Willy Loman of the show as he bares his soul saying "Pop, I'm nothing! I'm nothing, Pop! Can't you understand that? There's no spite in it any more. I'm just what I am, that's all." At Willy's funeral, Biff states that "He had the wrong dreams...He never knew who he was.". Although his younger son, Happy, is self-absorbed, he attempts to humor Willy. He views his Uncle Ben (his father's brother) as his role model rather than his father because Ben went out to the world as a teenager and was rich by the age of 21. He repeatedly reminds Willy of
Arthur Miller to his "Collected Plays", his reflections on the theory of tragedy, comments on the McCarthy Era, and pieces arguing for a publicly supported theater. Reviewing this collection in the "Chicago Tribune," Studs Terkel remarked, "in reading [the "Theater Essays"]...you are exhilaratingly aware of a social critic, as well as a playwright, who knows what he's talking about." In 1983, Miller traveled to China to produce and direct "Death of a Salesman" at the People's Art Theatre in Beijing. The play was a success in China and in 1984, "Salesman in Beijing," a book about Miller's experiences in Beijing, was published.