Thursday January 10

Thomas Sittler, 1S2

DISCUSS THE IMPORTANCE OF SETTING IN DEATH OF A SALESMAN,

INCLUDING SPECIFICALLY THE ROLE OF THE LOMAN HOUSE AS IT
APPEARS ON THE STAGE AND HOW IT IS USED .
Arthur Millers 1949 play Death of a Salesman offers a critical portrait of American society. The play
is centered around the salesmans house, with some passages set in various other locations of
Boston or New York. The playwright uses setting to subtly convey thematic meaning about the
Lomans superficial value system, their lack of true human contact, and the destructive effect
societys norms have on them.
The places in which the play is set are not mere backgrounds for the Lomans actions, but serve as
literary devices that underscore the importance of appearances in their value system. The Loman
house appears on stage as a very stylized construction. The kitchen contains no other fixtures but a
table, three chairs and a refrigerator, while the bedroom is furnished only with a [...] bedstead and a [] chair. These appearances are sufficient to convey to the audience the concept of a
house, but what we are seeing is clearly not a real home. This focus on appearances rather than
reality reflects the familys lifestyle at large: the Lomans relentlessly attempt to maintain their thin
veneer of wealth, respectability and family cohesion. The transparen[cy] of the walls makes them
without substance, and reinforces the impression of thinness and artificiality that emerges from
house, which becomes a symbol for the superficiality of the Lomans value system. In addition, the
arrival of Biff and Happy at the beginning of the play is accompanied by the smell of shaving lotion
which fills the whole house, according to Linda. Shaving is connected to appearances one wishes to
give, and it is metaphorically this desire to entertain an image which is impregnating the house. By
association, it is suggested that the maintenance of physical and social appearances is central to the
Lomans conduct.
Setting is further used as a literary means to underscore the Lomans lack of genuine human contact.
The house and the New York New Haven public train are locations which one would expect to have
antithetical connotations. The former reminds us of intimacy and familiarity, whereas the latter
suggests the ephemeral world of transience. To the Lomans, however, and especially Willy, these
associations are reversed. For Biff, who Willy complains has not f[ound] [him]self at the age of
thirty-four, returning to his parents house and sleeping in his childhood bed is a defeat; and Willy
comes home downtrodden in the first scene because he could not complete his last business trip.
With these negative associations, the house fails to become a welcoming family harbor. Conversely,
the train, where Dave Singleman dies in his slippers, garments usually worn inside houses, is
ironically associated to a sort of homeliness, and Willy does not perceive its lack of intimacy. These
paradoxical associations allude to Willys skewed understanding of human contact, and suggest he
attributes little value to true intimacy. It is thus appropriate that a restaurant, a public place where
the characters are forced to lower their voices, should serve as the setting for one of the plays
climactic moments of emotional revelation, the Boston scene.

Finally, the setting of the Loman house conveys thematic meaning about the destructiveness of social
pressures. From the onset of the play, a flute melody that is said to suggest a rural setting is placed in
contrast with the visual image of a house surrounded by towering edifices. A thematic clash is
thus established between the pastoral life out in the open that Biff dreams of and the oppressive
reality of this anonymous urban setting. Though surrounded by these representations of a faceless
society, the house still receives some blue light from the sky, and becomes an enclaved patch of
nature among the apartment buildings, whose angry glow makes plain the menace they represent
for the inhabitants of this small oasis. The house is fragile against the pernicious pressures of a
restrictive society and we know it will prove insufficient to protect the family from its destructive
effects. The beautiful elm trees that Willy longingly reminisces about have already been
suppressed in favor of a street lined with cars. Society is further established as a destructive force
when Willy, in a final attempt to bring about a tangible and perennial product of his efforts, wants to
plant seeds in his backyard but cannot do so because the whole neighborhood is boxed in. It is as
such a confining box that society hinders Willy from pursuing his inclination for manual work, and
ultimately renders the soil of opportunity unyielding.
The Loman familys obsession with appearances, as well as their larger problem with genuine
intimacy are themes that setting suggestively underscores in Death of a Salesman. Society also
emerges as a damaging force, but ultimately remains an environment that only reveals deeper flaws
in the Lomans attitude towards life.

What does setting do?

Underscore the superficiality of the Lomans value system.

o Importance of appearances
The house is unrealistic + transparent
Shaving lotion
The restaurant: a social place: reflects the social-ness of the theatre. An ironic place
for emotions to unfold, because it is all about appearances. They lower their voices
when Stanly comes.
o No real human connection
Returning to the house is a defeat for the Lomans (Willy could not complete his last
business trip, H and B return because no opportunities) it is not a welcoming harbor.
Family is not valued enough.
Dave dies on the train: the ephemeral world of transience, travel. No real human
connection for this idol of Willys.
It is thus appropriate that the climax where emotions are unleashed should
happen in a restaurant, a social place.
Destructiveness of social pressures
o House surrounded by big buildings. A thematic clash
o W cant plant seeds because they boxed in the whole neighborhood. Nature and society are
opposed. remember those two beautiful elm trees out there p.12. Modern society has
destroyed beauty of nature (link to flute playing at the beginning)