Willy Loman and the American Dream

Abstract

The unavoidable question in Death of a Salesman that lingers is whether Willy Loman is an attack, defense or ploy in the representation of the American dream. Death of a Salesman has created considerable controversy for its theatrical style, production values and its dramatic content. When first exposed to it as an underclassman, I wasn’t affected by the controversy of its theatrical style or production decisions. I accepted it as a modern tragedy and a hybrid of American Realism and German Expressionism without reservation about its theatrical style. But I found it hard to accept and participate in the political debates it seemed to engender; in fact, I was offended by its obvious ambiguity and invitation to argument. I never felt comfortable in either position, considering Death of a Salesman as being a defense of or an attack upon the American Capitalist system or the pursuit of the American dream. These arguments seemed contrived to me, and these issues and the intentional ambiguity of Miller in Death of a Salesman smacked of manipulation and seemed to be career moves designed to enhance the appeal of the play by creating controversy. Miller readily admitted that he had written his previous play, All My Sons, to shock and promote discussion (S. C. Abbotson 1999, 46). So, why can’t Willy be a straw man that was created to bring more and continuing controversy and attention to Miller’s work, which had just caused political commotion with the play All My Sons about war profiteering. Of course, Miller was accused of being a communist when that play appeared in 1947, also (A. Miller, Time bends 1987, 238). It became clear to me that Death of a Salesman could be interpreted as an oblique attack on the American dream or an ambiguous defense of that dream that one could embrace or reject according for personal or partisan reasons. It was a clever manipulation by the author designed to capitalize on his reputation as a leftist and the controversy of All My Sons to give the play more appeal and to enhance its chance at success, blending ideological controversy with the universal themes of family, love and death.