Vika Chosnul C.
A.320 080 231
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
1. Major Characteristic
Protagonist: Willy Loman
Antagonist: In a broad sense, competitive America society represented in part by Howard Wagner; in a narrow sense, Willy’s combative son Biff.
Willy Loman: An aging salesman haunted by a feeling that life has been a failure. He hallucinates about past events focusing on his dreams for a better tomorrow; the future of his son, Biff, a star football player; and a woman with whom he had an affair while on a sales trip. During his hallucinations, he sometimes talks to himself.
Linda Loman: Willy’s loyal wife. She accepts her role as a devoted and subservient housewife.
Biff Loman: Willy’s older son, who has trouble holding a job and getting along with his father. After he returns home from the West, his presence and his failure to get a job exasperate Willy.
Happy Loman: Willy’s younger son, who has a steady job but is afraid to take risks to better himself.
Charley: Successful businessman who lives next door to Willy. Willy envies him because he is a constant reminder of what Willy is not.
Bernard: Charley’s son. He is intelligent, hard-working, and successful – everything Biff Loman is not.
Ben: Willy’s deceased older brother, who appears only in Willy’s hallucinations. He struck in rich at an early age in South African diamond mines. He symbolizes the success that has eluded Willy.
Howard Wagner: The son of Willy’s former boss, Frank Wagner, whom Willy admired. Howard, who is now Willy’s boss, represents a new breed of business executive, interested more in advancing technology than people. He fires Willy because of his inability to perform satisfactorily.
Stanley: A waiter at a bar/restaurant where Willy meet his sons.
The Woman: An employee of a Boston company who has an affair with Willy. She is one of the subjects of his hallucinations.
Miss Forsythe and Letta: Attractive young women whom Happy and Biff meet in the bar/restaurant.
Jenny: Charley’s secretary.
2. Key Issues
a.) ILLUSION versus REALITY
Willy is at the bottom of the totem pole in a capitalistic world. He owns nothing, and he makes nothing, so he has no sense of accomplishment. Robbed of this, he develops the theory that if a person is well liked and has a great deal of personal attractiveness, then all doors will automatically be opened for him. Willy built his life around these dreams. However, for Willy to live by his ideals necessitates building or telling many lies, and these illusions replace reality in Willy's mind. He tells lies about how well liked he is in all of his towns, and how vital he is to New England. At times Willy even believes his own lies and becomes enthusiastic when he tells his family that he made more money than he actually did.
Willy then fills his sons so full of this concept of being well-liked that when Biff flunks math he goes to Boston to search for his father. He thought that since Willy is so well-liked, that he will be able to convince the math teacher to change the grade. It was during this time that Biff encountered his father in the hotel room with a woman. Willy's strong desire to be well-liked is what drove him to have an affair in Boston. The fact that she would go to bed with him promoted his ego after a hard day of being turned away by buyers. Therefore the affair is more of an ego booster than a strong desire for Willy to be involved in an illicit love affair.
Biff couldn't accept that his father had committed adultery, and from that point on, he saw his father as a fake. Willy's life began to close in on him and he had nothing more to live for except his illusions and fond memories of the past. More and more, Willy's life involves his dreams and all of the dreams go back to the year before Biff made his break with Willy.
Therefore Willy's entire life has been lived according to his ideas about personal attractiveness and being well-liked. He never questioned these values and never realized that he lived in a world of illusions and dreams. He tried to bring up his children in that same world but he could not keep up the false front, and Biff would not live that way after the incident in Boston.
b.) BIFF AS THE PROTAGONIST OF THE PLAY
Willy is the salesman throughout the play, and he is the character that ultimately dies, but the title can be seen as figurative, rather than literal. The true death in the play is that of Willy's dream for Biff to follow in his footsteps and become a salesman. At the climactic scene when Biff is pleading with his father to forget him and let him and his own dreams go, it is apparent that Biff will never become a salesman as his father had, and that is another death that the title is referring to.
c.) DREAMS LEADING TO DENIAL
This is best exemplified in the life Willy chose for himself. In reality, Willy loved to work with his hands. He had completed large improvements on the house, and prior to his suicide, he planted a garden so that he could leave something tangible behind. However, Willy denied himself of the pleasure of using his hands to make a living because of his dreams to be like Dave Singleman and be so loved that his buyers all came to his funeral. Willy believed the untruth that it was more prestigious to be a less than adequate businessman than a content handyman.
Biff proves to be the true son of his father because he wants to go somewhere in the great outdoors so that they can all work with their hands. A few scenes later, Willy seems to be exceptionally proud of a ceiling that he had installed in the living room. It was a task that the successful Charley could not perform. Both father and son need to express themselves through some type of physical labor. However, when Biff suggests that the Lomans should be "mixing cement on some open plain, or ... be a carpenter," Willy argued that, "your grandfather was better than a carpenter." As a result, Willy's disillusionment got in the way of his happiness.
3. Synopsis of Death of a Salesman
Willy Loman has been traveling salesman for the Wagner Company for thirty-four years. He likes to think of himself as vital to the New England area. A long time ago, Willy met a salesman named Dave Single man who could go into a town and pick up a phone and would be able to place many orders without ever leaving his hotel room. When this man died, people from all over the country came to his funeral, and this man became Willy's inspiration.
As the play opens, Willy has just come back home after having left for New England that morning. He tells his wife, Linda, that he just can't seem to keep his mind on driving anymore. He asks about his son, Biff, and he drifts off to when Biff was a high school senior fourteen years ago. Biff was playing in an important football game and people from all over the country were coming to offer him scholarships. Then something happened later that year, because Biff did not go to college and has yet to find himself. It is later revealed that Biff has failed math and had gone up to Boston to ask his father to appeal to the teacher. When he reached Willy's hotel room in Boston, Biff found his father having an affair with a strange woman. After that episode, Biff despised his father and could never bring himself to provide Willy with the happiness of having a successful son.
After fourteen years of being away, Biff returns home. He and his brother Happy think of a job that would enable Biff to settle down in New York. They remember Biff's former boss, Bill Oliver, and plan to ask him for a loan of ten thousand dollars to begin a business of their own. They tell their father about their plans, and Willy believes that the two boys could conquer the world in business together. Willy explains that the important thing in life is to be well-liked and to have personal attractiveness. He tells Biff that Mr. Oliver always thought highly of him (despite the fact that Biff was suspected of stealing from a shipment of basketballs), and he reminds Biff of how good looking he is.
The following day, Willy is supposed to meet the two boys for dinner. He is so excited to have his boys on the brink of success that he decides to ask for a job in New York City. Howard Wagner, the present owner of the Wagner Company founded by his father, tells Willy that there is no room for him in New York, and then explains to Willy that he cannot represent the firm in New England either because he has become detrimental to business. Willy is now forced to go to Charley to borrow enough money to pay his insurance premium. It has been revealed that Willy has been borrowing fifty dollars each week for a long time and pretending it is his salary. Even though Charley offers Willy a good job in New York, Willy refuses to accept it because he says he can't work for Charley. Willy takes the money and leaves to meet his sons at the restaurant.
Biff and Happy met in the restaurant and Biff explained that he has been living an illusion. He tells Happy that he has stolen himself out of every job, including this meeting where he stole a pen from Bill Oliver's desk. When Willy arrives he tells the boys that he has been fired and refuses to listen to Biff's story. Willy sits there and pretends that he has another appointment the following day. Willy becomes furious and is about to make a scene, so he goes off to the bathroom. Biff, out of frustration, leaves, and Happy who has picked up two girls, follows him, leaving Willy alone.
Later that night, Biff comes home and finds Willy out in the backyard planting seeds and talking to the illusion of his brother Ben. Willy has not seen Ben for a number of years, and in fact Ben has been dead for some time. Biff explains to Willy that it would be best if they break with each other and never see each other again. He tries once again to explain that he is no longer a leader of men and that he is just a common person who has no outstanding qualities.
Willy refuses to believe him and tells Biff once again how great he can be. Biff becomes frustrated again because Willy refuses to see the truth. He finally breaks down and sobs to Willy to forget him. Then, Willy is taken aback by his son's emotion toward him. Willy resolves on suicide, because with twenty thousand dollars in insurance money, Biff could be magnificent. So that is what he did, Willy crashed his car and caused his own death. It becomes apparent to the reader that Willy died a forgotten man, because no one came to his funeral except his family.
