GDR#5

What did Charley mean when he told Willy that the only things in this world are what you can sell? It seems to me personally that Charley was summing up a generation that was so preoccupied material possessions that they have forgotten things that should really naturally matter to human beings like family ties, friendship, loyalty and civic duty. This is after all the time period that spawned the saying "keeping up with the Jones." And I think that's exactly what Willy is saying. I personally believe that the thought process of many people at that time including Charley and eventually Willy reflect in what they say and their actions. Money is a cruel mistress as Willy learns throughout the length of the play, every one wants it, few really have it, and even fewer fully understand how to control it. Everything in the time period and in the story of Death of a Salesman revolves around money, what it can do, how much power it can bring you, how well liked or loved it can make some one. People argue that was the good days or these are better than those days, there is no clear cut answer to which is better but when it is all boiled down, sorted out and made clear there really is no difference. Then now it makes no difference man has always been obsessed with power in whatever form the age brings it. In the beginning it was physical strength but as evolution took effect and the years passed power was defined by the coin in your pockets. I believe this is what Charley meant when he was talking to Willy, that the only things that really matter in life are the things hold fiscal value or can be sold or traded to make money. I find it hard to accept this idea having a close brother, but when it’s looked at from and objective view one can live without family but no one can live without money.