he really means to say. He is saying that Howard should not treat people, namely people like Willy, as if they were oranges. Willy is not an orange, and therefore it's wrong of Howard to use him up and then discard what's left of him as if he were something be consumed.

The metaphor is a commentary on capitalism and on the abuse of workers by their employers. If Willy came to Howard as a fresh, young "orange," then we can compare Howard's treatment of him to the behavior of a man who peels the skin off the orange, eats the best parts of it—the "fruit"—and then simply gets rid of what he doesn't want. Obviously, this is what is usually done with oranges.

Perhaps Willy means that it is also what is usually done with workers: the best parts of them are consumed by greedy employers, and then the empty rinds, the leftovers, are discarded, because they are not useful. Willy's comment is that, whether this is what is commonly done or not, it shouldn't be. People should not be treated like oranges, because they are not disposable material to be consumed by the system.

This quote is from Willy Loman as spoken to Howard Wagner, the supervisor (and son of Willy's previous supervisor) at the company for which Willy works. Following Linda's advice, Willy goes to his boss to ask him for a permanent position within the office so that he does not have to travel so much. He also asked for a salary position, as Willy had been living off commission but, since he was not selling, he was really able to make it thanks to the handouts of money that he would ask his neighbor and friend Charley for.

The words are also a reaction to what Howard had told Willy after a long time trying to divert the situation.

I don't want you representing us anymore.  I've been meaning to tell you for a long time now

To which Willy reacts in dismay for several reasons. First, because Willy still abides by the old code of friendship. He believed that Howard Jr. should reserve a special place of reverence to Willy as he had known him since he was a child. Moreover, Willy still also abides by the old code of loyalty: if you are loyal to the company the company should be loyal to you and keep you as an employee. Not the case; finances were looking up and productivity is a must in the mid 1940's; Willy is a piece of the old school and he must be taken away.

Hence, when Willy says

you can't eat the orange and throw the peel away--a man is not a piece of fruit.

he reflects this old school mentality: that you cannot just use someone with whom you co-exist, work with, and share with year after year and then one good day turn around and get rid of that person as if he had never been there. It is no different than feeling like trash: you are no longer useful, so we will throw you out.

Willy did feel eaten from the inside out by the machinery of selling: he neglected his marriage because of it, he got into debt because of it, he worked his heart out because of it and now he is no longer "needed". Not only does this emasculates him in the eyes of his family, but also makes him feel quite betrayed by those for whom he feels that he had done so much for. Like a "piece of fruit" the company indeed consummed most of his life and, now that he has none that he could be proud of, they just decided to throw away his "peel" and get rid of him for good.

"A man is not a piece of fruit" is a direct rebuke to consumption. The company where Willy Loman worked as a salesman, first for Howard's father and then for Howard, is discarding him, as one would discard an orange peel. Like an orange peel, they have no use for him in his elderly, senile state. 

They have taken, or consumed the best of him—the "fruit" of his youth, as a previous educator has mentioned—and they are now throwing out what they find distasteful about him: his age and slowness. 

Indeed, the metaphor is uneven and somewhat nonsensical, but I think that Miller intended for it to be. Loman is losing his mind, which would make him unable to form good analogies. Howard has also reduced him to a feeling of ineptitude. His language demonstrates that.

Willy here is reproaching Howard, his boss. Willy has worked hard for Howard's company all his life. He has done his best for this company; they have taken his best years, plucked the 'fruit' of his youth, so to speak, but now that he's old and can't compete with the other salesmen, they're just casting him off in the way that one might discard fruit peel. It is a very telling quote; Wily feels he's had no reward whatsoever for all his years of dedicated service. Willy feels that times have changed and there is no personal warmth in the workplace any more, that it's all become too competitive and commercial. Willy recalls his friendship with Howard's father Frank but emotional appeals get him nowhere with Howard.

Willie's choice of a metaphor is a poor one. It either shows a flaw in Arthur Miller's writing or else Miller was intentionally making Willie look unintelligent and unimaginative. Eating an orange and throwing the peel away is exactly what you can do and what is generally done with oranges and orange peels. What Willie was probably trying to say is something like this:

You can't use a man up and then throw him away the way you eat an orange and throw away the peel.

Whether it was Arthur Miller's mistake or intention, the metaphor, or simile, or analogy, or whatever it is supposed to be, is almost comical in its ineptness.

This metaphor, however inept, is at the heart of Arthur Miller's thesis. Under capitalism, people are used up and discarded without any consideration for their humanity, welfare, or personal feeliings.

"You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away" is a metaphor and obviously a very poor one. That is exactly what you do with an orange:you eat the orange and throw the peel away. You do the same thing with a banana. What Willy means, although he didn't express himself correctly, is that you can't treat a man as if he is an orange and toss the peel away after you have consumed all the fruit. Either Arthur Miller made a slip or else he wanted to have Willy express himself badly. If this faulty metaphor is Willy's invention, then that would show that he is getting old, that he is highly emotional during this interview, and that he doesn't understand the reality of modern-day business under capitalism. Arthur Miller probably felt strongly that under capitalism people like Willy only last as long as their employers can make a profit off of them and that they get tossed aside heartlessly when they are no longer productive. Business is highly competitive. An employer cannot afford to be softhearted. Business is business! In recent years we have seen business of all sorts "downsizing" and "outsourcing" in ways and numbers that would have been unimaginable in 1949 when the play was written. Americans by the millions have lost their jobs--and we are told that a young person should be prepared to change careers several times between entry into the work world and retirement. Death of a Salesman might be called a foreshadowing of what is happening right now. "Robotization" is a threat that still remains largely in the offing. Is anybody secure?

Arthur Miller’s play The Death of the Salesman presents a man who feels he has outlived his usefulness.  Willy Loman remembers 1928 when he was a successful salesman.  It is years later, and Willy has lost all of his confidence.  He can no longer face reality and begins to hallucinate.

When the play begins, Wiily is in his sixties.  He is unable to do his job; however, he believes that if he works at a desk, he would still be able to be useful.  When he realizes that he will never complete his dreams, he becomes more frustrated, confused, and angry. 

Life has left him behind. Barely clinging to reality, Willy knows that he is not liked or respected. As the audience learns about Willy, it is evident that he needed his father and brother’s love. The lack of family support left him insecure. Now, he speaks to his brother Ben through hallucinatory scenes. Willy says to Ben:

 “Dad left when I was such a baby and I never had a chance to talk to him and I still feel – kind of temporary about myself.”

Willy has worked for the same company for thirty-four years.  In fact, the head of the company now, Howard, is the son of the man who was Willy’s boss when he first started.  Howard has no respect for Willy.  To him, Willy is an anachronism—in the wrong time and place.

For the last few months, Willy has only been paid a commission for his sales.  He makes no sales, so everything is going down for him.  He desperately hopes that he can find a job in the office and earn a small salary.

When Willy goes into talk to his boss, Howard is obsessed with his new tape recording machine.  Willy is an annoyance to him. Willy reminds Howard that he had said that he would try to find him a job in the home offices.  Surprisingly to Willy, Howard says that he has no place for him.  He tells Willy to pack up his stuff because he can no longer work there.

Howard tells Willy:

I appreciate that Willy, but there is just no spot here for you.  If I had a spot , I’d slam you right in it, but I just don’t have a single, solitary spot.

Willy rants and raves about his own father’s salesmanship. He begins to lose touch with reality.  Howard has no sensitivity and does not want to deal with Willy’s problems.  Howard turns away from Willy.

Willy stops him:

I’m talking now to you about your father! There were promises made across this desk! I put thirty-four years into this firm, Howard, and now I can’t pay my insurance. You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away—a man is not a piece of fruit!

Howard goes on to tell Willy that he does not want him to represent the firm or work for the company. When Willy talks to Howard about the deal that his father made with him, Willy uses the metaphor of the orange and the fruit to represent the time and hard work that Willy had given to the firm.   He equated the orange’s meat to the years of hard work and the peel to the shell of the man who was now left in his aging years.  He was not a fruit that could just be thrown out with the garbage.  Yet, that is exactly what Howard does.

Willy has nothing to live for now.  He believes that he is more valuable to his family dead than alive. He drives his car into a pole and kills himself.  His intention is for the life insurance money to be used by his son to start his own business.  The author ends the drama without the audience really knowing what will happen to Willy’s family.