Death Of A Salesman-Willy The VIctim and Victmizer

Death Of A Salesman

Willy: A Victim and Victimizer

“We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and we begin to forget that we are reading printed words on a page; we begin to see images.” These were the word spoken by John Gardner and describe exactly what a reader goes through in Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” A victim is the one against whom the act is perpetrated against and the victimizer is the abuser of the crime. Throughout “Death of a Salesman,” the main character Willy Loman both victimzes his wife and two sons and is also victimized.

Linda, who is Willy’s loyal wife, is victimized by Willy through disrespect. Willy Loman usually has no time for her, he show impatience towards her and responds to her very abruptly. Willy complains when she buys a new type of cheese and throughout the play, he yells at her often when she is mending her stockings.

LINDA: Oliver always though the highest of him –

WILLY: Will you let me talk?

BIFF: Don’t yell at her, pop, will ya?

WILLY (angrily): I was talking, wasn’t I?

(Miller, pg. 38)

It is clear that even Biff notices the disrespect of Willy towards his mother and he is hurt by it. In another scene, Biff describes his parent’s relationship.

BIFF: He always, always wiped the floor with you. Never had an ounce of respect for you.

(Miller, pg. 30)

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(Miller, pg. 30)

Even so, the disrespect is evident when the story unfolds and the audience is made aware that Willy has been cheating on Linda and giving her stockings to another woman. However much outrage this may cause the audience, the disgusting and appalling behaviour of Willy towards Linda, she too victimizes her husband. Although it is completely clear that she is a well-caring mother and wife, no one can deny that she plays a part in Willy’s death. Linda finds out about Willy’s deliberate car crashes and about the ripples in the gas line. She still supports him and pretends she knows nothing about it. She could have stopped Willy and helped him change instead of brushing it under the carpet and being ignorant to what was happening. Through that change, Willy’s death would have been avoided. She is afraid to hurt Willy and doesn’t want him to know that she is aware of his feeble attempts of suicide. She wishes not to let Willy think that he has failed as a father and as a husband and has failed his financial responsibility.

BIFF: Did you have it taken off?

LINDA: I’m – I’m ashamed to. How can I mention it to him? Everyday I go down and take away that little rubber pipe. But when he comes back home, I put it back where it was. How can I insult him that way? I don’t know what to do.

(Miller, pg. 60)

Furthermore, Willy also victimizes his son Biff and has many flashback memories of his son. Willy’s feelings towards Biff are very strong and though he has two sons, he seems more inclined towards pleasing Biff. Willy loves Biff and has high expectations for him and at the end of the play, he thinks he has done Biff a favour by committing suicide. When he was young, Willy could find no fault with Biff and does not scold him for cheating or stealing. Once, Willy asks Bernard to give Biff the answers for the test and hence teaches his son immoral behaviour of cheating to get ahead in life. As a result, Biff is victimized because he grows up not knowing the real difference between right and wrong and what is immoral and correct. At the end, when Biff leaves, he goes for a last visit to Willy and tells him that his life as a failure is the fault of Willy. Willy refuses to accept it and accuses him of “spite” and continues to repeat that he won’t accept the blame. Biff replies to his father.

BIFF: …I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! That’s whose fault it is!

(Miller, pg. 131)

He also tells Willy that he and him are “nothing” and to give up his hopes for him.

BIFF (crying, broken): Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?

(Miller, pg. 133)

Even so, Willy’s victimization led to Biff victimizing Willy. Willy is caught by Biff when he is cheating on his mother and there is another woman with him in the room in Boson. Biff loses the respect for his father and he becomes sour and disillusioned.

BIFF: You fake! You phoney little fake! You fake!

(Miller, pg. 121)

So, the attitude that Willy had towards his sons and his disrespectful behaviour and cheating towards his wife lead Biff to victimize him by becoming a failure and losing all respect for his father. He loses hope of ever being what his father dreamed of him being one day.

In comparison, Willy’s attitude and relationship between Happy is different in that he does not expect very much from him and he doesn’t have the high hopes and dreams for him like he does for Biff. His victimization of Happy is when he ignores or giver very little attention to him although Happy tends to be an attention-seeker throughout the play. Willy hardly ever speaks to him and if he does, it is through Biff or related to him somehow. Happy also victimizes Willy by not letting him down about the other woman and he ignored and denies Willy as his father later in the story when they meet at the “Chop-House.”

LEETA: Don’t you want to tell your father –

HAPPY: No, that’s not my father. He’s just a guy.

(Miller, pg. 115)

He also tells lies about it to his mother when he is questioned by her.

He then goes to later lies about it to his mother, Linda, when she rebukes them for deserting him in the restaurant for girls,

LINDA (shouting after Biff): You invite him for dinner. He looks forwards for it all day…and then you desert him there. There’s no stranger you’d do that to.

HAPPY: He had a swell time with us. Listen when I desert him, I hope I don’t outlive the day!

(Miller, pg. 123)

To conclude, Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” is filled with victimizations throughout the play whether they are directly or indirectly targeted. Willy victimizes his wife and his two sons but is also victimized by them throughout the play. But the real tragedy of his victimization is that it leads to more harm than he originally caused and he becomes the biggest victim of it also. In turn, the audience is shocked to see that he turns to victimize those closest to him. To some, he may be deserving of victimization, but others may sympathize with him and say justice has not been served.