linda in death of a salesman essay

'Death of a Salesman' Character Analysis of Linda Loman

Supportive Spouse or Passive Enabler?

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Arthur Miller’s " Death of a Salesman " has been described as an American tragedy. That is very easy to see, but perhaps it isn’t the blustery, senile salesman Willy Loman who experiences tragedy. Instead, maybe the real tragedy befalls his wife, Linda Loman.

Linda Loman's Tragedy

Classic tragedies often involve characters who are forced to deal with circumstances that are beyond their control. Think of poor Oedipus squirming at the mercy of the Olympian Gods. And how about King Lear ? He makes a very poor character judgment at the beginning of the play; then the old king spends the next four acts wandering in a storm, enduring the cruelty of his evil family members.

Linda Loman’s tragedy, on the other hand, is not as bloody as Shakespeare’s work. Her life, however, is dreary because she always hopes that things will work out for the better -- yet those hopes never blossom. They always wither.

Her one major decision takes place before the action of the play. She chooses to marry and emotionally support Willy Loman , a man who wanted to be great but defined greatness as being “well-liked” by others. Because of Linda’s choice, the rest of her life will be filled with disappointment.

Linda’s Personality

Her characteristics can be discovered by paying attention to Arthur Miller’s parenthetic stage directions . When she speaks to her sons, Happy and Biff, she can be very stern, confident, and resolute. However, when Linda converses with her husband, it’s almost as if she is walking on eggshells.

Miller uses the following descriptions to reveal how the actress should deliver Linda’s lines:

• “very carefully, delicately”
• “with some trepidation”
• “sensing the racing of his mind, fearfully”
• “trembling with sorrow and joy”

What’s Wrong With Her Husband?

Linda knows that their son Biff is at least one source of agony for Willy. Throughout Act One, Linda chastises her son for not being more attentive and understanding. She explains that whenever Biff wanders the country (usually working as a ranch-hand), Willy Loman complains that his son isn’t living up to his potential.

Then, when Biff decides to return home to rethink his life, Willy becomes more erratic. His dementia seems to worsen, and he begins talking to himself.

Linda believes that if her sons become successful then Willy’s fragile psyche will heal itself. She expects her sons to manifest the corporate dreams of their father. It is not because she believes in Willy’s version of the American Dream , but because she believes her sons (Biff in particular) are the only hope for Willy’s sanity.

She might have a point, by the way, because whenever Biff applies himself, Linda’s husband cheers up. His dark thoughts evaporate. These are the brief moments when Linda is finally happy instead of worrisome. But these moments don’t last long because Biff doesn’t fit into the “business world.”

Choosing Her Husband Over Her Sons

When Biff complains about his father’s erratic behavior, Linda proves her devotion to her husband by telling her son:

LINDA: Biff, dear, if you don’t have any feeling for him, then you don’t have any feeling for me.

LINDA: He’s the dearest man in the world to me, and I won’t have anyone making him feel blue.

But why is he the dearest man in the world to her? Willy’s job has steered him away from his family for weeks at a time. In addition, Willy’s loneliness leads to at least one infidelity. It’s unclear whether or not Linda suspects Willy’s affair. But it is clear, from the audience’s perspective, that Willy Loman is deeply flawed. Yet Linda romanticizes Willy’s agony of an unfulfilled life:

LINDA: He’s only a lonely little boat looking for a harbor.

Reaction to Willy’s Suicide

Linda realizes that Willy has been contemplating suicide. She knows that his mind is on the verge of being lost. She also knows that Willy has been hiding a rubber hose, just the right length for suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning .

Linda never confronts Willy about his suicidal tendencies or his delusional conversations with ghosts of the past. Instead, she plays the role of the quintessential housewife of the 40s and 50s. She exhibits patience, loyalty, and an eternally submissive nature. And for all of these attributes, Linda becomes a widow at the end of the play.

At Willy’s graveside, she explains that she cannot cry. The long, slow tragic events in her life have drained her of tears. Her husband is dead, her two sons still hold grudges, and the last payment on their house has been made. But there’s no one in that house except a lonely old woman named Linda Loman.

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• Death of a Salesman: Summary
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Linda Loman

Willy describes Linda as his “support” and the audience is given the impression that she is well used to managing and protecting her husband.

• Linda is compassionate and caring. From the opening scene where Willy, badly shaken, has returned home, we see Linda trying to protect her husband.
• She gently takes Willy’s jacket from him just as Willy decides he will make another attempt to drive up to New England, skilfully keeping her husband at home (the audience may infer that she has had to do this before).

• She also offers support and advice, protecting Willy’s feelings by speculating that his tiredness may be caused by his glasses, but also suggesting that Willy sees his manager in the morning to ask for a transfer.

• Miller’s stage directions show Linda’s apprehension throughout this scene.
• She is at first described as calling to Willy “with some trepidation” and throughout, she speaks to him “carefully” and “sensitively” , the adverbs emphasising the care she takes to avoid upsetting Willy and triggering another one of his outbursts.

• Again, the audience may sense that Linda has had a lot of practice in ‘managing’ Willy in these situations, and Miller describes her as reacting “with infinite patience”.

• Willy describes Linda as his “foundation” and “support” , imagery which suggests Linda’s hidden strength.
• Linda keeps a careful eye on the household finances and, despite the debts and payments becoming harder to manage, maintains a grip on her emotions.

Linda's Passivity

Many commentators have criticised Miller’s presentation of Linda, seeing her as too much of a passive, helpless victim unable to help her husband. However she does have moments of strength.

Confrontation

• Linda often hides what she knows in order to avoid a confrontation with Willy.
• She knows that Willy borrows 50 dollars a week from Charley but will not hurt Willy’s pride by letting her husband know that she knows this.
• Linda also clearly suspects that something “happened” between Willy and Biff to cause their rift, but is wary of probing too deeply, perhaps scared by what she may learn.

• She also knows of Willy’s suicidal impulses, aware that at least one of Willy’s car ‘accidents’ was deliberate and that Willy has a piece of rubber pipe ready by the gas heater in the cellar with which he can gas himself.
• Linda will not confront Willy as she thinks this will “insult” his pride, again placing what she sees as the needs of her husband first.

• Many commentators have criticised Miller’s presentation of Linda, seeing her as too much of a passive, helpless victim who is unable to understand, and therefore truly help, her husband.
• However, it should be remembered that Linda, just as much as Willy, is on the edge.

• Biff notices that “Mom got grey… got awful old” and Linda confesses to him that she lives “from day to day” , herself exhausted and terrified by Willy’s condition.
• As Willy tells Ben, Linda has “suffered”.

Not passive?

• Linda is not always passive. She is prepared to confront the behaviour of her sons if she feels they have wronged their father.
• In Act Two her frustrations come to a head and she speaks forcefully and bluntly to both, calling each of them a “bum” and then, when she learns of how they abandoned Willy in the restaurant, “a pair of animals” .
• She dismisses Happy’s women as “lousy, rotten whores” and, near the end of Act Two, tells both sons that they must leave the house.

• Miller gives Linda one of the key lines in the play: “So attention must be paid… Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person” .
• Many commentators regard this as a central message of the play: that the ‘common man’ deserves respect and dignity.
• Miller’s use of repetition, and the placing of the word “attention” at the beginning of the sentence, add to the power of these lines.

Linda's Delusions and Values

Linda shares many of Willy's delusions and misplaced values. Because of this she does not challenge Willy and cannot help him save himself.

The American Dream

• Linda clearly shares Willy’s ambitions.
• Miller tells us in the opening stage direction that Willy’s “massive dreams” are “longings which she shares” .
• When, in Act Two, we see the scene from the past where Ben offers Willy a position in Alaska, it is Linda who prompts Willy to tell Ben about Dave Singleman and how a salesman can enjoy great success.

Shared values

• Similarly, Linda trusts the power of selling and advertising, reassuring Willy that their Hastings refrigerator must be a good model as it had “the biggest ads of any of them” .
• For some critics, Linda is partly responsible for Willy’s death as she does not question or confront Willy’s values.
• Because she does not challenge Willy, she cannot help him save himself.

• At the end of the play, Linda is a lost figure, unable to understand Willy’s death.
• Her monologue closes the play: tellingly, she addresses it to Willy.
• There is a dark irony in her last phrase ( “We’re free… We’re free” ), demonstrating that, even now, she is unable to process the fact that Willy will never return home.

1 Introduction

1.1 Introductions

1.1.1 Author

1.1.2 Historical Context

1.1.3 Setting

1.1.4 Social Issues

2.1 Key Events

2.1.1 Staging

2.1.2 Key Events 1&2

2.1.3 Key Events 3&4

2.1.4 Key Events 5&6

2.1.5 Key Events 7&8

2.1.6 Key Events 9&10

2.1.7 Key Events 11&12

2.2 Key Themes & Links

2.2.1 Foreshadowing & Inevitability

2.2.3 Settings

2.2.4 Family

2.2.5 Reality v Fantasy

3.1 Key Events

3.1.1 Key Events 1&2

3.1.2 Key Events 3&4

3.1.3 Key Events 5&6

3.1.4 Key Events 7&8

3.1.5 Key Events 9&10

3.2 Key Themes & Links

3.2.1 Pride

3.2.2 Metaphor

3.2.3 Self-Realisation

4 Extended Passage Analysis

4.1 Act One

4.1.1 Staging

4.1.2 The Woman

4.2 Act Two

4.2.1 In Howard’s Office

4.2.2 The Final Confrontation

4.2.3 The Requiem

5 Character Profiles

5.1 Willy & Linda Loman

5.1.1 Willy Loman

5.1.2 Linda Loman

5.2 Biff & Happy Loman

5.2.1 Biff Loman

5.2.2 Biff's Relationship with Willy

5.2.3 Happy Loman

5.3 Other Characters

5.3.1 Uncle Ben

5.3.2 Charley

5.3.3 Bernard

6 Key Themes

6.1 Concepts

6.1.1 The American Dream

6.1.2 Fathers & Sons

6.1.3 Nature & the City

6.1.4 Success

6.1.5 Men & Women

7 Writing Techniques

7.1 Structure

7.1.1 Act One

7.1.2 Act Two

7.2 Realism

7.2.1 Introduction

7.2.2 Staging

7.2.3 Language

7.3 Expressionism

7.3.1 Introduction

7.3.2 Staging

7.3.3 Music

7.4 Symbolism

7.4.1 The Garden / Seeds

7.4.2 Diamonds

7.4.3 Alaska & Africa

7.5.1 Introduction

7.5.3 Silk Stockings

7.5.4 Money

7.5.5 Mythological Figures

8 Historical Context

8.1 Historical Context

8.1.1 Miller’s Family & The Great Depression

8.1.2 America’s Recovery

9 Literary Context

9.1 Tragedy

9.1.1 Introduction

9.2 Applying Tragic Concepts

9.2.1 The Tragic Hero

9.2.2 The Tragic Flaw

9.2.3 Recognition

9.2.4 Emotional Release

9.2.5 Chaos & Disorder

9.2.6 Revenge

9.2.7 Inevitability

10 Critical Debates

10.1 Introduction

10.1.1 Introduction

10.2 The Marxist Reading

10.2.1 Marxist Analysis

10.2.2 The Marxist Reading

10.3 The Feminist Reading

10.3.1 Feminist Analysis

10.3.2 The Feminist Reading

10.4 The Eco-Critical Reading

10.4.1 Eco-Critical Analysis

10.4.2 The Eco-Critical Reading

10.4.3 Post-pastoral

10.5 Other Debates

10.5.1 The Play as Tragedy

10.5.2 The Critics

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Death of a Salesman: Linda Loman Character Analysis

• Death of a Salesman: Linda…

Linda Loman is the loyal, caring, trusting, patient wife of Willy Loman. She deeply loves both her children and is like the heart of the family, keeping it together and striving to maintain a good relationship between its members. “Most often jovial, she has developed an iron repression of her exceptions to Willy’s behavior- she more than loves him, she admires him.” Linda is one of the very few people who truly understand Willy.

Despite his irritable and often cruel behavior towards her, she is empathetic and provides him with unconditional love and care, and treats him with “infinite patience. ”She always tries her best to fulfill Willy’s emotional needs and is encouraging and supportive of him. Linda also sees through her husband’s lies, yet she is extremely careful not to injure his feeble self-confidence and pride, and hence does not point them out.

For instance, when Willy claims to have earned seven hundred gross in Boston and five hundred gross in Providence, Linda immediately makes out that he is exaggerating, and she tactfully gets the truth out of him, learning he has actually earned only two hundred gross in the whole trip. Linda is also aware of Willy’s suicidal tendencies but does not confront him, fearing it may upset him even more. However, this knowledge keeps her in a constant state of anxiety about Willy, and she lives “from day to day.”

Linda is extremely protective towards Willy. Often, when Willy expresses his true feelings and insecurities to Linda, she immediately showers him with encouraging comments to bring him out of his melancholy.

For instance, when Willy tells Linda that he is fat and “very foolish to look at”, Linda consoles him, saying,”Willy, darling, you’re the handsomest man in the world.” Linda is also fiercely defensive about her husband, and defends him against her own children.

She feels extremely responsible towards him, and desperately tells her sons, “So attention must be paid. He is not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog.” Linda tells Biff and Happy that they cannot come to the house only to visit her, as she loves him.

She questions them if the reward for Willy’s hard work and struggle is to find both his sons unsuccessful. Often, when Biff attempts to bring Willy out of his delusions, Linda stops him from doing so. “Will you please leave him alone?” However, Linda’s protective nature and her habit of nurturing and tending to his fragile ego unintentionally causes more harm than good, as it encourages Willy to continue to live in his imaginary world with his over-glorified self image.

This in turn makes it more difficult for Willy to come out of his delusions, and he ends up becoming increasingly confused and unable to differentiate between his reality and hallucinations.

Linda is either completely oblivious to Willy’s affair with The Woman, or has purposefully repressed any hints that she may have got about it. She thus does not understand why Willy and Biff aren’t “such pals” as they were before.  She is contradictory to The Woman in certain respects.

The Woman represents materialistic, selfish desire and lust, while Linda on the other hand, truly and unconditionally loves Willy. The Woman is a symbol for Willy’s thirst and desperation for social approval, while in the meanwhile he fails to recognize the endless support and approval that Linda constantly provides him.

Thus, although Linda loves Willy unconditionally, and her intentions are pure, she ends up damaging his ego, and even indirectly causing his death. Despite knowing Willy’s flaws very well, she does little to help him out of his façade. Instead, she supports and even adds to his lies, thus creating such an enormous gulf between his ideal self and his actual self, that when the reality is forced upon him, it is so overwhelming and unbearable to him that he ends his own life.

Related Posts

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• Hamlet: Horatio Character Analysis
• Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman: Summary & Analysis
• Death of a Salesman: Biff Loman Character Analysis
• Death of a Salesman: Willy Loman Character Analysis

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Death of a Salesman

By arthur miller, death of a salesman essay questions.

Does Willy Loman die a martyr? How do Linda's and his sons' interpretations of his death differ?

A strong answer will note that Willy has a noble conception of his suicide - he kills himself because he truly believes that the insurance money will allow his sons to achieve their destined greatness. But Miller does not give the audience the easy satisfaction of seeing Willy's plan come to fruition. It is highly doubtful that the Lomans would actually receive any insurance money at all. He has a record of suicide attempts, and it would be near impossible to convince the insurance company that his death was an accident.

The crux of an essay should be that Willy thinks he is martyring himself, but his martyrdom is in vain.

Death of a Salesman is one of the foundational texts describing the American dream. How does Miller's play differ from the more traditional Horatio Alger model? Is Miller overwhelmingly cynical on the topic?

Strong answers will contrast Miller's pessimistic and cynical take on the concept of the American dream with its glorified Horatio Alger representations. Traditionally, the American dream means that any person can work his way up from the bottom of the ladder to the top. Miller's work isn't so much a direct subversion of that dream as it is an exploration of the way in which the existence of the American dream can ruin a person's expectations.

Discuss the motif of women's stockings in Death of a Salesman? What are Willy and Biff's attitudes toward them? How do Linda and the woman with whom Willy is having an affair regard them?

To the women, stockings serve as a symbol of what Willy can provide and as a measure of his success. To Willy, they are a symbol of his guilt over the affair. To Biff, they are a symbol of Willy's fakeness and his betrayal of Linda. Each time the stockings appear, they serve each of these three purposes for every character present.

Describe the significance of names in this play. How do Happy and Biff's names contrast with or support their characters? Interpret the name "Loman."

Happy - a boy's name. As his name implies, Happy is someone who should be content - he has a job, an apartment, and a never-ending stream of women - but he remains deeply unhappy.

Ben - Willy's brother is named after the biblical figure Benjamin, which means "one who is blessed." The biblical Benjamin far outstripped his brothers in all areas, rousing their jealousy.

Loman - Willy is a low-man. No great hero, he is already so low on the ladder that he has hardly anywhere to fall.

What is the role of modernity in Death of a Salesman? Have cars and gas heaters fundamentally changed the American dream? How does Miller view these innovations?

The answer should note that Willy is a man left behind by progress. His is a profession that only functions in a small niche of time - he is reliant on the automobile and the highway system, but can't survive the advent of more sophisticated sales methods than the door-to-door. He is startled and confused by Howard's gadgets, and longs for an outdoors life that involves creating things with his hands.

Discuss the gender relationships in this play. Are there any positive models for a harmonious relationship? Does Miller find this concept plausible?

There are only two women of significance in the play, Linda and The Woman, who does not even merit a name. Happy nicely exposits the dichotomy between the two types of women in the world, as represented by his idealized mother and by The Woman and Miss Forsythe. The attitude towards women that Willy modeled for his sons was that women exist to be conquered - and once they've been had, they are no longer worthy of respect.

Analyze the role of seeds in Act II's final segment. What do they stand for?

Willy begins to obsess over seeds as he realizes that he has nothing to pass on to his sons. He hasn't created anything real, nothing physical that you can touch with your hand. But seeds are an investment in the future, something that is both tangible and grows with time, and that is what he wants to pass on to his sons.

Discuss examples of ways in which Willy Loman's suicide is foreshadowed in the first act of the play.

Be sure to note that the question isn't really whether Willy is going to die, but how. The discussion of Willy as suicidal is quite on the nose in the first act, but what is left ambiguous at that point is the how and the why. We are given both the rubber hose and the car as possible modes of suicide, and general despair and desperation as motivations, but the ultimate motivation of insurance money does not become an issue until the end of the play.

Compare Death of a Salesman to A Streetcar Named Desire. How do Willy Loman and Blanche Dubois each represent a fundamental element of the American drive towards progress and success?

Willy and Blanche are both victims of modernity. Willy cannot compete against the young men in the modern business world. And Blanche cannot adapt to the coarseness of life in the new South. Rather than adjusting, both characters descend deeper into their idea of the idealized past, until they lose hold on reality altogether.

Compare Death of a Salesman and The Great Gatsby. How do Willy Loman and Jay Gatsby suffer a similar fate?

Answer: Although they lived very different lives - Willy, objectively a failure, and Gatsby, objectively a success - Willy and Gatsby had similar downfalls. Both were caught up in the illusion of the American dream, fervently believing that they could and should reach for the stars. But after a lifetime of having relied on personality to get by, the men found themselves terribly alone, even in death.

Death of a Salesman Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Death of a Salesman is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Significant of the tittle in 600 words.

I think the title refers to both the death of Willy the salesmen and the death of his dreams. Willy's dreams of success turn to disillusionment when he cannot compete in the capitalist world. An extended metaphor might also involve Capitalism and...

death of a salesman

Charley visits because he is worried about Willy.He knows Willy is a proud man and he wants to help him, though Willy isn't really willing to take his help.

Please submit your questions one at a time.

How have biff and happy responded to their father’s condition

Biff denies responsibility for his father's condition, but he is forced to acknowledge that he is linked to his father's guilt and irrational actions. I think happy is just stressed about it.

Study Guide for Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman study guide contains a biography of Arthur Miller, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Death of a Salesman
• Death of a Salesman Summary
• Character List

Essays for Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

• Shattered Dream - The Delusion of Willy Loman
• Perceptions of Self Worth and Prominence: Spaces and Settings in Death of a Salesman
• Sales and Dreams
• Musical Motifs
• Death of A Salesman: Shifting of the American Dream

Lesson Plan for Death of a Salesman

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Introduction to Death of a Salesman
• Relationship to Other Books
• Notes to the Teacher

Wikipedia Entries for Death of a Salesman

• Introduction
• Characters and cast

Linda Loman in “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller

How it works

The character Linda Loman, who plays the role of Willy Loman’s wife, in Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman is a very important part in the play. Her character shows the typical American wife of that era. This is directly indicated by her behavior, the way she hides her feelings, and the way she treats her sons. There are many examples throughout the play that reveals that Linda is the classic enabler who indirectly causes the dysfunction in the Loman household.

Linda enables her husband Willy to live in his fantasy world because she knows that the truth would bring nothing but hurt to him and their family, so she decides to hide the truth. Willy has problems with his memory, but Linda is always making excuses for Willy’s mistakes. Linda behaves as the “perfect” wife would in that time. However, this lifestyle of hers ultimately leads to the downfall of her husband.

Linda is a very supportive woman. She never questions her husband and is always beside him, she never fails to agree with him. You can refer to her actions as being loyal but She could have tried and helped Willy get better, but instead, she just brushed everything off and made it look like Willy’s behavior was normal and always makes excuses for Willy. For example, Willy says, “I could not drive anymore, the car kept going off onto the shoulder already know? ” Linda replied, “Maybe it’s your glasses” (Miller 22). By making these kinds of excuses, it’s almost like Linda is ignoring willy’s problems.

Also, Willy says, “I could not drive anymore, Linda replied, “Oh, maybe it was the steering again “(Miller 27) Willy is not make excuses for himself, it’s Linda who acts like nothing is wrong. In the play, Willy says, “It took me nearly four hours from Yonkers.” Linda replied, “Well, you’ll have to take a rest” (Miller 27). All these excuses, it shows that Linda does not want to admit that willy has problems mentally which classifies her as an enabler. Although Linda was just being a loving wife and trying to support her delusional husband. she hurt him in the process by not getting him the help he needs or helping him in any other way that she could. Linda is the classic enabler who indirectly causes the dysfunction in the Loman household.

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Death of a Salesman

Arthur miller, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

105 Death of a Salesman Essay Topics & Examples

Death of a Salesman is Arthur Miller’s multiple award-winning stage play that explores such ideas as American Dream and family. Our writers have prepared a list of topics and tips on writing the Death of a Salesman thesis statement, essay, or literary analysis.

Arthur Miller

• Literature Notes
• Major Themes in Death of a Salesman
• Play Summary
• About Death of a Salesman
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Act I: Scene 1
• Act I: Scene 2
• Act I: Scene 3
• Act I: Scene 4
• Act I: Scene 5
• Act I: Scene 6
• Act I: Scene 7
• Act I: Scene 8
• Act I: Scene 9
• Act I: Scene 10
• Act I: Scene 11
• Act I: Scene 12
• Act II: Scene 1
• Act II: Scene 2
• Act II: Scene 3
• Act II: Scene 4
• Act II: Scene 5
• Act II: Scene 6
• Act II: Scene 7
• Act II: Scene 8
• Act II: Scene 9
• Act II: Scene 10
• Act II: Scene 11
• Act II: Scene 12
• Act II: Scene 13
• Act II: Scene 14
• Act II: Requiem
• Character Analysis
• Willy Loman
• Linda Loman
• Happy Loman
• Character Map
• Arthur Miller Biography
• Critical Essays
• Miller's Manipulation of Time and Space
• Full Glossary for Death of a Salesman
• Essay Questions
• Practice Projects
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Critical Essays Major Themes in Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman addresses loss of identity and a man's inability to accept change within himself and society. The play is a montage of memories, dreams, confrontations, and arguments, all of which make up the last 24 hours of Willy Loman's life. The three major themes within the play are denial, contradiction, and order versus disorder.

Each member of the Loman family is living in denial or perpetuating a cycle of denial for others. Willy Loman is incapable of accepting the fact that he is a mediocre salesman. Instead Willy strives for his version of the American dream — success and notoriety — even if he is forced to deny reality in order to achieve it. Instead of acknowledging that he is not a well-known success, Willy retreats into the past and chooses to relive past memories and events in which he is perceived as successful.

For example, Willy's favorite memory is of Biff's last football game because Biff vows to make a touchdown just for him. In this scene in the past, Willy can hardly wait to tell the story to his buyers. He considers himself famous as a result of his son's pride in him. Willy's sons, Biff and Happy, adopt Willy's habit of denying or manipulating reality and practice it all of their lives, much to their detriment. It is only at the end of the play that Biff admits he has been a "phony" too, just like Willy. Linda is the only character that recognizes the Loman family lives in denial; however, she goes along with Willy's fantasies in order to preserve his fragile mental state.

The second major theme of the play is contradiction. Throughout the play, Willy's behavior is riddled with inconsistencies. In fact, the only thing consistent about Willy is his inconsistency. From the very beginning of Act I, Scene 1, Willy reveals this tendency. He labels Biff a "lazy bum" but then contradicts himself two lines later when he states, "And such a hard worker. There's one thing about Biff — he's not lazy." Willy's contradictions often confuse audiences at the beginning of the play; however, they soon become a trademark of his character. Willy's inconsistent behavior is the result of his inability to accept reality and his tendency to manipulate or re-create the past in an attempt to escape the present. For example, Willy cannot resign himself to the fact that Biff no longer respects him because of Willy's affair. Rather than admit that their relationship is irreconcilable, Willy retreats to a previous time when Biff admired and respected him. As the play continues, Willy disassociates himself more and more from the present as his problems become too numerous to deal with.

The third major theme of the play, which is order versus disorder, results from Willy's retreats into the past. Each time Willy loses himself in the past, he does so in order to deny the present, especially if the present is too difficult to accept. As the play progresses, Willy spends more and more time in the past as a means of reestablishing order in his life. The more fragmented and disastrous reality becomes, the more necessary it is for Willy to create an alternative reality, even if it requires him to live solely in the past. This is demonstrated immediately after Willy is fired. Ben appears, and Willy confides "nothing's working out. I don't know what to do." Ben quickly shifts the conversation to Alaska and offers Willy a job. Linda appears and convinces Willy that he should stay in sales, just like Dave Singleman. Willy's confidence quickly resurfaces, and he is confident that he has made the right decision by turning down Ben's offer; he is certain he will be a success like Singleman. Thus, Willy's memory has distracted him from the reality of losing his job.

Denial, contradiction, and the quest for order versus disorder comprise the three major themes of Death of a Salesman . All three themes work together to create a dreamlike atmosphere in which the audience watches a man's identity and mental stability slip away. The play continues to affect audiences because it allows them to hold a mirror up to themselves. Willy's self-deprecation, sense of failure, and overwhelming regret are emotions that an audience can relate to because everyone has experienced them at one time or another. Individuals continue to react to Death of a Salesman because Willy's situation is not unique: He made a mistake — a mistake that irrevocably changed his relationship with the people he loves most — and when all of his attempts to eradicate his mistake fail, he makes one grand attempt to correct the mistake. Willy vehemently denies Biff's claim that they are both common, ordinary people, but ironically, it is the universality of the play which makes it so enduring. Biff's statement, "I'm a dime a dozen, and so are you" is true after all.

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