Willy Loman Symbols

Symbols in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”
(Symbolism of the Rubber Hose, Seeds, and Stockings in Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”) Willy Loman is the protagonist in Arthur Miller’s play, “Death of a Salesman.” While reading the play, readers realize how many life struggles Willy has been through and is still going through. His whole working career has been spent working as a traveling salesman for a company. Willy’s struggle dealing with his work comes with the fact that he has been working for the same company for so long but has never moved up in the business or given much credit for what he has done for the business. Another struggle for Willy is his relationship with his family. Willy’s only support in his family is his wife Linda.
Willy Loman is a salesman, and has spent his whole career as a salesman for the same company, but he has never been promoted in the business. And as time goes on the old buyers fade out and the new move in but don’t admire Willy as those before did. Since he was never promoted and he can no longer make a good enough salary to support his family, Willy has been trying to find ways to do so. While he’s been contemplating how to come up with money to support his family, he came up with the thought of the money from their insurance policy. But in order to receive that money from the insurance company, someone has to die, in this case it would be Willy. Willy knows that he’d have to die, but he also knows that his family won’t receive the money from the insurance policy if his death is an obvious suicide. His plan for suicide explains his accidents in the car and the rubber hose in the cellar. When the rubber hose is first found in the play, it symbolizes Willy’s attitude as one that is weak because it shows that he is ready to give up. But further toward the end, readers realize that the rubber hose symbolizes how much Willy cares for his family, he would only try to kill himself to help them, not out of sympathy for