A Selected Modern American Play in the Frame of Ecocriticism and (Un)Sustainability: Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Abstract

Death of a Salesman (1949) by Arthur Miller is a play presenting the complicated interaction between humans and nature. In this complicated relation, Willy Loman is a character trapped in society's fixation with financial good fortune and consumption-oriented attitudes. His dilemma between the financial securities of his family and his own psychology rejects not just personal mistakes but also society's wild and lavish use of nature and its disregard for the environment. Willy's visions and illusions are sustainable in the Modern age society. Yet, except for Willy’s wishes, everything in the work is unsustainable.

Intersections between domestic issues and interpersonal connections as environmental conservation are the main themes in the play. While Miller challenges the relationship between inner conflicts and environmental conservation, he also discloses the harmful impacts of the human system on individuals from the ecological perspective. He defines the disparities between human dreams and reality deeply, as well as the effects of a huge gap by nature.

Willy and his life story is a little bit of an example of anyone who has a sense of the future. His struggle with nature cannot catch up with the fast-changing rhythm of social life. He cannot sustain his fight against the big monster, nature. In this study, it is aimed at highlighting the significance of natural issues within the frame of qualitative research in a literary dimension. Willy Loman is a man of each contemporary who presents ecological unsustainability within the frame of familial issues as a specific issue from specific to the general.