“Death of a Salesman” by Miller in a brief summary
It sounds like an uncomplicated melody – about the grass, the sky, the foliage…
Sixty-year-old salesman Willie Loman with two large suitcases goes to his New York house, sandwiched between skyscrapers. He is very exhausted and a little scared: after leaving the morning with samples of goods, he did not get to the place – the machine kept on being carried, he could not manage the administration, and then he returned home, selling nothing.
Linda’s wife begs Willy to negotiate with the owner, so that he allows her husband to work in New York: at his age it’s hard to be a traveling agent.
In life, Willy really came a turning point: he lives as if in two real worlds, where his song is already sung, and in the fictional – where he is young and where the possibilities for him and his sons Biff and Happy are not yet closed.
Willie in the visions is often the elder brother of Ben – at seventeen he left home, and already to
The origins of such a sad state of affairs lie in the past. Constantly orientated by the father to the fact that his life is sure to succeed – he’s so charming, but – remember, son! – in America, above all the charm is valued, – Beef starts his studies, receives a low score in mathematics, and he is not given a certificate. To top it all off, when he desperately rushes to his father in the neighboring city, where he sells the goods, he finds him in a room with an extraneous woman. It can be said that then for Biff the world collapses, the collapse of all values
So Biff remained half-educated and, having fled around the country, returned home, basking in illusions that his former master, a certain Oliver, who was selling sports goods, would mail for the happiness of taking him back to work.
However, he does not even recognize Biff and, walking out of the office, passes by. Beef, who has already booked a table in the restaurant, where he and his father and brother Happy are going to “wash” the device for work, is embarrassed, discouraged and almost crushed. In a restaurant, waiting for his father, he tells Happy that he is going to tell the whole story as it is. Let the father at least once in his life face the truth and understand that his son was not created for commerce. The whole trouble is, Biff concludes, that we were not taught in the family to get drunk. The owners always laughed at their father: this romantic business, which places human relations at the center of the relationship, rather than self-interest, for this reason often was the loser. “We are not needed in this bedlam,” Biff adds woefully. He does not want to live among deceptive illusions, like his father, but hopes to get his place in the world truly.
Happy is frightening brother’s attitude. He himself also reached a little and, although proudly calls himself deputy boss, in fact only “assistant to one of the assistants.” Happy, it seems, repeats the fate of his father – he builds air locks, hoping that optimism and a white tooth smile will necessarily lead to wealth. Happy begs Biff to lie to his father, to say that Oliver recognized him, well received and was delighted that he returned to his work. And then gradually all by itself will be forgotten.
For a while, Bifu manages to play before the father of a successful applicant for a job in a commercial enterprise, but, as usual, his father’s cheap optimism and a set of standard phrases like: “In the business world, the main thing – appearance and charisma – is the key to success” – do their thing : he breaks and says the truth: Oliver did not accept him, moreover, after passing by, he did not recognize.
Such a blow Willy is difficult to bear. With the cry “You’re doing everything to spite me,” he gives his son a slap in the face. Biff runs away, Happy follows him. Vivid visions, pictures flashed before the abandoned father: Brother Ben, calling him into the jungle, where you can get out of the rich; Bif teen in front of the decisive football match, with adoration looking at the father and catching every word of it; a laughing woman, whom Biff still found in Willy’s room. The waiter, feeling that something is amiss with the visitor, helps Willie get dressed and go out into the street. He eagerly repeats that he needs to urgently buy seeds.
Linda meets the late returning sons in great excitement. How could they leave their father alone? He is in very bad shape, do not they see? She can say more – their father himself is looking for death. Do they think that all these disagreements with the car, permanent accidents – are accidental? And here’s what she found in the kitchen: a rubber tube attached to the burner. Their father is obviously thinking about suicide. Tonight he returned home very excited, said that he urgently needs to plant carrots, beets, lettuce in the garden. He took a hoe with a hoe, a flashlight and sows seeds at night, measures the beds. “It would be better if you left home, son,” says Biff Linda sadly, “do not torment your father.”
Biff asks permission from his mother to talk to his father for the last time. He himself realized that he needed to live separately: he could not try, like his father, to jump all the time above his head. You must learn to accept yourself as you are.
Meanwhile, Willie is working in the garden – a little man trapped in the grip of life, like his little house between skyscrapers. Today, probably the most unfortunate day in Willy’s life – besides the fact that his sons threw the sons in the restaurant as an unnecessary thing, the owner asked him to leave his job. No, of course, he was not at all rude, just said that, in his opinion, Lomen is difficult to cope because of unimportant health with his duties – but the meaning is one! Have thrown out!
Today the deceased brother came to him again. Willie consults with him: if the insurance company does not suspect suicide, the family will receive a tidy sum after it’s death – twenty thousand dollars. How does Ben think: is the game worth the candle? Biff is so talented – with this money the son will be able to turn around. Brother agrees: twenty thousand is great, although the act itself is cowardly.
Wife and sons come in during this conversation: they are already used to the fact that Willy always talks with someone invisible, and do not be surprised. Saying goodbye to his father, Biff can not stand it and cries, and Willy is surprised at his tear-stained face. “Biff loves me, Linda,” he says enthusiastically.
Now, Willy, as ever, is convinced that he is doing the right thing, and when everyone goes to bed, slowly slips out of the house and gets into the car, this time for certain to meet with death…
A small boat, who was looking for a quiet pier, – Linda recalls about him.
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