1。1 The author and his early experience

Arthur Miller(1915-2005), one of the three greatest American dramatists in 20th century along with Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams, was born in a wealthy family in Harlem, New York city。 In his childhood, his father ran a clothes factory, however, the Great Depression erupted in 1929 shocked his father’s business heavily。 From then on, Arthur Miller’s family went into bankruptcy and he had to support himself by working a variety of odd jobs。 

Arthur Miller was an editor of a newspaper along with some friends when he studied in the university of Michigan。 During his college, Miller wrote his debut No villain, and this play won him the annual Hopwood Award for drama, fiction, poetry, and essay。 Therefore, there’s no denying that his early experience in college has inspired him to become a playwright。

After graduating from college, Miller took part in a national organization called Federal Theatre which offered work to destitute writers, actors, directors。 During that time, he finished three plays including The Man Who Had All The Luck (1944), Situation Normal (1944), and All My Sons (1947)。 Arthur Miller’s first success as a playwright is All My Sons。 It was an immediate success in 1947 which exhibits an airplane crash caused by a factory owner claiming twenty-one people’s life of which the businessman’s son was included。 Two years later, regarded as “the first great American tragedy”, Death of a Salesman, won Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize and received international reputation and controversies since its premiere。  论文网

Arthur Miller’s plays always relates to the dilemma of modern man in relation to his inner conflict and harsh reality。 What occurs often in his plays are people beneath pressure both from society and ethics, just like Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, who tried to extricate form mental torment and founded release only in death。 

Willy Loman’s original inspiration came from a salesman Arthur Miller met in subway when he was seventeen years old。 The poor salesman asked Miller some pocket money, and the next day the poor salesman killed himself by jumping off the station platform。 Meanwhile, Miller’s uncle Newman, also a salesman, who is regarded as dishonest and eccentric by the whole family except Miller chose to suicide eventually。 Uncle Newman’s confusion of mind and crazy obsession of competition is considered as the basic structure of this play。 As a result, it’s not difficult to find that Arthur Miller’s early experiences have influenced dramatically on his works which embedded his family’s failure under the Great depression。 As Arthur Miller asserted, “ the writer who wants to describe life must describe his own experience。 ” As a result, when it comes to Arthur Miller’s works, it is conductive to have a basic understanding of his life experiences。

1。2 The plot of Death of a Salesman

The American literature of 20th century has seen the appearance of the universal theme, that is the American dream。 Also Death of a Salesman is a play in relevant to the realization of an ordinary person’s American dream。 In this play, Arthur Miller depicted the protagonist Willy Loman, a 63-year-old traveling salesman who tried to achieve success and vanity all through his life but ended up with lamentable suicide in the end。 In his thirty-six years of sale careers, Willy never made a big fortune or attained a high social status。 Additionally, Biff and Happy, Willy’s sons, didn’t accomplish nothing。 Therefore, confronted with wrangle of family, burden of work and conflict with his innate nature, Willy’s tragedy is imperative。 It is his distorted delirium of value of success in pursuit of American dream which eventually led to his annihilation。 

2。 Literature Review