Deception: A Theme in the Writing of Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams

Deception is a major theme throughout both Death of a Salesman and The Glass Menagerie. This theme plays a major role in the main parent-child relationship in both works. Biff and Willy Loman are deceived by themselves and by each other. It is much the same for Tom and Amanda Wingfield, but the actual deception is different.

In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Biff and Willy Loman have been deceiving themselves and each other for years. Biff and Willy both think that Biff, when he was younger, had been a salesman for Bill Oliver. In reality, Biff had been a shipping clerk who had stolen a case of basketballs. Willy has deceived himself into thinking that he is a well-loved, well-respected salesman, when in fact he can't sell enough to live on.

Above all, Willy's deception concerning his infidelity while on business trips is the one that causes all the problems. Up to that point in his life, Willy was safe in his deception concerning his great sales prowess. This deception was the root of all the problems this family faced. Willy deceived himself and others about who he was, and really encouraged his children to do the same. Once Biff exposed the deception by discovering his father in a hotel room with another woman, he believes his confidence in his football abilities is misplaced. He gives up his dreams because he considers them to be self-deception. In turn, Willy deceives himself in to believing that this incident has nothing to do with the way Biff lives his life. He knows deep down that he is the one who shattered Biff's confidence, but instead of dealing with the problem, he tried to hide the problem with more deception.

After his father's death, Biff finally comes to terms with the deception, and decides to strip it away and live life on his terms, and not his father's. He decides to hold himself to his own standards and live his own life. Willy, on the other hand, never really comes to terms with his deception. In fact, Willy deceives himself to the end, taking his own life because he has deceived himself into believing this is a solution.

The deception that occurs in The Glass Menagerie is in some ways similar and yet very different. Amanda's self-deception is very similar to Willy's, in that she has deceived herself into believing she is something that she isn't. She lives in the past, where she was the much-desired Southern belle. She always talks about how many men called on her and how she could have married any one of them. Like Willy, her deception affects her relationship with her children. Amanda is really more like Biff in that she sees that her self-deception earlier in life has put her where she is now. She had deceived herself about the kind of man her husband was, and suffers the consequences in that she has had to raise two children on her own.

Tom sees the deception under which his mother lives, and rather than deal with it, he deceives himself in to believing that the solution to the problem is to simply run away from it. In this way, he is more like Willy than Biff. While he doesn't actually choose the same method of running away that Willy chose in the end, the effect is much the same. When Tom leaves to join the merchant marine, he severs his relationship to his mother just as surely as Willy severed his relationship with Biff. Tom's mother doesn't know where he is or how to reach him. It is the same as if he were dead.

In the end, we see that deception plays a major role in the lives of these four characters. It is the dominating factor in the parent-child relationship in both families. While the end result of all this deception is different in each story, the effect is the same. One family member cuts himself off from the rest of the family, kills himself, whether in reality or only symbolically, and the rest of the family is left to deal with the aftermath.