You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away—a man is not a piece of fruit.

The line condemns a utilitarian attitude toward people—valuing them only for what they can provide and discarding them once they are “used up.” By comparing a man to an orange, the speaker highlights the moral absurdity of treating human beings as consumable objects. The image implies obligations of loyalty, dignity, and reciprocity that persist beyond a person’s immediate usefulness. In Miller’s dramatic world, such language typically resonates with themes of economic pressure, family responsibility, and the human cost of systems that reduce individuals to productivity or profit.