DEATH OF A SALESMAN
Back in the 1940s Arthur Miller wrote a play with this title. The salesman
was Willie Loman, and in the later film he was played superbly by Dustin Hoffman. In the story Willie’s highly successful career as a salesman is fading fast and he is very disappointed in the way things are going for his son. Along the way he has allowed himself to become unduly friendly with a woman he met on the road. Willie’s son comes to his mother and complains about Willie’s inability to
keep his life together and reveals that he has seen signs of Willie’s potential suicide. His mother defends her husband by explaining that times have grown tough for his father and he is at present in need of special attention. In dramatic tones she says to her son: “Attention must be paid to the likes of Willie Loman. Attention must be paid.”
Perhaps there are times when each of us face similar extremely difficult situations and do not know what, if anything, to do about them. The title of an old, sentimental popular song from my childhood drifts into my mind: “September Song”. It goes “Deep in December try to remember, and follow.” It clearly is deep in the December of Willie’s life, and he would undoubtedly profit from remembering previous, better times, but it’s not clear to him, or me what it means to “follow.”
I think the lines in the song are meant to suggest that in “December times” when things seem to be getting worse, we should try to remember better times, when the weather was nicer and warmer. The reference to December may also suggest the end of one’s life. I have not been able to come up with a satisfactory interpretation of the implied connection between remembering the months before December, when life was better, and “following”. Looking back when one faces difficulties, even death, in order to remember the good times seems like sound, if difficult, advice. But is that enough for the likes of Willie Loman?
Not to be morbid, but I presently find myself “deep in the December” of my own life and I wonder about how to best deploy myself in relation to my sweet, wonderful wife Mari, my two adult sons, and my many dear friends who are not living anywhere near me. The tone of the above song almost suggests that by remembering the past one will find a way to face the future. I have no trouble doing this, for I have a multitude of great and warm memories of my long past, yet these do not sustain me in my “Willie Loman” times.
After having spent an entire life looking forward to and greatly enjoying whatever comes along, but it is difficult to project this richness into the future when it is so blank. As Nikos Kazantzakis said: “I look forward to nothing, I fear nothing, I am free.” What I have done and what has been given to me are surely sufficient. No special attention need be paid to me. The means has been the end. I do believe there is a loving God of some kind who participates in the activities of the cosmos, but I can only say that I find the life and teachings of Jesus to be my best source as a life-guide. I do not expect anything to happen to me after I die. We’ll see what, if anything, happens next :O)
Back in the 1940s Arthur Miller wrote a play with this title. The salesman
was Willie Loman, and in the later film he was played superbly by Dustin Hoffman. In the story Willie’s highly successful career as a salesman is fading fast and he is very disappointed in the way things are going for his son. Along the way he has allowed himself to become unduly friendly with a woman he met on the road. Willie’s son comes to his mother and complains about Willie’s inability to
keep his life together and reveals that he has seen signs of Willie’s potential suicide. His mother defends her husband by explaining that times have grown tough for his father and he is at present in need of special attention. In dramatic tones she says to her son: “Attention must be paid to the likes of Willie Loman. Attention must be paid.”
Perhaps there are times when each of us face similar extremely difficult situations and do not know what, if anything, to do about them. The title of an old, sentimental popular song from my childhood drifts into my mind: “September Song”. It goes “Deep in December try to remember, and follow.” It clearly is deep in the December of Willie’s life, and he would undoubtedly profit from remembering previous, better times, but it’s not clear to him, or me what it means to “follow.”
I think the lines in the song are meant to suggest that in “December times” when things seem to be getting worse, we should try to remember better times, when the weather was nicer and warmer. The reference to December may also suggest the end of one’s life. I have not been able to come up with a satisfactory interpretation of the implied connection between remembering the months before December, when life was better, and “following”. Looking back when one faces difficulties, even death, in order to remember the good times seems like sound, if difficult, advice. But is that enough for the likes of Willie Loman?
Not to be morbid, but I presently find myself “deep in the December” of my own life and I wonder about how to best deploy myself in relation to my sweet, wonderful wife Mari, my two adult sons, and my many dear friends who are not living anywhere near me. The tone of the above song almost suggests that by remembering the past one will find a way to face the future. I have no trouble doing this, for I have a multitude of great and warm memories of my long past, yet these do not sustain me in my “Willie Loman” times.
After having spent an entire life looking forward to and greatly enjoying whatever comes along, but it is difficult to project this richness into the future when it is so blank. As Nikos Kazantzakis said: “I look forward to nothing, I fear nothing, I am free.” What I have done and what has been given to me are surely sufficient. No special attention need be paid to me. The means has been the end. I do believe there is a loving God of some kind who participates in the activities of the cosmos, but I can only say that I find the life and teachings of Jesus to be my best source as a life-guide. I do not expect anything to happen to me after I die. We’ll see what, if anything, happens next :O)
8 responses to “DEATH OF A SALESMAN”
When my heart stopped during preparation for cardioversion from A-fib and then failed, I was brought to consciousness and told that I was in trouble and might not make it. They moved me to the “rocket room” (a dark, small room with one table and all sorts of emergency equipment and medications hanging from the ceiling, where people typically “rocketed” to heaven) and did everything they could to keep me alive. I remember thinking to myself, “Now I am going to know! I’m going to find out what lies beyond death!” I teetered on the edge for the whole night, but morning brought a returned stable heart beat. I made it, though I had to deal with heart failure and its swellings for some weeks. But that is over now, too. But I could not think of what I was leaving; I could only open my eyes to look for what was coming out of the darkness. Keep your soul in expectation, Jerry. Live on even as death plays the final move, if only to reach and knock over the king and smile at death.
Oh long-time buddy David !! Thank you so much :O) I shall follow your instructions and smile my way down the long hallway :O) Love, jerry
I forget the source, but an article on friendship recommended setting times
to call friends, perhaps setting a time limit. I haven’t tried it, but it seems like
it could be a way to maintain relationships, especially with friends far away. I
have made Christmas and birthday calls which were well received, and I should think more about doing this.
Yup – I do believe we have received several such calls from youse guys over the years :O) Paz, Jerry and Mari
I occasionally get a message that I’m submitting a duplicate reply, such as
this time. Maybe I hit the post key too hard, or artificial intelligence has entered and decided my post wasn’t sufficiently original, which it probably wasn’t.
Tell ’em to mind their own business :O) Paz, J.
I love this, Jer. 🙏🏻
To your question, might it be that to cherish September is to step back in order BOTH to reference and take in the whole, AND to acknowledge that the undercurrents of the winding-down present even in that golden period? As if to acknowledge from Nature in our innermost being not only that we’ve been feeling it coming, but that, looking back and forth, it has been beautiful to bloom as this lovely flower, from conception through the rest of the arc — to decay?
My dad has been feeling the pull, and taking up that perspective of culmination. He just signed an email yesterday, “Planning on upcoming graduation…”
You are surely right, it has been wonderful to bloom :O) No complaints, just a touch of serious sadness :o( Thanks for your wise thoughts :O) PZ, Jerry