Arthur Miller

Death Of a Salesman is a drama that has made several appearances in my college life. Like Ellison, Arthur Miller created a work that was so disturbing to the common American that it was impossible to ignore. That is probably why it has been taught in three of my classes, and I have been able to gain new insights into it's characters with each reading. The first time I came across Miller's play was in my Junior year of high school. At that time, the kaleidoscopic dialogues and scene changes disoriented me in a way that made it tough to get anything more than frustration from the work. It was, I think, a drama course three years later that re-introduced Arthur Miller to my world, and this time I was ready. Existentialism, as a philosophy/ideology was a set of values and beliefs my skeptical brain immediately aligned itself with. Yet, when reading the play in said drama class, I missed the message. I didn't initially read Death of a Salesman as any type of warning or philosophical manifesto, I only felt sorry for Willy Loman. It took me two years, and lots of personal ups and downs, to finally realize what Miller is writing about in the play. Now, reading the work as a clearer, calmer 26 year old, I notice there are a lot of "should've, would'ves. might haves, maybes, we will's and someday'" trickling through each character's lines. I now read Willy's reflections on the past as less historical fact than mere delusional fantasy. Everything is idealized-the future, the outside world, his sons and their business propositions, the neighbor's life, the past, nothing can be "okay" as it stands. The only thing Willy doesn't idealize is the present. Everything else was, or could be great, but not the moment he is presently experiencing. Each character represents a part of Willy, as he has long given up on his own dreams and now lives vicariously through his children. Rather than being proud of them for trying their best (whatever that may be), Willy makes the same mistake with his children that he has made with himself-blaming everything on forces beyond a human being's control. The paradox lies in that fact that Willy ultimately idealizes these "outside forces" as being pinnacles of human achievement, I.E. his brother's business, Bernard's grades, Charley's wealth. Whether these memories are real or idealized is never truly known. Additionally, there is always an outside reason Willy or his sons didn't achieve things in a similar fashion. Personal responsibility can change lives...sometimes you have to learn that the hard way, or die without choice.