In the play, “Death of a Salesman,” Arthur Miller uses a number of literary devices to convey his overarching messages to the audience. His symbolism in particular allows him to shape the themes of this story by repeatedly emphasizing their importance throughout the duration of the play. In this play, Arthur Miller uses a number of symbols pertaining to Willy, Biff, and others in the story to effectively portray a subliminal and repeated central theme of denial, contradiction, and deterioration that is apparent throughout the play and that resonates within the audience.
There are a number of symbols associated with Willy, the main character and essentially the main focus of this storyline. One symbol, which is where most of the action takes place, is the Loman house. The house, when it was purchased by Willy and Linda, was removed from the city and was a quaint, ideal place to live out a fulfilled life. There was room for expansion and for a garden, which Willy liked. However, over time, apartments invaded the surrounding area and cluttered the once spacious housing unit. This is largely symbolic of Willy's hopes and overall thoughts, which were originally clear and full of aspiration, but are now doubtful and withering away. This largely relates to the central theme of deterioration. Another symbol that surrounds Willy is the garden, along with the seeds he plants. This garden represents the hopes Willy had of leaving a legacy that would carry on past his death, and the lessons he hoped to plant within his sons. When he tries to plant vegetable seeds, and Linda says, “But not enough sun gets back there. Nothing'll grow anymore,” it symbolizes that hope is all but lost for Willy and his son's chances of success. Alongside these main symbols, Howard's tape recorder is also a major symbol in the play. Howard himself is a symbol of innovation and advancement of business technology, which is in contrast to Willy's old, traditional business tactics. Thus, Howard's tape recorder is seen as an innovative business tool and poses a threat to Willy, whose outdated business tactics that he is so forcibly clinging to cannot compete. This overall situation is symbolic in itself: Even Willy's values are placed in the past, as he always talks about the past, whereas Howard is always looking forward to the future and the progress that will inevitably come with it. This case symbolism feeds into the central theme of denial, which would ultimately be Willy's undoing. Even Willy's last name is a symbol of sorts, rooted in the fact that Loman sounds like “low man,” which is somewhat ironic and contradictory to Willy's high aspirations and dreams for his family's future. Furthermore, Willy contradicts himself a number of times in the play, one such instance being in the beginning when talking about Biff's effort. Willy says to Linda, “Biff is a lazy bum!” when they are discussing the situation. However, a few lines later, Willy says the complete opposite, when he says “In the greatest country in the world, a young man with such – personal attractiveness, gets lost. And he's such a hard worker. There's one thing about Biff – he's not lazy.” This type of contradiction reiterates the theme of the play, especially with it is centered around Willy, who contradicts himself a number of times.
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Another person who is the focal point of a number of symbols is Biff, Willy's thirty-four-year-old son. Biff works manual labor on farms and horse ranches, which his dad is critical of. However, one of the major symbols surrounding Biff is his University of Virginia sneakers. These sneakers are a physical representation of Biff's hopes and dreams about his football career. Biff apparently had multiple scholarship offers from universities, and his future as an athlete was symbolized by the sneakers when he exclaimed, “Oh pop, you didn't see my sneakers!” as he was talking to Willy. The fate of these same sneakers illustrates the metaphorical fate of his football career when Howard describes Biff destroying them. “- Remember those sneakers with the University of Virginia printed on them? He was so proud of those and wore them every day. And he took them down in the cellar and burned them up in the furnace.” The destruction of the sneakers after Willy's affair symbolizes the simultaneous end of Biff's dream of a promising football career. One other symbol associated with Biff's character is Oliver Fountain's pen that he stole. In stealing this pen, Biff almost feels like he has gotten revenge on Oliver, taking from him just as Oliver took Biff's self-worth. Stealing seems to be a recurring incident with Biff, and it almost appears as if stealing gives him a feeling of control that fills the void of discipline in his life.
There are a few other symbols that contribute to the theme of the play as a whole. The stockings Linda mends are one such example. In catching Willy in the act of an affair, Biff exclaims, “You gave her Mama's stockings!” which indicates that these stockings are now burned in Biff's memory as a reminder of the affair. Thus, whenever he sees Linda mending stockings, he says “Will you stop mending stockings? At least while I'm in the house. It gets me nervous. I can't tell you. Please.” This is reflective of the sense of denial that is repeatedly present throughout the play. Another symbol in this story is the jungle and its diamonds. When Ben says, “The jungle is dark but full of diamonds,” he is referring to risk and reward. The jungle is seen as a risk, physically and morally, and the diamonds are seen as the reward for entering the jungle. The diamonds are also perceived as real, tangible rewards, whereas in sales, Willy has nothing to show for his work. Whenever Willy commits suicide, he sees himself as going into the jungle to get diamonds for his sons.
Arthur Miller's extensive use of rhetoric in this play gives him the power to invoke strong feelings from the audience. Miller utilizes Willy, Biff, and others by surrounding their characters with meaningful symbols that powerfully convey the overarching theme of denial, deterioration, and contradiction that lies within Death of a Salesman.
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