Death+of+a+Salesman+2A

toc Death of a Salesman Responses! =Act 2 Analysis=

First Impressions of LInda & Willy

 * Brenda Lee- **

Willy and Linda are compatible because they seem to be foils of each other. Where Willy is irrational and confused, Linda is pragmatic and nurturing. In the stage directions, Linda proves how well she understands Willy, knowing to “bring him out of” his musings (16). Though submissive, Linda responds to Willy “with infinite patience”, proving her love and understanding for him (17). Lastly, she seems like a mother in the way she nurtures him, offering him aspirin, a sandwich and continual support for his endeavors more like a mother cares for her child rather than a wife for her husband.

//Yes - when you watch the film and see how Willy yells at her you see just how much patience she needs! How does his attitude towards her make you feel about him? Why do you think she stays with him when he treats her so poorly? Do you think she would have left had she known about the affair? Do the comments about her in the stage directions help you to understand her? Ms K//


 * Ashley Dyer:**

"The street is lined with cars. There's not a breath of fresh air in the neighborhood. The grass don't grow any more, you can't raise a carrot in the back yard. They should've had a law against apartment houses. Remember those two beautiful elm trees out there? When I and Biff hung the swing between them?" (Miller 17)

Throughout the play Willy fails to see what he really has and instead focuses on what he is lacking - fresh air, nice grass, beautiful trees, etc. He is constantly complaining about the present and expressing his frustrations and irritation to his wife and sons. His only means of escape is through his periodic daydreams regarding the past - a time when things appeared to be promising. As he continuously embraces the past and loses himself in his daydreams, he becomes more desperate and distressed because he begins to realize that his career does not have the potential to get him to where he wants to be. **This quote also has some irony in it, seeing that in the play, Willy is utterly against Biff's choice to work in the countryside.** However, in the quote, as he complains about what he does not have, the things that he complains about are traits of the city, while the things he lacks are traits that make up the atmosphere of the country. This irony illustrates the ambivalence Willy feels as he tries to appear strong before his family and hide his true emotions within himself. //Very good insights; I particularly like the comment I've changed to bold.//


 * ~Happy Terrence~ **

“When the hell did I lose my temper?” (Miller 15) Even though there were other quotations that illustrates Willy’s characteristic through a sense of confusion, I like this quotation the best because of its **humor**. Unlike Willy, Linda is the most emotional stable character that gives her character a realistic touch. She speaks with such clarity that makes it seem as if she is the emotional support of the family. This is shown when Willy says “You’re my foundation and my support, Linda” (Miller 18). Thus, Miller uses the beginning of the play to set the relationships of the characters and conflicts to make the audience keep watching. // I like your insight - many of Willy's more hypocritical or contradictory comments have a bittersweet humor about them which serves to make the play more entertaining. //

Anika Miller "There's more poeple! That's what's ruining this country! Population is getting out of control. The competition is maddening! Smell the stink from that apartment house! And another one on the other side...How can they whip cheese?"(Miller 17)

This Quote is from Willy towards the end of the opening right after the couple Linda and Willy are complaining about their living arrangements and how they feel boxed in with all the surrounding apartments. This quote really caught my attention because he is so frustrated and complaining about what usually characterizes a 'city'. Even though not a nice thought, when living in a city like Shanghai, i accept the smell, the large amount of people, and the fast paced life that comes with the competition in the job market. However Willy is seen in this quote as well as throughout the play how he doesn't accept change or the standards of living in a city, and in turn this is ironic since as an audience we see that the place he would most likely be happiest is in the countryside and NOT in a city. //Well done! Remember, also, that when he bought the house 25 years ago it was in a suburb, not a city, so he didn't choose any of the changes which have occurred.//

Lancelot Ho

"Goddamit, I could sell them!" (Miller 15)

A big theme throughout the **play** is how Willy keeps pursuing the wrong dreams and how concrete the idea of being a salesman is in his head. Although this is only the first encounter that the audience have with Willy, we can see how strongly he feels towards this career that he desires so much. Despite the fact that he has had a terrible day selling the products, he returns home and the audience can still feel the overflowing emotions he has when he said this line. //When we contrast this with his first flashback we can see it is a lie - he was NEVER an amzing salesman. He likes to think his problems are only in the present, but we see from the flashbacks that they all began in the past. MsK.//

Aileen Carpenter " But you didn't rest your mind. Your mind is overactive, and the mind is what counts, dear. "(Miller13) Linda foreshadows Willy's descent into madness or the fractures that exist in his consciousness. **As the play progresses, the reader becomes aware that Willy's hopes and reality are completely different and this is something that he has not accepted**. Although he pressures his son Biff to find himself in the "real world." Willy has yet to do the same. In one moment, he calls Biff a lazy bum. In the next, he says that Biff is hardworking. Willy is constantly contradicting himself not only with his hopes and reality. Willy copes with his reality by living in his mind and being able to recall flashbacks as if they were actually occurring. This allows him to deny any thoughts that may lead him to realize that he has not fulfilled his own desires or expectations. His "overactive" mind will eventually lead him to commit suicide due to his intense wanting of the perfect " American dream." //Interesting comments, Aileen. I especially like the one I have put into bold.//

JOEL LEE

“I don’t want a change! I want Swiss cheese. Why am I always being contradicted?” (Miller 17)

This quote is early on in the **play** and portrays Willy's ignorance to change. Instead of acknowledging the fact that the world is constantly changing around him, Willy reminisces and loses himself in a fantasy of his past. Ironically, this quote also adds to Willy's insanity as he is the sole character who contradicts himself the most. He forgets what he says and cannot remember anything he thinks about; this also foreshadows his suicide as he lets go of his life. The audience begins to see that Willy slowly loses sight of what is real and important in his life as he descends into madness. This quote in essence characterizes Willy as he is seen throughout the rest of the play: a man losing grasp of what reality is, ignorant to change. //Good!//

Connie WANG "I have such thoughts, I have such strange thoughts." (Miller 14)

Willy ends his story of what happened on the road that night with this quote. This quote continued from the cut of sentence, "...and five minutes later I'm dreamin' again, and I nearly- ." This creates a sense of suspense since the readers do not know the rest of his thought and what he "nearly" did. Neither are the readers sure what his "thoughts" were. However, we can hypothesize that his thoughts may be suicidal again, or his other dreams and expectations of his sons, Happy and Biff. The way the sentence was cut off throws the natural flow and rhythm of a dialogue and further heightening the sense of distortion and absurdity of Willy's thoughts. This line particularly stood out to me because of the fact that Willy does recognize that he has "strange thoughts" and that he does know that he has "strange dreams" and that it greatly affects him yet nothing seems to change about it, and neither does Linda support or discourage his strange dreams and thoughts so far. //Excellent.//

Andrea:

“Maybe it’s your glasses. You never went for new glasses”- Linda

This quote is heartwarming and sad at the same time. It illustrates Linda's unconditional love for her husband; that she is concerned and eager to help. The quote may at a deeper level suggest that something is wrong with Willy's vision metaphorically. Throughout the play, we witness Willy contradict himself and the audience, perhaps more than anyone, realizes that Willy is "wearing the wrong glasses"- he has the wrong perception of his life, success and himself- and always had. // Lovely! I hadn't thought of that, and I love that you connected this Oedipal idea here! Well done. //

__"Remember those two beautiful elm trees out there?"__- Willy, page 17. This quote it helps the audience understand that Willy still lives in the past. So far in the play he has not mentioned much more about the house, other than old memories and good times he has had here. This suggests that Willy is nostalgic and reminiscent, adding to his characterization by almost provoking sadness in the audience. Willy is very old and we as an audience get the sense that Willy is lost in the modern world and he doesn’t want any change. He just wants to be reminded of the past, rather than living the present.
 * // Julien: // **

"//Figure it out. Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there's nobody to live in it." - Willy.// (Miller, 15) Here, Willy seems to be expressing his fear of being all used up, exhausted of his purpose in life and ability to leave behind a legacy. This theme is also illustrated through the broken refrigerator, car, and house, which they don't own until the very close of the play. Willy also compares himself to an orange that his company and sons have drained the life out of and abandoned. His memories and imagination of a previous life serve to keep him going. Despite the fact that he provides in his own small way, leaving behind the house and his own impossibly vast dreams, Willy himself has expired. So he dies, very suddenly and sadly in a reckless affirmation of a salesman's life.
 * Bex:**

==﻿Father and Son Relationships ==

brenda lee- Miller may have been commenting on some aspect of society by presenting Charley and Bernard as an "ideal" father/son relationship. However, though Charley has no expectations for Bernard's future, Bernard ends up successful--what do you think Miller was trying to say? //Thanks for starting off the discussion, Brenda.// Happy Terrence:

The father and son relationships between Willy and his sons seem to illustrate Willy’s character in two perspectives. Happy represents Willy by continuing to pursue and live under his father’s ideals while Biff is trying to break free from this capitalist ideal—its almost as if, Happy is a continuum of Willy’s life. Through the father and son relationships, the reader can understand more of each character. How does understanding the father and son relationship build not only the characteristics of the characters and the actions of the characters? (*basically, why does Biff expose Willy’s lies when he loves him so much?)

Julien Picard: Response to Terrence: I actually think that the reason Biff exposes Willy's lies IS actually because he loves him. Biff knows that Willy is killing himself emotionally because of the expectations he has of his sons and himself he believes that bringing Willy back to reality might help Willy change and save his own life. Biff wants his dad to be happy with what he has and not ever think about suicide again. This is also why biff makes sure that his dad knows his failure was not Willy's fault but his own. //Interesting insight, Julien!// Lancelot Ho: Through looking at interactions between Willy and Biff, not only does the audience see how Willy pursues the wrong things (ie. fame, being well-liked....), but also how he actually cares very much for Biff. No matter how much it seems that Willy forces Biff to be well-liked, and always complains about Biff's unsuccessful career, he wants Biff to succeed. How does this relationship between Biff and Willy mirror Miller's relationship between his father?

Anika Miller

We see that throughout the play, Willy always starts to, at first, remember the past as full of love and fun, we also see that he cannot come to terms with the reality and pain/suffering in life. For example, what do we think actually happened to Willy’s father, why did he go to Alaska and never come back? Could he have possibly left his family? And didn’t Willy have an affair, betraying his own family? And doesn’t Happy have multiple relations with women, even those who are engaged?! I see a pattern, so could Miller be suggesting that, using developmental psychology, the significance of a father with good moral values should be highlighted and focused more in society in order to produce more 'successful' future generations? //Nice connection to psych!//

Aileen Carpenter The American Dream is a theme throughout the play, and the audience comes to realize that Willy has been pursuing the wrong dream in order to leave behind a legacy. His relationship with his two sons stems from this dream since he wants them both to pursue a job in sales and " make it" in the city. However when you explore the characteristics of Happy and Biff they are quite distinct. It seems like both characters represent two types of dreams. Happy represents the idealistic dream of becoming a successful salesman. Biff, on the otherhand, represents the out of the norm dream of creating/ building things. Biff can be defined as the realist in the play since he is accurately able to perceive that Willy is following the wrong dream. Happy is trying to take the same road as his father in sales but isn't very successful. Biff and Happy seem to mirror the different aspects of Willy: his dream and reality. //That's a really interesting idea Aileen, well done.//

Andrea Thanks to the complex relationship between Willy and his two sons, the audience gains a deeper insight into their attitudes towards the American Dream, and into their feelings about success in life. Because Biff and Happy, especially towards the end of the play, have such contrasting views on success as well as their father’s life, it suggests to the audience the tragedy that Willy’s life is. They act similar to a chorus in a Greek tragedy, which evaluates and explains what is happening to a character. Miller wanted his audience to reflect upon what success really means, and by not putting expectations on Bernard yet still making him successful, he indicates that we can be happy and successful even without demanding parents like Willy. We can be happy without his view of success.

Connie

The idea of a “father and son relationship” is extremely important in understanding the three male characters, Willy, Biff, and Happy, in Death of a Salesman. The lack of a strong father and son bond seem to become a vicious cycle, affecting the lives of the Willy, Biff, and Happy in the play, beginning with Willy when he lacked the paternal care and attention from his own father. Because Willy did not have a “real” father, he seems to lose direction when trying to raise his own sons, Biff and Happy. Many of Willy’s own wrongdoings are reflected on Biff and Happy. For example, Willy encourages Biff when he steals and fails his tests thinking because Willy himself has a false sense of what’s right and what’s wrong. Willy constantly tells Biff and Happy that it is more important to be “well-liked” and therefore, their morals and values are rather skewed; Biff steals, and Happy is a womanizer. Willy also has high expectations for his sons to succeed in life and live his dreams because he cannot; his expectations have clouded his sight and connection to reality. This is another major reason to why Biff and Happy may be failures.

It is hard to entirely blame Willy for Biff’s and Happy’s failure, however, Willy does lead them to their failures to some extent since Willy isn’t a successful, righteous, and supportive father.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Arthur Miller uses the father and son bond between Bernard and Charley to juxtapose the relationship Willy has with Biff and Happy. Bernard and Charley have a tight bond and both are successful in their business, causing Willy’s failed attempt to raise his two sons even more tragic, increasing sympathy among the audience.

Carlos Alejandrino:

In Arthur Miller’s __Death of a Salesman__, the idea of Father and Son is pivotal in Miller’s message concerning the American Dream. This is done through the contrast between Willy and Biff. Willy constantly lives in the past and his dream how he will leave a legacy with his family and sons, whereas Biff is realistic and insightful to the future. Willy believes in the materialistic view of the American Dream, whereas Biff believes the true American Dream: that a man who lives by his own will and freedom is truly happy. This message was especially significant at the period in which the play was written (1949), since during this time widespread consumerism caused happiness to be measured through wealth and material goods. Arthur Miller contrasts this belief by showing Willy’s misery in his pursuit for the American Dream, whereas Biff is content with a low paying job because he knows that its what makes him happy.

Joel Lee: Arthur Miller uses Biff and Willy as two contrasting characters that portray the theme of American consumerism 'consuming' society. Willy is captivated and trapped by the materialistic view of the American Dream. He sees success as leaving a legacy to be known and in order to do so he sells himself into death to society and its corruption. Biff on the other hand is self-motivated and self-succeeding. He believes as long as he is content then that is the American Dream. Ironically, the American Dream is what Biff is living for, not Willy. Miller uses both the father and son contrast to make a point that the American Dream has corrupted itself in the ways how society views success. At the end when Willy commits suicide, it can seen as Miller's own personal view on how consumerism will eventually deteriorate society to the point where it kills those who are entrapped by the false ideals of the American Dream.

Ashley Dyer:

Throughout the play, Willy’s past and present relationships with his sons are portrayed. In the past, Willy passionately supports Biff as Biff fails his math class and steals a football from the school. This support seems to be based solely on the fact that Biff is popular and “well liked,” which is how Willy defines “success.” This is illustrated when Willy talks with Biff about Bernard. As a youth, Bernard does well academically. However, he is not “well liked.” Therefore, Willy concludes that Bernard will not be successful later in life and that Biff will be. However, in the end, the opposite is ironically true. Later, after Biff sees Willy with another woman, the relationship between Willy and his son totally changes. This act of transgression totally changes Biff’s impression of his Father – the man he once looked up to and admired. Although Biff still loves his Father, he now does not seem to have as much respect for Willy and instead seems to feel sorry for him as he tries to find a way to help Willy realize that the real world is not as simple as Willy thinks it is. Willy on the other hand is uneasy about the situation he is in when Biff is around, seeing that Biff could reveal what happened between him and the woman. But Willy still wants Biff to be “successful” based on Willy’s own idea of what success is, which is why Willy gets angry when Biff’s actions or words contradict anything that Willy himself believes. In my opinion, Miller includes the dynamic relationship between Willy and Biff in order to help the audience come to their own conclusions regarding what success really is.

An integral part of Death of a Salesman is the complex relationship or absence of one between father and son. Miller illustrates both the failures of sons to reconcile themselves to their father's dreams as well as the capacity of both parties to forgive one another, but most importantly the lingering effects of an intangible legacy, that of beliefs. The relationships in this play specifically are not limited only to Biff and Willy, they extend to Willy and his own father as well. The relationship between Happy and his father as well as Charlie and Bernard are also key elements but are never fully explored. Willy and his father had a connection that was virtually nonexistent. He barely remembers, yet still deeply admires the hazy and ephemeral memory of a man. Willy compensates for this by consistently reproducing a visual image of his older brother Ben, who exists to remind Willy what it is to be a man, something Willy needs to be sure of. The belief benefaction left to Willy in this case is therefore the necessity to leave something behind, to succeed financially and be 'well-liked'. He fails his family, and upon being discovered by his son becomes swallowed in an eddy of doubt, feeling as though he had not provided in the right way or taught his son how to be a man. The full impact of Willy's wavering convictions hits Biff the most dramatically, as he was raised in the pursuit of a very bizarre object characteristic of time. Consumerism is rampant, and Willy's beliefs are transferred into Biff's malleable childhood idealism in the form of kleptomania as well as a strong dislike of corporate culture. What Biff manages to garner from the confusion of his father's teachings is that he must be true to himself, and this is Willy's absolution.
 * Bex**:

//Thanks for posting on time everyone! You might want to also check out the 4A page on this topic//.


 * __ Linda Characterization Throughout the play<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">. __**

· She holds the family together, she acts as a peacemaker, she mediates · She sacrifices for her family; just like 1950’s, on the surface she seems like the housewife that takes care of her family · She is ignorant of the truth, in pg 58 where Linda has no idea that he is a fake, and she wonders why her family has to got to where it is. -Why is the relationship between Willy and Biff so tense, she has no idea and she wonders why he has changed so much since he respected Willy so much before. · Motivation as a character; she wants the family to be happy, and for Willy to be taken care of and respected by her __sons most importantly__ · She takes care of Willy like a mom, this is just like in Dolls house where the husband treats his wife like a daughter · When she throws the flowers, everyone is really shocked about what she does, we see her standing up for herself (maybe even for the first time) but mostly for Willy. We sympathize for her because he never stands up for her. · When willy isn’t there, she doesn’t have to live in his ‘fantasy’, she is more active and has her own views when she is alone. After throwing down the flowers, she accuses Biff for his neglect and we see her strength and love for Willy in this scene. · Linda is trying to protect Willy from his sons when Biff comes back from restaurant wanting to talk to ‘the boss’ · “pg 12” she shares his dreams, however to some extent because she doesn’t quite understand them (this is up to your own interpretation)

-Mainly in the Requiem For Linda, we must realize that this scene also shows her as a tragic character as well. -“I made the last payment” -> shows her dreams were smaller, as long as they had enough, “we only needed a little salary” they would be happy, but it wasn’t enough for Willy, -Requiem could also show her weakness, her flaw is that she never really understood Willy or his dreams -We see that at the end in the requiem, Linda doesn’t act as the mediator, or doesn’t try to stop the fighting between Biff and Happy, because she has no one to defend. -We know that Linda stands up for Willy all the time, but Willy never stands up for her, so we sympathize for her. -“We’re free” this means she is free of mortgage payments, and this might not really be a good thing. We don’t exactly see a hopeful future. -we are left with crying widow on stage, who doesn’t understand anything. (my interpretation) -Linda couldn’t comprehend that he passed away, even with all the clues throughout the play that he was going to die. · -We would recommend an actor to act like she truly doesn’t understand or comprehend what is going on, or why he has passed away · The actor must really be in disbelief

__**MOTIFS, SYMBOLS PARTNER PROJECT 2A:**__

//>Tools as symbols// (Ashley Dyer & Julien Picard) -CARLOS+ANIKA"Symbols and Motifs of Great Outdoors"

Aileen and Bex- Tape Recorder

Joel and Connie - The Diamonds [|Joel Lee and Connie Wang.docx]