Interpretation of dramatic plays and theatrical performance

¶ … Failed American Life Depicted in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

Many people view Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman, as one that typifies the quintessential failure of the American Dream, but it is actually much more than that. Through the life of Willie Loman, we see just how one individual can fail at life in general. While Willy is not a bad or evil person inherently, his life can be see as a failure because he fails himself, his wife, and his children. He fails himself by not trying enough to be successful. He fails his wife by not being the kind of husband he should be. She ends up being the strong character at the end of the play simply because she does not take the easy road out. Finally, Willy is a failure as a father. Because of his delusions, he cannot raise his children to be the kind of men they should be. They end up standing his shadows and floundering in their lives because of his influence. Willy's life represent the American Dream lost but it also realizes the American life lost and demonstrates how we can fail ourselves when we choose to turn away from reality.

Willy's life is a failure because he refuses to accept reality and, as a result, he cannot set goals that suit him. Willy cannot be faulted for not dreaming but, as he demonstrates, dreaming is simply not enough. There must some talent and action involved with dreaming and Willy does not demonstrate this very well. Dreams become useful when people choose to achieve and make positive steps in a particular direction. They are really only helpful when people become proactive. This is where Willy slips up. He never moves toward his dreams in a positive manner. He is simply floating along. He knows that he could be a better salesman but he never stops to think he might not be cut out to be a salesman at all. Whatever pulled him into that way of thinking kept him stuck there and he keeps thinking that things will improve "just because." It is easier to remain in a rut than to fight to get out. Willy takes the easy road and stays stuck even though he is not actually happy or fulfilled. He comes up with excuses for his failure to succeed instead of trying to make a real change. He is living a lie. We see this when he thinks that one day, out of the blue, he will get an advance and "come home with a New York job" (Miller II.1070-1).

He keeps thinking good fortune will simply smile on him and when it does, he will never "get behind another wheel" (II.1071) again. These kinds of thoughts are what keep him from actually trying to be successful and that is why his life becomes a failure.

Willy's life can be seen as a failure because he also fails his wife. While Linda tries her best to maintain the household and keep the family afloat, Willy cheats on her. She gives him support and tolerates his mood swings and, in the end, the most he can do for her is kill himself. He decides that things are too difficult and he bails out, leaving her and his children to deal with everything. Willy is a failure of a husband because he keeps Linda in the dark about most things - the most important being his feelings. He never shares his desperation with her so she is not capable of helping. Even when has the opportunity to make things better, he does not act. He refuses Charley's job offer because it seems easier to ask for money than it is to do something other than sell. He would rather see the family suffer than try to work at something else for a little while. After he is gone, she tells the kids, "First time in thirty-five years we were just about free and clear" (Requiem 1112). This statement illustrates just how disconnected to two were. She knew enough to know that they were almost at a place where they could stop and breathe but Willy does not see things that way. He does not look at retirement as a way of beginning something refreshing with Linda. He fails her because he is not the strong, dependable man she deserves.

Willy also fails his children. While he does not beat his children of deliberately harm them, he certainly does not do anything to help them advance in the world. We can the perfect example of this with Biff, who is shaped by his father's misguided sense of the world. Biff has no drive and he allows his father's opinion to cloud reality. As a result, Biff can find no real direction for his life. He admits to Happy that he does know what he wants to do with his life even though he has had "twenty or thirty different kinds of jobs" (Miller 1038).

He blames Willy for this telling him, "I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! That's whose fault it is!" (1108). Biff might be lazy but he is not as idealistic as his father is. He sees what this type of thinking did to his dad and realized that while he had dreams they were "wrong dreams" (1113) for him. He even tells Happy that carrying on the Loman Brothers ideas was not going to happen because, "I know who I am, kid" (1113). Here we see that Willy's life had a profoundly negative effect on his son. This example illustrates how he failed his family because he could not be the type of father figure the needed in their lives.