Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes
The American Dream
One of Miller's secondary themes is the idea of the American Dream. Throughout his
play, Miller seems to criticize this ideal as little more than a capitalist's paradigm. Though
Willy spends all of his adult life working for a sales company, this company releases the
salesman when he proves to be unprofitable. Willy confronts Howard, his boss (and
Miller indicts free market society), when he charges, "You can't eat the orange and throw
the peel away-a man is not a piece of fruit." Here, Willy feels that Howard has gone back
on his father's word by forgetting him in his golden years, throwing away the peel after
eating the orange, so to speak. Thus, Willy is unable to cope with the changing times
and the unfeeling business machine that is New York.
Miller’s decision to make Willy Loman a worker broken by a vague, unfeeling industry
stems from the playwright’s socialist leanings. It has often been said that Death of a
Salesman is a harsh criticism of the American Dream. However, it may be that Miller
wanted to clarify our definition: What is the American Dream? The answer depends on
which character you ask.

Willy Loman’s American Dream:

To the protagonist of Death of a Salesman, the American Dream is the ability to
become prosperous by mere charisma. Willy believes that personality, not hard work and
innovation, is the key to success. Time and again, he wants to make sure his boys are
well-liked and popular. For example, when his son Biff confesses to making fun of his
math teacher’s lisp, Willy is more concerned with how Biff’s classmates react:
BIFF: I Crossed my eyes and talked with a lithp.
WILLY: (Laughing.) You did? The kids like it?
BIFF: They nearly died laughing!
Of course, Willy’s version of the American Dream never pans out. Despite his son’s
popularity in high school, Biff grows up to be a drifter and a ranch-hand. Willy’s own
career falters as his sales ability flat-lines. When he tries to use “personality” to ask his
boss for a raise, he gets fired instead.

Ben’s America Dream:

To Willy’s older brother Ben, the American Dream is the ability to start with nothing and
somehow make a fortune:
BEN: William, when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I walked out I was
twenty-one. And, by God, I was rich!
Willy is envious of his brother’s success and machismo. But Willy’s wife Linda is
frightful and concerned when the Ben stops by for a brief visit. To her, he represents
wildness and danger. This is displayed when Ben horses around with his nephew Biff.
Just as Biff starts to win their sparring match, Ben trips the boy and stands over him with
the “point of his umbrella poised at Biff’s eye.” Ben’s character signifies that a few people
can achieve the “rags to riches” version of the American Dream, but Miller’s play
suggests that one must be ruthless (or at least a bit wild) in order to achieve it.

Biff’s American Dream:

 Although he has felt confused and angry since discovering his father’s infidelity, Biff
Loman does have potential to pursue the “right” dream – if only he could resolve his inner
conflict. Biff is pulled by two different dreams. One dream is his father’s world of
business, sales, and capitalism. But another dream involves nature, the great outdoors,
and working with his hands. Biff explains to his brother both the appeal and the angst of
working on a ranch:
BIFF: There’s nothing more inspiring or – beautiful than the sight of a mare and a new
colt. And it’s cool there now, see? Texas is cool now, and it’s spring. And whenever
spring comes to where I am, I suddenly get the feeling, my God, I’m not getting’
anywhere! What the hell am I doing, playing around with horses, twenty-eight dollars a
week! I’m thirty-four years old. I oughta be makin’ my future. That’s when I come running
home.
However, by the end of the play, Biff realizes that his father had the “wrong” dream.
Biff understands that his father was great with his hands. Willy built their garage and put
up a new ceiling. Biff believes that his father should have been a carpenter, or should
have lived in another, more rustic part of the country. But instead, Willy pursued an
empty life. Willy sold nameless, unidentified products, and watched his American Dream
fall apart.
During the funeral of his father, Biff decides that he will not allow that to happen to
himself. He turns away from Willy’s dream and, presumably, returns to the countryside,
where good, old-fashioned manual labor will ultimately content his restless soul.
American Dream
Willy’s quest to realize what he views as the American Dream — the “self-made man”
who rises out of poverty and becomes rich and famous — is a dominant theme in Death
of a Salesman. Willy believed wholeheartedly in this treasured national myth, which
began during colonial times, and which was further developed during the 19th century by
such industry tycoons as Andrew Carnegie and J.D. Rockefeller. In the 1920s, the
American Dream was represented by Henry Ford, whose great success in the
automotive industry was achieved when he developed the assembly line.
Also in the 1920s, a career in sales was being hailed as a way for a man without
training or education to achieve financial success. Pamphlets, lectures, and
correspondence courses promoting strategies for improving the skills of salesmen were
widely distributed during this decade. These strategies focused on teaching salesmen
how to effectively manipulate their clients. Willy would have begun his career as a
salesman in the 1920s, when belief that salesmen adept at manipulation and “people
skills” were destined for wealth and fame was widespread. However, by the late 1940s,
when Death of a Salesman takes place, the job market and prevailing belief has
changed, and salesmen (and other workers) required specialized knowledge and training
in order to succeed. Because he lacks such knowledge or training, Willy is destined to fail
in a business world that demands the ability to play a specific part in a large
establishment. Willy, of course, does not realize how things have changed, and he
continues to try to strike it rich using his powers of persuasion. Willy’s personal
representations of the American Dream are his brother Ben and the salesman Dave
Singleman, and he views the success of these two men as proof that he can indeed
attain the success he is so desperate to achieve. According to Willy’s version of the
American Dream, he is a complete failure.
Appearances Vs. Reality
 What appears to be true to the characters in Death of a Salesman is often a far cry
from reality, and this is communicated numerous times throughout the play. Willy’s
frequent flashbacks to past events — many of which are completely or partly fabricated
— demonstrate that he is having difficulty distinguishing between what is real and what
he wishes were real. Willy’s imagined conversations with his dead brother, Ben, also
demonstrate his fragile grip on reality. Willy’s mind is full of delusions about his own
abilities and accomplishments and the abilities and accomplishments of his sons. Biff and
Happy share their father’s tendency to concoct grand schemes for themselves and think
of themselves as superior to others without any real evidence that the schemes will work
or that they are, indeed, superior. At the end of the play, each son responds differently to
the reality of his father’s suicide. Biff, it appears, comes to the sad realization that his
father “didn’t know who he was,” and how his father’s unrealistic dreams led him away
from the satisfaction he could have found if he had pursued a goal that reflected his
talents, such as a career in carpentry. Happy, who had previously given the appearance
of being more well-grounded in reality but still hoping for something better, completely
falls into his father’s thought pattern, pledging to achieve the dream that his father failed
to achieve.
Individual Vs. Society
Willy is constantly striving to find the gimmick or the key to winning over clients and
becoming a true success. He worries incessantly about how he is perceived by others,
and blames his lack of success on a variety of superficial personal traits, such as his
weight, the fact that people “don’t take him seriously,” his clothing, and the fact that he
tends to talk too much. While all of these concerns are shared by many people, for Willy
they represent the reasons for his failure. In reality, Willy’s failure is a result of his inability
to see himself and the world as they really are: Willy’s talents lie in areas other than
sales, and the business world no longer rewards smooth-talking, charismatic salesmen,
but instead looks for specially trained, knowledgeable men to promote its products. Willy
fails because he cannot stop living in a reality that does not exist, and which dooms him
to fail in the reality that does exist.
Individual Vs. Self
Willy’s perception of what he should be is continually at odds with what he is: A
mediocre salesman with delusions of grandeur and an outdated perception of the world
around him. He truly believes that he can achieve greatness, and cannot understand why
he has not realized what he feels is his true destiny. He completely denies his actual
talent for carpentry, believing that pursuing such a career would be beneath him
somehow. Willy struggles with the image of his ideal self his entire life, until he can no
longer deny the fact that he will never become this ideal self and he commits suicide.
Topics for Further Study
• Research the economic growth America experienced during the post-World
War II years. What do you feel led people like Willy Loman to expectations regarding
success and the “American Dream.”
• In what ways could the Loman family have avoided their sad situation by the
play’s end? Consider such elements as communication and compromise.
• Compare and contrast the characters of Willy Loman and Amanda Wingfield
(from Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie); both of these characters spend much
of their time recalling their past, often incorrectly. In what ways does this selective
perception of their pasts affect their current situations?
 • Miller’s play criticizes the false promises of the American Dream. Discuss
facets of late twentieth century life that lead people to similar misconceptions of
attainable success. Consider the role that advertising, music, television, and films have
on this issue.
Abandonment
Willy’s life charts a course from one abandonment to the next, leaving him in greater
despair each time. Willy’s father leaves him and Ben when Willy is very young, leaving
Willy neither a tangible (money) nor an intangible (history) legacy. Ben eventually departs
for Alaska, leaving Willy to lose himself in a warped vision of the American Dream. Likely
a result of these early experiences, Willy develops a fear of abandonment, which makes
him want his family to conform to the American Dream. His efforts to raise perfect sons,
however, reflect his inability to understand reality. The young Biff, whom Willy considers
the embodiment of promise, drops Willy and Willy’s zealous ambitions for him when he
finds out about Willy’s adultery. Biff’s ongoing inability to succeed in business furthers his
estrangement from Willy. When, at Frank’s Chop House, Willy finally believes that Biff is
on the cusp of greatness, Biff shatters Willy’s illusions and, along with Happy, abandons
the deluded, babbling Willy in the washroom.
Betrayal
Willy’s primary obsession throughout the play is what he considers to be Biff’s betrayal
of his ambitions for him. Willy believes that he has every right to expect Biff to fulfill the
promise inherent in him. When Biff walks out on Willy’s ambitions for him, Willy takes this
rejection as a personal affront (he associates it with “insult” and “spite”). Willy, after all, is
a salesman, and Biff’s ego-crushing rebuff ultimately reflects Willy’s inability to sell him
on the American Dream—the product in which Willy himself believes most faithfully. Willy
assumes that Biff’s betrayal stems from Biff’s discovery of Willy’s affair with The Woman
—a betrayal of Linda’s love. Whereas Willy feels that Biff has betrayed him, Biff feels that
Willy, a “phony little fake,” has betrayed him with his unending stream of ego-stroking
lies.

Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop
and inform the text’s major themes.
Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or
concepts.

Seeds
Seeds represent for Willy the opportunity to prove the worth of his labor, both as a
salesman and a father. His desperate, nocturnal attempt to grow vegetables signifies his
shame about barely being able to put food on the table and having nothing to leave his
children when he passes. Willy feels that he has worked hard but fears that he will not be
able to help his offspring any more than his own abandoning father helped him. The
seeds also symbolize Willy’s sense of failure with Biff. Despite the American Dream’s
formula for success, which Willy considers infallible, Willy’s efforts to cultivate and
nurture Biff went awry. Realizing that his all-American football star has turned into a lazy
bum, Willy takes Biff’s failure and lack of ambition as a reflection of his abilities as a
father.

Diamonds
To Willy, diamonds represent tangible wealth and, hence, both validation of one’s labor
(and life) and the ability to pass material goods on to one’s offspring, two things that Willy
desperately craves. Correlatively, diamonds, the discovery of which made Ben a fortune,
symbolize Willy’s failure as a salesman. Despite Willy’s belief in the American Dream, a
belief unwavering to the extent that he passed up the opportunity to go with Ben to
Alaska, the Dream’s promise of financial security has eluded Willy. At the end of the play,
Ben encourages Willy to enter the “jungle” finally and retrieve this elusive diamond—that
is, to kill himself for insurance money in order to make his life meaningful.

Linda’s and The Woman’s Stockings

Willy’s strange obsession with the condition of Linda’s stockings foreshadows his later
flashback to Biff’s discovery of him and The Woman in their Boston hotel room. The
teenage Biff accuses Willy of giving away Linda’s stockings to The Woman. Stockings
assume a metaphorical weight as the symbol of betrayal and sexual infidelity. New
stockings are important for both Willy’s pride in being financially successful and thus able
to provide for his family and for Willy’s ability to ease his guilt about, and suppress the
memory of, his betrayal of Linda and Biff.

The Rubber Hose

The rubber hose is a stage prop that reminds the audience of Willy’s desperate
attempts at suicide. He has apparently attempted to kill himself by inhaling gas, which is,
ironically, the very substance essential to one of the most basic elements with which he
must equip his home for his family’s health and comfort—heat. Literal death by inhaling
gas parallels the metaphorical death that Willy feels in his struggle to afford such a basic
necessity

Style
The style and devices Miller uses enhances Willy’s mental state. By using flashback
and reveries, he allows the audience to get into the mind of Willy Loman and brings us
into a sense of pity for him. Miller also uses a lot of motifs and repeated ideas through
the play to give the viewers an idea of what Willy and his situation is all about. Personal
attractiveness is an oft repeated motif. It shows that Willy believes that personal
attractiveness makes one successful, but his belief is shot down by the success of
Charley and Bernard who, in his mind, are not personally attractive. Other motifs are
debt which sadly the Lomans escape after Willy dies, stealing which Willy condones,
even encourages, the boxed-in feeling of Willy, the idea that Willy’s life is passing him by,
expressed in the quote, “The woods are burning,” and Ben’s success and the qualities
that brought about his success

Study Questions for the Advanced Student

 General Questions;
1. The following points about Death of a Salesman have been raised by drama
critics over the years. Answer one of the following questions in composition form
and the other two in paragraph form.
(a) Is Death of a Salesman a tragedy and Willy Loman a tragic hero, or is his
death merely the pathetic demise of a small man? (Must a tragedy involve a great
individual?)
(b) The dialogue of the play relies heavily on common speech, full of cliches and
slang. Does the language detract from or enhance the character and theme?
Defend your answer.
9c) What does the play say about this country's system of free enterprise and
competition? (Consider the effects of money and the economic system on the
characters of Willy, Biff, Happy, and Bernard as you work on the answer.)
2. Personal interaction operates on two levels in the play, on within the Loman
family and one between the Lomans and the larger society. Which one level is
Death of a Salesman most effective -- as a depiction of family conflicts or as a
social commentary? Explain.
3. Define "The American Dream." In what way does Death of a Salesman point
out the hopelessness of chasing this dream? Are there any rewards?
4. Toward the end of the play, Biff claims that "we never told the truth for ten
minutes in this house." Do you agree or disagree? Support.
5. What does Death of a Salesman show about the role of a person like Willy in
the society of today?
The Characters:
WILLY
1. Who is to blame for Willy's destruction? Whose failure it it? (His own alone?
Society? Family?)
2. "Nothing's planted. I don't have a thing in the ground." Was Willy talking just
about planting a garden or could there have been a greater meaning?
3. Why won't Willy take the job Charley offers him?
4. What qualities does Willy admire in the legendary salesman, Dave Singleman?
What do their names suggest about the two men?
BIFF
1. Why is Biff so angry about the incident in Boston? Which is he more angry
about - infidelity or futile dreams?
2. Why does Biff steal? Love? Recognition? Acceptance? What effect does Willy
have on his stealing?
3. Do you believe Biff when he says, "I know who I am, kid"? Why or why not?
LINDA
1. Is Linda a supportive or destructive force in her husband's life? (Does she
understand what Willy wants or does her unquestioning support deny him the
balance he needs?)
2. How do the two sons view their mother? What effects does Linda have on
their relationship with other women?
3. Do you thing Linda knew about Willy's infidelity?
HAPPY
 1. In what ways is Happy like his father? How are they different? How has living
in Biff's shadow effected Happy?
2. Is he "happy"?
3. What does Happy's womanizing reveal about him? (Why does he lie and tell
his mother he's getting married? What kind of women is he attracted to?)
BEN
1. What does Willy's brother, Ben stand for in Death of a Salesman?
2. What does Ben mean when he says, "I walked into the jungle at 18 and walked
out rich"?
Death of a Salesman: Is Willy Loman a Hero?
The tragic hero is a literary icon that has survived more than two thousand years.
There are many characteristics that define a tragic hero, he must be of noble blood, he
has a tragic flaw, you feel both pity and awe, and the their actions inextricably end in their
death. In Arthur

Miller's play, Death of a Salesman, we have Willie Loman, but can he be considered a
hero?

The singular difference in the modern idea of the tragic hero is whether he needs to be of
high estate. Willie Loman can by no means be considered of noble blood. It can easily be
argued that he is nothing more than the epitome of the common man, but I would say
that the character is not so hollow, he is just a regular guy, not everyone can shoot lasers
from their eyes but this does not make them bland. Willie is middle class common, quite
nearly typical in every way. He struggles to give his kids a better lot in life than he had,
always dreaming about what could have been and eventually is robbed of his pension
and damned into the position he finds himself, the only escape is madness or suicide,
typical. However, it is evident to most that tragedy can befall any man, loser or
renowned.

Willie Loman is prideful; it is the tragic flaw that set him on his path. It blinded him into
choosing a career in sales, something of which he has no earthly clue how to do well. It
is Willie's pride that keeps him from admitting to Biff what he did all those years ago in
the hotel, preventing him from fixing that fissure. His pride keeps him from admitting that
maybe his kids are not now, nor ever will be the great Titans as he sees them to be. His
pride impedes an honest assessment of reality, if not for his pride he could of chosen a
better path for himself and his kids. The emptiness that consumes his waking life might
have been replaced with an inner joy of doing what he does well everyday.
The American Family in Arthur MIller's Death of a Salesman
What Happened to the Dream?
One of the main elements of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is the depiction of the
American family. Salesman provides vivid and detailed characterizations of the roles of
American family members. The characters Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy represent the
father, mother, and
 sons of the average working class American family, respectively. Miller’s astute
observations and reality-based portrayals offer a powerful look into the fabric of American
values, culture, and heritage.

Every family traditionally begins with a father, and the Loman family is no different. The
Loman family father, Willy, is the main character in the story and the center of the
conflict. He is an old-fashioned working man who places a great deal of emphasis on the
American value system, though it is invariably corrupt. He believes in nothing but total
sacrifice to hard work and steady income to finance a family and build a career and
home. Sadly, Willy, striving to be the leader and provider for his family, turns out to be a
rather insufficient father in that he neglects the human elements of his family life so that
he can bow to the wishes of the working class society and values. He is the
personification of the American dream gone wrong because, in most cases, it has no
other outlet but to go wrong. Ronald Hayman writes of Willy as “the modern Everyman,”
a man in which all other average fellows can identify. This is the main reason that Willy is
such a vivid portrayal of the American father figure. The struggling working class can
always relate to his problems and his struggles