Death Of A Salesman

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Death Of A Salesman

A critic who, while working for The New York Times, once called Death of a Salesman "one of the finest dramas in the whole range of the American theater" (Corrigan, Pg. 94) and John Gassner saw it as "one of the triumphs of American stage" (MacNicholas, Pg. 106). So, it can be stated that Miller's works command attention. Death of a Salesman won the Pulitzer Prize, the Drama Critic's Circle Award and many others when it opened in 1949. Symbolism, foreshadowing and conflict are 3 of the many things that Miller does best. All of these literary techniques have added a tremendous amount to Death of a Salesman and many others of his works. The play begins when Willy Loman, a salesman over 60, enters his house unexpectedly, and tells his worried wife, Linda, that, on his way to appointments in New England, he kept losing control of his car.

She urges him to ask Howard Wagner, Willy's young boss, for easier work in town so he will not have to drive as far anymore, "Willy, dear. Talk to them again. There's no reason why you can't work in New York" (Miller, Act 1, Scene 1). She also happily states that their two grown sons, Biff and Happy, are upstairs and sharing their old room. Willy is concerned that Biff, 34 years old, just quit another job out west. The entire conflict between Biff and Willy can be proven as starting at their meeting in Boston. When Biff saw his father, the man he idolized, with another woman, Biff's faith in him was shattered. To Biff, Willy was a hero, but after this scene, he denounces him as a fraud. When Biff gets home, he burns his University of Virginia shoes, which represented all of...