Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays) by Arthur Miller
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Book Reviews of Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays)
Book Review: Arthur Miller's Most Brilliant Play
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: A tragic story of a hardworking salesman who loses touch with his family and reality
Summary: 5 Stars
This play cannot be passed up! Follow the fascinating story that begs for the acceptation of fate. The beginning of the play begins Willy who is illustrated as a stern man, with a surprising amount of courage and respect for himself despite his inauspicious lifestyle of a low-paying salesman. Willy's false self image begins to become so instilled into himself, that he later becomes unable to be fully invested in reality. Even though he was not the most successful business man, Willy still continued to illustrate himself as a success to his peers and family, constantly misleading them by bragging about the nonexistent sales he was making. Very few people saw the struggling financial circumstances of the real Willy because if anyone knew how poor and unsuccessful Willy really was, life would be unbearable for him, he would think that his family would become ashamed of him and worst of all, he was worried that they would no longer love him. Despite the apparent flaws in his philosophy, Willy continued to preach "Be liked and you will never want," claiming that as long as you were well known and liked, everyone would want to do business with you. So as his children grew up with his philosophy, they developed false values just like Willy, causing them to be as equally of a failure as their father. As the family unity begins to weaken because of discoveries of affair and the psychological disorders being developed by Will, hope for ever rekindling their happiness seems far from reach. Will the Loman family ever manage to rebuild their broken family? Or will it end tragically in their world of misfortune, deceit and failure? This story is deep, and will reflect on the stance of your own values. Therefore, this book should be read by everyone, so they can learn from stubbornness of Willy and understand the important priorities of life rather than the importance of being accepted by society.Book Review: Great American Tragedy
Summary: 5 Stars
On ~Salesman's~ first opening night, when the curtain dropped at the end of the performance, something strange occurred, something that had never been seen before in American theatre: the audience, a full house, did not applaud, but sat motionlesss in their seats in silence. As minutes passed, a few people stood up to put on their coats, but sat down again, turning and discussing their lives. This strange behaviour continued on for some hours. Miller sat backstage, his head in his hands, not wanting to confront the possibility that his play had been a flop - this was far from the case, ~Salesman~ was a runnaway hit, and continues to be the emblematic portrayal of personal tragedy combined with cultural crises.~Salesman~ is about many things. It is a tragedy about the collapse of the notion that personal success is measured by one's financial prosperity. Willy Loman's tragedy is really two-fold: the need of most people to make a 'mark' in their lives either through financial success or merely being loved by one's friends and family. In the end, Loman comes to realize his son Biff loves him; however, ironically, this realization only propounds his material failure which consequently, leads to his final attempt at 'success', ending in his tragic suicide.
This superlative play is a dramatic lesson in the individual tragedy of a man pursuing materialistic success at the expense of the higher values of personal, emotional growth and fulfillment that can only be achieved by truly knowing oneself.
~Salesman~ is a moralistic play. It teaches us that Willy Loman is Everyman. We're all part of a system that pushes the lie that materialism measures the worth of people, but to exclude basic human values, knowledge, community, and love, is to court disaster, and in poor Willy Loman's case, self destruction.
This play is the great American tragedy and a valuable lesson for us all.
Book Review: CLASSIC PLAY ON AMERICAN HUMAN CONDITION
Summary: 5 Stars
Arthur Miller wrote an outstanding play on the human condition as it pursues the traditional American dream. Willy Loman is a man of high self-esteem and expectations, who always waited for the big hit to occur, yet it never did. He then gets to late in life and looks around to find all those whom he admired and didn't had made something of themselves, while he was still in the same salesman position he was in as a young man.
The book switches between his memories and reality, which reflects his true state of mind, being linked to what is perceived as a glorious past in many different ways:
- He was an extremely well liked person, had great connections, which was the basis of his self-esteem.
- His sons were outstanding and capable of taking on the world.
That glorious past was pitted against the crude reality:
- The world changed and he knows no one anymore, which coupled with his old age, makes him unproductive and leads his to be fired from his long time job. He is fired by the son of the company founder, who had made him many promisses and kept his hopes up, hopes which were not fulfilled.
- His son is a poorly adjusted man, never being able to focus on anything, preferring to go west for long stretches without accomplishing anything meaningful in Willy's eyes.
Willy gets trapped in an imaginary world, swithcing from the reality of his and his family's shortcomings and the potential that layed before them as young men (his and his sons'). This is a short but densely written story, one of those few that will open a small window into a failed man's heart and let you peek inside.
Book Review: The Death of a Salesman
Summary: 5 Stars
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman was and is the best play of the time which is about a man named Willy Loman who was a very successful person who ruled New England as a respected salesman and is fired only to have nothing to leave his wife and two sons, Biff and Happy, Willy comes to a decision to kill himself so the insurance company will pay his family twenty thousand dollars so they can get out of the congested city they live in. Arthur Miller was writing about the greatest dream of the American person, to be successful and to be well liked and Willy is pushing Biff to be a better salesman and become more like his father, and Arthur Miller is writing about that this is not the American way, this is the way the business man and that is not the right way to look at life, you should take it as it is, and will not be pressured by the world to be well liked and respected throughout the world.
Some of the main lessons I have learned though this script is that you have two ears and only one mouth so you can listen two times as much than you can speak. As in the case of Willy and Biff, the tend to talk too much and not let the other person even get a word in, and they don't listen and they were not liked well because of that, Even other people can do that, in the case of Biff and Bill Oliver, Bill did not even look at Biff when he went to see him, so as some sort of revenge, Biff went into his office and stole his fountain pen.
I would recommend this play because it shows exactly what the people of America think today and this shows that they are completely wrong and should look to the way of working harder then you can be liked.