. Now being interested in plays, I decided it was time to read this one, being that this is considered a classic by many (which I could easily see why). Reading this play makes me want to write plays. Reading something like this makes me believe that I can some up with something great too. I am glad that I finally took the time to read it.
The story is about a broken-hearted salesman, Willy Loman. He is a man no longer living in the real world but is mostly trapped in his own delusional world. He can't let go of the past no matter how hard he tries, and it's eating him up inside. He wants to believe that his family is a shoe-in for greatness, no matter how lonely and sad his wife is, or how much of a player/swinger his youngest son is, or how confused and anti-business his oldest son is. You put all of this together and you get a glimpse of an American tragedy that is so powerful and sad that it makes you think these things happen all the time. From Page 1 you know it's not going to end on a happy note, but you decide to take the path anyways. And a path worth taking it is.
I admit that I was confused at certain points, because through the text alone it is very hard to separate Willy's reality from his imagination. There are places where Willy departs from reality and goes back to the past and it makes it very hard for us to figure out what is going on if we're only reading it. When I saw the movie version after reading this, I was able to appreciate the play more. I understood what confused me and I was able to figure out what was happening. Despite some confusing moments it is still a tremendous play that is very involving from start to finish. You are able to sympathize with the main character, and with the rest of the characters as well. You know a writer has done the job right when you are able to feel or care for every single character (or at least almost all of them, being there will be a few minor characters you're really not supposed to care for that much. This is something that always happens in the world of fiction and is to be expected). Arthur Miller did an amazing job of writing such a realistic and emotionally driven play. The characters were realistic as well as the dialogue.
Death of a Salesman is more than just simply a stunning play; it is a beautiful portrait of a family dealing with hardships and troubles. As soon as I began the play I was unable to put it down until it was finished. If you want to read a great play and are interested in great works of drama, this is the one for you.
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Kristen (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, describes the traditional highs and lows of the "American Dream". The way Miller has portrayed the different characters really shows the tragic reality of what Americans must cope with in their lives. In this playwright the audience is introduced to four main characters. Willy is the father and is pretty much losing his mind and is holding on to things that should've been let go of. Linda, his wife, is caring and completely adores him. Together they have two sons the elder is Biff, and Happy the younger one. Miller shows how dreams will not always turn out the way you imagined them to be.
Millers' point in this play is showing the way Americans want that dream of having the wife stay at home and take care of the house and the husband make enough for the two of them and they live happily ever after. In reality though it really never turns out that way. He depicts this family, the Lowman family, and how they struggle to survive. In this struggle Linda is found alone in her family. Seeing how Willy is going crazy and Biff and Happy only come home just to go away once more. As we are introduced to Act I you can see the drama in their family and how it only gets worse. The family that we perceive as perfect becomes helpless and sad. It then comes to the point that suicides an option for Willy just so that Biff can make it in the business world.
A life lesson that I have learned through this is that the American Dream isn't half as much as everyone makes it to be. There are so many things that are wrong about the "dream" that many people overlook. People should use the gifts they're given and not settle for something less than it. By striving to accomplish something that you just aren't good at makes it tough to have success at that job. Therefore by exercising the talent we are given success is a lot more likely. Miller describes over and over again the idea of Willy wanting to be well like and even though that is a good thing, it can sometimes bite you back.
This saddening playwright is extremely well written and has a good storyline. The way he describes the lives of his characters and the way they lived is realistic and true to the lives of people today. The way that we can relate to the characters makes the play even more interesting. I definitely recommend this playwright because of its dramatic appeal and anyone who reads it will be able to relate somehow to one of the characters described.
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Milton (MSL quote) , USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Death of a Salesman is a tragic yet entertaining play that makes an excellent point about several topics. Even though Arthur Miller wrote the play over half a century ago, it still applies to our lives today. The Penguin Plays edition gives you a good idea of what Arthur Miller intended the play to look like. Personally, I enjoyed reading the play, and I learned several good lessons from it.
Death of a Salesman takes place around the late 1940's and the early 1950's in the New England area. Almost the entire play takes place in and around the Loman house. Willy Loman, an aging salesman who has worked all his life and has little to show for it is the main character in this great play. He often has terrible daydreams about the past and is slowly losing it. He is in many senses dying. Many see him as a crazy old fool. His lovely wife Linda Loman however sees him as a poor, misunderstood man who has suffered through much in his life and must be taken care of very carefully. Even though Willy does not treat her with a lot of respect, she still is his greatest support, and is the only person keeping him from falling apart and going completely crazy.
Part of Willy's mental problems comes from his two grown up boys, Biff, and Happy. Biff, the oldest and Willy's favorite, has failed to live up to his father's expectations of becoming successful and well liked. He purposefully hasn't found a well paying job yet, which Willy hates. Willy believes Biff does this to spite him and they are constantly arguing (you will find out exactly why they are constantly arguing later in the play). Happy has always looked up to and respected his dad. When he was younger he was constantly trying to impress him although now he believes Willy is a crazy old fool and a disgrace to the family. Unlike Biff, he dreams of being very successful and living out the American Dream. The play continues on and just when you think things are starting to calm down and to take a turn for the better, everything heats up again. The play quickly builds up to a final great climax, and it ends with the Death of a Salesman.
Arthur Miller probably wrote Death of a Salesman for several reasons. His main reason as I see it was probably to tell people about the dangerous effects of the American dream on a person's life. The American Dream from Arthur Miller's perspective is to make money, be well known and liked. In trying to live the American Dream a person can live their entire lives devoted to making money so they can buy and pay off a car and a house, etc. By the time they have enough money to do so, the kids have already moved out and they don't have much use for a car anymore. This is seen when Linda says "I made the last payment on the house. Today, dear. And there'll be nobody home." In the play (SPOILER ALERT) Willy wasted his entire life trying to be a successful and well liked salesman, but in the end, he loses almost everything including the respect of his sons, his own life, and still has nothing to show for all his hard work.
I personally learned a very valuable lesson from Death of a Salesman. You can try all your life to be successful and well liked, however you might just end up disappointed. Or, you can break free of the American Dream and just try to be happy doing your job instead of trying to get ahead of everyone else in the world. I viewed Death of a Salesman as a conflict of interests. On one side you have Willy who believes success comes with becoming well liked and having money. He is always trying to impress the next guy. Biff on the other hand just wants to be content with his work and to make a living by doing want he wants to do. During the play they both try to convince the other one that their way is the way to be successful and to make a living. What I got from this play is that being successful is not about being well liked, but about being content with what you do. At the beginning, Biff seems somewhat happy with his current job even though he feels like he is failing his dad. Happy has gone out and has started to make a living through the American Dream. He has been somewhat successful in this but when Biff asks him if he is content he says no. Happy doesn't know what he is working for but believes that once he has more money than anyone else, he will be happy (no pun intended). Unfortunately, if you follow that path you will work all your life to achieve a virtually unreachable goal. However, if you just try to be content with what you have, you will be successful in your own right.
I really enjoyed reading this book/play and I got a lot out of it. Overall, Death of a Salesman was a great play. It teaches a great lesson and might just give you a different view on life. Arthur Miller did a great job in writing the play, but be careful of the mild language in this edition. I recommend this book as a must read to everyone teen-aged and up. It has a great story and an interesting view on the idea of the American Dream. I would give this book 9.5 out of 10. This is a play I believe everyone should read at one point in their life.
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Barry Chow (MSL quote), Canada
<2007-01-05 00:00>
This is a preachy, political and partisan play that nevertheless manages to be quite affecting. It takes its cue from the socialist stereotyping of materialism that pervaded the theatre of the 1930's and shamelessly goes on to gore its straw man with remorseless abandon. Today, it reads as blatantly biased, but given the tone and tenor of its time, this is a forgivable sin.
This play is often included in grade school curricula as a superior example of mid-twentieth century theatre. This is done partly because its themes are simple and its language accessible, but also because, truth be told, it is a well-crafted play with meaningful characters and a significant message.
Death of a Salesman is not a complicated play. It argues that capitalist materialism consists of fraud, hypocrisy and delusion, and its central character, Willy Loman, has embodied these traits so completely and for so long that he can no longer distinguish between meaning and empti- ness. His wife and sons are not just ciphers, but complex people in their own right, and the fallout from Willy's values is so toxic that it leads to the forfeiture of their own chance at happiness.
This play elicits mixed feelings because it straddles both the relevant and the simplistic. On the one hand, it accurately dissects certain aspects of western culture and the unthinking pursuit of riches. Our society does produce shallow unreflective wage earners who chase the almighty dollar to the exclusion of all else, and we have probably all met our own Willy Lomans before. However, the vast majority of the middle class do not conform to Miller's portrayal and, in this respect, Willy Loman resembles caricature more than personality. This feeling, that Willy Loman was constructed not so much to explore life as to score points, is what detracts from the general experience. Although the insights are both accurate and current, they are also simplistic, and the reader cannot shake the feeling that Willy Loman is an artifice that was built up in just such a way that he could later be knocked down to best press the playwright's agenda.
So this is the reader's dilemma: the central character is a caricature, but a finely wrought one; he is used to make a point, but a worthy one; the playwright preaches, but does it well. This play reminds me of Dickens's best work, where charming Cockneys, implacable revolutionaries and other memorable characters of remarkable distinction were used to promote similarly simplistic and partisan agendas. Those who can forgive Dickens should be able to enjoy this play. Those who find Dickens too barefaced will have problems with this work too.
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A British reader (MSL quote), UK
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Death of a Salesman is often referred to as a criticism of capitalism or as an exploration of the dark side of the "American Dream". There may be some truth in this idea. The central character, Willy Loman, is a man who has worked hard for the same company for over thirty years. According to all the tenets of capitalism, his qualities of diligence and loyalty should have been a guarantee of success, and yet his life ends in failure when he is dismissed by his employers without a word of thanks. Arthur Miller is sometimes attacked by political conservatives on account of his left-wing opinions, but in my view such an attitude is misplaced, as he was generally better as a writer of human drama than as a political propagandist. The Crucible, for example, remains a great play even today, worth reading or watching not as an attack on McCarthyism but as a powerful drama with the strong figure of John Proctor, a flawed but genuinely tragic hero, at its centre. Similarly, the human side of Willy Loman's downfall is much more interesting than any political lessons that might be drawn from it; the play concentrates far more on Willy's relationships with his family than it does on that with his boss Howard Wagner.
Willy is a much weaker character than Proctor. He is the salesman of the play's title, a man in his early sixties, approaching retirement. Despite his long service, travelling from his New York base all over New England in the service of his employers, he has never enjoyed great success in his job. He is in financial difficulties, struggling to pay the mortgage on his house and the instalments on the consumer goods- refrigerator, vacuum cleaner, car- which were becoming popular in the forties but which represented a major commitment, even in middle class households. In order to make ends meet, he has taken to borrowing from his old friend Charley. His sense of failure, however, does not derive solely from his unsuccessful career. He also sees himself as having failed in his private life. Although his marriage to his loyal wife Linda has survived, despite the fact that he has on occasions been unfaithful to her, his relations with his two sons are strained. Biff, the elder, showed promise when young in both the academic and sporting fields, but failed to win a place at university after failing a maths exam at school, and since has become a rootless drifter, alternating between dead-end jobs and petty crime. Biff has been particularly alienated from his father since discovering one of Willy's affairs. Happy, the younger, has been more successful than Biff in his career, but in his private life is a selfish, cynical womaniser.
Willy is a character much given to violent mood swings, alternating between exuberant over-optimism and despairing pessimism. The younger Willy's optimism was largely focussed on his own prospects, believing that he had a talent for making himself "well liked" which would lead to a brilliant career. The older Willy's hopes are mostly focussed on his sons, especially Biff, whom he still believes (in the teeth of all the evidence) to be capable of great things. When his son disappoints him, Willy turns on him fiercely, accusing him of being a "lazy bum". Biff's lack of success in life does indeed derive partly from his own weaknesses, but Willy's unrealistic expectations are also partly to blame. There may be a connection between Willy's job and his capacity for self-delusion. As Charley says of him "A salesman's got to dream. It comes with the territory".
The play is written in two acts and a brief epilogue, but without any further formal divisions into scenes. On a number of occasions the action switches abruptly from the present into the past, as the characters act out episodes from earlier in Willy's life. Some of these episodes, in fact, may exist only in Willy's imagination, particularly those involving his older brother Ben, who is now dead although that does not prevent him from making several appearances. He seems to have been a wealthy man, although there are two versions of how he acquired his wealth, one involving business dealings in Alaska, the other diamond mining in Africa. Ben, in fact, is not really a character in his own right, but rather functions as a symbol of the failures and missed opportunities in Willy's life. This structure can make the play rather confusing when read from the printed page, but any confusion is generally quickly resolved in a well-directed stage or screen performance. (One particularly good filmed version is that starring Dustin Hoffman from 1985).
There is much more to the play than a critique of the capitalist economy or of the American way of life. It is also a character study and an exploration of the relationships within a family, especially father-son relationships (which was also an important theme of Miller's All My Sons). On a wider level it touches on the plight of the elderly, especially those whom society no longer seems to value, on the human need, too often disappointed, to aspire to a better life, and on the gap between appearance and reality. It is a play that deserves the high reputation it has acquired since it was written in the late forties.
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Jacques Coulardeau (MSL quote), France
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Enter the cult of the salesman's society. A salesman needs to dream and lives in a completely fake smiling world when meeting his customers. Unluckily this alienation, because to smile on command is an alienation, can invade the salesman's private life and then life becomes a lie, becomes a solitude, becomes hell and blazes. Enter the cult of the urban sprawl. You may have had a nice house in the middle of some open space, but the city grows out and grows up and your house is soon surrounded by skyscrapers and sprawl and you live in a totally dehumanized and cold environment in which sunshine has become a vague recollection fading away with time. Enter the cult of the oedipian tragedy. The father is the dominating boss of the family, the bread winner, the meaning giver, the future designer and definer. The sons are zealots of the father and have to follow him in his tracks, or at least in what they think his tracks are, and trying to preserve his self-esteem and illusions by manipulating his ego as if it were a fragile fresh egg of some endangered bird species. One will accept the model and the other will find out all this is a lie, a fake, an illusion, but this latter will sink in some kind of maniacal depression that will leads him from one failure to another, from one intentional failing procedure to another, just to prove to himself and the world his father is great and he is nothing. And this will go till he finds the courage to look out and step away, once and for all, and become himself, finally free of the lie. Or, because there is always an alternative, till the father decides to step out of life, of his family's life, which will liberate the horizon and the perspective, though it will reveal marvellously how the mother had locked the father into that lie by killing his dreaming power and his enterprising spirit to having a house built, paying for the mortgage, footing the insurance bill and a few others like the refrigerator's, the car's and the washing machine's, etc. The mother (and here the play is extremely misogynistic) is the direct representative of the consumer's society that enslaves us to short-term needs and evacuates all imagination from this life, except when we manage to blow our tops and fly up into the sky of derangement. Enter the cult of private initiative seen as the only excape from this dictatorial ideology. There is always some wild country where you can go and become rich overnight. There is always some profession that can only be reached through hard work and heavy studying and in which only knowledge, competence and performance will count. There is always an outer and an inner frontier that the happy hardworking few will be able to cross and then to come back from enriched and empowered with a vision and a future. But woe to those who do not have that vision, who do not have that personal force, who do not have this special competence, who do not have this particular knowledge that gives them the opportunity to become the leaders of the world, their local world or the global world, or any stage in between these two extremes. What comes out of this play is that those who fail in this world only get what they deserve because they are failing themselves and the world by telling tall tales, by spreading lies, by not seeing that illusions are poisonous to the human mind. And yet how hard it is to be imaginative, competent, self-conscious and self-righteous, com- passionate and humane, realistic and strong enough to know how to lie in order to save not one's public image but the truth. And by the way what is the truth in a society that considers the virtuality of an ever- evading potential to be more real than the material reality of an aim killed in our very act of reaching it? |
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Rebecca Henning (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Arthur Miller's poignant drama, Death of a Salesman proves to be a great American tragedy. His crafted storyline has resounded throughout the generations while resting strongly on America today.
The Loman family depicts a piece of every family today as they struggle through a world of hard businessmen, changing suburbia, and the danger of being drowned in your own selfishness. We experience the desire for self-worth and self-gain tear down a family, and amidst the rubble leave a cracked and worn out foundation.
Miller's main character, Willy Loman the tragic incompetent businessman and father, revels in his tragedy even to his end. To afraid to let even his sons know who he really is sets the theme that begins to tear their family apart. Choices made by Willy in his past and present ultimately affect and hinder his sons. Willy's wife Linda allows her self to be pushed over and neglected. Even when problems arise Linda's lets her own love blind her from her reality. Willy and Linda's broken relationship shows a never-ending need for each other, which is never realized throughout the play. Willy and Linda's two sons Biff and Happy also carry this tragedy through their choices and actions. Biff, the family jock that sometimes seems to speak his mind too much at times, never really allows his father into his life. Happy, the younger son, seems to be an exact opposite, wanting just that from his father - acceptance. The family neglect and anger boils over through each family member only to bring a crashing end to their falling lives.
Arthur Miller spoke directly to America through the pages of Death of A Salesman, revealing the risk and reality of chasing the American Dream. America's desire for the best and the most hasn't changed much since the birth of this drama in 1949. We also feel the trap so many families’ fall into of neglecting those closest to them. Arthur Miller wanted people to stare these problems right in the face because everyone knows that they deal with them, whether in their own lives or in their families’ lives.
As one character said about Willy, "...a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back that's an earthquake." Miller wanted America to see than many people go through life wanting only what others can give them, not wanting to give to others. People in America often place value on trivial things that won't last longer than a few weeks or years, pushing aside things such as family and friends that can change your life as well as, walk through it with you. If anything, Miller wanted people to evaluate their lives and see what has taken hold of them, the American Dream or their own?
Reading Death of a Salesman has put an entirely new perspective on my outlook of the American Dream. As I am about to graduate high school and go to college I've had to think a lot about what it is I want to do with my life. Having to choose between what I want to be doing instead of doing what I feel I have to do. I think that I have also taken away the importance of really connecting with my family. Your family should be the people that know the real you not the people that you hide the real you from. As Willy strived so hard to be successful in business he lost the family he once had. He gave up the best thing in his life for something he would never gain. As we see throughout the play Willy's American Dream soon became his American Nightmare.
Arthur Miller's voice echoes through these pages. It is a play I would recommend and even insist you read. Anyone today would find the relevance and raw storyline something to be cherished. I truly enjoyed this reading and will hold on closely to its message. |
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