by Jane Ward

Created on: August 19, 2008

A professor I had in college once quipped that "Death of a Salesman" isn't a true tragedy, because anyone who names his sons Biff and Happy deserves to die. To determine the veracity of that statement would require a discussion of the definition of tragedy, as well as a good dose of whatever it was that Dr. Tucker put in his Diet Coke every week. But it does bring up the point that right down to the names of the characters, the late Arthur Miller's 1949 masterpiece "Death of Salesman" has points at which it feels like an illusion. The dreamy nature of the play itself is accented by one of the central themes running through the whole thing: the flaws of the human memory.

Now, everyone knows that memory is flawed. You only need to read your local newspaper to see instances of eyewitness testimony incriminating innocent people at trials. What was your best friend wearing the last time you saw him or her? Heck, what were you wearing yesterday? But what happens when you couple the normal imperfections in a person's conscious memories with denial, with lies to oneself? Such is the story that unfolds in "Death of a Salesman".

We are introduced to Willy's denial early on in act one. At the age of sixty, Willy is still forced to travel from his home in New York to sales trips all over New England. He is growing tired and unable to do this. His wife Linda suggests he ask at work whether they could let him sell closer to home, but Willy insists that he is "vital" to his company in New England, that he is "their New England man", that he is "well liked" in New England. Never mind the obvious fact that any faithful employee who has worked for a company for thirty-five years should be granted a change of location at some point if they ask for it. Willy forces himself and his wife to believe that the company simply can't do without him in New England and that is why they won't give him a job in New York.

A few pages later, we find ourselves in the midst of a flashback, when the Loman sons were in high school. Willy is again coming home from a business trip, and we get some more information on the topics brought up in the previous scene. Willy tells the boys how he "never waits in line to see a buyer. Loman is here!' That's all they need to hear" and he gets right in to see the people he has come to sell to. He even dreams about the boys coming with him to Boston sometime. What a "sensation" it will be. How impressed his many friends all over New England will be to finally

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