Work Alienation of Characters in Miller's All My Sons and Death of a Salesman

Abstract

Miller's All My Sons and Death of a Salesman are plays which have such characters who are alienated from a sense of community or relatedness to others and to themselves. They are subject to meaninglessness, powerlessness, normlessness – distrust, widespread deviance and unrestrained individual competition in the society. Keller, protagonist of All My Sons tries to succeed in the competitive corporate world. He achieves the materialistic height but is doomed. He also suffers from a sense of guilt, for whatever he has done; he is estranged from himself. Similarly, Lowman, protagonist in Death of a Salesman too is the victim of this capitalistic economic system which evaluates human beings as machines and it ignores emotion, sentiment and relations. As Lowman becomes old, he is not salable. He cannot continue to serve in Howard's firm. Further, Biff and Happy are also the victims of this deceptive system of economy. They are never satisfied with their work. They only hanker after work. Almost all the characters are deceived by the system in these two plays. However, characters still aspire for success and satisfaction. But sense of meaninglessness, powerlessness, dissatisfaction and alienation overtake their life.