DEATH OF A SALESMAN

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Summary: The first true modern American tragedy. A Masterpiece.
Review: Arthur Miller once said he wrote plays for people who didn't go to the theater. In "Death of a Salesman," pehaps his greatest play, Miller examines the life of Willy Loman, a traveling salesman at the end of his career, so wrought with regret, he lives in a theater of his own worst memories. After returning exhausted from a unsuccessful trip, Loman begins to break down under the burdens he carries: twenty years of secret affairs, his eldest son's terrific failure, and a lifetime of burned bridges and missed opportunities. Unable to find other work and incapable of accepting the modest successes in his life -- keeping a family together, finishing off a mortage -- Willy insists on measuring himself against an impossible yardstick and punishes himself by reliving the baleful trajectory of his life. "Death of a Salesman," is a poignant, sad, and moving work about the bottoming out of American promises, and unattainable pinnacle of masculinity.

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Summary: Arthur Miller's Most Brilliant Play
Review: It is a difficult task to review one's favorite play. I have known and loved DEATH OF A SALESMAN since I was sixteen years old; I am now twenty-five. Let me just say that, whether or not one considers DEATH OF A SALESMAN a tragedy, it is unquestionably one of the greatest dramas of the twentieth century; it is also the late Arthur Miller's greatest play. Like his ALL MY SONS (written in 1947, two years before SALESMAN), and like his subsequent THE CRUCIBLE and A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, DEATH OF A SALESMAN brings together the themes of familial responsibility, man's role in relation to his society, and the possibility -- or impossibility -- that an individual can lead a normal life after having committed a crime. Whereas in Joe Keller's (the protagonist of ALL MY SONS) case this is a crime against the "human family," Willy Loman, the titular salesman, betrays his own family. To the above-mentioned themes DEATH OF A SALESMAN adds one more: the dehumanizing effect of capitalism. Willy, having reached the retirement age without having achieved the success in his profession of which he always dreamed, has become a mere object to be discarded by the company for which he has worked for twenty-five years. ("You can't eat an orange and throw the peel away -- a man is not a piece of fruit!" Willy protests to his boss, Howard.) Where SALESMAN differs from ALL MY SONS is in its seamless integration of expressionist techniques, showing that Miller had learned from Tennessee Williams' 1947 play A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. Under stress from guilt over his past "crime" as well as from the knowledge that he will soon be "thrown away" by the selling firm, Willy's mind wanders increasingly back to a past, happier year (1928 -- significantly, the year before the Great Depression began). Thus in SALESMAN past and present exist onstage simultaneously, and the stage itself is a map of Willy's mind. This is the true brilliance of the play.



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Summary: The play of the century
Review: This play blew me away when I read it some ten years ago. And the same thing happened when I saw it on Broadway as a revival many years ago. One can only imagine the impact it had on audiences when it first came out. Truly, there has been nothing as harrowing, riveting, and emotional in the theatre since. The "idea" of the play is powerful enough, but couple this with the "American dream" theme and you've got explosive material. The intensity of this piece of theatre is hard to match. A few other great works come to mind------("SOPHIE'S CHOICE by Styron or McCrae's "CHILDREN'S CORNER"---------though those are books or movies) but even so, something about "Death" is beyond that. Why this isn't required reading in school is something I'll never understand. Arthur Miller is a national treasure and if he had written this play only, his reputation would have been confirmed forever.

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Summary: Wake Up Call
Review: In my opinion, Salesman stirs up questions in all those in a hurry to attain the "American Dream", and loose themselves in the process. When Willy Loman discovers that he's worked all his life and has not attained what our Capitalistic Society dictates we should, he finds himself perturbed in a meaningless abyss of nothingness. He completely loses himself spiritually and no longer knows who he is or was. His family doesn't matter and just rambles endlessly over useless materials. He ignores and mistreats his wife, pays no attention to his kids, and cheats with other women because he feels impotent as a man. The focus on this "dream" and work drives him crazy, and later you see him become pathetically delusional. I found this piece of work to be not only tragic and touching, but a powerful wake up call, since there may be others out there like Willy struggling in the "Corporate World" that may be later discarded when they are no longer of any use.

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Summary: Against Human Nature
Review: "Death of a Salesman" was not the book i expected it to be when i picked it up. I admit that it was an interesting read, but I didn't think that the death of Willy was justifiable. I guess you could call me optimistic but usually when you discover that a love that you thought was gone forever returns into your life, it wouldn't push you to commit suicide. Despite the circumstances,I could not connect with the logic at all. Even in the mind of a crazy man; it seems that his peace with Biff was everything he had ever hoped for...so why give up. i think that Willy was a coward, and a false example of what even the most broken men would do under such circumstances.

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Summary: overrated
Review: Death of a Salesman was a very introspective play that allowed you to look into the mind of an everyday man and view him as a tragic hero. Through the play, Arthur Miller shows the stark contrast between the American dream (through Willy's chimeral ideals) and the realities of society (his failure). Although it was a thoroughly enjoyable play, you are unable to experience the real charm of it unless you view it in person. It's not a play to be read, but seen acted out.

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Summary: Frank, Matt, Vijay, and Bryan's Comprehension
Review: Death of a Salesman is the valiant effort of Arthur MIller to tell the story of a struggling and confused salesman. MIller's characters are realistic and the audeince can empathize with them. At times, the symbolism within the story could be confusing, but after some thought, everything can make some sort of sense. In the end the reader will care for the characters and their fate. The ending will cause a sort of momentary reflection within the reader. A cathartic reaction is produced; a feeling of relief. This story is worth reading to at least see how one's perception of the world can actually become harmful.

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Summary: Am. Stud. Review of DoS - Lauren, Elyse, Lisa, Jess, & Emily
Review: Our group thought that this book was well written; however, it was not a book that we felt we could relate to. The theme of the book was mainly the stuggle to obtain the American Dream. Arthur Miller developed the characters in this book well, as well as clearly outlining what life was like during this era. We felt that we could really see what was going on in each of the characters' minds, espicially Willy. This play told the story of a family through present day and the father's memories from the past. It took you on a two day journey of how a certain salesman was spun through the chaos of his own mind and how he became known as the tragic hero. This book was intesting, and taught us a lot about the competitive world during the turn of the century.

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Summary: Death of a Salesman is deadly
Review: This book was not good. Just because the play is supposedly a "tragedy" and is different because the tragic hero is an everyday guy (Willy Loman), doesnt make the book good. The play is basically a string of redundant emotions and feelings with little or no change in the underlying message. I would not recommend this book.

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Summary: The quintessential American play
Review: Why has the play moved so many people? Why does it seem to say so much about America? Why is it so great?
One, I think it is because it is about the American dream of success. And it is about the tragic failure of its realization. And it is because it is about the whole question of honesty-dishonesty in the pursuit of success. And about family life and love , and what is really important in this.
It is too because the work is written in a beautiful, restrained American colloquial. The language of the book is a quiet poetry which moves with great great lines.
I think I saw the play on television, and perhaps in the movies long before I read it. The image of Lee J. Cobb as a floundering Willy Loman, a confused hero struggling for his life and dignity remains in mind. I believe it was Mildred Dunnock who played the faithful wife, the betrayed wife, the loving wife so effectively.
The story of Willy , the traveling salesman at the end of his career, fighting to maintain himself on a ' shoestring' and a
'story' cannot help but move. The real complication is Willy's relation to his family to the great promise of his son Biff who somehow fails in the same way his father does. Too much show, too much promo , too much trying to make it seem more and better than it really is.
And then too of course the painful reason, the central event told in flashback of the young man's coming to see his father on- the -road and discovering him with another woman in a shoddy hotel room. The sexual and familial betrayal is too a part of the tragedy which is of the family as a whole.
What Miller does however is not simply depict a faulty, failing Willy Loman he leads us to feel sympathy for him. This is the American dreamer (" A man's got to dream boy , it comes with the territory") And his wife's understanding even at the end also moves and adds a dimension of dignity . It seems to tell a lesson beyond success and failure i.e. that human dignity and respect should not depend upon ' making it' but must be given to each and every human being , and perhaps most especially precisely to those who fail.
This is a heartrending deep and beautiful play. And however haunted we may be by the fall of Willy Loman we come away from it with the sense that his life too, that each life too has a special meaning of its own.