The Death of a Salesman

1
The Death of a Salesman

• Act I the Lowman Family their
  American/Capitalist Dreams

2
Outline

• General Introduction
• Arthur Miller
• The American Dream
• The development of capitalism
• The play and its Style
• Starting Questions and General Questions
• Stage Directions
• Willy Lowman his Present
• Lindas Role
• Biff vs. Happy their Dreams and Efforts
• Willy Lomans Dream, its Sources and Influence

• Other Examples of Success in Capitalism
• Willy/Biff vs. Charley/Bernard
• End of Act I High Hope and Inherent Problems

3
General Introduction --Arthur Miller

• interested in father-son relationships,
• critiques the American Dream
• his conflicted relationship with his uncle,
  Manny Newman, also a salesman. Newman imagined a
  continuous competition between his son and
  Miller. (source)
• married Marilyn Monroe in 1956 they divorced in
  1961
• Politically active in support of Communist party
  during the time of red scare.
• Another famous play, The Crucible ????

4
General Introduction (2) American Dreams

• Americans (or immigrants) dream of success
  which should be easy and quick as long as you
  work hard (esp. material success and social
  climbing e.g. Two Kinds.)
• Related concepts self-made man US as the New
  World promised by God freedom to expand (to go
  West and explore new frontiers).
• Related signs of success car, suburban house
  (with a backyard), furniture and machines
• Criticism
• contradictions between idealism and materialism
• other factors of success ignored (luck, family
  background, toughness and even dirty-dealing)
• hiding the reality of inequality.
• Todays examples Dot-com boom
• and illegal immigrants (boat people)

5
General Introduction (3) Development of
Capitalism (Industrial ? Electronic/Media)

• 19th century? 20th century social mobility or
  the rise of the middle class and the fall of
  aristocracy (e.g. Pride and Prejudice ?
  Pygmalion)
• Mechanical Reproduction ? alienation of workers
  and then everyone (Salesman)
• Improvement in the means of transportation and
  mass communication (The Man in a Case, Yellow
  Sky In the Station of a Metro)
• Abstraction of money and social values (e.g.
  1,000,000 Bank-Note)
• Continuous Expansion of the capital? the
  commercial world and increasing desire of the
  consumers (AP)
• ? buying things on credit and mortgage (Salesman)
  

6
General Introduction (3) Development of
Capitalism (Industrial ? Electronic/Media)

• buying things on credit (installment plan or
  mortgage) ?e.g. cars and houses
• p. 1211 (they owe 120 dollars by the
  15thfridge, carburetor, washing machine, roof)
• p. 1230 (fridge broken all the time, insurance
  premium, car, house mortgage)
• ? Willy's only relief is that after twenty-five
  years he has finally paid off his home mortgage

7
General Introduction (4)

• Death of a Salesman (1949) consider the first
  great American tragedy.
• Setting New York City and Boston in the late
  1940s
• The places mentioned New England, the West,
  Texas, Florida, Africa, Alaska.
• Major Issues
• American Dream -- What are their dreams? Where
  do these dreams come from? And how are they
  broken?
• Father-Son Relationships
• Lowman as a tragic hero?
• Styles Expressionism

8
Expressionism Stage Direction

• Miller once said that "Any dramatic form is an
  artifice, a way of transforming a subjective
  feeling into something that can be comprehended
  through public symbols." (Introduction to
  Collected Plays from the Viking version p. 156)
• Pay attention to
• the expressions of subjective feelings
• Thru public symbols

9
Act I Plot Summary

• Willy Loman returns to his New York home
  expression of fatique, d worries over Biff
• Biff and Happy talk about the past and their
  present problems, which ends Biffs decision to
  visit Bill Oliver, and ask the latter for a job.
• Flashbacks
• 1207 1) Willy talks to Biff and Happy when they
  were in high school Biff is popular then, but
  Bernard warns him that he may fail his math.
  Strong father-son bond.
• 2) Willy and Linda discuss their financial
  problems, which is followed by Willys
  expressions of diffidence, Lindas confirmation,
  the appearance of a woman, and then Bernards
  searching for Biff.

10
Act I Plot Summary (2)

• 1214 The present? flashback Happy tries to
  comfort Willy first, and then Charley appears and
  plays cards with Willy, while Willy imagines
  talking to Ben.
• 1220 Ben gone Willy goes to the bedroom Linda
  reveals their financial difficulties to her sons
  Linda suspects that Willy uses a tube to
  asphyxiate himself with gas.
• Biff promises to stay and try again to work as
  they talk, Willy comes in and the four of them
  talk about their plans, argue with each other
  while showing their love.

11
Starting Questions

• the first stage direction ? a) the characters
  Willy and Linda, b) the central theme of the play
  (e.g. "the fragile-seeming house," apartment
  buildings, the "one-dimensional" roof, the
  colors, the flute, etc.)?
• The first dialogue between Linda and Willy What
  is Willy like in the "present" of the play?  What
  is bothering Willy? And the relationship between
  Willy and Linda? Willy's views of Biff?
• 3. The dialogue between Biff and Happy-- the two
  brothers are set in contrast in terms of their
  working experience, their desire and dream, and
  their relationship to their parents.   How are
  they similar to each other in terms of the ways
  they use to achieve their respective dream?

12
Overall Questions on Act I the Characters
Dreams and Efforts

• Where does Willy get his dream? How is Willys
  dream different from and similar to Bens? And
  Happys and Biffs?
• How do the parents, Willy and Linda, educate
  their sons?
• How do Charley and Bernard serve as foil to Willy
  and Biff?
• What social conditions do the characters exist
  in?

13
Stage Direction Symbolic of their dream and
social conditions

• the house with "one-dimensional" roof-line vs.
  the angular shapes behind it apartment
  buildings skyscrapers representing
  over-population and power
• Kitchen, refrigerator and 3 chairs the center
  of life for this family
• Elements of dream silver trophy
• Willy and the flute ? small and fine, telling of
  grass and trees and the horizon ? see p. 1202
  Willys complaints about this country.
• The apron as backyard with or without wall-lines
• the colors blue sky (suggests desire for
  freedom), angry orange (of constraint and
  competition)

14
Willy Whats bothering him?

• Exhausted, he drives a long way to do business.
• Outdated
• Not well-treated by the young boss (Howard
  1201)
• cannot take American whipped cheese (1202) "How
  can they whip cheese?"
• Not well-known anymore business now is "all cut
  and dried, and there's no chance for bringing
  friendship to bear--or personality. They
  dont know me anymore (Act 2 1234)
• Contradictory views on Biff
• Upset by Biffs being a farmhand, his not
  finding himself at the sage of 34.
• Thinks that Biff is lost, not lazy In the
  greatest country in the world a young man with
  such - personal attractiveness, gets lost.
• Nostalgic about the past (1202 and more later)?
  His mind wanders off (1200 1203), talks to
  himself or to Biff.
• e.g. 1204 What a simonizing job

15
Linda Supportive, perceptive and blind

• Linda adores Willy (1199) iron repression of
  her exceptions to Willys behavior
• Serves Willy, normalizes the situations while she
  is actually worries about him (pp. 1200)
• Gives suggestions rest, work in New York
• speaks for her children and tries to improve the
  father-son relationships.(1221-1225)

16
Linda (2) blind and perceptive

• Her speech(1221-1225)
• sees Willys emotional changes re. Biff without
  knowing why (1221)
• Well respected and loved by the two boys
• Defends Willy (21-22)love him or dont come
  back.
• Demands attention to and sympathy for Willy
• Reveals his suicidal tendencies, finds it a shame
  
• a woman seems to suspect something without
  knowing it. (1223)

17
Biff and Happy-(1203--) Their Dreams Efforts

• Similarities lost, confused
• Nostalgic old beds, dreams and plans
• Attractive to women when young
• Still keeps empty dreams of success about having
  a ranch about getting married to a girl about
  running a company The Lowman Brothers 1205-1206
  ? without knowing how to do it.
• Bill Oliver as a possible rescuer ? think big
  The Lowman Line 1226

• Happy self-deceiving ? seemingly more content
  controls his bashfulness now.
• ? seek revenge against his superiors by
  taking their women out.
• Biff (now) wears a worn air less successful
  unhappy about being a clerk or a cowboy 1204-05
• (past) introduces Happy to women.
• Interested in handiwork or farm work (1225) we
  don't belong in this nuthouse of a city!

18
Willy vs. Biff/Happy p. 1207

• Simultaneity (1204-07) Willy missing the past
  and Biff/Happy talking about the past.

• Happy defends Willy, ask Biff to talk to him,
  while Biff criticizes him 1203 1207

"There are no flashbacks in this play but only a
mobile concurrency of past and present.. ."
Arthur Miller
19
Willy Lomans Dream, its Sources and Influences

• Dream in His Son Salesmanship
• Source Ben and the Flute
• Influences Biff and Happy

20
Dream (1) His Son SalesmanshipWhat is he
proud of?

• Biff polishes the car carefully Adores and is
  close to his father good at playing football
  (1209-10) adored by many boys and girls (1211)
• p. 1228 Like a young god. Hercules -- something
  like that. God Almighty, he'll be great yet.
  A star like that, magnificent, can never really
  fade away!
• House car adding a hammock, work on the
  ceiling and the front stoop
• Salesmanship well-liked 1209
• Self-deceptive actually he is not making enough
  money (1211), nor is Biff getting anywhere
  (1214).
• His sense of diffidence and guilt 1212-13
• talks and jokes too much like a walrus has an
  affair.

21
Willy Lomans Dream (2) Source --Ben

• Willy? Ben "There was a man started with the
  clothes on his back and ended up with diamond
  mines" (?)
• Ben --"Why, boys, when I walked into the jungle,
  I was seventeen. When I walked out I was
  twenty-one. And, by God, I was rich (1218)
• "Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You'll
  never get out of the jungle that way" (1219)
• Bens imperialist capitalist (plundering in a
  foreign land)
• Loman--"It's Brooklyn, I know, but we hunt too"
  (1219)

22
Willy Lomans Dream (3) The Flute

• "It is small and fine, telling of grass and trees
  and the horizon" ?
• Willys father 1218
• "great inventor" who would "stop in the towns and
  sell the flutes he'd made on the way."
• "With one gadget," Ben tells Willy, "he made more
  in a week than a man like you could make in a
  lifetime"
• Willys Fathers in the age of mercantile
  capitalism an untamed natural man and the
  westward-bound pioneer the artisan, a great
  inventor, and a successful traveling merchant he
  sold what he made.
• Willy does not remember him except as an image.
• Willy industrial capitalism, where the role of
  traveling salesman gets less important.

23
-Ben, how should I teach them?

• Willy as a Father

24
Willy Lomans Teaching (1) Jungle Spirit

• His gift (1208) a punching bag with Gene
  Tunneys signature
• Believes in names and reputation
• Biff expresses his hatred of the business world
  because "They've laughed at Dad for years
  (1225)... ?. Willy responds in a characteristic
  manner "Go to Filene's, go to the Hub, go to
  Slattery's, Boston. Call out the name Willy Loman
  and see what happens! Big shot!" (1225)
• "That's just the spirit I want to embue them
  with! To walk into the jungle!" (1220)
• Competitiveness
• "Knocked 'em cold in Providence, slaughtered 'em
  in Boston" (1210)
• His advice to Biff in asking Bill Oliver for a
  loan, Willy's advice is "Knock him dead, boy"
  (1228)

25
Willy Lomans Teaching (2)

• Permissive and not teaching them practical skills
  or the spirit of hard work
• congratulates Biff on his initiative for
  borrowing a regulation football to practice with
  (1209)
• encourages the boys to steal sand from the
  apartment house so that he can rebuild the front
  stoop (1219)
• advises his sons to be well liked and make a good
  appearance in order to get ahead in the world
  (1210)
• Expects Bernard to give answers to Biff in exams
  refuses to face Biffs failures and problems.
  (1214 ? more later)

26
Willys Ways to Success

• Human Connections --What he tells his son Be
  liked and you will never want. (1210)
• proper language and dress -- What is revealed in
  his talk to Linda about his weaknesses
• A man oughta come in with a few words. (But not
  too many wordsWilly himself talks too much.)
  (1212)
• I gotta overcome it. I know I gotta overcome it.
  I'm not dressing to advantage, maybe.(1212)
• Proper manners -- Act I, talking about how Biff
  should behaves in front of B. Oliver
• Be quiet, fine, and serious. Everybody likes a
  kidder, but nobody lends him money.(1226)
• But remember, start big and you'll end up big.
  Ask for 15. (1226)
• Start off with a couple of your good stories to
  lighten things up. It's not what you say, it's
  how you say it--because personality always wins
  the day. (1227)
• success results from "who you know and the smile
  on your face! It's contacts ... being liked
  (1237 Act 2)

27
Other examples of American Dream and its
acquisitiveness

• Happy His own apartment, a car and plenty of
  women (1205)
• Happy about his friend
• He's a good friend of mine, and he just built a
  terrific estate on Long Island. And he lived
  there about two months and sold it, and now he's
  building another one. He can't enjoy it once it's
  finished. And I know that's just what I would do.
  I don't know what the hell I'm workin' for.
  (1205)
• I tell you ... I'm gonna take my camera, and my
  bandsaw, and all my hobbies, and out they go.
  This is the most fascinating relaxation I've ever
  found (Howard Act 2 1233)

28
Willy/Biff vs. Charles/Bernard

• Charles and Bernard -- Less athletic. (1219)
• Bernard Willy What an anemic
• Between him and his son Bernard they cant
  hammer a nail! (1219)
• Charleycannot handle tools (1216)? disgusting
  to Willy.
• Charleymore practical (matter-of-fact), slow and
  clumsy in words
• says Dont get insulted three times (1215)
  (more later)
• Theres no bone in heartburns. (1215? Willys
  suggestions of vitamin is useless.)
• When a deposit bottle is broken, you dont get
  the nickels back. (referring to Biff)

29
Willy/Biff vs. Charley/Bernard

• Bernard and Charley
• Both law-abiding
• Charley Listen, if that watchman . . .
• Willy I gave themthe watchmen hell,
  understand. But I got a couple of fearless
  characters there.
• Charley Willy, the jails are full of fearless
  characters.
• Barnard The watchmans chasing Biff!
• Shut up! Hes not stealing anything! (1219)
• both loyal to their friends
• Pity in whatever he says
• Charley plays cards with Willy to help him
  relax (Act 2) lends money to Willy
• Bernard keeps asking Biff to study math with
  him helps Biff pass the exams by cheating.

30
End of Act I High Hope and Inherent Problems

• Hope Willy is going to Howard, and Biff, to Ben
  Oliver, in order to change their lives.
• Inherent Problems
• In Biff he steals
• In Willy his malfunctioned mind, his high hope
  for Biff and reality (the rubber tube and a job
  without salary)
• between Biff and Willy
• Biff defends his mother 1221 (Your hair got so
  gray) 1227 (Dont yell at her, will ya)
• Against Willy I know hes a fake and he doesnt
  like anybody around who knows (1223)
• Something Linda is not aware of (Willy dear,
  what has he got against you? 1228)