Death of a Salesman - Movie Vs. Book

Justin Bardowski

College Credit English

December 19, 2001

Death of a Salesman;

Movie vs. Book

Death of a Salesman was both a great movie to watch and a great book to read. There were small differences, and since they are just about word for word from one another, the differences were usually just differences in the way one interpreted the book and envisioned the characters. The major difference I noticed was the way I pictured Linda and the way she was portrayed in the movie. Linda was not at all how I had imagined her to be.

While reading the book I pictured Linda as being this sweet old lady. A lady that was very humble and usually kept quiet for the most part. An ideal mother and wife. However, while watching the movie she seemed much louder and less sweet than I envisioned her. She had a pretty deep voice in the movie, and usually seemed to shout when she was talking. This deep voice and shouting tone really made her seem completely different from how I had perceived her in the book. For instance when she made the comment "Willy, go eat your cheese," I envisioned a soothing wife trying to help her husband calm him down in the book, whereas in the movie it seemed more like she was giving orders with her deep and shouting voice. While in the book I felt bad for Linda when Willy kept telling her to "shut up" or "be quiet", in the movie I didn't blame him for cursing her loud interruptions. The movie version of Linda was just completely different than I had pictured her. The director of the movie "Death of a Salesman" just perceived Linda different than I did.

When a movie script is almost word for word with the book it is portraying it is hard to find many concrete differences. Usually the only difference is the way the reader perceived the book. I imagined Linda much differently than the way the movie portrayed her. The difference between Linda in the book and Linda in the movie really changed a lot in my mind.