Charley's Statement

    In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman goes through a tough time. His life is based around being a salesman. He is not a very successful one though, and his neighbor Charley can see that. Charley in a way pities Willy. He constantly lends Willy money and plays cards with him. Willy tends to treat him badly because he is jealous of Charley’s successful son.  Nevertheless, he offers Willy a job many times. However, Willy never accepts the job offer, even when he loses his job as a salesman.  Charley tries telling Willy “the only thing you got in this world is what you can sell” (1256). Willy cannot seem to understand this though. Here, I think Charley is trying to tell Willy that he does not have anything to sell. Willy is losing everything he has and it is making him lose his job. Willy’s most valuable asset is his job as a salesman, and that is what he is living off of. This reflects America in the 1940s in a different way than America now. In the 1940s, a man’s most important responsibility was his job. Losing his career would be losing everything. As America in 2012, salesmanship is not the only thing a man has got in the world. There are so many more opportunities in America now. Overtime, things have changed a lot. Back then, a man seemed to only work and worry about his job. Now, men do much more than just work. They spend more time with the family, go out with their friends, or use their time watching Sunday night football games. I guess America’s morals have changed overtime.