Willy Loman is an old man who has lived his life as a traveling salesman and finds himself looking back on his work. In his deteriorating health, Willy finds himself surrounded less and less by the people who he tried to impress so much and discovers that the recipe he had for a successful life has been wrong. Willy explores his past memories of his brother, Ben, who explored the world and became rich on his intelligence, rather than his social skills. Willy's two sons both are living at home in their thirties, unemployed for the most part. Willy, conflicted himself, degrades the eldest, Biff, who had been a high school football star with no academic skill. Willy wanders the alleys at night, and plants gardens where sun could never reach it. His wife, Linda, finds signs of suicide everywhere, but refuses to allow anyone to confront Willy about any of these problems, only making them worse. Willy, although he realizes the failure his life has been, constantly holds hope for Biff and Happy, the younger son, that they will be better, even as he watches them failing with the same faulty recipe for success. | ||
Plot & Themes Tone of book? - depressed Life of a profession: Family, struggle with Yes Struggle with: - Son Internal struggle/realization? Yes Struggle over Job/Profession/Status story Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 60's-90's Ethnicity/Nationality Unusual characteristics: Main Adversary Identity: - society Age: - 20's-30's Profession/status: How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 6 () United States Yes The US: - Southeast City? Yes City: - New York Misc setting Writing Style Lot of foul language? Yes Amount of dialog - mostly dialog |