Commodification of Human Beings through Language

1. Words you hear in business are often referred to people in the play Death of A Salesmen.

1.1. "WILLY TALKING TO BEN: No, Ben! Please tell about Dad. I want my boys to hear. I want them to know the kind of stock they spring from." Page 48

1.2. WILLY: It's twenty thousand dollars on the barrelhead. Guaranteed, gilt-edged, you understand? Page 126

1.3. HOWARD: 'Cause you gotta admit, business is business." Page 80

1.4. HOWARD: " Kid, I can't take blood from a stone, I-". Page 81

1.5. BEN: " Get out of these cities, they are full of talk and time payments and court of law. Screw on your fists and you can fight for a fortune up there. Page 85 This has to do with Ben disobeying the laws and doing illegal activities in different parts of the world to become rich

2. In Death of A Salesmen people are looked at as products and money and not real Human Beings

2.1. WILLY: " Without a penny to his name three great universities are begging for him..." Page 86

2.2. BIFF: "Pop! I'm a dime a dozen and so are you!" Page 132

2.3. BIFF: " I'm one dollar an hour Willy! I tried seven states and couldn't raise it. " Page 132

2.4. WILLY: " I can't pay my insurance! You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away- a man is not a piece of fruit." Page 82

2.5. WILLY: " The wonder of this country, that a man can end up with diamonds here on the basis of being liked." Page 86 I chose this quote because Willy basis his success "diamonds" by being well liked in the cities he is in

3. In the book everything is about money. They believe happiness comes from how much you make a year, and if your a business man. Everyone looks like a number to each other and that dictates your social class. Especially when Biff sees the lady and says " Oh I can't make that" it shows that the lady is of higher class and has a lot more money than he does which means she is out of his league

4. Because of his expectations for his two sons to be wealthy successful business men Willy kills himself to give the family $20,000 so they can start somewhere. His expectations were not always in the favor of what they wanted.

5. Peoples success based on how much they earn. In Death of a Salesmen people are constantly being judge because of how much money they make.

5.1. HAPPY: "That's fifty-two thousand dollars a year coming through the revolving door" Page 24

5.2. BIFF: " What the hell am I doing playing around with horses, twenty eight dollars a week! I'm thrity-four years old, I oughta be making my future" Page 22

5.3. WILLY: "But its more than ten years now and he has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week" Page 16

5.4. WILLY: "How can he find himself on a farm? Is that life? A farmhand..." Page 15 I chose this quote even though it has nothing directly to do with business because Willy thinks down on his son because he has been working on a farm and not in the cities like himself.

5.5. WILLY: " They'll be calling him another Red Grange. Twenty-five thousand a year". Page 89

5.6. BIFF: " Oh I could never make that". Page 102

6. Another thing that is noticeable is the amount of money a person makes determines how they treat others. For example Howard keeps calling Willy "Kid" when Willy is almost doubled Howard's age