Many different themes are shown in The Death of a Salesmen. Three themes that stick out to me are cheating, things falling apart and time. Cheating is shown when Willy is speaking to his wife, Linda, about how much he made and goes to a flash back of him and his secretary. He gives his secretary new stockings. When he recovers from his flashback, he relizes Linda is stitching her old ones and takes them from her and throws them away. Willy relizes that he is already broke and that instead of saving his money, he is spending it on his mistress while his wife needs stockings. He hates the fact that his wife needs to use her old stockings.
      Things falling apart is probably the most prominent theme in the book so far. Right in the begining of the book Willy returns home from his not so successful trip to New England. He blames his car for not working properly. If his car breaks down how is he going to make money? He's not! This is a reflection of his life in a way. He's becoming old and running out of fuel. As he gets older, it's going to become more and more difficult for him to make a living and support his family. He also won't be able to fulfill his dream about becoming rich and successful like his older brother.
       Time is also a significant theme in the book. When Willy has his flahback of his brother coming home, Ben says that he only has a few minutes to visit. We aren't sure if Ben actually said this or if it is just a misconception on WIlly's part, but it means a lot to Willy. Ben saying that he onyl has a few minutes could be Willy thinking to himself that he doesn't have much time to live up to Ben's "legacy". Willy is getting old and really hoped to become filthy rich by now. This hasn't happened so far and it seems as if his dreams of his boys becoming filthy rich won't come true either.
     

     In The Death of a Salesmen, Willy is always worried about his kids. When Biff and Happy are kids, Willy tries to teach them that they should try to be the best they can possibly be. Having Biff staying at home when he's in his 30's doesn't really make Willy all that excited. Willy had different thought of the two boys when they were young. He wanted them to be salesmen as he is. When Ben came to visit, Willy tried to show his sons off at how obidient they are. He always felt the need to show off his "amazing" sons.
     It is good for a dad to support their kids as they grow up. It helps them build confidence. It was nice of Willy to show support of his sons as they were matureing, but that is not always a good thing. For example, when Biff took the football, Willy was fine with it an told him that it was a good thing his coach didn't get mad at him, that means his coach likes him. Stealing is not something you would encourage your children to do under most circumstances. Willy should find a way to support and encourage his sons without making it seem like he wants them to do something bad.
    Willy seems to not be able to make up his mind in the book. When he says that Biff is lazy and then says that he is not makes it seem like he feels bad as a father to be mean to his son. When Willy says that his chevvy is amazing and then says its bad, just makes Willy seem like he's losing his mind. He can't seem to agree with himself with anything and that worries his family becasue they think he is going crazy.
     When Willy contradicts himself, Linda seems to agree with whatever he says. She doesn't think that it's wierd at all that he can't make up his mind. Apparently she loves him way to much. I think that if she doesn't tell Willy that he's acting weird, he won't know and won't be able to fix whatever it is that is making him do that. If Linda told him that he was contradicting himself, then maybe he could go to the doctors and see if he is mentally stable or if he has some disease of some sort. Willy's family should take him out of his imaginary world and tell him what hes been acting like.