About this title: Willy Loman is a middle-class salesman with a loving wife, Linda, and two sons, Biff and Happy. Biff is now in his 30s, a former high school football hero who wants to start a sporting goods store but has been unable to find the money to do so. Willy has also tried to raise Happy to be a man of influence, but has failed at that. Willy's life of pathos and tragedy has, in this play, become an embodiment of the pursuit of the American Dream, a pursuit gone sour. Though it is considered one of his greatest works, this play took Miller only six weeks to write.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1976
ISBN-13:9780140481341ISBN:0140481346
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 139 p. Penguin Plays. Audience: General/trade. Old paperback. Excellent, slightly used copy. Pages tanned and new price of $2.95 stamped on the inside cover. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1976
ISBN-13:9780140481341ISBN:0140481346
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Edge wear, price sticker on front cover, top corner of front cover bent. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 139 p. Penguin Plays. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780140481341ISBN:0140481346
Description: A good reading copy only. Book has tanning or browning due to normal aging process. Heavy soiling to covers. -, Trade PaperBack, Good / read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Compass Books
Date Published: 1958
ISBN-13:9780670000326ISBN:0670000329
Description: A good reading copy only. Previous owners name inscribed inside front. Book has tanning or browning due to normal aging process. -, Trade PaperBack, Good / read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Compass Books
Date Published: 1958
ISBN-13:9780670000326ISBN:0670000329
Description: A good reading copy only. Previous owners name inscribed inside front. May have underlining or highlighting throughout. Book has tanning or browning due to normal aging process. -, Trade PaperBack, Good / read more
"Death of a Salesman is a play about the fall of Willy Loman, a traveling salesman who in the eyes of his company is growing more insignificant with age. He has a difficult time aligning his public persona and private self. He exudes a public character that is largely BS--that is, he embellishes his abilities and his son's abilities so that he always appears to people as confident. However, he privately knows that he is not as great as he makes himself out to be, and other people know it well, too. Nevertheless, his good friend, one of his sons, and his wife love him in spite of his complete ordinariness. This play is very sad. I don't know how a person could read it and not sympathize with Willy, in spite of his many flaws, or his sons' aspirations, in spite of their selfishness or lack of initiative, or his wife, who is steadfast and stoic with regard her life and the unraveling of her husband. It's one of those works that probes you with the question: Have you ever felt this way?"
"this book was relatively interesting; the story and the plot was okay . the characters were the best thing about this book. its actually a play, so ill call it a play. when i first read it, i thought oh, what a regular play. but what sets it apart from like other plays is that each of the characters are really unique as well as the twists are so surprising. i felt like it was the first of firsts for plays, and that arthur miller was just a genius. the play is about a family who wants the Ämerican dream" and the dad does whatever he can to supplement his dream, but he never really gets it. the whold family has their own quirks and problems and this causes their lives to just become a giant mess. in the end, a really surprising ending happens and i was just sad... but only for like two seconds then i moved on to my next book lol !"
"I wonder whether it's fair or not to enjoy other people's family dramas, but I really did enjoy this one. :confused: Or rather I should put it like this: (20th century) American family dramas are the best. They have like the weirdest, most complicated lives and the family members are not afraid to confront each other. And Willy Loman, (Miller plays a bit with his name: Low-man) is the total opposite of the classical hero, ending his American Dream in a total failure, due to his misunderstanding of it (if you are liked and got the looks you're going to succeed in life). Unfortunately he passes this theory to his sons who learn reality the hard way.
Rather gloomy and nostalgic, I even got a strange sensation of deep sadness at some point. And the stream of consciousness in a theatre play was something quite new for me - Willy is driven from present to past, from real to fantasized conversations; this allows for a better understanding of his inability to make the difference between reality and imagination. Interesting."
"Should books be banned? Should one decide upon what is right for another person to read, or even more importantly should the importance of a book be kept away from readers because of the content? Well I say no book should have the right to live no matter what. Now there are books that are about sex, violence, racism and even homosexuality but these are topics that are happening today and realistic to many. However I do understand that there should be some kind of age limit reading when topics as such because you don't really want a 6 years old reading something like that. Then there are books that books doesn't make any sense why it is banned such as James in the giant peach, Alice in wonderland and in the night kitchen which happens to be children books.
They're many reasons why books get banned. In those reasons there are too types the above surface reason and beneath the surface reason. The above surface is usually stated when reading the book it might deal with sex, violence, racism etc. Then the beneath reason would be connection with the book for instance he author is gay, its about women empowerment or even citising the American dream like the book or play The death of a salesman. The Death Salesman had above surface reason of violence and language but beneath reason was that the book citisim the American dream and there wasn't a dream to live for. However most books banned because of the above surface reasons rather then beneath..
Children books that would ever think they would have to get banned, most like you think they be last of the books to get banned. For James and the giant peach that book is banned for its story's mystical element, statements made with the book such as a Spider licking her lips and the Grasshopper's statement, "I'd rather be fried alive and eaten by a Mexican which poses racism. A child however that is 8 years old or around that age probably would think the book is funny, adventurous and a good book to read. Then there is the book the night kitchen it was banned nudity and no supervisor of a child, but most children don't notice the child in the book was naked and story tells of a child have fun exploring, and learning new things which hopefully ever parent would want there child to do.
Lets look at the teenager point of view of banned books. Most teens enjoy read books that are relative to the situations that have to face everyday. Whether its sex, drugs or violence most teens in the city and even in the suburbs deal with these problems. So why not let a teenager read about these topics and learn how to deal with them if and when face with them. In the same process if I were parent probably would want my 5- 9-year-old read book such topics. For one they wouldn't understand it mostly likely and it would be to graphic.
To me all books even banned books are just a part of life. Banned books are relative, mysterious, and just good to read. Regardless what a book might have in it, a person should be able to a read a banned at one point or another in their life. So don't be afraid to read what you want"
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