On Thursday, February 10th, 2005, Arthur Miller died in the city of his birth. He was 89 years old. When I was maybe thirteen or fourteen we watched and read "Death of a Salesman" in English class. This was the first piece of writing to really touch a deeper emotional place within me. At the time, I had no real understand of the pain that Willy was going through as a result of giving his life to a company that tossed him aside when it was through with him. However, I did immediately connect with the pain Biff felt when he learned his father had an affair. My father also had an affair and it ended his marriage to my mother.
Biff and Happy's story struck me even deeper. My brother's and I, as they were, were told that we had that "special something" that would take us far in life. "Be well liked!" Willy told his sons because a well liked man will go farther then the hard working man. But relying on being well liked, or that "special something" get's you no where in life, as Biff and Hap show us. And my entire life I've been worried that I would end like Biff, because I thought I was special enough to try to be a writer.
Anyway it's a tragedy that Arthur Miller has passed and everyone should take a moment of silence in respect for a great playwright who illuminated truthfully aspects of the human condition.