Suicide in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

The struggle to locate one’s personhood and role within a rapidly-changing society can present even the most well-adjusted adults and adolescents with deep psychological and emotional trauma. Arthur Miller’s award-winning play Death of a Salesman pushes the context of this universal struggle even further, confronting what it means to live in a world wherein mediocrity and failure seem not only inevitable but imminent. This informative edition presents essays that examine the treatment of suicide in Death of a Salesman, discussing topics such as alienation, the lack of meaning in contemporary industrial society, and the power of the American Dream. Contemporary perspectives regarding suicide as it pertains to family, work, and society allow readers to link the themes of the text with modern discourse.