Use of Symbolism in Death of a Salesman :: Death of a Salesman Essays

Arthur milling machine is recognized as an important and influential interpretwright, not to mention essayist and novelist. Although he has had plenty of luck in his writing career, his fame is the product of his ingenious ability to control what he wants his readers to picture or feel. As one of his critics states, Miller writes ingeniously, conveying the message that if the proper study of mankind is man, mans inescapable problem is himself (Broussard, 306). Miller accurately puts into words what every person thinks, feels, or worries about, but practically has trouble expressing. By the use of symbolism, Arthur Miller portrays Willys (along with the other Lowmans) problems with family life, the society, and himself in Death of a Salesman. Arthur Miller is an interesting author in the sense that many of his plays consider or are a product of events in his life. He was born in 1915 in New York City and was the son of a successful businessman, up until the Great Depression when his father lost most of his wealth. This greatly impacts Millers life, and influences the themes for many of his future writings. To make ends meet at home, Miller worked as a motortruck driver, a warehouse clerk, and a cargo-mover consequently, these odd jobs bring him close to the working-class type people that will later be the basis of many characters in his plays. It is while he is involving himself in these jobs that Miller forms his love for literature he is greatly impressed by Fyodor Dostoevskis The Brothers Karamazov because it questions the unspoken rules of society, a concept he practically wondered about, especially after the Great Depression. He believes that American society needed to be made over for this reason, many of his earlier plays show sympathetic portrayals and clement characterizations of his characters. In 1956, Miller marries the eminent Marilyn Monroe. This event significantly affects his writing in that he focuses on female characters more than he ha d formerly. He also looked O.K. at his prefigured themes in past stories and expanded or reconsidered them (Martin, 1336-7). Clearly, the roots of his works are the result of important events from his past experiences. Death of a Salesman is a play relating to the events leading to the downfall of Willy Loman, an aging salesman who is at one time prosperous, but is now approaching the end of his usefulness (Atkinson, 305).