Literature Analysis #1 (2nd Semester)

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

1. This novella is about a man named Willy Loman who, at the age of 63, looks back at his life to find where it took a wrong turn and when his relationship with his oldest son Biff crumbled. Willy offers bits and pieces of insight through flashbacks from the peak of Biff's high school football career to Willy's infidelity to Biff's failure to graduate high school. Willy has spent his entire life working toward that "American dream," wondering how he failed himself and his family.
2. One major theme throughout the playwright is the struggle for the American dream. Willy spent his whole life following the American way, living out belief in salesmanship as a way to make a name for himself and be successful. He thinks that a "well-like" and "personally attractive" man in business makes up the bulk of the success. And yet, ironically, Willy's fixation on these superficial qualities is what ruins him in the end, by not working hard or obsessively caring about what other people think of him. Willy dislikes Bernard because Bernard isn't necessarily the most attractive physically or personally but rather intelligent and hard working, which Willy doesn't deem as important. Willy's blind faith in his delusional version of the American dream stunts his growth as a person and leads to psychological decline in which he is unable to discern the difference between the Dream and real life, which is shown between the mingle of flashbacks and reality.
3. Miller's tone is critical and erudite, like he's purposefully trying to impart wisdom or send a message. The book is very serious and somber. Willy's demeaning attitude towards his wife further added to the more harsh tone. 
4. Miller uses denouement and ambiguity at the end before the requiem; Willy is last seen at the restaurant in a terrible state, then in a later scene, he drives off quickly and crashes. Only later do the readers learned that he died. Happy and Biff are foils; Biff works hard to make a living for himself with a steady mind in his head while Happy is delusional about the American Dream like Willy with no self-motivation. 
5. Miller mostly uses indirect characterization. Willy disrespects his wife in the way he talks to her, cutting her off, ordering her around to make himself feel better as a man. He treats Linda as if she's a maid to do his bidding; he even cheats on her, which is when Biff stops idolizing him. Happy's character is harder to understand. He doesn't do much, not a very active character. But in that sense, that shows how Happy is lazy, driven by his sexual desires, especially displayed near the end at the restaurant. I think that for this book in particular, I would have preferred direct characterization to understand the characters better. Reading was difficult, as was understanding the characters. Their actions were unusual, especially as it is a play, so they're in brackets. 
6. Miller uses diction. Sentence structure plays a big role in showing the reader what the character is like. Willy, for example, talked in a curt manner, especially toward Linda. Biff and Happy talking about their father, both with different perspectives, Biff hating on their dad and Happy acting basically the same way.
7. Willy is a static character. The entire novella is about him figuring out where his life went wrong, when he failed to achieve the American Dream. And yet he never fully reaches that realization. Willy searches through his past, but does not achieve self-realization. At the very end, it seems like he almost comes to terms wit his failure, and does the only thing that can save his family and his legacy: kill himself. Yet he never discovers the full truth about when his life fell apart. 
8. I feel like I read a character, granted this novella was very tough for me to read. I didn't like Willy at all. It was his fault that his life felt apart, that Biff stopped believing in him, that he never achieved a fully successful life. I didn't/couldn't connect with Willy because he was such a negative person, terrible husband and father, delusional and disappointing.