Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman is annoying. Death of a Salesman is aggravating. Death of a Salesman is frustrating to the point you want to jump through the page and hit one,, if not all, of the characters…but does that actually mean that Death of a Salesman is not necessarily meant to be pleasing but meant to prove something? It is my opinion that Arthur Miller’s work was maybe not meant to make anyone’s eyes open up to anything, it could have been a source of pleasure for him for all we know, but it does a great job of showing family dysfunction and how it affects every member regardless of goals or self-worth.
One of the largest problems within family relations is that between Edward and his mother. Edward seems to be the most like his mother in that he is quieter and a little more understanding, although that is where the problem starts. As both children in the family are the extremes of one of the parents, it makes for an extreme household. Edward comes down with a sickness and his mother’s nerves act up causing her to go back to her morphine addiction. This problem is not helped by the fact that the father chooses to ignore it along with the rest of the family. Like Long Day’s Journey Into Night, the family is too afraid to admit anything to each other because then it will be real and the admittance of a problem would mean that there is one and a something needs to be done about it.