He also looked back at his prefigured themes in past stories and expanded or reconsidered them (Rollyson 1336-7). Clearly, the roots of his works are the result of important events from his past experiences. .
"Death of a Salesman" is a play relating to the events leading to the downfall of Willy Loman, an aging salesman who is at one time prosperous, but is now approaching the end of his usefulness (Brucher 305). Miller uses symbolism to expand on the conflicts within the Loman family. Happy and Biff, Willy's two sons, represent two sides of Willy's ever-conflicting personality. Happy, who often receives his consolation of unsuccessfulness through women, represents Willy's more materialistic side. Biff, who is more capable of genuine humanity, represents the kinder and more realistic Willy; he favors Biff over Happy (De Schweinitz 343). Although this may seem more of a good thing, it also plays a big part in fueling the conflict between the two. Because Willy favors Biff, he wants more than anything for Biff to succeed in life, and pushes him to do so. In the beginning, Biff agrees with Willy that successfulness is everything. The University of Virginia emblem on his shoes symbolizes his high ambitions; that is, his ambitions before he and Willy drifted apart. One of the most significant scenes in the play is when Willy has a flashback of the hotel scene where Biff catches his "faithful" dad with another woman - this is what causes their father-son relationship to falter. After this point in the play, Biff no longer tries to be "successful" like his father. A symbol that also relates to Willy's infidelity is the stockings. Because he gives the stockings that are meant for Linda to his mistress, they become a symbol of his infidelity. Every time Willy sees Linda humbly mending her old, torn stockings, he feels guilty for what he's done; therefore, the stockings are also a sign of his guilt and her humbleness.
