The idea for Death of a Salesman had long been in Miller's mind. At seventeen he had written a story called ‘In Memoriam’, in which a Jewish salesman goes to his death. At university he jotted down some ideas about a man called Willy Loman and then again, immediately after university, wrote a striking stream-of-consciousness story, never published, about a salesman whose hopes have come to nothing and who goes to his death under the wheels of a subway car.

Though he would explain the play's origin by reference to a family member whose extravagant plans for his sons came to nothing, there is a more personal genesis for this play about a believer in the American dream who struggles with a knowledge of his failure. The play is not about Miller's father but one incident had brought home to him what it was to be a believer confronted with daily evidence of his own incapacities. When the family business had collapsed, Isadore Miller struggled to keep his dignity, starting new companies, looking for business. One day he was forced to borrow money for the subway from his son. It was a critical moment in their relationship as it was also a sudden and personal reminder of where America had failed so many of those who believed in the inevitability of success in a country which presented itself as specially blessed.