Death of  Salesman - Summary and Analysis

The play Death of a Salesman was written by Arthur Miller in 1949. This was a time of doubt in the midst of the post-war boom. Miller and his colleagues had lived through the Great Depression and WWII, so although these time periods are particularly avoided by the play, they are very much prevalent in the attitudes of the characters. Being a play, there is only dialogue as a medium for Miller to editorialize, which he does through the most respected character of Charlie, who gives the oft quoted speech

      Nobody dast blame this man. For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back -- that's an earthquake. And then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you're finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.

This is the bread and butter of Death of a Salesman. Obviously, this is not Charley speaking. This is the raw message of Arthur Miller, thinly veiled in a time of increasing fear of socialism. Death of a Salesman is set, in the present, in 1949, as well as in flashbacks to the 1930s. The Loman home, suffocated by the city, is struggling for nostalgia in the jungle that is New York City .

The story is, essentially, from the point of view of Willy Loman, a depressed, aging salesman who is prone to flash backs (so, not the greatest description of him). He is fixated on an American Dream where being "not just liked, but well-liked" can get you ahead. He denied his true talent for carpentry to be a salesman, where he believed his personality could keep him going forever. He was never very successful, but told his sons that he was, and they hero worshipped him as boys.

Linda is Willy's wife. She is practical, mothering, and takes care of him in his crazy, disappointed old age. Willy is her primary concern, and she tries to protect him from himself and from his sons. Willy's Madonna-Whore complex desexualizes their relationship and causes him to disrespect her.

Biff is Willy's oldest son. Like everyone else in his family, he has failed to grow. In high school, Biff was big man on campus, and absolutely in love with his father (reverse Oedipus). After flunking math and catching his father in an affair, Biff is heart-broken and stunted. He is a kleptomaniac and cannot form healthy relationships with women. Biff sees the foolishness of Willy and hates him for his betrayal. He cannot, however, move past it and be mature, so he lives in disillusioned, unilluminated misery. He is constantly going out west to try and find himself, but always ends up back home, hating himself.

Happy is Willy's younger son. He is completely ignored by Willy both in the present and in the past when he lived in his big brother's shadow "Look Pop, I lost weight!" :( Happy (ignorance is bliss) does not have the ideals of Biff, but cannot form healthy relationships with women either, and sleeps with the fiances of his superiors. He keeps alive Willy's childish dream of making it big with no skills, because he can't face the existential hell which Biff lives in.

Ben is Willy's older brother, and a "role model" for him. Ben and Willy's father abandoned him when he was a baby and this has forever infantilized him. Ben's catch phrase is "When I was seventeen, I walked into the jungle. And by twenty-one, I walked out. And by God, I was rich!" ugh. He is Willy's idol, and represents what Willy thinks he could have been (yeah right). *Linda doesn't like Ben.

Charley and Bernard are foils to Willy and Biff. Bernard studied hard and became a successful lawyer, while Charley is a shrewd business man. However, these men are not petty and jealous like Willy. Charley gives Willy every week and tries to offer him a job. Bernard worries for Biff, and confronts Willy about the incident that ruined Biff.

Other characters; there is a Woman who Willy has an affair with, and other women whom Biff and Happy abandon their father for. There is so much Madonna/Whore in this play. Also, a waiter is the only man who will be kind to Willy when he is having delusions in a restaurant bathroom.

A very brief synopsis of Death of a Salesman: 
Willy Loman can't keep his mind to driving and keeps drifting of the road. He goes home to his wife Linda, and his son Biff, who he is always fighting with (also Happy, but he couldn't care less). He tells his sons to go ask Bill Oliver for money to start a family business. They don't get the money because Biff had stolen from him when he worked in the warehouse. At dinner with their father, they try to break the news to him, and he goes into another flashback. He goes home, tries to plant a garden, and has it out with Biff. A hallucination of Ben encouraged Willy to commit suicide to give Biff some start up money, so he goes and crashes his car. Nobody comes to his funeral but Bernard and Charley. 

The flash backs: in every flashback, Biff is a strapping young football star with no respect for authority or women. He is admired by all and loves no one better than his father. When he flunks math, he expects that Willy can get him out of it. When he sees his father's fall, he is shattered and looses faith. 

The central themes of Death of a Salesman are the failure of the American Dream, betrayal, and delusions of grandeur. Willy cannot face his failure (that he is not well-liked, nor a good salesman) so he lies lavishly and pretends to his wife and sons that he is much more successful than he really is. His obsessions with outward appearances and popularity prevents him from developing strong values and skills. This illusion crumbles around him when Biff catches him having an affair - his betrayal is his downfall. 



Other motifs:
The flute represents Willy's father, an entrepreneur who worked with his hands. Willy has not lived up to the father who abandoned him.
North, South, East, and West all represent different things. North is purity and self-reliance (he thinks Ben goes to Alaska), South is hedonistic and without reason or rule (where Ben actually makes his money, and where Willy keeps his woman), East is your roots (Willy never leaves the east so he never evolves or matures), and West is self-discovery and adventure (Biff spends all his time there, but ends up returning East to his roots). 
Stockings symbolize Willy's guilt
The car and the pipe represent technology replacing humanity- note that Willy dies crashing his car.
Dairy Products - Willy is constantly drinking milk or eating cheese. This is because he is still a child, and sees Linda as his mother, not as a sexual creature or an equal to him.