Larry Canupp
Lane-343
Death of a Salesman
Describe the ways in which Willy's death is foreshadowed in the first act in the play.
Willy’s suicide is foreshadowed in Act one through the accident scene. When he arrives home, his wife is the first to ask whether he was involved in an accident as had been previously involved and he retorts that nothing happened. He then reveals that he kept falling into trances and almost knocked down a young boy. When they go to bed, they are woken up by the grumblings of Willy; the sons also begin to think he had another accident. This foreshadowed the bigger breakdown that would befall Willy when he took his own life by speeding off in the night and gets himself in a car crash (Arthur 118).
Do you feel sorry for Willy's life or for his family’s life more? Explain in detail why you feel this way.
I feel sorrier for Willy’s life than his family’s life. This is because Willy lived in a world of illusions and self-deception. He is obsessed with success in terms of material gains and reputation. He says “nothing is planted. I don’t have a thing on the ground” (Arthur 97); to mean that he had nothing to show for his hard work and needed to plant some seeds. He is trying to live the American dream and demands the same of his family. In the process, Willy becomes a wreck and especially after he is fired and tries getting another job from Howard but is rejected. For him, his job was his life and in so doing, he fails to appreciate his son’s diversity and interests, the love he receives from his wife is not even enough to satisfy him. He thinks he is building himself a reputation by succeeding in his profession but the poor attendance of his burial reveals otherwise. Even the wife feels freed by his demise in the last act when she apologizes to him for being unable to cry and says, “We are free” (Arthur 121).
Willy feels and thinks he is a lot better than he really is in life. All the other people he interacts with (except Linda) feels he is not a good man. What contradictions in behavior does Willy exhibit?
Willy feels he is a better man than he really is because he felt he was living the ideal life, pursuing the ideal goals. He feels he set the best example for his sons and provided them with an enabling environment to succeed by setting the pace and providing for his family. He however refuses to acknowledge his own failures including when he is having an imaginary conversation with Ben and Ben asks him why Biff never made it to summer school. He told Ben not to blame him (Arthur 148). After failing to achieve the American dream, he passes it on to his Willy and considers his final act a sacrifice so that the family can live on the insurance and specifically for Willy to fulfill the American dream. In his interactions with other people included, he always ends up being disappointed and upset with them because they somehow seemed to be below his par and expectations.
Does Willy deserve his family’s respect? Do you respect Willy? Why or why not?
Willy does deserve the respect of his family because like any other man, he wanted the best for them. It is just that he did not know how to really give them the best. He wanted fame, reputation and wealth, all of which he thought would have done his family better than harm. When he is mad at Biff, it is because he believes Biff is not using his potential and ability to the maximum. He even makes the irrational decision of laying down his life so that his family and son would get to live a life that he himself never had the opportunity to attain. When he had bought his house, he had hopes of a good and bright future for his family. Through the years, the reality that surrounded him diminished the hopes he had for the family, but he was still determined to make it to the extent that his ambition was his undoing. Through the play, I have been tempted to look down upon Willy for cheating on the wife, not appreciating the love of his family. However in light of Charley’s observations at the funeral I respect Willy. Charley explains that Willy is a victim of his circumstances, “a salesman is got to dream boy” (Arthur 208).
Why do you think Willy is really angry with Biff?
Willy is angry at Biff not just for failing to live up to his expectations but because Biff is aware of his double standards in life. Biff is the one that found him with the other woman in the Boston hotel room and called him “a phony little fake” (Arthur 103).The father believes that Willy is blaming his failures on him out of spite because of his affair with the other woman. So Willy’s anger towards Biff was also an expression of the guilt and shame that was consuming him from the inside.
What are the similarities between Willy and Biff?
One of the similarities between Willy and Biff is that they both find themselves in an identity crisis with each seeking truth. Willy seeks to achieve self-realization by searching through his past life. He is able to attain an understanding of his professional life as a salesman by realizing the basic principles and the nature of his occupation. It is only that through his search he is still not able to grasp an emotional, spiritual and personal understanding of who he really is as an individual. Biff on the hand in his moment of crisis is able to understand who he really is and acknowledges his failures as an individual. He confronts his failures and decides to break loose from it by freeing himself of his father’s disillusionments for him. He says “And I looked at the pen and thought, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why am I trying to become who I don’t want to be?” (Arthur 168). In addition to this, Biff is disappointed with his own lifestyle and so is his father. Biff feels he wasted time moving from one job to another after high school and was never settled in early age. His father complains about his current job as a manual laborer in farms and ranches in the West. The father goes to an extent of talking to himself in protest of the same. Biff was aware that he had failed to achieve and live up to the values that their father, Willy had socialized them into. Biff is also disappointed in his father for having betrayed the family by keeping a mistress.
It is said that ambition can be your best friend or worst enemy. Which of the two would you say describes Willy? Explain in detail why you feel this way.
Ambition can indeed be your best friend or worst enemy depending on how well or poorly directed your ambitions are. Willy was an overly ambitious man and the first impression one would get from his life was that of success. But Willy actually struggles with who really is outside his profession. He does not acknowledge the love his family has for him and has a mistress. Anyone who falls short of his values is an underachiever. This struggle makes him believe that he is better dead than alive and he finally commits suicide. I would say that Willy’s ambition was his worst enemy because it not only built a wall between him and his family but also tore him apart. His suicide is a heroic act according to him because he sees it as granting Biff an opportunity to live the American dream, an ambition he never attained in his lifetime.
Describe in detail what the tone of the play is. Support your answer with examples from the play.
The tone of the play is ironic because we have characters who are continuously expressing their superiority. Willy even when he is falling apart still believes he is in control of matters and tries to push for his ambitions through his son. He refuses to be corrected and believes what he is doing is the best. His son Happy wants to be like him and even lies about his position at the workplace. At a glance, both seem to actually be making good progress in their professions. However, underneath them lies moral and personal decay. The father is suffering a breakdown that he has no control over. He makes his wife believe he is a successful and famous salesman; she lives in that illusion and is surprised when only his family attends the funeral. Happy is also breaking norms at his workplace and trying to buy his way to positions of influence and fame. He is engaged in sexual immorality and when Willy dies, he decides to stay on and fulfill his father’s ambition by being a successful businessman.
List examples from the play that best supports the theme of pride.
Willy displays pride in several instances. One in his expectations of his sons; he is pleased with Happy who has a steady job and is successful but he is deeply disappointed with Biff who is working in farm houses and ranches. In the whole play, he has fantasies of when his sons were younger and Biff was seemingly succeeding in sports and his future was promising. Outside those moments, he was always angry at Biff for being a failure even in his daydream. In one of the instances when he is from a sales trip he boasts of how good the trip was and he sealed big deals but when the wife coaxes him, is when he actually reveals that he made meager sales. Again when he was fired, it took some time before he revealed the news to the family and especially his sons.
List examples from the play that best support the theme of respect and reputation
Respect and reputation are portrayed as important to the Lowman family but especially reputation. When Biff and Happy are conversing and Biff reveals to his younger brother of his plans of buying a ranch in the West and his intentions of asking for a loan from Bill Oliver to do that. Happy assures him that he will get the loan because he was “well liked”. His father in his fantasies had also talked of Bill, as young man being “well-liked” in comparison to Ben, who was a neighbor’s son. He would then argue that chances of his son succeeding as compared to that of Ben’s son were very high. Happy also in trying to build his reputation at his workplace, gets involved in affairs with women who are already involved with his superiors. He also engages in corruption to climb the ranks at work. This shows the significance of one’s reputation in the Lowman family. Willy and Happy may have succeeded in building a reputation but not respect.
List examples from the play that best supports the theme of betrayal.
Willy feels betrayed by his son Biff in failing to live up to his expectations. Biff in this sense betrays the father’s ambitions for him. Furthermore, Biff walks out of the American Dream that the passed down to him by trying to secure a $20,000 insurance money for him to accomplish the same. Biff also feels that Willy has betrayed their mother, Linda’s love by having an affair with another woman. He also feels betrayed by that act because of the trust he had for his father and begins to doubt whether his father was sincere about the ambitions he had for him.
Describe how the setting (both internal and external) in the play help shaped the overall conflict and action in the play.
Works cited.
Centola, Steven R. Family Values in Death of a Salesman. Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations (2009): 25.
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.
