From your question, I'm not sure if you are asking about the plot, character, or theme. Since the other responses focused primarily on theme, perhaps you might want more on plot. Of course, the e-notes plot summaries are excellent for this type of information.
But, I'd like to give you my take on Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. The play begins with a domestic scene--a tired man coming home from an unproductive day at work. His loving wife attempts to console him and reassure him. Willy's sons are also home, and what should be a happy scene becomes tense as Willy vacillates in his views of Biff, calling him a prince one minute and a lazy bum the next. Biff's views of his father are also complex, and he is contemptuous of his father's mumblings and suicide attempts. As Happy and Biff reminisce about old times and share their feelings about the present, we soon learn that Happy is a flagrant philanderer and Biff is a drifter. Both think they are capable of much more.
So, with this setting, Miller shows us the past. We gain an understanding of the past through Willy's flashbacks. As much as Willy would like to suppress these memories, they continually emerge to haunt him. We see such flashbacks as Willy's focus on the young Biff and his neglect of Happy; Ben's visit to the family, full of bravado and intimidation; the young Biff treating the girls rough and stealing; and finally Willy's infidelity that Biff uncovered.
So we see clearly how the past affects the present family situation. And yet, we see how the family clings to those same beliefs and values that caused the problems in the first place. Willy cannot let go of the fact that Biff will be the success that he himself had been unable to be. And Biff has a difficult time untangling himself from this expectation of him as well. Happy feeds into it by suggesting a proposition that deep down each probably knows will fail: the Loman brothers' sports-line, to be financed by a man Biff briefly worked for and stole from. We learn that the Lomans are still chasing pipe dreams and are each failing miserably. Willy is fired from his job, Biff is brushed off by his old boss, Happy is stuck in a low-level management job, not likely to advance.
So, much of the play is uncovering why the Lomans are dysfunctional, how the past affects the present, how unrealistic expectations can lead to disillusionment, and how illusions about self, family, society can converge to create failure on multiple levels.
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