Success as a Theme in Death of a Salesman ?

Success is the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like. One of the tragic themes of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is that the main character Willy Loman's vision of 'success' is built upon superficial appearances. Truly, Miller's play is more accurately a meditation on Willy Loman's failures, but the main character's searching for success drives much of the conflict of the story. Willy's chief desire, for himself and for his sons, is to be well-liked.

 In actuality, being 'well-liked' is a false sense of accomplishment because it stakes a person's success upon personality and presentation, rather than the quality of the work he or she brings to the table. The character Charley points this out to Willy when he says that no one really liked the successful financier J. P. Morgan; they only liked the depths of his pockets.

Suicide as a Perverted Vision of Success

From the title of the play, we know that the story will end with the death of the story's salesman, Willy Loman. However, Willy's choice of suicide calls into question the 'successful' legacy he leaves for his family. Earlier in the play, Willy himself describes what the 'death of a salesman' might look like, a crowded event with former business associates coming from all over the region to celebrate the life of a man who was well-liked. Part of the tragedy of this play, however, is that only Willy's immediate family attends his funeral. This is a point that confuses his wife, Linda, who enthusiastically believed in the myths Willy told himself and others. In the end, Willy's funeral does not seem representative of a man who was successful, at least with respect to whether he had professional connections.

Willy mistakenly perceives suicide as a last ditch attempt at success for two reasons, both of which, when examined closely, seem more like tragic failures. First, Willy believes that his funeral will bring attendees from all over New England, which will show his sons that he was a popular and influential man. The sad reality is that Willy has mostly outlived the business associates who did enjoy his company, and few people attend his funeral. Second, Willy is confident that the twenty-two thousand dollar payout from his life insurance will give his sons the resources they need to build the American dream for themselves. But by committing suicide, Willy has effectively rendered the payout as blood money, and his sons, especially Biff Loman, will want little to do with it.

why did willy become salesman ? The Ideal Funeral

Willy thinks that the dream funeral on the service held for an old salesman named Dave Singleman willl also held for him.

Singleman's funeral is in fact part of what inspired Willy to become a salesman in the first place. Willy says that it was huge and well-attended, making it totally obvious to all that Singleman was successful and well-liked. In some ways, Willy seems to measure the worth of a man by size of his funeral.

Unfortunately for Willy, his funeral is nothing like the way he describes Singleman's. Hardly anybody comes at all. We hope the ghost of Willy wasn't around to watch it, because he would be totally bummed out. By Willy's own standards, his funeral shows that he wasn't very successful and wasn't particularly liked. The gap (or massive chasm) between how Willy dreams that his death will be received and how it actually goes down makes this title sadly ironic.

The Death of Willy's Dream

The title also refers to the death of Willy's salesman dream—the dream to be financially successful and a father to hotshot sons. By the end of the play, Willy is flat broke and without a job. It's pretty clear that his dream of being a big-time salesman is already dead.

Willy hopes, though, that by killing himself he can leave some legacy to his son Biff in the form of life insurance money. This would give Biff a chance to succeed in the business world. Perhaps, with Willy's death a new salesman will be born.

Actually, nope, that doesn't happen at all.

In the funeral scene, it's more than clear that all Willy's dreams are deader than dead. Biff has no interest in following in his father's footsteps. Also, it's painfully obvious to everybody that Willy committed suicide, meaning that there will be no life insurance money coming to his family. In the end, Willy's salesman dream is dead, dead, dead.

Capitalism and the American Dream

On a larger level, the title could be taking yet another swipe at capitalism and the American Dream. Willy, being a salesman, in many ways represents American commercialism. The fact that he gets chewed up and spit out by the system may be a comment on the soullessness of the system itself. Instead of calling the play Death of a Salesman, you could call it Death of Capitalism, or Death of the American Dream. Hmm, those titles aren't quite as subtle and cool as Miller's, are they? We guess we'll leave the whole writing-great-works-of-literature thing to him.

Why does Willy want to plant a garden?

Seeds. Seeds represent for Willy the opportunity to prove the worth of his labor, both as a salesman and a father. 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.