Death of a Salesman: Summary/Analysis

Author: Death of a Salesman was written in 1949 by Arthur Miller. Miller was born in Harlem, New York and attended The University of Michigan. He joined the Federal Theater Project after he graduated in 1938. He wrote Death of a Salesman in Roxbury, Connecticut in about 6 weeks. Miller has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Prince of Asturias Award. He also was apparently married to Marilyn Monroe.
Setting: DOS takes place in New York, mainly within the Loman home. The house is surrounded by apartment complexes, which block out the sun from reaching their back garden. The room where most of the events take place in is the kitchen. Other places within the play include: Boston hotel room, restaurant, Willy's workplace, Charley's office
Plot: In the beginning, Willy returns early from a trip to Boston, since he almost got into an accident. Willy rants about how his sons are unsuccessful to his wife Linda, but his sons Biff and Happy are able to over hear. Biff and Happy are sitting in their rooms talking about their dreams and ranting about their father. After they're done talking, Willy is found in the kitchen looking for cheese, but he begins to "flashback" to a time in which Biff was a popular athlete. Back in the present, Willy's friend Charley comes over and plays cards with him. Willy begins to hallucinate(?) thinking that he's talking to his older brother Ben. In his confusion about what's reality, he snaps at Charley and he leaves. Biff, Happy, and Linda come downstairs and Biff and Willy get into an argument. Happy suggests to Biff that he goes to his old employer, Billy Oliver, to see if he could get a decent job, which makes Willy really happy. Linda also suggests that Willy goes to his employer to see if he can get a job in New York so he doesn't have to travel as much. So the next day Willy goes downstairs to hear that Biff and Happy had left already and wanted to go meet up with him for dinner. Willy goes to his job to find his boss playing around with a recording device, asks for the relocation, and ends up getting fired. He once again "flashes back" to the past in which the family is about to leave for one of Biff's football games. Afterward, Willy goes to dinner with Biff and Happy, where Biff tries to tell Willy that Bill Oliver doesn't remember him and that he stole his fountain pen. That pretty much fails and Biff and Happy ditch Willy and leave him in the bathroom, where Willy has another "flashback". This flashback is about when Biff catches him cheating while he's in Boston (when Biff is trying to get Willy to talk to his teacher,  since he flunked math). Back at the Loman house, Biff and Happy finally show up at home and Linda is pretty mad at them. Biff tries to talk to Willy and finally confronts him about his flaws and such, and ends up in tears towards the end of their argument. Willy then realizes that Biff cares about him and goes to kill himself in a car crash in order to gain money for his family. At the funeral, there's only a few people there, and Linda ends by saying "we're free".
Characters: 
Willy: Salesman with a broken dream. He tries to appear like he's successful, though he's not. His father and older brother left him when he was young- looks up to them. His dream is to work in Alaska alongside his brother and father. Wants his sons to be successful, and pushes them pretty hard. Believes that in order to be successful, you need to be well known. He also is a bit crazy- not all there.
Linda: Willy's wife. She's very supportive of Willy and seems to be constantly worried about him. In order to protect Willy, she also hides some of the truth in order to prevent his flashbacks. Seems to be constantly unhappy with her sons, since it tends to be them that causes Willy's troubles.
Biff: Eldest of Willy's sons. Dreams to work on a ranch with his younger brother. He's held back by his father- who constantly wants him to be a salesman. Walks in on his father while he's cheating on Linda, and seems deeply effected by it- things went downhill for Biff from there. Used to be a football player when he was in high school.
Happy: Youngest of Willy's sons. Is actually much like Willy, he also shares the same salesman dream. Seems to be ignored by his parents, Biff is the only one that pays attention to him. Is apparently employed as an "assistant's assistant"
Charley: Willy's only friend, according to Willy himself, he also keeps loaning him money and also offers him a job. Successful businessman. Father of Bernard.
Bernard: Biff's high school friend. Quite smart. Tries to get Biff to do his work, but Biff never really listens. Lawyer.
Ben: Willy's older brother. Left when Willy was young to go find their father, ended up finding diamonds in a jungle in Africa. Is someone Willy looks up to.
Narrative Voice: There really isn't a specific narrative voice used in DOS, since it's a play. There isn't much of a point of view either.
Author's Style: As far as I know, DOS doesn't really fit into a specific category of play. Though, I noticed Miller had a lot of arguments and yelling in the play. There's that and also lying, cheating, and stealing in the play as well.
Tone: I think that Willy's tone through most of the play is an angry one. He's constantly yelling at his wife, his sons, and i'm pretty sure he yelled at his boss when he refused to allow him to have a job in New York. The only people he never really yells at is Ben and the Woman, but that's because they're the people that make him "feel good" (they reassure him throughout the play and such). Everyone else seems to have changing tones based off the situations in the play, such as Linda's annoyed/angry tone when Biff and Happy return home from the restaurant or Biff's worried tone when trying to figure out how he's gonna tell Willy abut Bill Oliver.
Imagery: Since this is a play, the imagery comes with actually acting out the play. In the script, there is only dialogue and a few stage directions.
Symbolism: One of symbols in the play is the garden behind the Loman house. This also goes along with the  apartments. These represent Willy's missed opportunities. Willy had multiple chances to be successful, Ben offered him work in Alaska and Charley offered him a job as well, but he turned both of them down. This is much like how Willy had the chance to plant the garden before the apartments were built, but instead he waited until afterwards to finally plant them, but it's too late. The apartments also represent the new American Dream, and the garden representing Willy's success. The new dream is much different than Willy's, and so Willy's dream is "outdated" and so does not fit in society, and Willy is then unable to be successful. So the new dream (apartments) prevent Willy's success (a growing garden). Another symbol is the stockings, which represent  infidelity. Whenever he goes to see the Woman he gives her a new pair of stockings, yet whenever he sees Linda mending her old stockings, his guilt leads him to yell at her, telling her to stop.
Quotes:
"Are you football or baseball?" (119)
This quote is representative of how women are treated. The woman is offended by Biff's response (football) because woman in the play, are represented by the ball, and are kicked around. Biff, Happy and Willy seem to only use women for pleasure. Happy sleeps around with the wives of executives, Biff is rough with them, and Willy abuses Linda and seems to only use the Woman to make himself feel good.
"He's liked, but he's not well liked" (33)
This quote is representative of Willy's idea of being well known and liked is what makes you successful. Through this, Miller is trying to show that success isn't just based off of popularity, but hard work as well. This is shown through the character Bernard, who worked hard and is successful and Willy's failure.
"You were never anything but a hard-working drummer who landed in the ash can like all the rest of them!" (132)
This quote states another point that Miller shows through the play: That people who work hard are just used and then once they're all used up, they're just tossed aside.
Theme: Some of the themes I found in the play was success and what leads to it as well as how work fits into being successful. Miller makes it clear that even if you work hard and are possibly successful, you're eventually gonna be thrown away and replaced. This is shown through Willy being fired and is somewhat shown through Willy's previous boss being replaced by his son. Miller also shows that thinking that popularity is what makes someone successful, will lead to your downfall. It appears as if he's saying that you'll be so wrapped up in trying to be popular, you'll damage your chances of being successful. He shows this through Willy and his attempts to be a successful salesman. Willy cheats and lies in attempt to make himself look good, but that only ruins his chances as well as teaches his sons that these things are okay.