Linda as the moral center of Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman

Willy Loman is the main character in Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman. However, there are other important characters in the story. One of them is Willy's wife, Linda. In fact, Linda is one of the central characters in Death of a Salesman for several reasons. First, Linda is the real head of the household. Willy is too mentally disturbed to handle his life and she helps him to confront the truth about their finances. Linda keeps everyone together. Also, she is more reasonable than Willy or either of her two sons. As the mother of Happy and Biff, Linda is also central in their life. She frequently has to scold them for treating their father poorly. Finally, Linda remains alive at the end of the play, so she is the last person the audience relates to. Linda can be thought of as the center of Death of a Salesman because she is the most reasonable and balanced character in the play, and because of that the audience sees things through her eyes.

As the female head of the household, Linda is able to have some influence on the other people in her family like her husband Willy and her sons Happy and Biff. Unfortunately, none of them listen to her. For instance she tries to tell her sons to be nice to Willy but they argue with him and put him down.