Brain Spill Book Review #10

Death of a Salesman

By Arthur Miller

Setting

Death of a Salesman takes place somewhere in New England in the 1950s. That's about it.

Summary

A salesman gets old and cranky and starts to hallucinate about the past. His family and friends try to help him and support him, but in the end, he dies.

Characters

Willy Loman

Willy is the salesman who is referred to in the title. He is an old man with a lot of regrets. He hallucinates about the past throughout the entire play. Willy is a very annoying character. He lies to just about everybody in the book and when people try to help him with his problems, he just starts yelling at them.

Biff 

Biff is the 34-year-old eldest son of Willy. His life dramatically changed when Biff flunked math in high school and didn't go to college. He has had a variety of jobs, but never held one for very long. His personality clashes greatly with that of Willy and they fight very often. Biff's actions towards the end of the book are really annoying.

Happy

Happy is Willy's other son. He has a steady job and is more successful then Biff. Happy does, however, have a thing about lying. He also enjoys picking up girls. He is, though, one of the most reasonable characters in the entire book.

Linda

Linda is Willy's wife. She absolutely adores Willy and everything about him. She has full faith in Willy and basically lets him do whatever he wants, even if it is dangerous, without question. She gets defensive whenever somebody starts to have an affect on the way Willy thinks or acts, but she won't do anything to Willy.

Ben

Ben in Willy's dead brother who went to Africa and made his fortune. Ben is greatly admired by Willy and is a major source of Willy's regret. When Ben went to Africa, Willy could have gone with  him, but didn't, and now regrets it. Ben died before the book began, but he appears a lot in Willy's hallucinations. 

Charley

Charley is probably the closest thing Willy has to a friend. Charley tries to help Willy, and has been for years, financially and mentally. Willy, though, likes to feel independent, and will not take a job from Willy when he loses his old job.

Conclusion

The play is tied together very nicely and the transitions are good, but the play itself is not that great. The play is very pointless and nothing really gets done in the entire thing, and the only plot twist is mentioned in the title, so there is no surprise when Willy does die. 5 waffles out of 11.