Death of a Modernist SalesmanThe modernist writing movement was characterized by a lack of faith in traditional ways of explaining life and its meaning. Religion, nationalism and family were no longer considered infallible. It was no longer possible for modernist writers to find a sense of security. They couldn't find any meaning or order in the old ways. Despair was a common reaction for them. The dilemma they ran into was what to do with this knowledge. The poet Robert Frost expressed their question best in his poem “The Oven Bird.” Frost's narrator and the bird he is talking about both wonder "what to do with a diminished thing" (Baym 1103). Modernist writers attempted to mirror this desperation and attempted to superimpose meaning on it or find meaning in it. The old frames of reference no longer had any meaning. We had to look for newer ones. This belief gave them license to create new landmarks, which at least had meaning for them, or to comment on the remnants of old ones. These writers often referred to shattered illusions, feelings of alienation, and fragmentation of the remnants of tradition. Although society was making technological advances, many of these writers felt that it was declining in other ways. They considered that this progress was being made at the expense of individuality and the individual's sense of true self-worth. Arthur Miller's writings are characteristic of this movement. Miller is a playwright whose works reflect the major themes of modernism. Death of a Salesman, perhaps his best-known work, is a perfect example. In it, he addresses common modernist themes of alienation and loneliness both through his portrait of society and...... middle of paper......l.Works CitedBaym, Franklin, Gottesman, Holland, et al ., eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 4th ed. New York: Norton, 1994. Corrigan, Robert W., ed. Arthur Miller. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969. Costello, Donald P. “Arthur Miller's Circles of Responsibility: A View from a Bridge and Beyond.” Modern drama. 36 (1993): 443-453. Florio, Thomas A., ed. "Miller's Tales." The New Yorker. 70 (1994): 35-36. Hayashi, Tetsumaro. Criticism by Arthur Miller. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1969.Martin, Robert A., ed. Arthur Miller. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1982. Miller, Arthur. The Archbishop's Ceiling/The American Clock. New York: Grove Press, 1989.---. Death of a salesman. New York: Viking, 1965.---. Eight comedies. New York: Nelson Doubleday, 1981.