Death of a SalesmanKEY FACTS
Full Title: Death of a Salesman When Written: 1948 Where Written: Roxbury, Connecticut When Published: The Broadway premiere was February 10, 1949. The play was published in 1949 by Viking Press. Literary Period: Social Realism Genre: Dramatic stage play Setting: New York and Boston in 1948. Climax: Biff's speech to Willy at the end of Act Two. Antagonist: Howard Wagner; the American Dream that allows Willy and his sons to delude themselves. |
Historical Context
During the postwar boom of 1948, most Americans were optimistic about a renewed version of the American Dream: striking it rich in some commercial venture, then moving to a house with a yard in a peaceful suburban neighborhood where they could raise children and commute to work in their new automobile. The difference between this and the nineteenth century version of the same dream, in which a family or a single adventurer went into America's wilderness frontier and tried to make their fortune from the land itself, reflected the country's economic shift from agriculture to urban industry, and then from manufacturing into service and sales. Charley sums up this process at the end of the play when he says about Willy Loman, "He don't put a bolt to a nut… he's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine."
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Study Guide
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