Death of a Salesman Blog 8

Blog – Compare Willy to Norma Desmond.

Willy and Norma Desmond are quite similar characters. First off, they both believe that to be successful you need to be popular. In the movie this is evident when Norma receives all the fan letters and shows them to Joe. Later on in the movie however, we realize that it is the butler who is sending all of the “fan letters”. He does this because he knows that she will go crazy if she knows that everyone has forgotten her. Norma also believes that she is still a big famous movie star, but if that were true her house would not look like it does. The outside of the house makes it look as though it were abandoned. Norma is in a way still living in the past. In the play, Death of a Salesman, Willy also lives in the past. He creates or re-creates memories for himself. He has gone crazy because he cannot distinguish the present from the past - they are bleeding together.