The Somnambulist Salesman in a Sleepless Society
“Society and culture are not your friends” – Terrance McKenna. Society is like a machine, moving ever forward and is in business for itself, not its members. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Miller shows how society has a dehumanizing effect on the individual and breaks down the Loman family unit. Miller’s use of themes to show the price we pay to live in a progressive society. Although individuals may have fantasies and dreams for their future, society will ultimately dictate ones fate.
This story follows the Loman family, showing how an overbearing society suppresses the dreams of the individual (Hooti and Azizpour 17). Willy Loman is a blue collar, middle class American who fails…show more content… (Hooti and Azizpour 19). The Loman family has been drifting apart for some time, enabling a feeling of isolation amongst the family members. The father being the central figure in a household has been absent while trying to be a good salesman for his company. Biff was Willy’s “ace in the hole” but Willy was the “flawed father… the man who seemed to sanction his hunger for success… suddenly stilled by a moment of revelation.” (Hooti and Azizpour 19).
Linda Loman is the reasonable one out of the Loman household. She protects Willy’s emotions and equates his mental stability as being “a little boat looking for a harbor.” (Miller 1039). She shows more concern with Biff’s rebellious demeanor than Willy. Throughout all of the drama within the family, Linda is the only one who remains with her emotions intact. Linda’s inflexible devotion to her husband, through thick and thin, makes it hard for her to understand Willy’s…show more content… Finally, by killing himself he is able to provide some sort of hope for his son Biff, who ironically “declares his worthlessness” as fate brings him his fortune from his father’s insurance policy. (Blumberg 356). Is Howard’s inheritance of his father’s company or Ben’s extremely lucky mistake with his diamond adventure proof that your fate has been already been predetermined?
Today, the majority of the American middle class feel exactly what Willy Loman and his family went through. In the 2012 revival of Death of a Salesman, director Mike Nichols states that “Willy is still with us today… many Americans can relate to Loman clan’s [money] troubles and disappearing jobs.” (Shell 2012). The similarity of postwar economic insecurity of the 40’s mirrors the current economic situation after the Great Recession. (Shell 2012). Shell says that the #1 topic of conversation in the middle-class is the brutality of a capitalist system which creates a society of “haves and have-nots”. (Shell
