This document provides context about Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman, published in 1949. It summarizes key facts about the postwar United States in 1949, including the population, average salary, unemployment, inventions of the time, and notable events both domestically and internationally. It then provides biographical details about Arthur Miller, focusing on his most famous play Death of a Salesman, which examined the myth of the American Dream and the promise of happiness through material wealth.

1. Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller

2. Publication Date…1949

3. Facts and Figures

4. Population in 1949… 132,122,000

5. Average Salary in 1949….$1,299

6. Unemployment…8,120,000

7. Minimum Wage…$.43

8. National Debt…$43 billion

9. Life Expectancy…

10. 34,500 Automobile deaths
1949 Cadillac

11. US homes with indoor
plumbing in 1949…
55%

12. American Households with a TV
9%

13. INVENTIONS

14. Invention #1
1. This invention was a popular
toy
2. It was created by a ship
inspector in 1945
3. Kids played with it on steps
4. It was inexpensive and simple

15. ♫ SLINKY…SLINKY…a wonderful,
magical toy…

16. Invention #2
Invented for working
mothers
Are still popular today
Can be found in any
supermarket

17. TV Dinners

18. Invention #3
 Sold at parties
 Can use it to make popsicles
 Can use it to store crackers
 Can use it to keep food fresh
 Comes in a variety of colors and
functions
 Continues to be popular today

19. Tupperware

20. Invention #4
Used by hairdressers for
coloring
Used by campers for cooking
Used for wrapping things
Used for kid projects
Used for rabbit ears on the TV
Everyone has used it

21. Aluminum Foil

22. National and
International
Events

23. Supreme Court
Decision
African-Americans
DO
have the right to
vote

24. Antarctica discovered….
to be a continent

25. Ireland and England
Ireland gains its
independence
from England in
1949

26. Communist Victory in China

27. Led to the Red Scare led by
Joseph McCarthy

28. NATO founded on April 4, 1949
NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION
An alliance of 10
European and 2
North American
countries
Committed to defend
each other
Combat the spread of
Communism

29. COLD WAR begins….
US and USSR
become
Super
Powers

30. Germany splits into
East Germany
and West Germany

31. Fear and uncertainty

32. Arthur Miller
1915-2005

33. Once married to…Marilyn Monroe

34. Plays
All My Sons (1947)
Death of a Salesman (1949)
The Crucible (1953)
Broken Glass (1994)

35.  Considered to be the masterpiece and
cornerstone of the contemporary
American Dream
 Miller’s success is attributed to his
portrayal of the hopes and fears of
middle-class America
 Examines the myth of the American
Dream and the shallow promise of
happiness through material wealth

36. Accomplishments
 Pulitzer Prize 1949
 National Medal of Arts 1993
 Plays performed on Broadway 742 times
 Avery Hopwood Award for playwriting from
the University of Michigan (alma mater)
 New York Critics Circle Award
 Tony Award for Death of a Salesman
 Academy Award for the screen adaptation of
The Crucible, 1996

37. Theme in Miller’s work…

38. What happens when man
loses his integrity due to social
and economic pressures?

39. Focus on the individual
Has evolved into an
understanding of
social institutions
as reflections of
the good and evil
residing in human
nature.

40. Can a
common man
be a tragic
hero?

41. What does Miller
say?
“the tragic feeling is
evoked in us when we
are in the presence of a
character who is ready
to lay down his life, if
need be, to secure one
thing- his sense of
personal dignity.”

42. What Do You
Think?
 Who are the heroes
who best represent
Miller’s ideal?
 How do our modern
heroes represent the
culture in which we live?
 How have our ideas
about heroes changed
since the 1940’s? 5th
Century B.C.?