Of death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller says, "…it is really a love story between a man and his son, and in a crazy way, between both of them and America".

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Of death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller says, “…it is really a love story between a man and his son, and in a crazy way, between both of them and America”

 Arthur Miller wrote the play ‘Death of a Salesman’ in 1949. Arthur Miller wrote many plays such as ‘All of My Sons’ and ‘The Crucible’. ‘Death of A Salesman’ is about the relationship between Willy Loman, the father, Biff and Happy, the two sons of Willy. The play is also about the American Dream; the idea of being a success and being wealthy, as there are many influences around the Loman’s family.

The first thing that is striking about the essay title is the phrase “a love story”. This essay could be considered as a love story because the play is about the ups and downs of the relationships between Willy and his two sons, Biff and Happy. The word ‘love’ is used because for example in marriages there are always problems, which can lead to the break up of a relationship, and some are resolved making the relationship stronger. This is a resemblance of Willy and his sons, as his relationship with them weakens and strengthens. This is shown by these two quotes, “ I’m not interested in…any crap…boys, you understand? (p80)” and  “Glad to hear it, boy… Knock him dead, boy” (p48), these are good quotes because they show positive-ness and negative-ness in conversations between the father and his sons.

 In the title ‘son’ is used instead of sons because Biff is the one who is the most affected by the problems of the relationship between himself and Willy. In the beginning of the play Happy is the one who has the stronger bond with Willy, “I can’t get near him” (p9).  Willy does not have a strong relationship with Biff because he has high expectations of Biff but because of his personality he does not accomplish them, weakening the bond between them. An example of this is when Willy wanted Biff to go to a certain college but eventually finds out that Biff does not care and started to flunk maths, “You had to go and flunk math” (p82). This is a good quote because it shows Willy’s disgrace towards Biff’s foolish behaviour.

‘The American Dream’ is linked to the play because the title of the play has ‘salesman’ in it which are both business linked. Willy is so eager for Biff to become a business man and to be rich as it is something which Willy hasn’t achieved himself and so would feel proud for his son to do so. He does this indirectly by giving a lot of advise to Biff when he is bound for his interview; “A business suit, and talk as little as possible, and don’t crack any jokes” (p45), this also shows Willy’s care for Biff and shows the link between the American Dream and their love story. Willy does have some affections for Biff because when he knew that Biff was going to have a job interview he said that he was going to plant some seeds, “Tonight I’d like to buy some seeds” (p50). The author has used seeds metaphorically to strengthen the relationship between Willy and Biff. The seeds represent a new start in life or a second chance for Willy to love and understand his child.

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It seems that Willy wants the best for his son, but Biff does not understand this and remains an unsure person, a good quote for this is, “why does dad mock me…” (p9). The quote is good because it shows that his dad is not taking Biff seriously. This leaves him uncertain of his annoyance, such as not listening to his father. A good example of this is when Biff flunks maths and Willy responds to this very seriously, “You had to go and flunk math” (p82).

 Biff lacks confidence, because he is always quiet but Happy is ...

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