Paper Topic:

Critical View on Death of a Salesman

[Writer 's Name]

[Supervisor 's Name]

[Subject]

[Date]

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Table of Content

TOC \o "1-3 " \h \z \u HYPERLINK \l "_Toc3 " Thesis Statement PAGEREF _Toc3 \h 2

HYPERLINK \l "_Toc4 " Introduction PAGEREF _Toc4 \h 2

HYPERLINK \l "_Toc5 " Literary Analysis PAGEREF _Toc5 \h 3

HYPERLINK \l "_Toc6 " Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc6 \h 6 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc7 " Works Cited PAGEREF _Toc7 \h 7 Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Thesis Statement

Death of a Salesman is a tragic play

about American Dream and its realities

Introduction

In 1949 a play that was to influence the views of many about the American Dream and its realities was published . Death of a Salesman was written by Arthur Miller and eventually went on to earn him the prestigious Pulitzer prize . Critics have long emphasized the symbolic importance of the main setting in Arthur Miller 's Death of a Salesman explaining how the small home of Willy and Linda Loman--once situated on the green fringes of suburbia and blessed with shade trees , a backyard garden , and plenty of open space for two rambunctious sons--has become palisaded by ruthless urban sprawl , so much so that the aging couple now live in the sterilizing shadows of high-rise apartment buildings trapped , cornered , enveloped "The way they boxed us in here (Porter 24-43 ) This play was predominantly set in the 1920s-30s and gives a deep insight into how the great depression affected working families during this period in time . Miller based this dramatic play solely around the American dream . The American dream was a far fetched belief that if u migrated to America with a little money and an amount of self belief through hard work you could become prosperous and be able to provide for your family . Arthur Miller himself had been a victim of the American dream , his Austrian father had owned a thriving clothing manufacturing company when in 1929 the stock market crashed and left him with no business (Aarnes , 84-110

Literary Analysis

Death of a Salesman is about a salesman who has long passed his sell by date , and after being a salesman for thirty-four years , is being pushed to one side by his employer . Miller shows how his whole life has been based on lies and stories that he has led his naive family to believe . However this all changed when Willy Loman was caught with another woman by his son Biff . I believe that Miller is trying to convey his views through Willy Loman as a character

The play 's dominant metaphor is the multivalent image of time . On the ore hand , metaphors for chronological time represent physical reality and normal human development from youth to maturity to old age and from one generation to the next . Linda , Charley and his son Bernard , and Frank Wagner and his son Howard live in harmony with chronological time a condition which Biff achieves after he experiences a profound psychological change . On the other hand , temporal and physical images of...

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