Littérature anglophone | Death of a Salesman
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1 | The Setting
The play is set in the late 1950 and much of the plays’ action is set in Willy’s home. The time the Loman purchased it, it represented the ultimate expression of Willy’s hope for a successful future. Now their house is surrounded by apartment buildings on all sides and sunlight barely reaches their garden. Their house has come to symbolise the fading of their dreams. What is also sadly ironic is that the family has almost finished paying their mortgage. It is important to remember that one of the central pillars of the American Dream is Homeownership.
But the dream is no longer a dream when he sees that his house is overwhelmed by the city expansion, just as Willy is himself overwhelmed by the pressure on him and all of his inner thoughts.
“The way they boxed us in there. Bricks and windows, windows and bricks”. Willy has the feeling of being trapped in his own apartment, just as he is trapped in a past, a past he idealises and prevents him from seeing the reality he has to face now.
But the dream is no longer a dream when he sees that his house is overwhelmed by the city expansion, just as Willy is himself overwhelmed by the pressure on him and all of his inner thoughts.
“The way they boxed us in there. Bricks and windows, windows and bricks”. Willy has the feeling of being trapped in his own apartment, just as he is trapped in a past, a past he idealises and prevents him from seeing the reality he has to face now.
2 | Disillusions
Willy’s reality profoundly conflicts with his hopes. Throughout his life, he has constructed elaborate fantasies to deny the mounting evidence of his failure to fulfil his desires and expectations. By the time the play opens, Willy suffers from crippling self-delusion. Just as the house is besieged by apartment buildings, Willy’s ego is besieged by doubts and mounting evidence that he will never experience the fame and fortune promised by the American Dream “Figure out. Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there’s nobody to live in it” […] “No, some people accomplish something.”
Willy’s tensions with his elder son Biff is very clear right from the start of the play. Biff is 33 years old and he is still in search of himself, but for his father this is unbelievable: “Not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace!”. His father is focused on money, especially on how much you make, and material things. Because Biff does not make any money at 33 -, his son is a failure or “a lazy man”- repeated several times in the text.
Willy’s tensions with his elder son Biff is very clear right from the start of the play. Biff is 33 years old and he is still in search of himself, but for his father this is unbelievable: “Not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace!”. His father is focused on money, especially on how much you make, and material things. Because Biff does not make any money at 33 -, his son is a failure or “a lazy man”- repeated several times in the text.
3 | Willy Loman
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He is nostalgic of a time he idealised. He still thinks that success lies in the amount of money people earn and all the equipment you can buy. He still staunchly believes in the American Dream and in the self-made man. “Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world a young man with such – personal attractiveness, gets lost. And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff – he’s not lazy.” Here Willy contradicts himself. After calling him “ a lazy bum”, he praises his hard-working skills. Willy's contrasting statements on Biff's work ethic show how his hopes for Biff have been dashed, but also his capacity for self-delusion. He can't accept that Biff has turned out to be something other than a great man of the world. Willy Loman cannot let go of his American Dream of huge success for himself and his sons.
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Right from the start, the man is described as a Salesman. Throughout the play, the audience is not really aware of what Willy sells. Like most salesmen, they mostly have to sell themselves - which now seems to be really difficult for Willy with his lots of travelling and past sixty years of age. Willy is repeatedly described as exhausted: “I’m tired to the death” (which could be seen as a hint of foreshadowing of what will happen later). Willy seems to be dealing with a lot of pressure in his life as one of the first lines suggest: “He unlocks the door, comes into the kitchen, and thankfully lets his burden down, feeling of soreness.”
4 | Confused thoughts and denial of the present time
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A) Cheese
Later in the scene, Linda tells Willy that she has bought a new kind of American cheese and mentions it is whipped: “I got a new kind of American-type cheese today. It’s whipped” |
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This American cheese symbolises the American dream, and the fact that it has been “whipped” is a reference to the old American Dream which has also been whipped to death. In other words, nobody takes this ideal seriously. She is offering Willy a new type of cheese which is the symbol of the new era that has just begun in the country and of which the American Dream is not part.
B) Willy’s idyllic past
Source: Brian Stauffer, freelance illustrator (including for The New York Times); Anthony Swaneveld, art director
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Willy’s mental confusion is at the very heart of the play: “I have thought, I have strange thought” (line 14)
“lost himself in reminiscence” as the stage direction indicates about Willy. It is worth remembering that the idyllic past that Willy keeps recalling is one that he reinvents; one should not, therefore, take these seeming flashbacks entirely as truth. The idyllic past functions as an escape / a way out from the present reality he is struggling to face. |
The solid family is one of the most prominent elements of the American Dream. In the present, Willy’s relationship with his family is fraught with tension (especially with Biff whom he calls a “lazy bum”. In his memories, on the other hand, Willy sees his family as happy and secure.
C) Willy and Linda’s relationship
Scene 1 establishes the nature of the relationship between Willy and Linda. Although Willy states exactly what happened, Linda provides him with opportunities to deny that anything is wrong with him. In this way, she attempts to protect him from seeing his own shortcomings.
Linda seems to be a genuine support for Willy. In general, Willy takes Linda for granted and does not appreciate her, except in rare moments of clarity, such as at the end of Scene 1 when he asks if she is worried about him. “You’re not worried about me, are you, sweetheart?”
Linda seems to be a genuine support for Willy. In general, Willy takes Linda for granted and does not appreciate her, except in rare moments of clarity, such as at the end of Scene 1 when he asks if she is worried about him. “You’re not worried about me, are you, sweetheart?”
