These statements can indeed be applied to Death of a Salesman, because Willy Loman tries hard to maintain his dignity in the face of adversity but is ultimately destroyed by an environment in which there is no place for him.

Willy Loman goes out of his way to maintain his sense of dignity, despite everything that life throws at him. This explains, to a considerable extent, why Willy refuses to accept a job from his much more successful neighbor Charley.

And yet, after suffering one major setback after another, Willy loses what little dignity he has, especially after he's let go by Howard from the company for which he's worked for many years. This is tragic indeed, as Willy's struggle to maintain his personal dignity has finally come to a humiliating end.

Although there's no doubt that, in true tragic fashion, Willy has contributed in no small part to his downfall, environmental factors also need to be taken into consideration. Whether or not we can go so far as to say that Willy's environment is wrong or evil, we can certainly say that he is out of kilter with his environment and that this is a major contributory factor to his tragic death.

Simply put, Willy no longer belongs in the go-getting, cut-and-thrust society in which he once thrived. Out of place, and getting on in years, there's nowhere else for him to go, and so there's a sense of tragic inevitability about the manner of his demise.