Analysis of the Ending of "Death of a Salesman" The play "Death of a Salesman" shows the final demise of Willy Loman, a sixty- year-old salesman in the America of the 1940's, who has deluded himself all his life about being a big success in the business world. It also portrays his wife Linda, who "plays along" nicely with his lies and tells him what he wants to hear, out of compassion. The book describes the last day of his life, but there are frequent "flashbacks" in which Willy relives key events of the past, often confusing them with what is happening in the present. His two sons, Biff and Happy, who are in their 30's, have become failures like himself.