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.