Miller applies much criticism to commercial advances and their effects on modern society. Willy is a vehicle through which Miller examines our need to keep up with or better our neighbours, in a material sense. Throughout the play, it becomes apparent that Bernard is successful and gets on in the world. In a meeting with him in the second act, Willy is impressed by the kind of people with which Bernard mixes. “Don’t say. His own tennis court. Must be fine People, I bet.” Here, it is clear that he bases his judgments of people on purely material possession, exposing him as a shallow minded character who is a victim of a consumerist society. At the time the play was written, American society was becoming increasingly consumerist and more competitive that ever before. During the depression of the 1930’s, it became apparent that the American Dream was futile, as society could not provide opportunities for everyone. After WWII, America saw the birth of the Credit Age, a time in which the American consumer was considered to be a “patriotic citizen” it was considered that by buying more and more goods, the buyer was “contributing to the ultimate success of the American way of life.” It is the Historian Helen Cohen who expresses this, along with the fact that in post WWII America, "The good purchaser devoted to 'more, newer and better' was the good citizen." In the passage in which Willy and Linda discuss their financial situation in act one, it becomes clear to us that although the Loman’s are desperately poor, they are striving to pay for items which they already have; the refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner and the car. Willy constantly worries about paying the instalments for these items, as was the case for many Post WWII Americans. The Lomans chose their “Hastings Refrigerator” purely because “they got the biggest ads of any of them”. We recognise that through mentioning brand names, Miller is using a realist technique which lends authenticity to the staging of the play. Willy prides himself on the fact they he owns a Chevrolet, apparently the “greatest car ever built” that is, until it needs repair, when he says, “That goddam Chevrolet, they ought to prohibit the manufacture of that car!” This highlights again, the birth of the American consumer society. Miller almost seems to poke fun at people desire to own the latest gadgets and show them off. We see this through Howard Wagner, who on buying a voice recording machine, claims that he will “take out my camera, and my bandsaw, and all my hobbies, and out they go.” The corrupt nature of this capitalist society is revealed in that the Loman’s refrigerator breaks before they have paid it off, “Once in my life I would like to own something outright before its broken! I’m always in a race with the junkyard!” It seems that this is Miller’s criticism of the absurdity of this kind of society and a means through which he reveals his anti-capitalist agenda.
In Death of a Salesman, Contemporary society is depicted as having very lax morals where both sex and business are concerned. Happy callously seduces a number of girls, casually targeting those who are engaged to be married. He himself admits that this is a “crummy characteristic”, but nevertheless his ambivalent attitudes to women remain unchanged, “I just keep knocking them down and it doesn’t mean anything.” His going off with women can be seen as a parallel to his father’s affair with the Woman, which Happy is unaware of. In this same speech to Biff, Happy also describes his business lifestyle; claiming that the manufacturers at work often give him a one –hundred dollar bill to ensure that an order is received. He apparently “hates himself” for this, regardless, he still takes all the bribes and women who come his way. The theme of inhumane business economics is stressed further in the treatment of Willy by his employer, Howard Wagner. We learn that Willy is heartlessly fired, despite having worked with the firm for thirty-four years. Willy desperately claims that he was very highly respected Howard’s father, to the extent of being asked to name Howard himself. However, his boss refuses to show compassion and doesn’t even honour Willy with a dignified exit, reducing him to pathetically declare: “I can’t even pay my insurance! You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away –a man is not a piece of fruit!” Miller uses this to present to us the fact that society has become hard and cruel, leaving no room for loyalty or values.
In the stage directions before the first act, “we are aware of the towering, angular shapes…surrounding the house on all sides.” The claustrophobic setting reminds us of the damage that modern life is doing to the environment. Willy points out that the destruction of the trees and the wild fragrances of lilac and wisteria are the result of developers who “massacred the neighbourhood.” He also mentions that “The streets are lined with cars, there’s not a breath of fresh air in the neighbourhood.” Crucially, the setting is a realist technique (Miller uses it to reflect the period of the play), but it could also be taken as another criticism of the society. As his mind begins to deteriorate, Willy becomes obsessed with growing vegetables in the garden, but indicates that “the grass don’t grow anymore, you can’t raise a carrot in the backyard.” And so his dream of growing something in the garden becomes one which is doomed to failure.
Joyce Carol Oats points out that in the Twenty-First century; it seems evident that society has become an “ever more frantic, self-mesmerized world of salesmanship.” Miller reveals our consumer culture “public relations” as a euphemism for pretence, deceit and fraud. Willy Loman is a salesman, one of his sons a thief, and the other a lying womaniser. Miller suggests that these are all contemporary figures to whom “attention must be paid.” Through this, we see that he has written the tragedy that illuminates the dark side of American success.