Death of a Salesman

The producers of the original Death of a Salesman were worried that the morbid name would deter audiences. I concur. I am deterred.

I also concur with Miller that it is the perfect title for this crushing show — crushing in the same way that I am feeling crushed by our country right now. Some of us understand this country well enough to have personal knowledge of the forces that make this moment in the US. I think these are the same forces that made Willy Loman. Arthur Miller and the actors that embody this man find the kind of sympathetic love that engenders a full blown kind of empathy for this very male, super American tragic hero.

oof. Reading and watching this play I feel trapped. Trapped because I feel what it’s like to be him; also, like I am an accomplice in building his cage; and, I feel trapped by him. Death of a Ssalesman is yet another way to feel like an awful American right now.

And I don’t hate Willy Loman. I am fighting pity for him because I know that is worse than hate. Pitying bullies like Loman makes me that superior, bleeding heart that no one wants or likes. But for all of my non-pitying empathetic effort—I don’t even get a catharsis when Willy dies! There is certainly no catharsis to end this story.

Have you seen or read Death of a Salesman? Did you shed tears at the end? and/or feel better after watching it? Relieved and/or devastated were definitely not the vibes in the audience the night I saw this play.

Note Death of a Salesman’s dry-eyed funeral. Misery. We and his wife, sons and neighbors get to go back into the system, i.e. our country, the USA, that made Will Loman’s life and end what they are— so hard to watch.

Some people are perplexed by the politicians running the USA right now. I’m not. I am deeply unsettled by the actions and upset with myself and the “we” I belong to for not figuring out how to right this ship. But, I can’t call myself perplexed or blind-sided, or flabbergasted … unfortunately, I understand and empathize with these angry men because I think I understand that this country creates them — I owe that miserable understanding to working on Death of a Salesman when I was 22.

My parents gave me the great gift of a purple state substrate. Sharing space with a community of people with hugely various political leanings has a mind and heart expanding effect on a child. Nevertheless I still needed to read and work on Death of a Salesman to live this American character’s life and lock the empathy in. And then I need to hear his wife say at his funeral “Attention must be paid” to make a habit of noting the world that made Willy Loman’s life a tragedy.

Today‘s pre-10am tearful ten seconds are provoked by my love of Willy Loman.

So, this miserable March, I am revisiting Death of a Salesman. I can do this now with hope, not misery, because I have a dad that had all of the American trappings of a Willy Loman, and is entering his 85th year a hero. The normal kind. Not hugely triumphant like any number of other archetypal American heroes. Not tragic like Willy. My dad is a Willy-one-better Hero.

Arthur Miller took his own advice, from the mouth of his heroine, and paid attention to these men. He loved and understood them well enough to explain them to the rest of us. My dad’s life was the same daily struggle for a livelihood and dignity and pride that Willy’s was. But he got to inhabit a world that understood him a little better than Willy‘s world. More importantly, my dad understood himself better than Willy did.

Arthur Miller did that for him and for me.

Really. I truly believe that brave empathetic stories like this one are what a better world is built on. Thank you to all the Willy Lomans. Thank you to Arthur Miller. and thank you to my dad for making your daily hero’s journey to build your kids a better world.

While I don’t want you to be miserable…I do want you to have a copy of this play. Please let me know in the comments if you want a used copy or a fresh one and I will mail one to you. I like editions like the ones below that the official theater publishers use; 1. They look nice all stacked up on your shelf. 2. The cover is not telling you what the vibe should be, who to cast, or what they should wear.