Death of a Salesman Revision booklet
AO3
Arthur Miller
Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Manhattan.
In the stock crash of 1929, his father’s clothing business failed, and
the family moved to more affordable housing in Brooklyn
Miller was unintellectual as a boy, but decided to become a write
and attend the university of Michigan to study journalism. There, he
received awards for his playwriting
After college, he worked for the government’s Federal Theatre
Project, which was soon closed for fear of possible communist
infiltration
Married his college sweetheart, Mary Slattery, in 1940, with whom
he had two children. His first play, The Man Who Had All the Luck
opened in 1944, but Miller had his first real success with All My Sons
(1947). He wrote Death of a Salesman in 1948, which won a Tony
award as well as the Pulitzer Prize, and made him a star
In 1952, Miller wrote The Crucible, a play about the 1692 Salem
witch trials that functioned as an allegory for the purges among
entertainers and media figures by the House Un-American Activities
Committee
Miller testified before this committee but refused to implicate any of
his friends as communists, which resulted in his blacklisting.
In 1956 he married Marilyn Monroe. They were divorced in 1961. His
third wife was the photographer, Inge Morath. Miller continued to
write until his death in 2005
First performed 1949, only a few years after WW2 ended in 1945, and
within a decade of the end of the great depression (1929-39). Both eras
had a significant impact on the work of Miller and on Death of a Salesman.
Which is set in the late 1940s in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Boston
The Great Depression
Crash of the stock market in 1929, America plummeted into the
worst economic downturn it had ever faced. Many banks,
companies, and individual families lost everything, leaving a bruised
national psyche that lacked confidence about the future
For Miller, Death of a Salesman illustrates the personal effects of the
Great Depression. The shattered dreams of Miller’s family, and of
the American people, are reflected in the shattered dreams of Willy
Loman
, As the protagonist of the play, willy is unable to attain financial or
emotional stability despite a lifelong career as a salesman and a
long marriage to a faithful and devoted wife
WW2
The limping US economy improved as parts of the globe plunged
into WW2 in 1939. The economy shifted into high gear as
manufacturers began to develop mechanised weaponry,
communication technology, advancements in medicine, and
improved transportation to support the war effort
By the time the war ended in 1945, new technologies focused on
domestic improvements, including everything from washing
machines and refrigerators to automobiles
Turning away from the horrors of the Great Depression and the war
to the reaffirmation of life back home, many Americans availed
themselves of new technology, creating and embracing a new
American consumerism
Thanks to advertising and the new mood of optimism, many people
believed they could ‘have it all’ - a nice home, a happy family, and
all the products that could keep life running smoothly
The American Dream
This phrase was first used by historian James Truslow Adams in his
1931 book The Epic of America. In part Adams describes the dream
as a place where “life should be better and richer and fuller ... with
opportunity for each according to ability.”
He cautions that dream is not focused on “motor cars and high
wages” but rather on a “social order” in which people are
empowered to reach their highest capabilities and “be recognised
by others for what they are”, an idea Willy returns to again and
again as he wrestles with the importance of being well-liked
The goal of making the American Dream something concrete rather
than philosophical has often eluded Americans such as Willy, as
they’ve struggled to define it within the reality of American living
Some have translated the dream into materialism, while others
emphasise simple living. Some view America as the land of
opportunity, where everyone has an equal chance of reward
because of productive work ethic
Others argue that aspects of culture such as poverty, classism,
racism, and sexism keep the dream elusive for millions of
Americans. Write Thomas Byrne Edsall cautions that America’s
“growing gulf between the affluent and middle classes [is]
anathema to the American Dream”
