10.2.2
The Marxist Reading
Miller's Marxist Commentary
Miller's Marxist Commentary
Miller intended the play to be a comment on “the bullshit of capitalism” sweeping America at the time.
Miller's intention
Miller's intention
- Arthur Miller himself admitted that, with Death of a Salesman, he wanted to expose “the bullshit of capitalism” – the idea (which post-war America was being conditioned to believe) that success and self-worth should be valued in material terms such as property, career, household luxuries etc.
Material goods
Material goods
- His play is filled with the material goods and consumer rewards of the American capitalist system (refrigerators, wire recorders, Chevrolets) where the value of goods is often judged by their brand-names (“Whoever heard of a Hastings refrigerator?”) or by the size of their adverts.
Life as a commodity
Life as a commodity
- By the end of the play, Willy can only judge his own value in purely financial terms – the $20,000 to be collected from his life insurance policy.
- With this ‘capital’, he will be able to ‘buy’ security and success for his family.
- His life has become a commodity, just an object to be bought or sold.
The American Dream
The American Dream
Death of a Salesman offers a powerful critique of the American Dream.
The American Dream
The American Dream
- Death of a Salesman offers a powerful critique of the American Dream – the ideology which believes that happiness, success and fulfilment can be won by any American citizen willing to work hard for them.
A sham
A sham
- Miller exposes this ideology as a sham (fake): the American Dream only offers an illusion that each citizen has control over their own destiny and that success can be guaranteed.
Winners and losers
Winners and losers
- While the capitalist system may work for some (Charley and Bernard achieve success through their hard work), there will always be victims.
- Willy can be seen to have been exploited by his employers, cast aside when unprofitable despite a lifetime of loyal service.
Imagery
Imagery
- The imagery Willy himself uses to describe this exploitative relationship (“You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away”) sees Willy reduced to an object which can be consumed and then discarded.
Illusion of freedom
Illusion of freedom
- There is a bitter irony contained in the final spoken words of the play – Linda’s repeated refrain, “We’re free”.
- A central idea in Marxist criticism is that personal freedom is an illusion and that we are ultimately controlled by socio-economic or cultural/historical forces far larger than ourselves.
- Linda cannot (or does not want to) recognise how her husband has been destroyed by the system.
Alienation
Alienation
Death of a Salesman can also be seen as a study in alienation.
Willy's father's craftsmanship
Willy's father's craftsmanship
- Willy reveres his father as an entrepreneur and craftsman who made and sold his own flutes.
- His father’s labour and artistry is part of his identity: there is a direct connection between what he created and how he made his living.
Creative connection
Creative connection
- In contrast, Willy has no personal or creative connection to any of the goods that he travels to New England with to sell.
- As Biff says of him in the final scene of the play, “there’s more of him in the front stoop than in all the sales he ever made”.
Disconnection
Disconnection
- Earlier, Ben is clearly unimpressed when Willy tells him how he makes his living, replying with an evasive, but still dismissive, “Yes. Well…”.
- The insecurity and anxiety that this creates in Willy (his sense of alienation) is hinted at in his sharp words to Charley - “a man who can’t handle tools is not a man”.
- Willy’s labour, unlike his father’s, is disconnected from him as a man or creator.
Charley's analysis
Charley's analysis
- As Charley sums up at Willy’s funeral, a salesman “don’t put a bolt to a nut… or give you medicine.”
- Willy’s urge to plant seeds at the end of his life perhaps reflects his desperate need to use his own hands, his own physical and creative labour, to help plan for the future.
The Requiem
The Requiem
- Instead, as Charley states in the Requiem, Willy has spent his life selling a dream or illusion.
- A salesman such as Willy relies on superficial appearances (“on a smile and a shoeshine”) and personal charisma but, as soon as one finds “a couple of spots on your hat… you’re finished.”
Irony
Irony
- It is ironic that Charley, a capitalist success story, is the character who, at the end of the play, is left to sum up how brutal a capitalist society can be.
1Introduction
1.1Introductions
2Act One
3Act Two
4Extended Passage Analysis
5Character Profiles
5.1Willy & Linda Loman
5.2Biff & Happy Loman
5.3Other Characters
6Key Themes
7Writing Techniques
7.1Structure
7.3Expressionism
8Historical Context
8.1Historical Context
9Literary Context
9.1Tragedy
10Critical Debates
10.1Introduction
10.2The Marxist Reading
10.3The Feminist Reading
10.4The Eco-Critical Reading
10.5Other Debates
Jump to other topics
1Introduction
1.1Introductions
2Act One
3Act Two
4Extended Passage Analysis
5Character Profiles
5.1Willy & Linda Loman
5.2Biff & Happy Loman
5.3Other Characters
6Key Themes
7Writing Techniques
7.1Structure
7.3Expressionism
8Historical Context
8.1Historical Context
9Literary Context
9.1Tragedy
10Critical Debates
10.1Introduction
10.2The Marxist Reading
10.3The Feminist Reading
10.4The Eco-Critical Reading
10.5Other Debates
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