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 t