Death of a Salesman

Phil 120

James Taylor

Essay 3

Friday 12, April

“Death of A Salesman”

Subject: “Since 2008 Death of A Salesman has enjoyed several successful stagings. Why do you think that the play still speaks to audiences today?”

Death of A Sales Man was written by Arthur Miller, a couple of years after the end of the World War II. Thanks to this novel, the narrator earned a great fame in the US at that time. Indeed, for many people it was “the first great American tragedy ». In fact, this play points out many sensible topics like family issues, or moral values. As a matter of fact, Miller chose to introduce a very famous societal phenomenon, the American Dream. Like in most works, authors intend to spread a message through it. For the narrator, Death of A Sales Man was very good way to show his disapproval regarding the American Dream. Moreover, for many specialists, this play was considered as an attack on the American Dream. In fact, the social and economic issues developed in this play are still relevant today.

First, Death of A Sales Man takes on very sensible subjects such as the American way of life and family problems. After World War II, the US became a land of security and prosperity. In fact, the United States of America, in spite of itself rekindled the flame of the American dream. Indeed, people from all over the world dreamed to escape form either hunger, war, or Communism. In this play, Miller showed from the inside how the American dream can become a nightmare even for Americans themselves. In fact, Miller kind of anticipated the future, indeed “in 2004, surveys found one-third of Americans adamantly insisting they were not living the American Dream, with half of them saying it wasn’t even attainable for them.” After several years of war in Europe, people started to feel that some great opportunities started to rise everywhere in the US. However, it did not work out well for everyone. Indeed, in the play, Miller showed in detail and from the inside how an individual may miss it. But, Biff fail to success was not entirely his fault. As a matter of fact, his father took great responsibility in his failure. Indeed, Biff’s father put so much pressure on his shoulders that he could not handle it anymore. Willy always dreamed about becoming a successful salesman, but he never succeeded. So, Willy bet all his expectations on his son. In fact, Willy’s idea about becoming a salesman came when he “realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. ’Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many