Death of a Salesman

Act I, Scenes 1-6 set the stage for the play’s major theme: the distorted American Dream. The strange dialogue of the characters throughout the play, including emphatic speech and persistent questioning, represents the conflicted characters’ struggles with achieving the American Dream. For the Lomans, this Dream can only be achieved through being charismatic and well-liked rather than working hard. This distorted faith in personality over all else is what leads the Lomans to their downfall. They are forced to fabricate elaborate fantasies about their personalities to deny their current failures, and to create false hopes in the possibility of a successful future.

The protagonist, Willy Loman, is at profound odds with himself. His reality almost entirely contradicts his beliefs about himself and his family. His denial of Biff’s laziness and failures by overemphasizing how well-liked he is allows Willy to maintain the hope that Biff will one day be successful enough to fulfill his own failed dreams. His confused mental state is evident in how he contradicts his own speech repeatedly, calling his son Biff lazy one minute only to say he is hard-working the next. His obsession with charisma as the sole contributor to success penetrates his way of life and his expectations of Biff’s success. Through the central conflict between Willy and Biff, the text explores the theme of abandonment and betrayal. Willy believes that Biff has abandoned him, while Biff believes that Willy has betrayed him and his family. To Willy, Biff has abandoned not only the Loman family but their struggle to achieve the American Dream.

The author’s fluid style of switching between the past and the present effectively explores Willy’s troubled mental state. It also examines the realities of the past and present of the Loman home, and just how intertwined the events are. The setting of Willy Loman’s home, as well as the related stage action, also serve as a commentary on the themes. The home represents the concept of “the house with a white picket fence” that every American family must have to achieve the Dream. It is situated just far enough from the bustle of city life to have access to the outdoors and allow the Loman men to embrace their manhood. However, their imminent failure at achieving the American Dream is further established in the present-day situation of their home, which is surrounded by construction and the bustle of apartment buildings.

Meanwhile, the juxtaposition of the past and present on the stage demonstrates Willy’s own confusion of past and present events. He confuses events of the present, such as his conversation with his wife Linda, with events of the past, like his conversations with the Woman. Though sitting in the present, he responds to voices of the past that only he can hear, confusing those around him. At times, Willy returns to past events to better make sense of his present reality. He reminisces about happier times that represented a better image of himself and his son as a way to deny his apparent current failure. At the same time, frustrating events push Willy into reveries of unpleasant events that he regrets, such as his affair with the Woman.