Explication of Death of a Salesman - Essay Example

?Running Head: Explication of "Death of a Salesman Explication of "Death of a Salesman Explication of "Death of a Salesman” This play was written by Arthur Miller, a renowned American playwright in 1949. It is based on the life of a dedicated travelling salesman and his dysfunctional family. Being an ambitious salesman Willy lives an imaginary life and most often than not evades the realities of life. For instance in the first play even after coming from a trip where he had made $70 as his commission Willy exaggerates the figure to $212 just to impress his wife Linda (Miller, 2010). In the same play he also brags at his grown up sons, Happy and Bill, and later the wife of just how he is liked by so many people from all the places he get to during his job as a salesman. “WILLY: do not say? I need to tell you boys a secret. Do not breathe it to a soul. I will someday own a business and will never have to leave my home any more. HAPPY: Just like Uncle Charley, heh? WILLY: Bigger than Uncle Charley! Because Charley is not liked. He has liked, but he is not — well liked.” (Act 1. p. 18) Willy tries to offer good parenting to his two sons starting from when they were in school, but fails at it too. For instance in play 1 when Bernard, a neighbor’s son comes claiming that Bill is going to fail mathematics. Willy tells the small boy to give Bill the answer to the equation and just disappear. Attention on such a weighty issue would have been expected from a good parent, but Willy just brushes off on such matter such as his son’s education and good moral (Miller, 2010). His wife Linda is however more realistic and tries to maintain the stability of her family. Most of the time she tried to make her husband understand that the family was still struggling financially even if he earned the exaggerated amount that he was stating. They would still be in debt. Linda tries to do her best in helping her family save for instance she does the laundry manually and mends her worn out clothe like the stocking she was doing in act 1.this might not gain much since her extravagant husband is spending the little earnings on a mistress (Miller, 2010). Linda is also a better parent than Willy and shows more concern about their son’s welfare. She was more concerned about Bill’s possibility of failing in mathematics, but her husband talks her out of the worries. She tries to communicate with the sons in a sober mood explaining to them their financial woes. She also makes them aware that their father was depressed by the situation but keeps on evading it, but they could see all the symptoms of a depressed man since at night he would start sleep talking and talking to imaginary people .he was hallucinating and nostalgic about their high school days (Miller, 2010). The tow sons Bill and Happy represent a common scenario between brothers. They love each other though they are different in character. “WILLY: Biff Loman is lost. Such a young man with personal attractiveness and a hard working person gets lost in the worlds greatest country. And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff—he’s not lazy."-act 1 Bill the first born is less ambitious than Happy. He is less concerned of his school work and ends up working as a farmhand even though his parents think he has potential to achieve better job placement. He is not able to keep the farm job making them even more concerned. Just like his name, his parent bills him for the current state in the family. They claim he is the one responsible for his Willy’s depression due his care free nature and lack of clear focus towards life. Bill is however the more loving son because he tries to take some measures to avert the family living condition (Miller, 2010). He intends to get a loan from a former employer to start a business. This gives hope to the family and enlightens the mood of his father who had previously branded him as lazy. He makes deliberate effort to remain realistic and practical about life. Happy on the other had is the son who follows in the footsteps of his father, aggressive in his work and extremely competitive. He however wastes all his earnings on women and leisure. He refuses to see the real side of life. Despite his name, he ends up leading a lonely life silently with the feeling of void in his heart. Finally, Willy commits suicide out of frustration when he loses his only job, and his son fails to secure a loan from the former employer. According to Willy this would be the only way to raise money for his son Bill to start the business. Despite his claims of being liked by many only a few turn up for his funeral. This disillusions Linda who now realizes that her husband was not all what he claimed to be. He was not successful and not liked by many after all. The title of the play has metaphoric meaning besides the fact hat it is about Willy a salesman who finally dies. During his life Willy had pictured and imagined of how his death would create such an impulse prompting a large crowd to attend the funeral and mourn the loss of a great man. In death, there was nothing like that, and actually those who attended were extremely bitter with suicide. The metaphor in the play is that it ends with the death of dreams. By losing his job Willy’s dream of being renown thought that his boss valued his services so much only to discover otherwise at his old age. The dream of having a harmonious family dies when Willy the salesman fails to be there for his children and wife since he is always away on business (Miller, 2010). They end up growing up without proper role models to emulate. Willy’s dream was that at least one of the sons would walk in his footsteps, but unfortunately this dream dies when none of them shows any interest on being a salesman. Willy had hoped to leave a legacy by leaving his son Bill to inherit the life insurance money so that he can put up a business. This idea dies with its initiator since the family would not be receiving any insurance compensation because Willy committed suicide. He literally killed all his dreams even with his death. Reference Miller, Arthur, (2010). Death of a Salesman. A&C Black Read More