They told Willy Loman he was everything; ’twas a great American lie’

Forward ^ | April 28,2026 | Talya Zax

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Death of a Salesman follows two days in the life of the Loman family, who live in Brooklyn and have, at long last, very nearly paid off their mortgage. But they have perhaps never felt more insecure. Bills are piling up. Willy’s job as a traveling salesman has stopped paying him a salary. In his 60s, he is beginning to feel his age, and as he works for scant commissions, he’s started to exhibit a faltering grasp on reality, and an increasingly vigorous drive toward self-destruction. His wife Linda — senses terrible possibilities just around the corner.

Meanwhile, adult sons Biff and Happy are in the midst of the sort of drawn-out coming-of-age crisis that each generation seems to invent anew. They don’t know who they are. They can’t see a way toward making enough money. They’re unwilling to commit to anything or anyone. They yearn for big American lives — cattle ranches, an endless stream of available women, the dream of finally pulling one over on the boss — and are only just beginning to question whether that yearning has anything to do with the big American emptiness they feel.

The pressure created by the family’s unfulfilled dreams — of financial security, a sense of purpose, a bit of rest — turns most explosive between Willy and Biff. Willy yearns for his eldest son, once a promising boy who idolized his father, to become the business bigshot he never quite managed to become himself.

But, at 34, Biff no longer seems able to stand anything about his father — up to and including the flashy American brilliance Willy sees himself as bequeathing. The tension between the father with a dream, and the son who refuses to fulfill it, comes to tragedy…

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TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Books/Literature; Society; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: americandream; arthurmiller; broadway; brooklyn; communist; communistpropaganda; deathofasalesman; middleclass; newyork; nyc; plays; propaganda; review; sales; salesman; theater

[BradyLS]

Maybe she wasn’t very good in bed.

Then maybe she gave as good as she got.

[Rainbow Rising]

Thanks for sharing the SCTV sketch. I love SCTV but I had never seen this one before. Hilarious. Great impressions all around.