![]() ![]() ![]() This causes his sons, particularly Biff, to eschew their studies in favor of athletic achievement. The contrast that Willy makes is between men who are "liked" and men who are "well-liked," believing that to be "well-liked," as defined by charisma and physical appearance, is the major criterion for success. Willy values intangible characteristics such as personality over any actual barometer of achievement, which he dismisses as unimportant in the business world. Willy has instilled in his sons a belief that appearances are more important than actual achievement or talent, contrasting his athletic and handsome sons with the hardworking yet uncharismatic Bernard. The segment demonstrates the inherent causes of the Loman sons' immaturity. The tone of these scenes is idyllic the tension that is later apparent between Biff and Willy is nonexistent, while both characters demonstrate a confidence and contentment that has disappeared decades later. These scenes are explanatory: the actions and conversations of teenage Biff and Happy clarify the behavior of the characters in their early thirties. The "present" time of the aged Willy Loman and his grown sons gives way to the time when Biff and Happy were teenagers. Linda tells him that few men are as idolized by their children as Willy is.Īrthur Miller employs a disjointed time structure in Death of a Salesman, in which the play shifts settings and time within the act. Willy also worries that people respect Uncle Charley, who is a man of few words. Willy worries that others laugh at him, but Linda reassures him, saying that he is successful because he is making seventy to a hundred dollars per week. Linda enters, and after the boys leave she and Willy discuss the troubles that Willy has been having in his business. Biff says that Bernard is "liked, but not well liked." Willy says that Bernard may get the best grades in school, but when he gets out in the business world people like Biff and Happy will be five times ahead of him. Willy tells Bernard not to be a pest, and Bernard leaves. Birnbaum will fail Biff in his math class if he does not study, and reminds Biff that just because he has been accepted to UVA the high school does not have to graduate him. Bernard is worried because Biff has a state exam (Regents) the following week and has yet to study for them. Willy promises to take his boys on business and show them all of the towns in New England and introduce them to the finest people.Īs Happy and Biff toss the football around, Bernard enters. Willy says that he'll be bigger than Charley, because Charley is liked, but not well-liked. Willy says that someday he'll have his own business like Uncle Charley. Biff tells Willy that he missed him when he was away on business. Biff shows Willy a football he took from the locker room, but Willy tells him to return it. Willy surprises the boys with a new punching bag, and as Happy exercises he brags about how he is losing weight. Willy reminds Biff not to make promises to a girl, because girls will always believe what you tell them and Biff is too young to be talking seriously to girls. His death represents a final transformation of himself into a commodity-a life insurance policy-for the benefit of his family, whose love he failed to fully recognize while he was still with them.This segment of the act takes place in the kitchen years before. He invests all his hope in his sons and is disappointed in the way they have turned out, not realizing that his shallow dream of success has influenced both Biff's disillusionment and Happy's shallowness. Eventually, this schism between his dreams and reality results in mental collapse, in which he relives significant moments from his past without learning the lessons of that past. All his life, he represents himself to his family as being constantly on the verge of huge success, while privately wondering why he has not risen to the heights that he believes he is capable of reaching. We never learn what he sells, but he has thoroughly bought into a version of the American Dream in which charisma and luck count for more than diligence or wisdom. The salesman of the title, and the husband of Linda. ![]()
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