Arthur Miller More than a Socialist
In 1949 Arthur Miller wrote a simple but profound play that reflected the young playwright’s political beliefs. ... Still, Miller was able to hurdle this and write something that appealed to the masses, even if they did not support his political stance. ... Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman was just a launching point for Miller to examine his social conscience and his compassion for those who are vulnerable to the false values imposed on them by society. Miller was certainly a unique critic of American society, but his beliefs were derived from many sources. “Miller recalls his teenage encounters with his two pioneer uncles as having a driving impact on his works” (Bigsby 68). ... It was the uncle Manny Newman who entranced Miller for years, and whose contradictions shaped Miller’s conception of Willy Loman and his family.” Miller related Manny Newman and the main character, Willy Loman, seeing them both as contours of hopeless heroism. ... “Miller drew upon his literary forebears as well as his personal experiences during the Great Depression, which he often called a moral catastrophe”(Bigsby 70). ... Influences for Miller transcended beyond time period and subject. Miller was mesmerized by the ancient philosophers. ... “I admire the Greeks for their magnificent form, the symmetry…That form has never left me; I suppose it got burned in me” (Miller 232). ... “By the time of Death of a Salesman, Miller shifts his attention away from Ibsen and ‘what ought to be’ towards realism and ‘what is’. Miller needed to free himself from the constraints of Ibsenism” (Martin 71). ... “Tennessee Williams liberated Miller. ... “Miller sought in Death of a Salesman the verbal equivalents for his characters troubled inner selves, a search that led him away from realism of Ibsen, and toward a new dramatic expression” (Corrigan 3). Miller’s political convictions are obvious in Death of a Salesman. “During the period from the 1930’s through the 1940’s, Marxism exercised a controlling influence on Miller’s work” (Bloom 117). ... ” But Miller is not simply attacking the capitalistic society. ... Although Miller disparages free enterprise, he is not blatant about it. ... “In Death of a Salesman an alternative, socialist community and system of values are pointed to” (Bloom 117). ... Egocentric individualism reigns supreme and society fosters no sense of responsibility to anyone beyond self and family” (Miller 210). In his criticism Miller brings up the question that every viewer or reader of the play must ask him or herself – is the American Dream a myth?