THE ANALYSIS OF SYMBOLS IN THE DEATH OF A SALESMAN
BY ARTHUR MILLER
A THESIS
BY
HANIDA DWI ARDANI
REG NO : 050705043
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH SUMATERA
FACULTY OF LETTERS
ENGLISH DEPARTEMENT
MEDAN
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.5 The Research of the analysis……….. 4
1.6 The Significance of the study……… 4
1.7 Review of The Related Literature………. 5
CHAPTER II PLAY AND SYMBOLS
CHAPTER III THE ANALYSIS OF SYMBOLS IN ARTHUR
MILLER’S THE DEATH OF A SALESMAN
3.1 Symbol of diamond………253.2 Symbol of jungle………28
3.3 Symbol of seeds……….30
3.4 Symbol of music………....32
3.6 Symbol of lighting……….35 3.7 Symbol of stockings………..36 3.8 Symbol of mythic figures………..38
CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
4.1 Conclusion………40 4.2 Suggestion……….41
APPENDIX
SUMMARY OF THE PLAY
ARTHUR MILLER’S BIOGRAPHY HIS LITERARY WORKS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank and praise to Allah SWT, who has blessed me in
this life especiallyin writing this thesis.
I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to all of people in Faculty of
Letters, University of North Sumatra:
1. Drs. Syaifuddin, M.A. Ph.D, as the Dean of Faculty of Letters, University of
North Sumatra.
2. Dra. Swesana Mardia Lubis, M.Hum as the Head of English Department, Faculty
of Letters, University of North Sumatra, who has paid attention, guided and
supported me in finishing my study.
3. Drs. Yulianus Harefa, Med TESOL, as the Secretary of English Department,
Faculty of Letters, University of North Sumatra, who has paid attention, guided
and supported me in finishing my study.
4. Drs. Sahri Saja, M.A as my Supervisor who has given advices, suggestion,
guidance, and helps me in writing this thesis.
5. Drs. Parlindungan Purba, M.Hum as my Co-Supervisor who has given advices,
suggestion, guidance, and helps me in writing this thesis.
6. All lectures who have guided and given valuable knowledge and advices during
the years of my study.
And for my lovely people in my life:
1. My beloved parents: Papi and Mami thanks for your love, support, prayer and
2. My Brother Aan, my sister in law kak Ayu, my sister Nisa, Jihan and Dina
thank for your love, support and prayers.
3. My lovely beibh Agus Heriansyah thanks a lot for your love, support,
attention, prayers and everything.
4. My lovely friend , especially my best friend , Ira and Duma, thanks guys for
your support and friendship.
5. My speciall thank for all mu friends 05, Kieki, Ai,Ijal, Yuyu, Adly, Ayu,
Decy, Wiwin, Fresty, Emak, sembol( Lili), Iwa, gusti, abun ( dedi rizki),
wawan, noni, 06 and 03 thanks guys for your friendship and happiness, love
you guys.
Medan, April 2009
Hanida Dwi Ardani
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1Background of the analysis.
Taylor ( 1981:1) says that, literature like other arts, is essentially an imaginative
act, that is an act of the writer’s imagination in selecting, ordering, and interpreting life
experience. The use of imagination is important and has been shown in the literary
extracts already considered. The choice and relationship of words is directed by the fact
that the writer is not attempting a straight forward factual exposition of his subject matter.
He is creating his own sort of reality, making up characters, places, and conditions on his
own terms ( Chapman, 1982:26).
Both definitions show that literature can be the interpretation of experience, life
experience, everything felt, seen, heard or even read by an author can be put into a
literary work by using the author’s creative imagination.
Literature is divided into three major genres of literature, they are drama, prose
and poetry in which each genre has its own characteristic. Taylor ( 1981:101) explains
that drama as re-create action immediately and physically on a stage in front of an
audience. The title of the play is Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.
Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman is a story of a man , Willy Loman, whose
struggling efforts to live the American dream are unsuccessful. Willy’s efforts to have it
all and live the life of a salesman, like his hero David Singleman, unfortunately are not
enough pushing his dreams further away from reality. Death of a Salesman is a true and
pointing out that the American dream can be insurmountable for many people. The
Loman's displays of dishonesty and immorality prove that the American Dream can often
diminish any respectable values an individual may have. Possessing the finest of
everything and placing great importance on looks and
begins to create a materialistic world where success and wealth are of the utmost
importance. The Loman family's longing to achieve the American Dream presents a clear
image that allows insight into the imperfections and phoniness of the dream itself.
The writer decide to analyze symbols in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
because there are many symbols found in the play that makes it mysterious, unique, and
interesting to be analyzed. symbols are abstract idea and not easy to understand the real
meaning of symbol, symbol is important in literary work as transferring meaning hidden
behind the words and to share ideas feelings the authors and also the author inderictly
expressed his idea by using symbols. Symbols are all we have to communicate with one
another , something hidden to share our ideas and feelings. Symbols are object, character
or colour used to represent abstract ideas or concept. A symbol may be defined as any
object that suggest a larger meaning than itself or as applied specially to literature a
symbol may be an objector even action that embodies the nature of class off things or an
abstract idea.
Kasim (1998: 55) says that para penganut aliran simbolis adalah menciptakan karya – karya yang berisikan buah pikiran yang tersembunyi , yang samar – samar, yang merupakan gambaran perasaan manusia yang tidak diungkapkan secar terus terang, sehingga semuanya ini akan mendorong kemampuan dan daya pikir para pembaca karya- karya mereka untuk memahami dan sekaligus menikmati karya – karya tersebut.
Peck and Martin (1984:72) explains that a symbol are only used when a writer
observable in the everyday world. This definition mean that the writer has to use a
symbol because he can only convey his non – rational apprehension of something by
using object and words from the familiar word. In analyzing symbol need deep
understanding . Symbol is not expressed directly by the author but it is expressed by the
object, figures, characters and colours where it represent abstract ideas or concept.
1.2The Problems of the analysis
In doing a research , it is important to decide the problems that are going to
analyze to avoid the ambiguity of the research and to assist the writer to get the clear
description on the object of the study. Deciding statement the problem would help the
writer in collecting data for the analysis.
1. What kinds of symbols are found in the play?
2. What is the meaning of each symbol?
1.3The object of the analysis
Objective of a study is a statement about the activities and objects that are going
to analyze based on the problem of the analysis. This research hold on to this objective in
doing the research . In this research , the writer conclude that there are objective based on
statement of the problems that has been decide:
1. To find out the kinds of the symbol found in the play.
2. To explain the meaning of each symbol.
In research it is important for the writer to limit the analysis to concentrate on the
specific object that has been chosen in order to get the best result from it. This would help
the writer to avoid over complicating the issues and analysis. This research limits the
discussion only on analyzing the symbols found in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miler.
1.5The Research of the Method
In analyzing Death of a Salesman’s symbols, this research apply two methods.
The first is descriptive method. First read the play, try to understand the play and
describe the symbols in the play. The second is interpretive method. After describe the
symbols, the writer try to interpreted the meaning of the symbols.
In doing the analysis, the writer apply library research by collecting the references
that support and related to the analysis from library and also find suitable references
from the internet to complete the analysis.
1.6The Significance of the Study
This research really expected that it can achieve some significance for the readers as
follows:
1. To help the readers more understand the story by explaining the symbols.
2. To help the readers familiarize with Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
1.7Review of The Related Literature
In this research , the uses a number of books which are concerned with the discussion
1. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, by Wilfred L. Guerin, et al
talked about some critical approaches in literature such as traditional approach,
the formalistic approach, the psychological approach, mythological and
archetypal approaches, the exponential approach, and other approaches.
2. Theory of Literature, by Rene Wellek and Austin Warren (1956). In this classic
book, Wellek and Warren talked about two kinds of approach in analyzing a
literary work. The first approach is extrinsic approach that is an approach that is
an approach which relates the literary work to the other subject. Secondly,
intrinsic approach, that is an approach which emphasizes on the elements of the
literature itself.
3. Understanding the Elements of Literature, by Richard Taylor (1981), explain
three major genres ( drama, prose and poetry), which are defined and discussed in
detail. Critical process in the appreciation and interpretation of literature are high
lighted through the book.
4. An Introduction of Literary Studies, by Razali Kasim (2006). In this book, he
talked about symbol; meaning and kinds of symbol in two kinds are conventional
and private symbols.
5. Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams Totem and Taboo, Three Essays
on the Theory of Sexuality and Other Works a Critical Commentary, by Robert N.
Pasotti this book consists of some interpretation of dreams, clinical period,
cultural period, theory of art.
CHAPTER II
PLAY AND SYMBOLS
2.1 Definition of play
Kasim (1999: 79) explains that the word drama derives from Greek word ‘ dran’
which means ‘ to do, to act’. It has a long history. The oldest dramatic performance
known in human history was Abydos Play. It was performed in Egypt in approximately
4000 B.C intended to worship their god, Osiris. The rise of dramatic performance in
ancient Greece was also related to religion. It show us that drama means that to do, to act
which has long story and in Egypt it means that as performed of thank and honor to the
god and in Greece the performed also related to their religion.
Drama has undergone evolution. In ancient Greek time there was chorus that
stood for people in general. There were a lot of flashback told by characters because the
story was limited to only 24 hours and the setting was in one place ( three unities). In the
further development later there was no chorus and three unities, but the stories were still
about aristocratic or noble families.
Taylor ( 1981:101) explains that drama as re-create action immediately and
physically on a stage in front of an audience. It means that drama as re-creating action of
imagination as interpretation of literary text in front of audiences.The immediate and
physical re – creation of action before an audience introduces certain limitations as well
as offering creative possibilities.
Drama is a type of literature usually written to be performed. People often make a
distinction between drama, which concerns the written text, or script, for the
most honored and influential works of literature around the world have been dramas.
They begin with the classical Greek tragedies of
and continue with the plays of such major dramatists a
a
the Western tradition (accessed at
Most types of literature, including novels, short stories, and poems, are written to
be read, usually in silence by a solitary reader. Although works of drama, called plays,
are also often read in this manner, they are created primarily to be presented in public by
a group of performers, each of whom pretends to be one of the characters in the story the
play is telling. Older plays, such as those written by the Greeks or Shakespeare, consist
almost entirely of the words spoken by these characters (the dialogue). More recent plays
usually contain non spoken material (the stage directions) that tells the actors when to
enter or leave the performance space, gives suggestions about how to speak their dialogue
(their lines), and describes their costumes or their physical surroundings on stage (the
setting). (accessed at
The explanation above tell us about novel and short stories are the modern or
living narrative fiction. They often share constructional features, subject matter and
themes derived from the epic, romance, satire, and allegory. It is normally a prose work
of quite some length and complexity which attempts to reflect and express something of
of lie as we know it, or set in an exotic and imaginative time o place. The work may
create the illusion of actual reality or frankly admit the artificiality of its fictional world in
order to direct our attention to an imaginative relationship between the subject matter or
theme of the work and the real world in which we actually live. The novel o manners
which investigates social behaviour and ethics is another recognisable form of this period
as is the novel concerned with education of a young man or woman.. The short stories is
similar to the novel in all characteristics except that it limits itself to a single, complete
episode and makes up in compression and intensity for what it lacks in scope and breadth
of vision. The short stories is an outgrowth of the modern concern for the examination of
artistic materials and forms. In it we see the basic unit or building block of the novel
isolated for examination. Drama derives its most characteristic features from the
effectiveness of stage presentation, a factor which does not depend on language, while the
distinguishing features of poetry are rhythmic movement and musical devices. The above
explanation show us that drama is type of literature concern with text to be performed in
front of audience, drama give big influence for some author in Europe, whereas some
author has characteristic of their drama, for example Shakespeare his works tells about
tragedy, revenge, and death. As we know that drama has text, dialogue, potentially may
work for theatrical situation. Drama has diagram of pyramidal construction such as
introduction, rising action, climax, falling action and conclusion. People in Ancient Greek
had no guidance such as holy books, so they created or took the moral lessons from the
dramatic performances. Greek drama was religious in nature, in the story of dramatic
performances, there was God of wilderness and fertility. Drama at the time tell about high
The ancient Greek philosopher
study of drama, divided the elements of drama into plot, character, thought, language, and
spectacle. Aristotle considered plot—the basic story and how it is told—the most
important of these, and this is indeed typically the case. However, almost all dramas use
all of these elements to some extent, telling a story by means of the interactions of
characters, who express their thoughts through language within a particular visual setting.
The balance of these elements, however, varies from play to play. During some periods
and in some traditions many or most plays emphasize some element other than plot.
Aristotle’s explained that tragedy purges the audience of fear and pity.
Language is almost always an important element in drama, and it is occasionally
the dominant element. This is the case in the poetic dramas of English romantic authors
of the early 19th century and in much of what is called high comedy or comedy of
manners, which dates back to the 17th century in England. The latter tradition emphasizes
nuances of social class and behavior and typically makes prominent use of witty
dialogue, puns, and other verbal acrobatics (Accessed at
8:47:12 PM)
Language or dialogue is the most important element drama whereas dialogue
serves for major functions such as to give information, this function which provides the
readers or audiences with specific information about a dramatic situation and the events
that have led to it. Dialogue to reveal character which gives information about characters
develop the plot, to elevate the language which this function deals with the attempt to
present the finest expression primarily for the sake of elevated language.
Accessed at
emphasized spectacle include opera, modern musical comedy, 19th-century melodrama,
and court spectacles known as masques that originated in England during the 16th
century. Spectacle can include lavish costumes, elaborate sets or stage machinery, and
other elements that serve to enrich an audience’s visual experience of a play.
A type of play which is accompanied with music, the two elements music and
story are equally important. If farce is often associated with comedy, melodrama with
tragedy. It treats serious subject, commonly romantic and sensational.
Accessed at
subdivisions of drama are
Even today the smiling and weeping masks worn by Greek actors in comedy and tragedy
symbolize the two branches of drama. Traditionally, a tragedy is dominated by a serious
tone, concerns kings and princes, deals with profound issues, and usually concludes with
the death of the leading character. A comedy typically deals with common people, is
dominated by a light tone that encourages laughter (or at least amusement or
Tragedy on the hand, presents a world in which a different kind of occurs and the
return to normally is based on punishment or expiation for the original inversion of
values, a sin against society or against supernatural. Tragedy act upon their natures,
ultimately destroying them . Comedy is generally concerned with situation the
relationship of those happenings to normal patterns of surprising us and exciting laughter
at the ridiculousness of human situations.
Accessed at
other forms of drama appeared, and dramatists modified the two traditional forms.
Shakespeare divided his plays into comedies, tragedies, and histories, the latter presenting
national history in dramatic form. He also departed from classic practice by putting
important comic scenes into his tragedies. In Italy, certain critics and dramatists began
mixing elements and aspects of the two traditional kinds of theater to create a third kind,
called tragicomedy. The mixture of moods would become much more common in the
19th and 20th centuries.
Drama was the main literary forms of Renaissance, all literature were influenced
by medieval as well as classical models, although each work was a new creation and
shared the characteristics of its own age. From this developed appeared new creation is
tragicomedy which combained of tragic and comedy.
Accessed at
combined forms as well. Tragedy remained the genre used most often to explore the
profound philosophic questions of good and evil and humankind’s place in the universe,
while comedy emphasized people in their social aspects and personal relationships. This
split made comedy the more appropriate form for social commentary and criticism as
well as for simple amusement. Comedy emphasizing wit and style among the upper
classes became known as high comedy or comedy of manners, as opposed to low comedy
or farce. Low comedy traditionally gains its effects from physical humor that can even
turn violent at times and from crude verbal jokes, rather than from verbal wit or nuances
of social behavior.
Greece. The equivalent form of tragedy with a wide popular appeal, call
emerged as a recognized type of theater in the 19th century (though some modern critics
characterize certain plays by Euripides as melodramas). Like farce, melodrama is
associated with physical action. In the 18th century, as interest grew in the exploration of
the emotions, sentimental comedy developed. It stressed feelings rather than laughter and
encouraged audience sympathy with the characters and their trials. Other new forms
included tragedies that dealt with class characters and serious plays about
middle-class life, often called simply dramas. In the 20th century such middle-middle-class drama
replaced tragedy as the major serious form of theatrical writing.
Tragedy and comedy in every centuries has characteristic at the time. In classic
time tragedy talked about philosophic, religious. Comedy talked about satire of high class
and social class. After a period that comedy and tragedy continue to expand, form - old
form have been left and continue to be developed so that yield new masterpiece and new
much the same to its story with tragedy, where its cherry about sorrow which is laying
open to through word expression - acting and word. The story not only talked about high
class also social, middle and low class. Drama always develop so it make drama so
interested and the story never same in every time.
Drama has served a wide variety of functions at different times and in different
places. Roman writer
literature in general and drama in particular, said it was designed 'to delight and to
instruct.' Sometimes the purpose of drama has been considered to be primarily the first of
these, sometimes the second, but generally at least some degree of both has been present.
Accessed at
Renaissance drama was closely associated with major religious and civic observances and
served to support both. As a result, plays emphasized instruction. The Renaissance saw
examples of theater that were almost purely instructional at schools and universities,
along with examples that were almost pure entertainment in the popular theaters at fairs
and marketplaces, and a great variety of combinations of the two. Subsequent popular
drama stressed entertainment, from presentations in farce and folk theaters of the 18th
century to the offerings of major commercial theaters today. Much of the more serious,
literary drama from the 18th century on has sought to encourage its audiences to become
better informed and more thoughtful about a range of political, social, and moral issues. It
is important to remember that drama is also an art form, and can offer in addition to
early 20th-century the art theater movement stressed this purpose in particular, by
presenting dramas whose primary goal was neither conventional entertainment nor
instruction but an aesthetic or artistic experience.
Classic tragedy requires a hero of high political and social status as well as of
moral distinction who is placed in a situation which acts upon as undiscovered law in
heroic tragedy is the effect of the situation on character and the investigation is generally
more of the flaw occurs at the climax of the play and the hero descends to his inevitable
end as the action develops towards the ultimate catastrophe.
Audiences attend plays from a mixture of motivations, including curiosity,
pleasure-seeking, and a desire for knowledge or aesthetic experience. But all of these
experiences are intensified by the public nature of drama. Because drama is a literary
form designed for public presentation, writing about drama has often explored how drama
relates to society. Some theorists have argued that, as an art reflecting social concerns for
a group audience, drama is particularly suited to stimulate social change. Other theorists
have argued that the group orientation of drama means that to succeed drama can never
seriously challenge the audience’s general assumptions. Even though critics disagree
about drama's revolutionary potential, most would agree that a central purpose of drama
has always been to provide a means for a society to reflect upon itself and its beliefs.
Audiences is very important in drama because drama performance in front of
audience to give appreciate. Audiences is judge to give assessment for drama good or bad
2.1.1Kinds of play
Most of the world’s great plays written before the twentieth century may be
regarded as one of two kinds: tragedy or comedy. Roughly speaking, tragedy dramatizes
the conflict between the vitality of the single life and the laws or limits of life ( the tragic
hero reaches his heights, going beyond the experiences of other men, at the cost of his
life), and comedy dramatizes the vitality of the laws of social life ( the good life is seen to
reside in the shedding of an individualism that isolates , in favor of a union with a genial
and enlightened society). A third kind of drama, somewhat desperately called
tragicomedy, is harder to epitomize, but most of the tragicomedies of our century use
extravagant comic scenes to depict an absurd, senseless world.
2.1.1.1 Tragedy
The word’ tragedy’ derives from two Greek words’ trago’ and ‘ oide’. Trago
means goat and oide means song. In Greek term ‘ goat song’ means the death just as the
sacrifice of goats, totems of primitive people or the worshippers of the god dressed in
goatskin, done in ancient rituals. In Latin, it is called ‘ tragodia’ whereas in Old French
called ‘ tragedie’.
Tragedy is defined as play in which the protagonists fall to disaster through the
combination of personal failings and circumstances. The story of a tragedy must be ended
with disaster or the characters undergo a sad event or an unfortunate aspect of something.
It also describe the chief characters, misfortune and errors and in the ending with
The simplest definition of tragedy is that it is a play that ends with deaths of the
main character. The concept of tragedy was related to the belief of ancient Greek people.
The Greeks had no holy book that might have guided their life. They were forced to rely
on their own intellect for a solution of goon and evil, no revelation. In their search for
controlling principles by which to conduct their life, they developed moral and religious
codes derived from strict legal codes. The controlling principles were harmony, balance,
proportion, and justness.
The central personage of Greek tragedy was warrior hero. He was the
embodiment of the old ideal ‘ arete’ , a prowess or strength that had brought him glory
and fame an made him a leader. He appeared as one who had achieved everything in his
life , both fortune was apparently revealed as hollow, the hero was brought to suffering
and ruin. He was trapped in a situation in which any action taken by the hero would be
morally unacceptable. He attempted to fight, because he didn’t want to give up , but his
attempt ended failure.
The above explanation show us some important points out Greek tragedy such as,
the hero is person who never gives up. He will fight, although he realize that his opponent
is stronger and more powerful and that he will finally be defeated. The Greek hero always
feels responsible for what he has done. He never tries to escape from his responsibility.
2.1.1.2 Comedy
Accessed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_(drama)3/10/2009 8:47:12 PM
explained that the word "comedy" is derived from thκωμῳδία, which is
a compound either ofκώμη (village) and ᾠδή (singing): it is possible
that κῶμος itself is derived from κώμη, and originally meant a village revel. The adjective "comic" (Greek κωμικός), which strictly means that which relates to comedy is, in
modern usage, generally confined to the sense of "laughter-provoking". The word came
into modern usage through the Latin comoedia and Italian commedia and has, over time,
passed through various shades of meaning.
Greeks and Romans confined the word "comedy" to descriptions of stage-plays
with happy endings. In the
with happy endings and a lighter tone. In this sense
poem, La Divina Commedia. As time progressed, the word came more and more to be
associated with any sort of performance intended to cause laughter.
Comedy is often linked and contrasted with tragedy. Aristotle in his book The
Poetics ( in Albert Cook, 1963:59) points out that comedy is inferior to tragedy, comedy
imitates human life very badly. But in the further development some very talented
writers, such as George Bernard Shaw, wrote comedies that were widly accepted by the
reading public. He made use comedy to criticize English society.
Much comedy contains variations on the elements of surprise, incongruity,
expectations, but there are many recogni
use ironic comedy to portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt, thus
alienating their audience from the object of humor.
(usually upper class society) and uses humor to parody or satirize the behavior and
mannerisms of its members.
romance in humorous terms, and focuses on the foibles of those who are falling in love.
2.1.1.3 Tragic comedy
Accessed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragicomedy3/10/2009 8:47:54 PM
explained that Tragicomedy is
and
tragicomedy referred to a serious
A play dealing with a tragic story which ends unhappily, but which contains
certain elements of comedy and the remote possibilities of a happy ending.
There is no complete formal definition of tragicomedy from the classical age. It
appears that
serious action with a happy ending) in mind when, i
dual ending. In this respect, a number of Greek and Roman plays, for instanc
may be called tragicomedies, though without any definite attributes outside of plot. The
term itself originates with
2.2 Definition of Symbols
Accessed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolism3/10/2009 8:41:40 PM
explained that Symbolism is the applied use of
particular meanings.
The term "symbolism" is limited to use in contrast to
defining the general directions of a linear
be viewed in relation, and where changes in context may impl
individual and collective definitions of symbols. "Symbolism" may refer to a way of
choosing representative symbols in line with abstract rather than literal
allowing for the broader interpretation of a carri
representations allow. A
huma
The interpretation of abstract symbols has had an important role i
creations of mind, but rather are distinct capacities within the mind to hold a distinct
piece of information. In the mind, the symbol can fi
of other symbols, can be organized in any number of ways, and can hold the connected
meanings between symbols as symbols in themselves. Jung and Freud diverged on the
issue of common cognitive symbol systems and whether they could exist only within the
individual mind or among other minds; whether any cognitive symbolism was defined by
innate symbolism or by the influence of the environment around them. In literature,
interpretation, or to allow for the broader applicability of the prose to meanings beyond
what may be literally described. Many writers, in fact most or all authors of fiction, make
symbolic use of concepts and objects as rhetorical devices central to the meaning of their
works.
Etymologically, the word of symbol derived from Greek word “ symbolon” as a
noun means sign, mark, or token and the related verb symballein means to put together. A
symbol may be defined as any object that suggest a larger meaning than itself or as
applied especially to literature a symbol may be any object or even action that embodies
the nature of a class of things or an abstract idea.
An author or poet may make a symbols in the title, character, setting and natural
objects, man made objects. The character, setting, natural objects, and the title or called a
symbol if the interpretation of a symbol has relation with the total meaning of a literary
work.
The writer will write many definitions of symbol below:
“ Symbol is something used for or regarded as representing something else. More
specially, a symbol is a word, phrase, or other expression having a complex at associated
meaning, in this sense a symbol is viewed as having values different from those at
whatever is being symbolized.” ( Hary Shaw,1976:266)
“ A symbol, in the broadest sense of the term, is anything which signifies
something else: in this sense all word are symbol. As commonly used in criticism ,
however, “ symbol” is applied only to a word or phrase signifying an object which itself
has significance : that is the object referred to has a range of meaning beyond itself.” (
“ Symbol is an object, which stands for something else. In a poem, it is a word,
which, while signifying something specific, also signifies something beyond itself. There
is the differences between image and symbol we have to infer the meaning and
associations. According them, the symbol is used when writer wants to express an
apprehension of something in his mind, which is not directly observable in everyday
world. The writer has to use a symbol because he can only convey his non rational
apprehension of something by using objects and words the familiar word.” ( John Peck
and Martin Coyle, 1984:71)
“ A symbol is a word that stands for or points to reality beyond itself. The words
can be used to describe about symbol are represents, suggests, evokes, and expresses.” (
Richard Gill,1985:30)
“ Symbol is a thing that suggest more that its literal meaning in literary text. He
devides symbol into two kinds. They are conventional and Private symbol.”( Mario
Klarer,1976:140)
2.2.1 Kinds of Symbols
According to Kasim (1999: 68) there are two main types of symbols , namely
Conventional or Universal symbol and Private or Personal symbol.
2.2.1.1 Conventional Symbols
Conventional symbol is symbol, which made through consensus, and its meaning
has recognized by a society . Traditional symbol are the object, which have become
religion and folklore. It is called traditional symbol. The cross, for example , was once
part of the image of crucifixion , later has become the symbol of Christianity . Symbols
which evolve out of religion or folklore , or out natural imagery, such as the tide ( which
symbolizes, among other things, time and eternity), become symbols by the consensus of
a large number of people who frequently come in contact with particular associations of
the image which produce symbols. The following objects have been considered bearing
conventional symbols for centuries, some of which are reflected in religious practice and
can also be found mythical story and literature, they are crescent and star are the symbol
of Moslem, water are the symbol of purification and redemption, garden are the symbol
of paradise, desert are the symbol of spiritual aridity, morning are the symbol of hope, red
are the symbol of spirit, passion, green are the symbol of growth, hope, wing are the
symbol of inspiration, relief. There are, of course a lot more of objects that might bear
traditional symbols, and the examples are by no means exhaustive.
2.2.1.2 Personal Symbols
Some authors do not use commonly accepted symbols ( conventional symbols),
but create their own symbols. The problem with non – traditional symbols is that readers
do not inherently understand them. Since that symbol can work only when there is a
consensus of meaning between the author and readers, the author must present or create
his own symbol using the context of the literary work to make the symbol clear. Non –
traditional symbols are sometimes called personal symbols. He or she must be both
efficient and effective. He or she must do something to give valuable to symbol. He or
Day September by Faulkner, dust is the symbol of spiritual drought, in the Glass
Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, wing field photograph of the symbol of Amanda’s
youth when she was in Blue Mountain.
From the describe symbol, it can be concluded that symbol is the person, natural,
and man – made objects, word, phrase, setting, character, which are used to represents
abstract ideas and feeling and symbol classified into two, they are conventional and
CHAPTER III
THE ANALYSIS OF SYMBOLS IN ARTHUR MILLER’S THE
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
3.1 Symbols of Diamonds
Willy Loman is an insecure, self-deluded traveling salesman. Willy believes
wholeheartedly in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, but he never achieves
it. Nor do his sons fulfill his hope that they will succeed where he has failed. When
Willy's illusions begin to fail under the pressing realities of his life, his mental health
begins to unravel. The overwhelming tensions caused by this disparity, as well as those
caused by the societal imperatives that drive Willy, form the essential conflict of Death of
a Salesman. Despite his desperate searching through his past, Willy does not achieve the
self-realization or self-knowledge typical of the tragic hero. The quasi-resolution that his
suicide offers him represents only a partial discovery of the truth. While he achieves a
professional understanding of himself and the fundamental nature of the sales profession,
Willy fails to realize his personal failure and betrayal of his soul and family through the
meticulously constructed artifice of his life. He cannot grasp the true personal, emotional,
spiritual understanding of himself as a literal “loman” or “low man.” Willy is too driven
by his own “willy”-ness or perverse “willfulness” to recognize the slanted reality that his
desperate mind has forged. Still, many critics, focusing on Willy's entrenchment in a
quagmire of lies, delusions, and self-deceptions, ignore the significant accomplishment of
his partial self-realization. Willy's failure to recognize the anguished love offered to him
by his family is crucial to the climax of his torturous day, and the play presents this
sacrifice in his attempt to leave an inheritance that will allow Biff to fulfill the American
Dream.
To Willy, diamonds represent tangible wealth and, hence, both validation of one's
labor (and life) and the ability to pass material goods on to one's offspring, two things
that Willy desperately craves. Correlatively, diamonds, the discovery of which made Ben
a fortune, symbolize Willy's failure as a salesman. Despite Willy's belief in the American
Dream, a belief unwavering to the extent that he passed up the opportunity to go with Ben
to Alaska, the Dream's promise of financial security has eluded Willy. Ben - Willy's
wealthy older brother. Ben has recently died and appears only in Willy's “daydreams.”
Willy regards Ben as a symbol of the success that he so desperately craves for himself
and his sons.
There are several connections to the concept of the American Dream in Death of
a Salesman. One can be found on act 1 page 1319 when the principal character Willy
Loman expresses his jealousy towards the successes of his brother Ben. Ben knew what
he wanted,
Willy : “He started with the clothes on his back, walked into the jungle and came out enormously rich at the age of twenty-one owning several diamond mines”. Willy continues: “That man
was a genius, that man was success incarnate!”(Death of a Salesman 1319)
Another example of a man’s success, and therefore also of the American Dream, is found
on page 1323. Willy’s imaginary memory of Ben describes their
who traveled with his whole
selling his inventions and he also became rich. On page 1340 Willy remembers one
and people cheered his name when he came out. He was a star then and this kind of
personal success is also a typical example of the American Dream, Willy himself
experienced a personal success in his work. At the end of the play, act 2 page 1362,
Ben :” The jungle is dark but full of diamonds, Willy”. ."
( Death of a Salesman .p. 1362)
The jungle metaphor is continually bought to the reader's attention throughout the novel.
Like Ben, Willy hopes to strike it rich in the business world of New England. Yet Willy
never finds the diamonds (success), and he leaves life without fortune or fame. In many
ways, the jungle also represents the American Dream ideal that Miller often criticized.
The jungle is dark, but full of diamonds”—turns Willy's suicide into a
metaphorical moral struggle, a final skewed ambition to realize his full commercial and
material capacity. His final act, according to Ben, is “not like an appointment at all” but
like a “diamond . . . rough and hard to the touch.” In the absence of any real degree of
self-knowledge or truth, Willy is able to achieve a tangible result. In some respect, Willy
does experience a sort of revelation, as he finally comes to understand that the product he
sells is himself. Through the imaginary advice of Ben, Willy ends up fully believing his
earlier assertion to Charley that “after all the highways, and the trains, and the
appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive.”
Ben:” One must go in to fetch a diamond out”.
( Death of a Salesman )
Ben encourages Willy to enter the “jungle” finally and retrieve this elusive
Ben's final mantra of “The jungle is dark, but full of diamonds” in Act II turns Willy's
suicide into a moral struggle and a matter of commerce. His final act, according to Ben.
Ben :“not like an appointment at all” but like a “diamond …
rough and hard to the touch.” (Death of a Salesman .p.1362).
As opposed to the fruitless, emotionally ruinous meetings that Willy has had with
Howard Wagner and Charley, his death, Ben suggests, will actually yield something
concrete for Willy and his family. Willy latches onto this appealing idea, relieved to be
able finally to prove himself a success in business. Additionally, he is certain that with
the $20,000 from his life insurance policy, Biff will at last fulfill the expectations that he,
Willy, has long held for him. The diamond stands as a tangible reminder of the material
success that Willy's salesman job could not offer him and the missed opportunity of
material success with Ben. In selling himself for the metaphorical diamond of $20,000,
Willy bears out his earlier assertion to Charley that “after all the highways, and the trains,
and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive.”
3.2 Symbol of jungle
The term jungle appears in the play as well. In act 1, when Uncle Ben came to
Willy’s house,
Ben :“ Why, boys, when I was seventeen I walked into the
jungle, and when I was twenty one I walked out. And
The jungle is symbolic of life. Willy excited that Ben is there to give advice to his
sons, forces Biff and Happy to listen to their Uncle Ben , hoping that they will learn his
business technique and strikes it rich themselves. In this way, Willy sees the potential
success of his sons as the only remaining hope of being successful himself. The jungle
can be associated with wildness, brutality and human behavior.
This ideal , however, proves to be unattainable by Willy and his sons when
Willy’s desperate struggle for success and happiness is never achieved. This realization is
foreshadowed when Ben knocks Biff down with his umbrella, saying ,
Ben : “ Never fight air with a stranger, boy. You’ll
never get out o the jungle that way .”( Death of a
Salesman. p. 1323).
The jungle, or woods, represents the chaotic yet rewarding nature of life. Ben
tells Willy,
Ben: "the jungle is dark but full of diamonds."
( Death of a Salesman .p 1362).
So like Ben, Willy hopes to strike it rich in the business world of New England.
Yet Willy never finds the diamonds (success/happiness), and he leaves life without
fortune or fame. In many ways, the jungle also represents the twentieth century free
Ben also tells to Willy,
Ben : “ It’s dark there, but full of diamonds”
( Death of a Salesman. p.1363),
it means that Ben hopes Willy can to strike in his life, in his business to get his
success,
3.3 Symbol of seeds
Seeds represent for Willy the opportunity to prove the worth of his labor, both as
a salesman and a father. Act 2 page 1333,
Willy : “There’s no question, no question at all. Gee,
on the way home tonight I’d like to buy some seeds”
( Death of a Salesman. p. )
. His desperate, nocturnal attempt to grow vegetables signifies his shame about
barely being able to put food on the table and having nothing to leave his children when
he passes. Willy feels that he has worked hard but fears that he will not be able to help his
offspring any more than his own abandoning father helped him. The seeds also symbolize
Willy's sense of failure with Biff. Despite the American Dream's formula for success,
which Willy considers infallible, Willy's efforts to cultivate and nurture Biff went awry.
Realizing that his all-American football star has turned into a lazy bum, Willy takes Biff's
failure and lack of ambition as a reflection of his abilities as a father.
Miller uses these motifs throughout his play to symbolize Willy's need and desire
Though Willy attempts to plant his garden near the end of the play, this is too little too
late. His life has already been a failure and he has left nothing remarkable by which to be
remembered.
The idea of planting a garden is a major symbol in the play. Willy is always
discussing the idea of planting a garden, in Act I he says,
"The grass don't grow anymore, you can't raise a
carrot in the backyard."(Death of a Salesman.p. )
At the end of the play, one of his last acts in life is his futile attempt at planting
seeds in the backyard of his fenced-in house.
Willy : I’ve got to get some seeds. I’ve got to get
some seeds, right away. Nothing’s planted. I don’t
have a thing in the round.” ( Death of a Salesman. p. 1357)
The garden is symbolic of Willy needing to leave something behind for people to
remember him by. Something that people will think about and remember him as a great
man. Willy never achieved success in life, and he also never planted his garden. (He does
in the end of the play, but it is assumed that will not grow.). The garden functions as a
last-ditch substitute for Willy's failed career and Biff's dissipated ambition. Willy
realizes, at least metaphorically, that he has no tangible proof of his life's work. While he
way he came in,” that he has to “add up to something.” His preoccupation with material
evidence of success belies his very profession, which necessitates the ability to sell one's
own, intangible image. The seeds symbolize Willy's failure in other ways as well. The
fact that Willy uses gardening as a metaphor for success and failure indicates that he
subconsciously acknowledges that his chosen profession is a poor choice, given his
natural inclinations.
3.4 Symbols of music
From the beginning of the play, music is used to set atmosphere an
may be thought of as
and closes the production might be imagined as sounding forlorn and gently tragic, in the
beginning setting the stage for the Loman family's tragedy, and in the end mourning for
suggests happier times by its cheerfulness, and Ben's theme music reinforces both his
position as Willy's idol and the aura of success that surrounds him.
Sound is also used to enhance the audience's understanding of the characters. For
example, in the
impression of what Willy is thinking. The audience hears scrambled pieces of sound,
often voices calling Willy's name. The effect is unsettling and creates pathos.
A similar effect is achieved through tone of voice of the play to creates the
atmosphere of the memories with an enthusiastic tone of voice, and later in the play
and acting techniques are not technically "special effects", they are nevertheless used to
create an effect on the audience and thus are related.
Sound in Death of a Salesman is used to promote understanding of the characters
and events in the play, to set atmosphere and tone of scenes (particularly of memories), to
characterize especially in the case of Ben and to create pathos.
3.5 Symbols of cheese
every
The
reference to
with the base content of the
My IB
symbolism, claimed that "No
In that
Please note that it won't make
play.
Linda: ”Willy, dear, I got a new kind of American
type cheese today. It’s whipped.
Willy: Why do you get American when I like Swiss
Willy : I don’t want a change ! I want Swiss cheese.
Why am I always being contradicted?.
Linda : I thought it would be a surprise”
(Death of a Salesman .p.1306)
Willy is flustered. So to put him at ease, Linda suggest he eat delicious cheese.
Now, Willy be happy with cheese, you would guess. But Willy is angry. It’s from the U.S
!. When Willy wants cheese that is called “ Swiss” by name. It’s much like his wish that
his life stay the same. His affront to the fancy new cheese in the place. Reminds us of hoe
Willy can’t keep up pace with a world that is changing, and sales are not found. And
Willy is old, and cannot drive around.
When he balks that the cheese is whipped, and not flat, it’s once again Miller
reminding us that Willy is lost in this update state. His old time stance is too little, too
late. So, Willy is asking us: “ why switch the cheese? If it’s not broke, why fix it
whenever you please?”
These cheese here’s a symbol of progress, it’s clear. It’s a common such symbol,
but not around here. But for people who analyze dreams all their life. The symbolic
change found within cheese is quite rife. Cheese, after all, requires much change to wield,
since it’s made up of milk that has erstwhile congealed.
Now that fact brings us to the topic of milk, which fits the motif, as it’s of dairy
ilk. The question of why Willy thinks milk is better when urged to consume some
American cheddar. Ties into the baser events of the play, his hopeless success is just too
Willy’s world has been update, we’ve seen. But Willy still seeks the American
dream. The milk, like his dream, has intangible nature. His desire to escape from his low
social stature. Is not solid like cheese, but is still what is sought expressed through the
symbol of milk he has bought.
The milk, unlike cheese contains no solid base like how Willy aspires to transcend
the rat race. Now life offers will change but still he won’t tread through the strange new
unknown, staying passive instead. So the cheese symbolizes a world full of change which
Willy avoids cause he finds it too strange, and if you thought cheese symbols were
beyond belief, their repeated occurrence makes cheese a motif. And when Linda says
Linda :”cheese is on the middle shelf “
( Death of a Salesman. p 1308 ).
It could be cheese import centralizing itself.
3.6 Symbols of lighting
Lighting in Death of a Salesman often illustrates
of Willy's memories, leaves cover the stage, creating a pastoral and seemingly happy
atmosphere. In stark contrast, the scenes in the restaurant and the hotel room are
characterized by a red glow. (If one wished to pun, one might suggest this is reminiscent
of the
lighting is used in this way, defining the atmosphere in which the characters exist, in the
Lighting is also used to indicate the location on the stage in which relevant action
is occurring. When Willy moves into his memories, a different type of light or location of
light indicates the difference between his location on th
different from that of those around him. For example, light is used to express Willy's
memories about the woman while Linda remains sitting in the kitchen of the house. We
are not confused about Linda's involvement or lack thereof in the scene, because light
indicates that the action occurs where she is not.
in a subtle manner that serves more to accentuate certain character traits that are
expressed elsewhere. In the film version, the character Happy is nearly always half-lit,
implying that his life revolves about the half of his life that is splendour of his past
success, instead of th
3.7 Symbols of Stockings
These represent Willy's adultery as well as the "phoniness" of Willy's existence.
Though Willy says he's doing all he can for his family, he actually gives Linda's
stockings to his prostitute.
Willy's strange obsession with the condition of Linda's stockings foreshadows his
later flashback to Biff's discovery of him and The Woman in their Boston hotel room.
Act 1 page 1318,
Willy : Good night. And keep your pores open ! The woman : Oh, Willy !
(The woman bursts out laughing, and Linda’s laughter blends in. The woman disappears into the dark. Now the area at the kitchen table brightens. Linda is sitting where she was at the kitchen table, but now is mending a pair of her silk stockings.)
Linda : You are Willy. The handsomest man. You’ve got no reason to feel that –
Willy, (coming out of the woman’s dimming area and going over to Linda ): I’ll make it all up to you Linda, I’ll –
Linda : There’s nothing to make up dear. You’re doing fine , better than-
Willy, noticing her mending : What’s that? Linda : Just mending my stockings. They’re so expensive
Willy,( angrily, taking them from her): “I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out!”
Linda pus the stockings in her pocket.
Willy : Will you stop mending stockings? At least while I’m in the house. It gets me nervous. I can’t
tell you. Please. ( Death of a Salesman .p. 1334) Biff : You – you gave her mama’s stocking !His tears break through and be rises to go.
(Willy, grabbing for Biff). Willy : “I gave you an order !”
Biff:” Don’t touch me, you liar!.”
The teenage Biff accuses Willy of giving away Linda's stockings to The Woman.
Stockings assume a metaphorical weight as the symbol of betrayal and sexual infidelity.
New stockings are important for both Willy's pride in being financially successful and
thus able to provide for his family and for Willy's ability to ease his guilt about, and
suppress the memory of, his betrayal of Linda and Biff. . Willy assumes that Biff's
betrayal stems from Biff's discovery of Willy's affair with The Woman a betrayal of
Linda's love. Whereas Willy feels that Biff has betrayed him, Biff feels that Willy, a
3.8 Symbol of Mythic Figures
Willy's tendency to mythologize people contributes to his deluded understanding
of the world. He speaks of Dave Singleman as a legend and imagines that his death must
have been beautifully noble. Willy compares Biff and Happy to the mythic Greek figures
Adonis and Hercules because he believes that his sons are pinnacles of “personal
attractiveness” and power through “well liked”-ness; to him, they seem the very
incarnation of the American Dream.
Willy :” oh yeah, my father lived many years in Alaska. He was an adventurous man. We’ve got quite a little streak of slf-reliance in our family. I thought I’d go out with my older brother and try to locate him, and maybe settle in the North with the old man. And I was almost
decide to go, when I met a salesman in the Parker House. His name was Dave Singleman. And he was eighty our years old, and he’d drummed merchandised in thirty one states. And old Dave, he’d go up o his room, you understand, put on his green velvet slippers. I’ll never forget……… Do you know? When he died and by the way he died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers in the smoker of the New York, New Heaven, and Hartford, going into Boston when he died, hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral. Things were sad on a lotta trains for months after that. In those days there was personality in it, Howard. There was respect, and comradeship, and gratitude, in it. Today, it’s all cut and dried, and there’s no chance for bringing friendship to bear- or personality. You see that
I mean? They don’t know me any more.” . ( Death of a Salesman .p. 1337)
When Dave Singleman was mentioned, by Willy when he was trying to tell
Howard what being a salesman used to be like, we only have Willy's evidence, as all we
know, this man maybe maid up in Willy's head. But this man is a huge icon for Willy to
loved as much. I think that this marks Willy's failure as a businessman. He hasn't realised
the demands of the business world. Rather than the old way of Dave Singleman's time.
Howard isn't interested in the story of Dave. To have a successful business, it has to be
efficient, sometimes having to be ruthless. Now people buy products, not for dreams or
personalities. .
Willy said, ' There was respect, and comradeship, and gratitude in it. Today, it's all cut and dried, and there's no chance for bringing friendship to bear - or personality.'
In my opinion, Howard Wagner treats Will harshly, because Willy has been very
loyal to the business, and has had no reward for his length of service.
Willy's mythologizing proves quite nearsighted, however. Willy fails to realize
the hopelessness of Singleman's lonely, on-the-job, on-the-road death. Trying to achieve
what he considers to be Singleman's heroic status, Willy commits himself to a pathetic
death and meaningless legacy (even if Willy's life insurance policy ends up paying off,
Biff wants nothing to do with Willy's ambition for him). Similarly, neither Biff nor
Happy ends up leading an ideal, godlike life; while Happy does believe in the American
Dream, it seems likely that he will end up no better off than the decidedly ungodlike
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
4.1 Conclusions
Symbols is means something with other form. Symbol can be explained with
word, phrase, character, object and other to submit meaning from existing text.
In the play Death of a Salesman, symbol is the most important role throughout the
play because it is very important in literary works as transferring meaning hidden behind
the words and to share ideas feelings the playwright and also the playwright inderectly
expressed his idea by using symbol.
In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller there are so many symbols
found in the play that makes it mysterious, unique and interesting to be analyzed. After
analyzing the symbol used by the playwright as interpreted by Willy, Biff, Happy, Linda
and Uncle ben, the writer concludes there are some symbols used in. They are symbols of
diamond means success and wealth, jungle means life, seed means opportunity, music
means to set atmosphere and tone, lighting means illustrates atmosphere and mood,
cheese means progress, stockings means betrayal of love and mythic figure means
contibutes to understanding of the world.
Symbol in the play Death of a Salesman as media of language used by the
playwright to tell something. Arthur Miller used so many symbols in his play in the
Death of a Salesman. Diamond and jungle occur the most dominatly in the play,. Arthur
Miller explained that if Willy can pass the jungle or challenge of his life he can reach
4.2 Suggestions
A literary work must be analyzed and interpreted, so we can understand and get
the meaning of the literary work. This elements can be analyzed and interpreted such as
theme, point of view, setting, characters, etc.
The writer of this thesis fully hopes that this thesis will be useful especially for
her and readers in general, and get knowledge after reading it. As the analysis focus only
on symbols used by the playwright as interpreted by Willy Loman as the main character
of Death of a Salesman. It is wise if the writer also suggests to any other reader or people
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Becker, Udo. 1998. Lexicon der symbole. Freinburg:herder/spectrum.
Bradly. Scully. 1967. (Ed.) The American Tradition in Literature, New York : W.W
Norton and Company.
Ferber. Michael. 1999. A dictionary of Literary Symbols. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Freud, Sigmund. 1977. The Interpretation of Dreams. New York : Monarch Press.
Guerin, L Wilfred ,et all.1979. A Handbook of Critical Approaches To Literature
Second Edition. New York : Harper and Row Publishers.
Horton,W Rod and Herbet W Edwards.1952 American Literary Thought. New York
Appelton century crofts.
Kasim, Razali. 1999. Aliran – Aliran Sastra. Medan: Usu Press.
Miller, Arthur.2002. Death of Salesman edited . George Perkins and Barbara Perkinsin
“The American Tradition in Literature”. New York. Mc Graw Hill
Peck, John and Martin Coyle. 1984. Literary Terms and Criticism. London. Macmillan
Education Ltd.
Taylor, Richard.1981. Understanding the Element of Literary. London : Macmillan
Press ltd.
Wellek, Rene and Austin Warren.1956. The Theory of Literary. New York. A Harvest
Book , Harcourt, Brace, and World , Inc.
APPENDIX
SUMMARY OF THE PLAY
Act 1, Scene 1
Miller begins his play with a bedtime dialogue between Willy and his wife,
Linda. Willy, an aging salesman, has just returned late from a business trip. Linda is
very concerned, asking her husband if he had a car accident. Willy tiredly explains that
indeed he did have a close call with his car, veering off the road on two occasions while
enjoying the scenery. Though at first Linda thinks that it's a problem with the vehicle,
eventually she attributes Willy's driving problems to his exhausted mind. When Willy
explains that he's just been on vacation, she asserts, "But you didn't rest your mind. Your
mind is overactive, and the mind is what counts, dear."
Miller uses this scene to show Willy's confusion. The aging salesman is unable to
assess his situation or come to any rational conclusion as to what to do to remedy his
failures. He blames his financial problems in part on Howard, the new owner of Willy's
company and son of the former owner. According to Willy, Howard doesn't appreciate
his ability the way his father did. Despite these setbacks, however, he still believes in his
ability and value as a salesman. When explaining why they can't leave the crowded city
to live in New York, Willy tells his wife, "I'm the New England man. I'm vital in New
England."
Willy's second major problem addressed in this scene is his troubled relationship
with his son, Biff. It seems Biff, who is grown up but now at home again for an extended
paying job. Willy (who wishes for the success of his sons in part because he hasn't found
success himself) blames Biff's laziness for these problems. Yet only a few lines later,
Willy contradicts himself, maintaining that Biff is a very hard worker. "There's one thing
about Biff-he's not lazy," the old man says.
Throughout the scene, Linda appears very apologetic for Biff, hoping to smooth
things over with Willy and get him to sleep. Linda is seen as a very conciliatory person,
not wanting to upset anyone. Later, this attitude will enable Willy to continue his
downward spiral.
Act 1, Scene 2
While Willy and Linda are talking downstairs, Biff and his brother Happy listen
from the loft where they sleep. The two grown men discuss their past failures. Biff says
that he can't find a job that both pays well and is satisfying, while Happy similarly admits
that he doesn't like his job as a business clerk. Both brothers day-dream for a time about
going out west and making a living together on a cattle ranch. "Men built like we are
should be working out in the open," Biff asserts.
Happy too, but Biff especially, feels guilty that he's not lived up to his father's
expectations. "I'm thirty-four years old, I oughta be makin' my future. That's when I
come running home. And now, I get here, and I don't know what to do with myself. I've
always made a point of not wasting my life, and every time I come back here I know that
