Biographical

    Arthur Asher Miller's Death of a Salesman is largely influenced by his life experiences and the people around him. Arthur Miller was born on October 17, 1915 in Harlem. His father owned a women’s clothing manufacturing business. Miller was raised in wealth, eg. his family owned a summer house in Queens. During the Wall Street Crash of 1929 his wealthy life fell apart when his father’s business closed. During Arthur’s teenage years he delivered bread to raise money for his family. When he entered college he worked a multitude of menial jobs to pay for tuition.

    In Death of a Salesman Millers childhood plight is illustrated in Willy’s misfortune, “Christmas time, fifty dollars! To fix the hot water it cost ninety-seven fifty! For five weeks he’s been on straight commission, like a beginner, an unknown!”. This echo his father’s failing in business and the effects it has upon the family. The stress that was placed up Linda can be seen as an echo of the effects upon his own mother, “Your hair got so gray.”.  Biff says this to his mother after Willy’s business starts to fail. Miller’s own family tension is played out in the characters of Death of a salesman.  

    “In the beginning, when he was young, I thought, well, a young man, it’s good for him to tramp around, take a lot of different jobs. But it’s more than ten years now and he has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week” Biff’s changing of jobs follows Miller’s own experience for when he was young. Miller worked in a auto parts warehouse and in a factory. Arthur’s views on the lower middle class and more impoverished families come from his personal experiences. The descriptions that he gives are vivid because he is describing what he has seen and puts them into his own personal world or play.. Through association we can see that the characters in Death of a Salesman follow Millers’ own beliefs about the American dream. Willy’s failure and Biff’s different working conditions are all introspection about his memories and his past. Willy’s problems may also be seen as Willy’s ‘what if’ thoughts on his own family life.