In the early 1900s, the role of women was to stay at home, do housework, and take care of children. Arthur Miller illustrated the life of the average woman in the 1900s with the character of Linda in Death of a Salesman. Arthur Miller was born in Harlem, New York, in 1915. Arthur Miller's father owned a clothing company that employed four hundred people, but after the Wall Street Crash, his family lost everything and moved to Brooklyn. After graduating in 1932, Miller worked several odd jobs to pay for his tuition. While in college at the University of Michigan, he majored in journalism and worked for the student newspaper. The beginning of Arthur Miller's career began after his graduation. He wrote The Lucky Man in 1940, which won the Theater Guild National Award. In 1946, Miller's play All My Sons earned him his first Tony Award. In 1948 he wrote Death of A Salesman which won him another Tony Award, the New York Drama Circle Critics' Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Death of A Salesman is the story of Willy Loman and the struggles he faces in trying to achieve the "American Dream", not only for himself but for his sons. Willy wants to have a perfect family and a perfect life, but his family and life are almost perfect, causing him to fall into depression and want to commit suicide. Due to Willy's many desperate suicide attempts, he begins to lose his mind, talking to himself, and having flashbacks. After Willy's sons Happy and Biff are denied a loan, Willy ultimately decides to commit suicide and leaves his family the insurance money to pay off his debts so they can live a better life. Linda, Willy's wife, plays the role of submissive and leaves Willy in her own hands. In Death of A Salesman, Linda represents the...... middle of paper...... of course, someone is going to want to kill themselves if their own wife can't give them a reason to live, or him talk about his problems. Except that she made Willy feel like a man, Linda made Willy feel like he was alone. Linda represents women in the early 1900s because she was loyal, submissive, and protected her husband's feelings. Many women today would consider this scandalous, but as times change, so does the place women hold in social status, at least in the United States. Works Cited “Biography of Arthur Miller.” Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, and Web. March 05, 2014.Davis, Kingsley. “Wives and work: the sex role revolution and its consequences”. JSTOR. Np, and Web. March 5, 2014. Miller, Arthur and Gerald Clifford Weales. Death of a seller. New York: Penguin, 1996. Print.