by Arthur Miller
It takes place in a middle class house- in the past surrounded by nature, in the present crowded in by industrial buildings' outlines.
Willy is the character the play focuses on. He's a salesman, and overwhelmed by this new business world.
Linda is Willy's wife. She cares deeply for Willy and pressures he and Biff to make up. She's terrified that Willy will kill himself, and vastly protective of him.
Biff is Willy's favorite son, "well liked" in high school and now working on small construction jobs and the like.
Happy is Willy's other son, shadowed by Biff, though trying to follow the path that Willy laid out for Biff- he's working in business, trying to be "number one," and says he'll get married soon.
Bernard is one of the Lomans' neighbors. He's Happy and Biff's age. He was focused on his studies in school, and is now an extremely successful lawyer.
Charley is another of their neighbors. He's Willy's neighbor, and owns a business. He's sympathetic, and gives Willy money regularly, along with a job offer. He understands the impersonal quality of the world that Willy is struggling so much with.
Biff and Happy are back at their parents' house. Biff is trying to get his father to understand his epiphany of wanting to work outdoors, not in an office following another's orders. Happy's trying to get his parents' attention and approval with assurances that he'll be next for promotion, and is going to get married. Willy is struggling at work; the company isn't caring for him in his old age as he had imagined. He, throughout the play, has flashbacks to the past, when his kids were in high school. He emphasized popularity, scorning Biff's and his own foil, Bernard and Charley. He constantly looks to his brother Ben's fairytale-like success as motivation and an unrealistic standard. Biff was going to go to college with football, but his image of Willy, and his drive to succeed, broke when he saw Willy with The Woman. Willy's current state ties back to Biff's losing of respect for him. Without Biff, Willy's own sense of self is lost. He feels unworthy- and therefore defensive- and depressed. He refuses to change his values, however, turning down Charley's job offers in favor of waiting for his own boss, Henry, to recognize his service. Instead, he's fired. A combination of that blow and a sudden understanding that Biff doesn't hate him drives him to suicide. He crashes the car, clinging to the hope that his family will get insurance money from him, and that his escape can be seen as heroic.
The story generally follows Willy Loman. The flashbacks are a way into how he's thinking.
The set creates a dreamlike quality around the past, with an more open set, more open, bright background, and completed with flute when Willy thinks back. It's contrasted with the harsh, dark, limited present.
Linda's stockings- She's constantly trying to mend them while Willy gave them to The Woman. They became, for Willy, a reminder of his dishonesty with her, and his own failure.
Ben- he's the personification of Willy's ideal. He's a rags to riches story.
the outdoors, and more specifically, the house's garden- the past is visibly more natural. Willy, when frustrated by how much things have changed, points to this shift. He misses the oak tree, the fresh air. In an attempt to regain some of his old life, Willy tries to plant a garden
"Why, boys, when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God I was rich."
Ben's success story, clearly an exaggeration. Still, Willy is captivated. It becomes how he expects, keeps hoping things will go- a sudden *poof,* and success.
"I'm the New England Man. I'm vital in New England."
This quote holds Willy's desperate denial. His self worth is completely tied up in his job, as he hopes he will regain respect through it. He often talks of a salesman's funeral where people from all over came to say goodbye.
"After all the highways, the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive."
This is his realization before his suicide, when he's talking out the consequences with his imaginary Ben. He hopes that the insurance money will get Biff started in business.
The American Dream is not a reality.
- Willy follows the myth of the American Dream on his spiral downward
- he doesn't take into account the change in world values, instead believing the old era's implied promises (his retirement)
- he pushes his own dreams back (of moving to the country) for this false one, and is extremely unhappy
- The "a" in the title makes the play universal, and Willy even more anonymous
- following this dream into the business world stomped on his identity
You might want to start the character list with Willy,it makes Linda fall into place better. Great plot summary! With the last sentence of plot though, you might want to qualify that Wily was the only who thought that his suicide was heroic. Good job with the theme sentence, short, sweet, and to the point.
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