Cooked.

Arthur Miller,  

October 17th, 1915- February 10th, 2005. 

Born into an American-Jewish family struggling to survive during the Great Depression, Miller’s experiences as a young adult struggling with poverty & antisemitism in 1930’s New York shaped his world view: with the era’s oppressive & hopeless air causing Miller to reflect on the struggles of ordinary people. Miller wrote plays to articulate the fragility & strife of urban life, with the pecuniary hardships & despair his family felt during the Great Depression & aftermath of World War II bleeding into his plays. When Arthur Miller's father’s coat making business shut down, the family had to move into a small, claustrophobic house & struggle like the rest of his family. Miller’s encounter with his uncle Manny Newman—a salesman who would always compare Miller to his sons, telling Miller that he wouldn’t make it in the cut-throat world of business. The lack of hope & oppressive atmosphere he grew up in left a lasting impact on him, with Miller doubting the American dream as he worked a dead-end warehouse job after graduating high school. Miller—however—did find success, writing a multitude of plays after he graduated from the University of Michigan & first leaving a mark on the industry with Focus (1945). Remembering the transgressions & delusions of his old Uncle Manny, Miller modelled Willy Loman’s character after his uncle, elucidating of the plight of the common man in 1950’s New York through the crises & hallucinations of Willy. On its debut in 1949, Death of a Salesman captivated audiences, being lauded for its intricate social commentary & complex themes of struggle, delusion & the American Dream. Miller would win a Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman, with the play being Miller’s most famous work. 

Death of a Salesman follows Willy Loman as he returns from his business route, complaining to his wife Linda that he is “tired to death” (Miller 13) & worn out by his job. Willy describes his delirium while driving & Linda encourages him to take a break from work & negotiate a less stressful route. As Willy settles, his two sons Biff & Happy are upstairs sleeping. Biff has just returned from a stint in the West where he tried to manage a farm, with Willy calling Biff a failure for not finding a concrete job at 34. After Biff’s senior year, he failed to graduate high school & spent the rest of his life working mundane, dead-end jobs to get by. The reason why Biff doesn’t graduate is because he walks in on Willy having an affair with one of his clients—though this is revealed much later. Willy plays cards with his neighbor Charley, who Willy borrows money from because Willy’s employers are paying him a living wage. While playing cards, Willy hallucinates his deceased brother’s spirit, with his brother reminding wily of the American dream: “When I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out...rich” (Miller 49). This delusion of the American dream makes Willy angrier about Biff’s failures, with the animosity growing between them. Meanwhile, Biff & Happy plan on starting their own sport team with the funding of Biff’s old manager Oliver (who he has tenuous relations with). As Willy hallucinates, Linda reveals to Biff that Willy has been suicidal, attempting to kill himself daily when Biff returns home. Willy tries to negotiate a deal with his boss Howard, averring that his time in the company should give him special privileges, but Willy is let off by his boss, becoming unemployed. Willy tries to confide in Charley but only finds his son Bernard (who he has previously surmounted will never make it in life) on his way to present a case to the Supreme Court. Willy’s world is shattered by the fact that Charley’s family is doing better than his & he hallucinates Ben’s words of affirmation again. Eventually meeting his sons at a restaurant, Biff tells Willy that he failed to get a deal from Oliver & stole one of his pens, concluding the life of a businessman is not for him. Willy breaks down & plants flowers in his front yard, eventually killing himself after realizing that his family he has failed as a businessman & father.