Life and Context

In this lesson, we'll learn more about the time period

represented in Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman.' We'll
also explore the ways in which the play's portrayal of the
past frames its critical view of the American Dream.

Imagine how different your life might have been if you had
been born 150 years earlier than you were. Also imagine
what it would have been like if you had been born in a
different country. As you might realize, the time and place in
which we live have a huge impact on our daily lives.
Whether it is something small, like the fact that you have
Internet, or the fact that you might be able to attend a
public school, our experiences are strongly based on the
context in which we live. Similarly, when studying a piece of
literature, we are working with a text which was written at a
specific time and place. As such, texts are often able to tell
us a lot about the context in which they were created.

A time period can be defined as a stretch of time that is

bracketed off for a specific purpose. When thinking about
the time in which the story of Death of a Salesman is set,
these events play out over the final 24 hours of Willy
Loman's life, with the 'Requiem' being set a few days after
his death, at his funeral. Let's think about the historical
context (the general cultural state of its setting in both time
and place) of the play. We can assume that the date is
somewhere between 1945 and 1949. We know that the
story is set in New York City in America, since Willy's wife
wants him to ask his boss whether he can't work in their
hometown of New York (in addition to the other mentions of
places in America where Willy has gone for business).
Therefore, we know that the historical context is linked to
American history in particular.

Even though the play's events unfold during the mid to late
1940s, it is clear that Miller is very interested in the
influences of the past. This is clear because, as you know,
events in the play's present are disrupted when characters
and events from the past move onto the stage. These
instances seem to represent Willy's memories, rather than
being 'flashbacks' where the entire time-frame of the play
would change. The audience can see this since Willy's
character does not get replaced by a younger version of
himself on these occasions. From this it is clear, however,
that the past has a strong influence on Willy's current
perspective on things, so we need to consider not only the
historical context of the play's present, but also how the
time period represented by these past events has had
influence on our understanding of 1940s America.

Since we know from the characters' conversations that Biff

is 34 years old in the play's present timeline and, since the
play suggests a link between Biff's loss of enthusiasm and
his discovery of Willy's affair when he was 17 years old,
Willy's memories of a better time are most likely linked to
the late 1920s or early 1930s. As such, when looking at the
historical context of the play, we need to think about the
relationship between these two time periods.

America After 1945

After World War II ended, America went through a phase of
great economic prosperity and even greater national pride.
At that time, the American Dream meant suburban houses
with white-picket fences, glamorous house wives, happy
families, respectable fathers, and fancy new appliances and
cars. It was then that the materialism and consumerist
culture that we find throughout the world today really
developed. And yet, if you think about the way in which the
play represents life for the Loman family, we see that they
have none of the ideals of the American Dream. So why
does Miller seem so skeptical of this ideal? The answer to
that question might be linked to the play's interest in the
past.

America in the 1920s and 1930s

When the Great Depression hit America in the early 1930s,
Arthur Miller's family's lives were changed for the worse.
His father's clothing business suffered, and the family had
to move to a less expensive neighborhood. Theirs was not
an isolated case. Many people were struggling financially,
and as you can imagine, few would have been able to afford
luxuries at this time. Those people who were fortunate
enough to keep their jobs realized that working hard did not
necessarily mean that you could live comfortably. The
American Dream seemed an impossible ideal to many.
Death of a Salesman: Implications
When we look at the thematic interests in the play, the
entire work is characterized by skepticism toward the
American Dream. Willy seems obsessed with the idea that
his sons, like his brother, should go out into the world and
make a success of themselves. Yet we know that Biff is
unable to keep a job, largely because he keeps stealing
from his employers. We also know that the family's car and
appliances keep breaking and that they are almost always
in debt. By giving his audience a sense that the ideal is just
a fantasy (much like the many other fantasies and
delusions that the family try to maintain throughout the
play) and that the reality is far more grim, we can say that
Death of a Salesman is a text which criticizes the historical
context of the 1940s.

The Loman family become a metaphor for a society which

Miller believes is in denial about its reality. Many historians
today will tell you that the materialism and consumerist
culture of the 1940s served to distract people from greater
global political unrest. Miller's choice of a salesman as his
main character perhaps points us to his interest in the
economy of the time, yet it is clear that the playwright
questions the true value of materialism, since Willy not only
struggles to sell things but is also struggling to pay off his
debts.

Lesson Summary
Although Death of a Salesman is set in the 1940s, the play
has a clear interest in the influence of the past. In this we
can see how Miller's own experiences during the Great
Depression made him skeptical of the materialism and
consumerist culture which was a part of the American
Dream during the 1940s. Miller uses the Loman family as a
metaphor through which he is able to show the contrast
between the American Dream and the reality which many
people faced.