A critic who, while working for The New York Times, once called Death of a Salesman "one of the finest dramas in the whole range of the American theater" (Corrigan, Pg. 94) and John Gassner saw it as "one of the triumphs of American stage" (MacNicholas, Pg. 106). So, it can be stated that Miller's works command attention. Death of a Salesman won the Pulitzer Prize, the Drama Critic's Circle Award and many others when it opened in 1949. Symbolism, foreshadowing and conflict are 3 of the many things that Miller does best. All of these literary techniques have added a tremendous amount to Death of a Salesman and many others of his works.

Linda has no idea of what is behind Biff's dislike for his father, and is sometimes confused by it.

If the play All My Sons signaled the arrival of Arthur Miller as a most promising playwright, Death of a Salesman raised him to the rank of major American dramatist. He has been considered by many to be the greatest of American playwrights. Some of Miller's contemporaries, who are themselves considered as being some of America's leading writers, have bestowed high praise upon him and his works. Gilbert W. Gabriel described Death of a Salesman as a "fine thing, finely done" (Corrigan, 95). Also, one of the most noticeable writers of all time, Euphemia Wyatt, termed it as being the, "great American tragedy" (Corrigan, 96).

Willy believed that he had to sell himself more than he had to sell his products. His whole outlook on life was wrong; he believed in attributes that a good salesman would be attractive, a good storyteller, well liked and that when he died everyone from far and wide would go to his funeral. He got this idea from the story of Dave Singleton, who represented, to Willy, the epitome of success as a salesman. Willy is having mental problems, delusions of his long-dead brother Ben, whom he has many advice-searching conversations with. Ben represented success to Willy by Ben's dignity, status and wealth, not his attributes, "There was a man started with the clothes on his back and ended up with diamond mines"(Act 1, Scene 4). The lies he keeps telling other people and the dreams he has for success actually begin to convince Willy that he was a great salesman who was known everywhere he went, "...'cause one thing, boys: I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England and the cops protect it like their own"(Act 1, Scene 3). His deteriorating condition is exposed many times, but is most prominent when he is talking with both Charlie and Ben at the same time. Another example of the conflict inside of Willy is his repeated references to suicide. In Charley's office, Willy says, "Funny, y'know? After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive"(Act 2, Scene 6). Willy has already been contemplating suicide, but this is the first, straight-out mention of it. He takes suicide to be an honorable thing, something that would help his family greatly. His mental condition makes him forget the fact that suicide is a cowardly option for getting out of his responsibilities.

A final literary technique Miller used well is irony. The reader sees that the problem between Willy and Biff is that Biff has lost all faith in his father. Linda often wonders why Biff hates his father so much, and never knows what is really going on.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 5393
Approximate Pages = 22 (250 words per page double spaced)