Recently, I have gone through a book named ‘Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller who has tried to bring about a contrast of feelings of a man who had a long cherished desire to be entrenched in life for bright future by rendering services of a salesman. But as ill luck would have it, he was not being able to reach his goal. The author in this book has allegoric in regard to some loss of distinctions of American Society where an honest and sincere man can not fulfill his mission to survive on earth. The book deals with some factors where a man working as a salesman find his fortune illuminated as well as trimmed in respect of money and wealth. The hero of the book is Willy Looman who had taken a job of a Salesman in a reputed industry of America with which he wanted to lead his life with glistening future. In American society, a person who takes the job of a salesman can see his bright lot because; this type of job is very lucrative and fascinating for any people in the so-called civilized society.
In his early age, he has taken the job of a salesman and as such he has seen dreams to be great by creeping up the ladder of ascending in the high strips of social life. But, in this respect, his speculations as applied in his case were implanted on uncertain and out of his doctrines as well as the philosophy of the extreme bent with age. The ideals in which he was being able to reach his goal were utterly the product of different culture and heritage. He had his wife and two sons for whom he was encountered to bring them up in a proper way but all his attempts were in vain due to his honesty and ideal emblem in dealing with his superiors and colleagues. But the people whom he was always ventured upon did not like this discernment. According to the author, he did never adopt unfairmeans to climb the ladder of a good and honorable position from where he wanted to make something constructive for the bright future of his children. Happy and Biff were his sons whom he had uncommon love and affectionate had tried his heart and soul to make them happy in a significant manner. Biff, being his eldest son asked his father to lead life like others inclined to be rich and wealthy over night following the rules to satisfy the superiors in an illegal manner. Willy was a responsible person for which he had never hankered after ill money and rather he led his life in a sophisticated manner with which he had to suffer a lot in both mentally and physically. He worked hard during his lifetime and he had travailed in distant places for the sake of his profession. Arthur Miller was only the personality who understood the modern philosophy of life and the culture as traditionally reflected in the form of social conflicts and contrasts spontaneously. He introduced two trends of conflicts that were of tragedy and the ill treatment of upper class society and their callous gluttony. Death of a Salesman was a play of misfortunes and social conflicts that were accepted by American Society. If we umpire the frustrations and screaming of Willy’s mind, we will find such way of human psychology which is tremendously extensive and critical in due sense of social friction. In this connection, Willy’s life has been personified with flower, leaf, dream and grass by bringing a tremendous metaphor, which show the realms of his long frustrated life.
Willy Looman was a silent worker who had created his own world of livelihood for which he had no complaint against the authority responsible for his well beings and rights for survival. He had seen his colleagues very new in the job of salesmanship, but they got promotion and bright future despite their lacking in skillfulness in the profession .He, on the verge of infirmity of age, submitted an appeal to David Wagner, his boss that he would like to get a job of an Office Assistant where he might get mental satisfaction. Having heard this, his boss flew into a rage and informed his inability of doing so and consequently, he was so much agitated that made him swayed to die. In the last part of the story, Willy’s whole life was bedded on wrong persuasion and due to such similar ideology, his eldest son Biff said that his father’s whole life was filled with wrongs. This is a great question for us, which teaches us that no man in this world should be neglected and it is our sacred responsibility to show our best regards for the oppressed people in the society who are down trodden and are suffering from deprivation and ill-treatment of the people who create difference amongst people. Arthur Miller was an author who minutely judged the dissimilarities of social life and tried to reflect in his literary creativity virtually. We claim that we are the citizens of modern society but we don’t care for a man who is really a rare resource personnel to develop our country and whose contribution needs to be recognized by the people who are in power for implementation of one’s model or their realms in particular field. It is our shame that we are afraid to face the challenge of reality, which Willy was unable to win over all misfortunes and injustice like Wagner and others that tidied him. If we look forward the socioeconomic condition of the civilized nation, we will observe that many people are swindled to one’s prey of callous gluttony and tyrannized system of ruling for which he has to suffer whole life and his family. We are the creations of one creator who has urged to establish equal justice and rights of the people but we forget in every step in our duties and responsibilities.
Arthur Miller in his famous book, death of a salesman has intensified the ideals of a real man that are the sole devotees of religion, model of real life situation and moral obligation in most predominating manner. In the society of America, any one can cherish high ambition of bright future after entering in the service of salesmanship but in the case of Willy, the opposite thing happened what had flabbergasted the people of the civilized domain who need reforms of society in a systematic manner. In fine, he had been deprived and deviated from being embedded with higher rank as promotion enjoying social status. The author has criticized American society that with the end of a man’s future, the futures of his other members of his family were nipped in the bud. The author has critically examined the supplication of Willy looman and expressed his comments in favour of his modesty contributing the beauty of life. The author Miller has collected materials from social surroundings where men women relationships and philosophy of reality and the realms of survival are coherent on earth by bringing a factual contrasts of feeling of mankind. He reaffirmed some literary objects in the pages of his mind, which acted like the mirrors of social unrest and evils committed by them. The author has envisaged a different critic who was like a brief candle whose survival depends on a little fuel and when it is finished, he will no more exist on earth. A man burnt with mental distortions can not create his own image in social life because he has travelled in wrong way. In this connection, Robert Frost says,”
“Two roads diverged in a wood,
I took the one – less travelled by
And this has made all the difference “
In view of the above, it is obvious that Willy had a separate world to roam about into the shadow of a moving life. He was in the habit of purposing such a manner on the ground that he had failed to switch over the difficulties. The authority wanted him to be punctual in dealing with modern self-absorption that is reflected as the realm of dishonesty and insincerity. I like this book because I have found honesty of Willy’s heart that had not hunched down to the sacrificial stone of the authority of injustice and distortion. Willy’s heart was craving for impartiality and honesty but the people of modern American society had not performed anything good and mundane for his prolific achievement in the society rather they denounced him for honesty and reality towards carrying out his tasks in toto. In this context, a few lines of William Shakespeare are worth mentioning:
” Out! Out! Brief candle
A life’s but a walking shadows
A poor player!
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more, it’s a tale
Told by an idiot, it is full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing “
