"Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller

A book I have recently read is “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller. This novel, written in the 1940s, is separated into two acts and a requiem. The main character is an old salesman called Willy Loman. As we progress into the book, we learn more about his family background; his wife Linda, and two sons, Biff and Happy. Struggling financially, Willy attempts suicide more than once leaving his wife in a traumatic state where she ends up blaming her two sons for the unhappiness of her husband. The Loman family seems to be breaking apart; Willy is not an extremely popular man, Biff sees through his family’s lies and wants to be a better man than his father, however, Happy’s father is his role model for the future. In the final scene, Linda, sobbing, still under the delusion that her husband was a well-liked salesman, wonders why no one came to his funeral. 

The main themes portrayed in this novel are Dreams, Hopes and Plans as oppose to Lies and Deceit. The image of Willy is one of a dreamer. He dreams of material success and freedom. He is utterly unable to distinguish his wild hopes from rational realities in the present. Although Happy and Linda are also extremely optimistic, they are able to maintain distinguish between hopes and reality.

On the other hand, the Lowman’s are also extremely self-deceptive, blinding themselves from reality. Willy convinces himself that he is well liked and successful and that his sons are destined for greatness. Unable to cope with the reality, he abandos it, stepping into his own vivid fantasy world, becoming suicidal. Linda and Happy also have an illusion that their family are going to become a success. Biff is the only character who sees from another perspective, recognizing that he and his family members are consistently deceiving each other and he fights to escape the constant cycle of family lies.

Personally, I found this book incredibly interesting because of how different this family is amongst others. Despite being fiction, everything seems incredibly realistic. I enjoyed how Miller was able to contrast the deception of the family with the success in a perfect manner.