The Death of a Salesman

A detailed Summary of The Death of a Salesman

Throughout life a person may hold ideals that represent a false way of living but this person does not know any other way to live. This lack of knowledge toward life goals will eventually lead to failures in that person's life. In Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, the use of motifs, or reoccurring events, such as the silk stockings, Biff's compulsive stealing, and the idea of being well liked show the Loman families false standards in life that lead to their failures.

The silk stockings are a reoccurring event in the book that represents Willy's act of adultery with another women where he promised this woman silk stockings if she would do sexual favors for him. Every time Willy thinks of or is reminded of silk stockings he hears the mocking laugh of the women he cheated with. This laugh illustrates the deep guilt that Willy holds for committing such an act on his sweet wife. When his wife, Linda, is mending the stockings he begs her to stop mending them because his guilt rises each time he sees her struggle. " Will you stop mending stockings? At least while I'm in the house. It gets me nervous. I can't tell you. Please." Knowing that his wife is struggling in life to save money by mending the stockings Willy wis

Another motif in the book is the idea but forth by Willy that being well liked in life is all that matters. Throughout book Willy tells Biff and Hap that a well-liked person is a person that moves up in the ladder of success. "The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates a personal interest, is the man who gets ahead." Willy strongly believes this but his life is a prime example that shows these ideals are incorrect. Willy is an unsuccessful failure and he expects his children to follow his footsteps when he should tell them to get out and do whatever they want in life. Willy states that "personality always wins the day" which is how he was as a salesman but he never sold anything because he tried to hard to be liked. Willy believed that his neighbor Bernard would never be successful, despite his good grades, because Bernard was not well liked. Willy taught his boys that if people liked them, they'd always be successful. The key to success was not hard work, but popularity. Willy was clearly wrong about Bernard; he grew up to become a successful lawyer, arguing a case before the Supreme Court, while Willy's sons grew up to become unproductive bums. When Biff gives up hope of Willy's thoughts, Willy feels he has to win him back by committing suicide. "Ben, that funeral will be massive! They'll come from Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire! All the old-timers with the strange license plates -- that boy will be thunderstruck, Ben, because he ne

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Approximate Word count = 1008
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts