Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller
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At a glance:
- Author: Arthur Miller
- First Published: 1949
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Time of Work: Mid-twentieth century
- Setting: New York and Boston
- Genres: Social realism, Drama, Tragedy
- Subjects: New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Parents and children, Suicide, Twentieth century, New York City, 1940's, Yards or backyards, American Dream, Fathers, Death or dying, Sales personnel, Selling
- Locales: United States, North America, Brooklyn, New York, Boston, Massachusetts
Characters Discussed
Willy Loman
Willy Loman, a sixty-three-year-old traveling salesman who has begun to dwell on the past and not to know where he is. In the last two days of his life, his past rolls before him. He is a father who loves his sons and wants them to have worldly success, although he does not know how to help them achieve it. His last gesture for his son Biff is to commit suicide so that the son can have the insurance money.
Biff Loman
Biff Loman, Willy’s thirty-four-year-old son, who is still trying to find himself. A high-school...
(The entire page is 670 words.)
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Recommended Questions
- What is the impact of Willy Loman's ambition on himself and others in Death of a Salesman?
- Willy praises and then curses the Chevrolet; What do these inconsistencies tell us about Willy?
- How does the play Death of a Salesman and Glengarry Glen Ross challenge the notion of the 'American Dream'
- Describe Willy's relationship with his brother Ben.
- How is Willy the cause of Biff and Happy's lack of success as adults in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman?
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