Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman" has become a repudiation of
socialism/communism. Miller intended the play as anti-capitalist propaganda,
but failed. Miller's play is so fuzzy about it's veiled
socialism/communism, that no one who saw the original play comprehended
Miller's intended message. Later, the play (sometimes referred to as "Death
of a Socialist Salesman") became a darkly humorous, unintentional
repudiation of socialism/communism because of Miller's naive attempt at
propaganda.
The play centers on Willy Loman, an aging salesman who is beginning to
lose his grip on reality. (On losing the grip on reality compare the
socialist trio of atrocities at http://members.ij.net/rex/socialists.jpg and
their ilk: the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, The People's
Republic of China, the National Socialist German Worker's Party, Khmer
Rouge, Fidel Castro etc). Willy, who has always placed high value on being
well-liked, (compare all socialist/communist leaders) dreamed of dying
successful - living a life of luxury (compare all socialists and communists
and the absurd strive for "universal everything-for-free care").
Instead, all of Willy's aspirations seem to have failed (compare the
former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, The People's Republic of China,
the National Socialist German Worker's Party, the Khmer Rouge, Fidel Castro
etc): he becomes unemployed, none of his old friends remember him, his child
has not prospered as he hoped, and he is forced to rely on loans from his
former rival (as socialist and communist countries rely on capitalist
countries and even then the anti-capitalist countries become impoverished
and collapse). His other son pretends to be successfully climbing the ladder
but is actually lying to his father about the full measure of his success
(compare socialist/communist countries).
In contrast, Charlie, Willy's rival (who he used to criticize for not
being well-liked) is a successful businessman and his son, Bernard (whom
Willy derided as a child for the same reason) is a brilliant lawyer (as
socialism's/communism's rival, capitalism contrasts as a great success).
Meanwhile, Willy is haunted by memories of his brother, Ben, who at an early
age left for Alaska and became rich (as so many people fled
socialism/communism to prosper in capitalist countries). Pursued by his
dreams of success and the reality of failure, at the end of the play, Willy
commits suicide (compare the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,
Hitler of the National Socialist German Worker's Party etc. also compare
the mass slaughter perpetrated by the socialist trio of atrocities (the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (65 million), the People's Republic of
China (35 million), the National Socialist German Workers' Party (21
million) etc).
One central point of the play seems to be the idea of "greatness" just
as it is for communists (compare the former Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics, The People's Republic of China, the National Socialist German
Worker's Party, Fidel Castro etc). Willy longs to achieve great things and
to be remembered after his death, and instills that hope in both of his
sons. All three fail, while Ben, Charlie, and Bernard (the "capitalists")
succeed, and do so without even trying.
The American Dream is a major theme throughout the play. Biff and Willy
both have very strong (although unspoken) ideas about what it is just as
Arthur Miller had strong unspoken ideas about socialism/communism that he
tried to insert into his play, though he failed and instead he
unintentionally wrote a metaphor for the failures of socialism/communism.
*******also look for Rex Curry's article "The Crucible of Communism" at
http://members.ij.net/rex/crucible.html with a similar expose' of Arthur
Miller's play "The Crucible."
(For more ideas on liberty and the libertarian philosophy see
http://members.ij.net/rex and http://rexcurry.net from Rex Curry at
rexy@no-spam or ecurry@no-spam or rexatious@no-spam
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