In Death of a Salesman Miller offers a criticism of American society. What is this criticism and how is it conveyed to the public? In Death of a Salesman Miller explores and exposes modern American society in a brutal and harsh manner. His analysis and criticism are clearly conveyed to the audience by concluding that society is based on a corrupt and immoral capitalist dream. Miller implies this through the Loman family and their fight for survive and compete The techniques that Miller employs to illustrate this are symbolism, characters and structure their individualism was in danger. The play was written and performed after World War II, in a time when everyone was anxious and worried daily. The audience knew they lived in a capitalist country where everyone thought of themselves, regardless of Miller the first playwrights to confront and show a working class family fighting against a cruel and heartless entrepreneurial society. Such criticism of American society was rare during this period, yet Miller still presents us with a scathing critique of modern American values. In Death of a Salesman the knowledge that Willy cannot achieve the American dream becomes evident to the audience from the early stages of the show. and is consistent throughout the play. The defining incident of this is when Willy gets fired. In the morning Willy says, "I'll get the job and I won't be on the road anymore." He enters Howard's office with purpose and hope, but that soon falls apart. Howard clearly sees Willy as...... middle of paper ......lly immediately jumps to the conclusion that since they have a tennis court and play tennis -an elegant game- they must be rich and pleasant people when he doesn't I haven't even met them other than just playing tennis. Willy and the audience know that in a capitalist environment his friends have achieved the American dream. A capitalist structure clearly defines that you have to do whatever it takes to get to the top. Society is indifferent, ruthless and pushes people to achieve unrealistic aspirations. "You can't eat an orange and throw away the peel: a man is not a fruit." Miller represents this as a flaw in capitalist society; once they get the better of Willy, they “spit him out” and leave him with nothing. The audience recognizes this and Miller's criticism is clearly conveyed throughout Death of a Salesman through the use of symbols, characters and setting..