Death of a Salesman : A Social Criticism Since the time of its release in 1949, Death of a Salesman has been the topic of many a heated discussion. No one, not even Miller himself, can fully agree on who Willy Loman is or what his motivations are; whether or not he is a tragic hero, or precisely what the show says about today's American society. It may be "an attack on capitalism" (Weales xv) but certainly "it cannot... be reduced to an old-fashioned propaganda play" (Weales xv) by any stretch. The inability its audience to precisely pin down its message is at the heart of the play's success, for everyone who sees or reads it will think