Death of a Salesman (Heinemann Plays)
by Arthur Miller
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List Price: £Ł7.25
Our Price: £Ł4.44
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: Heinemann Educational Publishers
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 808
EAN: 9780435233075
ISBN: 0435233076
Label: Heinemann Educational Publishers
Number Of Pages: 117
Publication Date: 1994-03-18
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Publishers
Studio: Heinemann Educational Publishers
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Parable of the Modern Age
Comment: I read this at GCSE, too many years ago, and failed to connect much, but revisiting it as an adult, it is a harrowing tale of consumerist society. The hero of the book buys entirely into the American dream of selling and credit, and boasting and spin, and is bewildered and unwilling to accept it when the game spits him out without a safety net.
As most of the dominant characters are filled with the dreams of self-determination, we see that those still in thrall cannot understand his plight, and seek around for blame for their own failures.
This is a tremendously powerful play, equally readable as viewable, and is a wonderful antidote to the 'Attitude is Altitude' poster on your office wall.
Customer Rating:
Summary: pretty okish.
Comment: A fulfilled life, including richness and wealth which the modern America offers -
Who doesn't want to live life that way? This isn't just the vision or idea of most Americans, but also a key aspect of the American Dream. Arthur Miller presents his point of view of it in the drama "Death of a Salesman".
Willy, an aged salesman, is the main character of the play and fits perfectly into the role of a typical dreamer of the American ideals such as acquiring material comforts by being "well-liked" or "personal-attractiveness" and not by working and studying hard. Oddly, he does never achieve his goals, nor do his both of sons, Biff and Happy. His faith in his version of the American Dream makes him unable to handle the problems of reality; therefore he always escapes into the past by day dreams and delusions. However, whenever he starts to realise his lack of achievements, he is falling apart into more and more pieces. This results in a dramatic ending.
By using this example of a common American family in the modern society, Miller manages it quite well to give the reader the possibility of identification that makes him think of the difficulty of the American Dream. I think everyone is able to find himself in one of the characters in Miller's play. They are kept very ordinary, but still have a strong personality yet, an important asset. Furthermore Arthur Miller's play implies other motifs such as the pioneer spirit and very original metaphors and symbols, which deep meaning increase the understanding of the novel. Anyway, I think that the usage of the metaphors as well as some stylistic devices complicates the reading and understanding of the story for the younger readership.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a closer look at the modern society, not only because of its plot, but also because of its realistic representation with its critical view towards the American Dream.
Customer Rating:
Summary: How to screw up you and everybody else's life
Comment: Have you ever thought about how it would feel if you were 63 years old and everything you reached in your life is, that you lost your job and the love of your oldest son? That is exactly what happens to Willy Loman, the main character in Arthur Miller's drama "Death of a Salesman".
This play is about Willy Loman's family, including his wife Linda and their two grown-up sons Biff and Happy and their process of realizing that their life is basically based on lies.
Willy is a salesman, who lately can't concentrate on working and drifts into the past very often, because the past was the time, when he and his son Biff were best friends and he was good at his job. In the present his life doesn't seem to be that great, because he got fired and he has to admit that he is not the strong man, he wanted everyone to think he was.
Throughout the whole play, Willy and Biff Loman are fighting about everything they could possibly fight about - but when Willy gets lost in his reminiscences Biff and he get along very well and he supports his son in everything Biff does. So the reader has to find out what happened to the great father-son-relationship. What he find out, is that Willy was unfaithful to Linda, and unfortunately he was objected by Biff, who can't forgive him. Another bad coincidence is, that because he realized what kind of man his father is, Biff didn't want to finish high-school and so he dropped-out with no graduation. One consequence of this is, that he was never able to find a proper job ore to finish anything he started with. Of course he blames Willy for it, who doesn't want to be responsible for his son's failure.
On the one hand, I suppose that "Death of a Salesman" will never be one of my favourite books, because even though it is a very sad and touching story, the reader gets easily lost in the weird imagination and reminiscences of Willy Loman. The story is not enough exciting to make the reader want to read it further that the fist pages. But on the other hand, I think that the play is very realistic, because everyone in the United States wants the American Dream to become true in their lives and only very few people got the luck to actually "live it" ....and Willy Loman is certainly none of them.
Biff: "I was in jail"
Willy (ironic): "I suppose that's my fault!"
Biff: "I stole myself out of every good job since high school"
Willy: And whose fault is that?"
Biff:" And I never go anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stnd taking orders from anybody. That's whose fault it is!"
Customer Rating:
Summary: powerful!
Comment: I became a fan of Arthur Miller after seeing one of his plays on stage – “All of my Sons”. A powerful and tear-jerking story line if ever there was one. I was under the firm opinion that this one was a one-off. I was proven wrong with Death of a Salesman. A totally absorbing read.
I saw Willy - could feel his pain even... I had tears in my eyes during that last scene and was left grief-stricken at the end of the book! Arthur Miller truly is a powerful writer. It may take time to appreciate his writing – but if you take the time – you will be rewarded with a wonderful treat. I intent to read all of Arthur Miller’s writing. I find his work so moving. I hope other readers learn to appreciate him as much….He is simply amazing!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Contrived, but sometimes effectively so
Comment: I can understand the appeal of Death of a Salesman and I respect the opinion that it is one of Miller's finest works, but I found the play highly disappointing.
Contrary to the popular response, I was unable to feel any sympathy for Willy Loman, a man whose tragedy was brought entirely upon himself, not by having the 'wrong dreams', as his son suggested, but by his failure to work towards those dreams and his complete denial of reality.
Miller has a talent for original metaphors and profound statements, unfortunately these are utterly wasted in Death of a Salesman, in which the modern language surrounding them makes them sound misplaced, forced and ridiculously contrived.
To be fair, the emotional climax between Willy and Biff was touching, even to a reader made so cynical by the short-comings of the play, but by this point I was so irritated by Willy's pathetic decline that I was unable to fully appreciate this otherwise ingenious scene.
My appreciation of this play is bound to be incomplete, however, due to my abhorrence of modern drama. Please also bear in mind that that I read this play and it is my firm belief that plays, should be watched, at least on video (there is an excellent film of Death of a Salesman starring Dustin Hoffman) if no theatre performance is accessible, not read. Anyone who likes this kind of play and who can tolerate or ignore the general air of falseness about it, should consider Death of a Salesman as top of its division.
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