Response to the Death of a Salesman

文章主要讲述了《Death of a Salesman》这本书。作者阿瑟·米勒写了一个63岁的推销员。故事集中在过去24小时内推销员的生活。在描述中,作者插入许多老威利的记忆使威利整个忙碌的生活更加清晰。

The leading character of The death of a salesman written by Arthur Miller is a 63-year-old salesman-Willy Loman. The story focuses on the last 24 hours of his life. In the description, the author inserts many old memories of Willy which gives a clear picture of Willy’s whole busy life. The young Willy is so ambitious that he wants to be wealthy through becoming a salesman. In addition, his two sons are his pride, especially his elder son, an excellent football player. While, as time goes by, Willy’s dream does not come true and his 30 years efforts do not pay off as the company which he devotes all his life to fire him without giving him anything. After 30-year hard work, he ends up with suffering from economic crisis instead of being wealthy. What’s worse, his two sons accomplish nothing until their 30s. All these sorrows force Willy to take his own life in order to receive 20 thousand dollars insurance for his sons. By means of doing so, he wants his sons to make good use of the money and fulfill his unrealized dream. The book shocks American people very much, not only because it shows something that has long lasting effects in American society and culture but also due to its vivid description of the main character. 
Critics usually refer to the word “American dream” to comment on the tragic fate of the main character in The death of a salesman which is the eternal topic of American culture. For hundreds years, American people believe that as long as you are diligent enough to work on this hopeful land, you will surely succeed someday. This belief has deep roots in American society and functions as the engine of American society to develop continuously. 
Willy Loman is a faithful follower of American dream. According to the plots in the book, from late 19th century to early 20th century, when Willy was lived in, there are so many books which talk about someone who start from scratch. According to statistics, the word “make money” is mentioned by players for nine times in the play The death of a salesman. And the word “make” which has relationships with the topic of making money and being successful has appeared for 45 times. The two successful examples for Willy are his brother Ben and an old salesman David Singleman. In Willy’s heart, Ben is a risk taking legendary figure with enterprising spirit. And David Singleman can earn money easily through phones in the hotel in his 84 years old. What’s more, there are hundreds of salesmen and clients from different places to take part in his funeral. Willy is a person lacking adventure spirit who chooses to be a salesman instead of following his brother’s footsteps. As far as he is concerned, he will be someone as long as he keeps working hard no matter how common he is. While as a matter of fact, Willy shows us the disillusionment of American dream. Finally, Willy does not get rich, his boss fires Willy without considering his devotions to the company. In addition to his own enthusiasm towards American dream, Willy hopes that his sons can understand him and help him to fulfill his unfinished dream. He always speaks highly of his sons which makes his sons too proud to work hard on his own step by step. The reasons of Willy’s failure are complex. It is not because he holds American dream but because he can not analyze himself and the society correctly. He is a person who likes doing something leisurely and comfortable things while he chooses to become a salesman who needs to face with various kinds of clients and by every means to persuade and affect others. Besides, when he decides to devote himself to doing sales promotion, advertisement industry has already played an important roles in promoting products. The future of salesmen is not as bright as before. Willy is so eager to be successful that he always boasts how popular he is among people, how glorious his carrier is and how great contributions he has made to his company. He is wanting a funeral as ceremonious as David Singleman. However not every dream can come true. The fact that Willy does not earn affection and respect of others as well as his lonely funeral proves that it is really hard for an ordinary person to be successful because the society is practical and cruel.
Nowadays American dream still keeps its great influence. As it is mentioned above, American dream has deep roots in American society and it still functions as the fundamental engine for American society to develop continuously. However, what is the difference is that nowadays people are more sober and practical. They tend to accept whom they are and can evaluate the situation objectively by taking different factors into consideration.
Another contrast that arouses my interests is the consumer culture. It is hard to believe that Willy is a down and out salesman suffering from heavily debt, because he has his own house, washing machine, car and so on. To better understand this, we need to look at the social background of American at that time. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, American goes to mass production and consumption period. Businessmen apply so many ways to stimulate consumption such as advertisements mail service and so on. At that time, American people, especially some middle class make their mind to pursue personal pleasure, creature comfort and purchases and sales. For them, consumption is not only the necessity for life but also stand for identity and status. Nowadays, the production of America is still ahead of other countries while, consumption is no longer the only standard that represents people’s identity and status. It is a diversified society with many ways to evaluate people’s achievements and contributions.

Reference
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. London: Penguin Classics, 2000.

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