Death
of a Salesman: Social Commentary
What
is Miller suggesting about the system?
WILLY: ‘Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, & there’s no one to
live in it’ (1473).
WILLY: ‘Population is getting out of control. The competition is maddening! Smell the stink from that apartment house!’
(1474).
HAPPY: ‘All I can do now is wait
for the merchandise manager to die. And
suppose I get to be merchandise manager?
He’s a good friend of mine, and he just built a terrific estate on Long
Island. And he lived there about two
months and sold it, and now he’s building another one. He can’t enjoy it once it’s finished. And I know that’s just what I would do’
(1478).
WILLY: ‘Once in my life I would like to own
something outright before it’s broken!
I’m always in a race with the junkyard!
I just finished paying for the car and it’s on its last legs. The refrigerator consumes belts like it’s a goddam maniac. They
time those things. They time them so
when you finally paid for them they’re used up’ (1504).