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Update: It occurred to me that I have over the years paid less attention to the neurological state of the aging Willy Loman than I do now. I think of that because the Chicago Shakespeare Company at Navy Pier launched a production of King Lear a couple years ago that theorized that Lear had dementia, which was responsible for part of his terrible behavior to his daughters, especially to the honest Cordelia. Lear had become an autocratic father, demanding absolute and total loyalty and allegiance from his daughters, and she challenged him on this point. He only wanted to be surrounded with "yes" women, as the Head of His Family.

Will does not demand such allegiance from his sons, but he obviously is in neurological decline, fofrgettijng he is driving, driving off the road, wandering off, talking to himself, raging, delusional. This is not just his being tired or old. He is in neurological decline and "attention has to be paid" to that issue.

I say this in part because we are observing the undeniable neurological decline of two leading politicians, one we as a country re-elected to lead out country. You may recall Reagan's last stretch in office, suffering from Alzheimer's, his wife Nancy whispering guidance to him as he addressed his audiences. I have two siblings with Alzheimer's who no longer know anyone in their families, and a dear friend neighbor suffering from early onset dementia. In an aging population, we are going to see more and more of this insidious condition. But it is here in these plays, Lear and Death, unnamed.

Original review: “I don't say he's a great man. Willie Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall in his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person.�

I have seen, read and taught Death of a Salesman many times, and loved re-reading it again as part of my tour this year through what I think are his best plays, including The Crucible, All my Sons, A View From the Bridge. (In college I tried out for the part of Biff, but was runner-up, curse you Bruce Mulder! I worked on the lighting for the production, which I loved). I tend to think of this play as one of the greatest plays in American theater, and a kind of dramatic pair with The Great Gatsby as a treatise on The American Dream/capitalism, featuring sad, misguided people (Jay Gatz/ Willy Loman) who use money/appearance/material goods as a means to their ideas of success, both of them involved in infidelity as a central flaw/part of their downfall.

Death is a dream play, very lyrical, moving from past and present, as Willy’s fraying sense of reality in the last 24 hours of his life leads to what the title of the play reveals will happen. So it’s not about plot, it’s a sociological/psychological study, which features father-sons and a strong woman, Linda, who tries to keep the family together.

Hap is the guy most like Willy, and they are never not deluded in their pursuit of the material dream:

“Happy: All right, boy. I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It's the only dream you can have—to come out number-one man.�

Both Hap and Willy are (mis)guided by the image of the materially successful Ben, Willy’s older brother who left Brooklyn for Africa and Alaska:

“When I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God I was rich.�

Biff and Willy can point to one moment when he was in high school where everything began to unravel, but whereas Willy never sees what he is, Biff comes to a realization:

“I stopped in the middle of that building and I saw—the sky. I saw the things that I love in this world. The work and the food and time to sit and smoke. Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!

“I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been.�

Such great language, terrific characters, great dialogue. I was saddened once again by this story of lost American values. Reminded me a bit, too, of a graphic novel by Seth, also about a salesman, Clyde Fans, though the (lost) American salesman is a staple of American literature and worth reading more deeply into: Glengarry Glen Ross (Mamet), John Updike’s Rabbit books, so much.