Themes of a salesman

     Arthur Miller in particular, as a playwright, fills his plays with dramatic themes that are not only inspiring, but also all the more compelling for their accurate interpretation of the real world. One such theme is that "A man who blindly follows a dream is blind to its consequences". Willy Loman desperately wants to be a successful businessman, and he wants his sons to follow successfully in his footsteps. He devotes himself utterly to this dream, and won't accept that any of the shortcomings of the Loman household are consequences of his failure at achieving his dream. Willy blames Biff and Happy for the way that they turned out, and comments that it wasn't his own fault. Perhaps if he recognized that there were other ways to achieve success, he'd be more open to the consequences of his own path.
     Another apparent theme in this play is that "When you fail to see your own failures, you cannot fix them".  Willy's problem is that he is a failure in business, and his sons have sunk into his footsteps. Willy is so focused on being a successful businessman, that he doesn't realize, that at this point in life, he has already failed, and his failure to take corrective action is creating a stagnation that has spread to Biff and Happy. Willy has no idea why things are going wrong in his life, so he cannot fix them himself.
     Yet another theme in Death of a Salesman is that "In order to inspire greatness in others, you must first become great yourself". This essentially is the idea of "put your money where your mouth is" or else not being a hypocrite. Willy tells his son's to achieve success and to be role models, but at the same time he encourages them to steal, and he has an affair which destroys his credibility in Biff's eyes. If Willy had not had the affair, Biff may have become a success after all.