How is Miller's Death of a Salesman a Modernist play ?

Another aspect of the modernism of the play is the
rejection of strict chronology of time. The play is punctuated by arrival's on to the
stage by people from Willy's past, via his memories. There is a conjunction of present
and past brought about by Willy's mental rambling.

This
complication of past and present is also represented in the dialogue between Willy and
his sons. Often Willy's thought processes divert into the past and the conversation with
his sons becomes split. The sons think that Willy is talking about a certain topic,
whilst Willy is actually, through delusion, talking about something from his past.
Whilst the characters seem unable to understand this disjunct, the audience is aware.
The audience is given an insight into the fractured and intractable nature of Willy's
mental state and, therefore, his relationships.

Miller
brings Willy's fractured and wandering thoughts to bear on the stage through modernist
techniques of tangible memory relapses manifested by physical people and dysfunctional
conversation.