Reference excerpt is at the bottom of the page.
Jacques Derrida has changed the way people think about a text. He not only created a new understanding for the text, but also changed the way people interpret languages. With his deconstruction, the language became a subjective medium within which signifiers and symbols and signs dominated the vague meaning, as far as semiotics concerned. After deconstruction, the literary criticism and theory changed completely for a while, especially in the United Kingdom and United States as Derrida was counted among the 5 master theorists in the world along with Marx, Freud, Hegel and Kant. Therefore, I will try to hold a deconstructive approach throughout this paper to analyze the excerpt from Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
Arthur Miller was born in 1915 and deceased in 2005. Throughout this relatively long life, he has witnessed the destructive effects of the great depression, two world wars and the cold war along with the rise of Capitalism. He has been an active defender of the less fortunate and the lower-class working people, which is evident in his works. He did not trust the authorities as well as the human societies and their institutionalizing power.
In his Death of a Salesman, he strongly criticized the abovementioned institutionalizing power of the societies, the corruption of people under the effects of Capitalism and the manifestation of all of these in individual’s inner souls and lives.
In the excerpt, Willy is talking about the profit he made, and Linda asks how much he has made. This is typical to lower and lower middle classes to talk about the exact amount of money made in that month in order to have a balanced and meticulously calculated finance. If they do not act careful with their money, these classes are doomed to be hungry that month. When it is considered that this play is also a criticism of Capitalism and that Arthur Miller was a communist, this dialogue has no eccentric presence here. Linda’s words “Well, it makes seventy dollars and some pennies. That’s very good.” Are noteworthy in that she is even including the pennies in her calculation and that signifies the economic situation of lower classes in a capitalist world. What is more interesting is her appreciation of this little amount of money. Another point that stands out from this conversation lies behind the Willy’s words. He says “…Otherwise I woulda broke records.” This is what keeps the lower classes preoccupied, this is what has become the demise of many nations in the past, this is what’s left in Pandora’s box when she hustled close it, this is hope. This is the hope of the lower classes that bound them to their fate.
Moreover, after the sixth line, Willy asks to Linda “What do we owe?” First thing to mention in this question is quite interesting. Linda is the one who keeps trach of their debts. Even today, after the effective feminist theories, this would be surprising to encounter if a woman is not in the business life as well. From a feminist reading, therefore, this text would be appreciated for this along with many other features. However, from a Marxist perspective, this question is not so heartwarming. One moment, they are talking about and being glad about how much money they made, another moment, they have to consider their debts even without being completely happy with their money. This is remarkable because this family is not leading their lives other than pleasing other. Capitalism made the rich richer and made the poor poorer. They make some money and calculate it with pennies, but it is sad to see that that little amount of money is not even theirs and they will have to pay many things with it, just to make new debts. This is indeed a manifestation of the Marshall Plan, which is incarnated within the American economic system. The Marshall Plan basically the give-away of some goods by USA to less developed countries after the war to make them dependent on those goods by creating artificial needs. In the play, they talk about their brand-new refrigerator whose fan belt broke just to cause them to spend more money on it. Also, when they stated that it is brand new to the service man, he just said that is the way the refrigerator is. This refrigerator signifies the constant money flow from the poor to the rich. It is a symbol of Capitalism.
Additionally, the symbolizing feature of the refrigerator is also apparent in the adjective used to describe it. Brand new. They probably had another machine which was older and not functioning perfect. However, it is safe to state from the implications and the surtext that they could go by with their older refrigerator. They could, not the society. So, they had to buy a brand-new refrigerator to please the other people, deceiving themselves that they are happy with it when they are drowning in debts. It only caused them to spend more and more money on it. Here, the refrigerator is just a symbol, but this concept can be applied to any gadget, good or asset they have to purchase just to please the expectancies of the society. What supports this notion is Linda’s words “They got the biggest ads of any of them!” and Willy’s reply “I know, it’s a fine machine. What else?” From this point, they are still distributing their money to the other gadgets, now the washing machine which will cost nine-sixty dollars and the vacuum cleaner. Then the roof. When they should be talking about some investments, some holidays, some real needs, they can only talk about how they should share the money to mollify their debts until the next month in the most optimal way.
For a short period of time, they are glad that their roof was fixed well, and it does not leak but then they remember the debt of that fixation as well and this chain reaction never ceases to progress. Linda says Willy owes Frank some money for the carburetor of the car, but he replies with a denial and grumble. He says he will not pay that man, but it is a rhetoric statement he uses to deceive his mind so that he will not drown among those debts. The last line from my excerpt is Linda’s reconfirmation of the debt Willy owes to Frank because she also knows that he will pay it one way or another. Then she concludes by saying that their total debt that is due to the fifteenth of the month is a hundred and twenty dollars although the money Willy made was only seventy dollars and some pennies. Hence, they are stuck in an ocean of debts with no solution to mollify them. This may seem an interesting or strange situation at first glance but when the everyday situation of billions of lower-class people is considered, this is what Capitalism has begot. Those lower-class workers are in this situation over the course of their whole life and the Willy character is a signifier for all of them. He is the embodiment of lower - lower middle class average person with a family while Linda’s function is somehow more complicated as a mediator between the society and the family.
Clearly, these lines may be interpreted falsely as a usual dialogue between a husband and a wife when the close reading practice is not implemented. However, they have more meanings than they appear as deconstruction suggests. This play is a manifesto of working-class people and should not be overlooked but should be read in a Marxist and deconstructive perspective to get the most out of it. If it is read closely and between the lines, this play has a correcting power for societies in my opinion.
Works Cited
Berger, Arthur Asa. “Marxist Analysis of Material Culture.” Reading Matter, 2017, pp. 63–72., https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315128054-6.
Felperin, Howard. “Deconstruction Reconstructed.” Beyond Deconstruction, 1986, pp. 104–146., https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198128960.003.0004.
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman: Play in Two Acts. Dramatists Play Service, 1980.
Sardar, Ziauddin, and Van Borin Loon. “And Science (De)Constructed.” Introducing Cultural Studies: A Graphic Guide, Icon Books, London, 2015, pp. 98–99.
20 lines
1-Willy: Well, I didn’t figure it yet, but . . .
2-Linda: How much did you do?
3-Willy: Well, I—I did—about a hundred and eighty gross
in Providence. Well, no—it came to—roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip.
4-Linda [without hesitation]: Two hundred gross. That’s . . . [She figures.]
5-Willy: The trouble was that three of the stores were half closed for inventory in Boston. Otherwise I woulda broke records.
6-Linda: Well, it makes seventy dollars and some pennies. That’s very good.
7-Willy: What do we owe?
8-Linda: Well, on the first there’s sixteen dollars on the refrigerator—
9-Willy: Why sixteen?
10-Linda: Well, the fan belt broke, so it was a dollar eighty.
11-Willy: But it’s brand new.
12-Linda: Well, the man said that’s the way it is. Till they
work themselves in, y’know.
[They move through the wall-line into the kitchen.]
13-Willy: I hope we didn’t get stuck on that machine.
14-Linda: They got the biggest ads of any of them!
15-Willy: I know, it’s a fine machine. What else?
16-Linda: Well, there’s nine-sixty for the washing machine.
And for the vacuum cleaner there’s three and a half due on the fifteenth. Then the roof, you got twenty-one dollars remaining.
17-Willy: It don’t leak, does it?
18-Linda: No, they did a wonderful job. Then you owe Frank for the carburetor.
19-Willy: I’m not going to pay that man! That god- dam Chevrolet, they ought to prohibit the manufacture of that car!
20-Linda: Well, you owe him three and a half. And odds and ends, comes to around a hundred and twenty dollars by the fifteenth.