Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman as Social Commentary Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman depicts the Lomans and all the family conflicts they face were confronted. It also appears on a larger scale that this piece is a social commentary. This touches on all the problems caused by wealth and success in our culture. The Death of a Salesman is more effective as a reflection of society and the problems it faces than as a representation of family conflicts. The play showed how Willy Loman's desire for success controlled his life and ruined his family. Willy also represents a large part of society. It depicts people in our culture who base their lives on the acquisition of money. The greed for success has devoured a large number of people in this country. It's obvious in the way Willy acts that his lack of money is consuming him. This happens all the time in our society; people will do anything to climb the ladder of success, often knocking down everyone who stands in their way. The death of a salesman also reflects how families treat people once they are older. Willy raised Biff and Happy while they were completely dependent on him, but the boys are unwilling to help Willy when he needs it. This is more effective when we consider that Willy represents all the elderly people in our society. It shows how older people are looked down upon, considered crazy and have their jobs taken away for no reason other than their age. Sometimes you feel sorry for Willy because these things happen to him and he is helpless against them. It makes the reader examine our own culture and how we discriminate against people who should be our equals and treated with respect. This piece also represents how Willy's actions affected his entire family. He always pushed the boys to be the best in everything. they did it. This caused the children to grow up always feeling like they could never do enough to please their father. They ended up doing things against what they really wanted. Biff never found sufficient occupation and was forced to do things like steal. Happy ended up lying to make things always seem better than they were. But it's the way this piece represents society that makes it so effective. The biggest problem this play imitates is peer pressure. Willy's pressure