Death of a Salesman |120 questions and answers.

WILLY: a young man with such—personal attractiveness, gets lost. Literary Device: Hyperbole, Conflict (Man vs. Man), Meaning: • Willy's reflections suggest complete faith in the notion that in America, anyone who works hard and is personally compelling is destined to succeed. • Beyond that, they have a right to succeed. By the end of the play, however, it becomes apparent that that isn't necessarily true. • Willy's reflections suggest complete faith in the notion that popularity and personal attractiveness bring success. • The fact that Biff's life hasn't amounted to much, despite him being so popular in high school, is truly hard for Willy to understand. • It just doesn't fit into his idea of the world. • This exceptionalism is reflective of arrogance because it sees a subjective vision as truth and little else can be offered. BIFF: And it's a measly manner of existence. (Act 1) Literary Device: Conflict (Man vs. Man), Sad tone, Alliteration Meaning: • Inner conflict With what he wants to do and what his father wants him to do. • Conflict with his father Biff longs for a life the great outdoors and working + building things with his hands. • He feels that Willy too had the "wrong dream" as he had built the ceiling and the new garage. • Also throughout the play Willy seems to long for simpler things as well, like growing things. • Miller's criticism of the American dream, often thought to have stemmed from his socialist views. Willy's comments cross the line from hopefulness about the future to the suggestion that his aspirations are already reality. He clings to the delusional idea that Biff is somehow superior to the average young man. • Willy clings to his hope that Biff will settle down and become a major business success despite the unlikelihood of such an event. This desperate hope is what eventually leads him to commit suicide by the end of the play. He goes to his death with the delusional idea that Biff will one day be a famous businessman. HAPPY [enthralled]: I can outboxout lift and outrun anybody in that store... (Act 1) Literary Device: Conflict (Man vs. Man) enthusiastic tone Meaning: • Hap too faces an inner conflict like Biff. • He prefers the competitive nature that comes along with the American Dream and is unable to let go of the idea of success BUT at the same time he is trapped within the hamster wheel of American capitalism. WILLY: I can park my car in any street in New England and the cops protect it like their own. (Act 1) Literary Device: Metaphor (Cops) Meaning: • Willy's characterization of the American people as kind and virtuous to anyone who is personally attractive demonstrates his utter faith in his twisted version of the American Dream. • Willy is a slave to the delusional idea. • The car is a symbol of wealth Demonstrates everything that willy stands for and the fact WILLY: The world is an oyster, but you don't crack it open on a mattress Theme: Visions of America, Biff, Dreams&Hopes&Plans, Appearances, Literary Device: Metaphor - Oyster and mattress Meaning: • Willy believes that there are many opportunities out there in the world which will only come with hard work however to get the really good opportunities one needs to be touch and not lazy and soft. BEN: You've got a new continent at your doorstep, William. (Act 2) Theme: Visions of America, Dreams&Hopes&Plans Literary Device: • Conflict - Man vs. Man, Man Vs. Nature, • Hyperbole Represents that opportunity is present everywhere all Willy has to do is work hard to achieve it. • Continent It's a symbol of the amount of opportunity that is present in America. Meaning: • The American West is depicted as rife with opportunity, free of confinements and prosperity, an ideal place to pursue the American Dream. • In the West, however, the fight is man vs. man and man vs. nature. • The American West is portrayed as a land of opportunity waiting to be tapped. • Willy is haunted by the fact that he didn't accompany his brother to Alaska. • It seems like sometimes he feels that this missed opportunity is the thing that robbed him of a chance at the American Dream. CHARLEY: Willy was a salesman. And for a salesman, there's no rock bottom to the life. "in the blue riding on a smile and a shoeshine." A salesman is got to dream boy, it comes with the territory. (Act 2) Theme: Visions of America, Dreams&Hopes&Plans Literary Device: 1. Conflict - Man vs. Man 2. Metaphor - For Willy's ego 3. Connotation - His job was to persuade people into buying his product, and salesmen can honestly do anything if they truly believe in what their selling. However, Willy got trapped in aspiring to the American Dream and found himself in the midst of doing less and less honest work (Such as having an affair with the women) Meaning: • Charley's Eulogy It refers to the fact that Willy Loman is a salesman, who does not produce anything nor has an particular skills except his self-esteem, and positivity which are reflected in his appearance (smile, shoe-shine) and allow him to be "well-liked" and thus to sell things. • As soon as he is not well liked, or loses his smile, then he has nothing at all, he can't sell, and since he can't do anything else, he will crash and burn. • Blue - It's a calm color which is used to represent that Loman was able to escape reality and die peace. WILLY: He's (Charley) liked, but he's not—well liked. (Act 1) Theme: Dreams, Hopes and Plans, Literary Device: Repetition of "Liked" Meaning: • It represents that willy is sucked in deep into the "American Dream" and that it's not enough to just be liked, one needs to be popular and have a charismatic personality in order to succeed in society. • Eventually, we learn that Willy isn't particularly well liked at all. • Delusional. WILLY: Like a young god. Hercules—something like that. (Act 1) WILLY: "Adonises" Literary Device: Allusion Reference to a Greek god, Simile Used to compare him to a Greek god Dramatic Technique: Language Meaning: • Willy idolizes his son to be as a great of a warrior as Hercules and has the same strength as H. • It tells the audience that Willy still holds very high expectations for his son and cannot accept who Biff really is. • He only remembers the time when Biff was 16 and was a football star and by comparing him to Hercules's Willy enforces the expectation that he biff is going to be magnificent. • Accentuates the theme of appearances as he compares them to the goddess of love. • Willy feels that sheer popularity matters above all else is ironic in the context of Bernard's business success and Biff's failure. • It shows that Willy's idea of what helps to make a person successful just might not match up with reality. • Willy's exaggerated sense of pride suggests his underlying insecurity and desperate concern over meeting his own inflated expectations. • Ironically, it may just stand in the way of him achieving anything to be proud of as the lives of both sons of Willy Loman's, Biff and Happy, have turned out to be insipid and lackluster. WILLY: I'll raise some vegetables, a couple of chickens... (Act 2) Literary Device: Symbolism Wants something firm on the ground before he dies. Meaning: • This is a representation of how Willy is longing for a much more simpler lifestyle. • He views farming as a form of escapism from the urban lifestyle. • Contradicts everything that the "American Dream" stands for. • It also symbolizes that he wants something firm on the ground. WILLY: I'll come home with a New York job. (Act 2) Literary Device: Symbolism - New York Meaning: • Occasionally, Willy experiences of extreme optimism that contrast with his extreme moments of depression. • The back and forth between these highs and lows is what eventually tears him apart. • New York is located on the west side of the United States and therefore the idea of destiny can be applied to the Loman's American dream. • Linda keeps pushing Willy to get a job in New York, so he won't have to travel as much by car. BIFF [crying, broken]: Will you let me go for Christ's sake? (Act 2) Literary Device: Allusion to God, tension, Conflict (Man vs. Man) Meaning: • Biff points out that excessive dreaming has forced him to lose his ground on reality. • Biff attributes the tension and distress in his family to the irreconcilable gap between Willy's absurd dreams and reality. • Biff wishes to be released from Willy's dreams and expectations and wants to create his own dream. • Forcing Willy to face reality eventually leads to his destruction as this lack of success in Biff is what drives him over the edge. BIFF: He had the wrong dreams. (requiem) Literary Device: Metaphor dream Dramatic Technique: diction Meaning: • Dreaming is a central aspect of Willy's character. • Through this, Miller depicts how Willy's full faith in the "American Dream" is what ultimately leads him to his death. • He further implies that Willy's dead was tragic and that it was used as a form of escapism. Lies and Deceit WILLY: Chevrolet ... is the greatest car ever built. Act 1) Themes: Lies and Deceit, Wealth Literary Device: Symbolism of car. Meaning: • Car is a symbol of wealth for willy. • Contradictory statements that willy makes which characterizes him as flimsy. • The Chevy, like Willy's American Dream, will not last forever and is now old, used, and broken down. • It even needed some replacements. • This allegorical element shows how Willy's life has actually gone downhill with time, instead of the other way around. • Willy knows this, and this is why, when things are good, the Chevy is a great car. • When things are bad, the Chevy (much like his dream) is a disgrace. WILLY: Business is bad, it's murderous. (Act 1) Themes: Lies and deceit Literary Device: Connotation and Foreshadowing Meaning: • In order to impress Ben, Willy continuously lies to make himself feel better. • • We're guessing that part of the reason that Willy isn't all that well-liked is because most people can see right through him. WILLY: You know sporting goods better than Spalding for God's sake Themes: Lies and Deceit Literary Device: Simile Meaning: • A hyperbole and a simile have been used by Willy to highlight his self-deception. • It shows the audience that this attitude of his is what eventually drives Biff over the edge. - Spalding is a famous sports brand [A single trumpet note jars the ear. The light of green leaves stains the house, which holds the air of night and a dream.] (Act 2) Dramatic Technique: Stage Direction Meaning: • Willy is unable to hold to cope with the reality that Biff is unsuccessful. • Through the use of cacophony (trumpet) it depicts Willy's sudden realization about Biff's reality. • The increasing harshness of his life is causing him to sink deeper and deeper into his own dream world. BEN: "when I was twenty-one I walked out and by God I was rich" (Act 1) Themes: American Dream, Literary Device: Hyperbole Dramatic Technique: Meaning: • Willy is seen to be clinging onto Ben's success which fuels Willy's misguided notion that riches are just around the corner. • Miller depicts the materialistic society that was prevalent in those times and also shows the power of money in a society. WILLY: "he died the death of a salesman..." (Act 2) Themes: Success Literary Device: Metaphor Meaning: • Willy idolizes Dave Singleman's death because to Willy, being widely known and widely mourned is evidence of a successful life. • To Willy, a grand, well-attended funeral is the greatest achievement a person can have. • He ultimately seems more concerned about what people think of what he does than what he actually achieves himself. • Willy idolizes the idea of being remembered and fears that even the clients whom he sells to have abandoned him. • He's terrified by the idea that, ultimately, he's totally alone. WILLY: I see it like a diamond, shining in the dark, hard and rough... (Act 2) Themes: Success Literary Device: Metaphor and Symbolism of Diamond and foreshadowing Meaning: • By Willy's own standards, his life and death have been totally unsuccessful. • The diamonds are a form of tangible wealth are the complete opposite of the meetings through which Willy earns money. • But in order to prove to Biff that he is also wealthy (in terms of wealth from contacts), Willy considers death (which will bring thousands to his funeral-the sign of a successful businessman). • After being confronted by Biff, Willy is once more determined to do anything to stay in his good graces. • In order to achieve this, Willy is determined (lured by "Ben" in his thoughts) to go to the jungle (death) and fetch the diamonds (the people who a salesman meets) and show Biff that even a salesman has wealth. BEN: The jungle is dark but full of diamonds, Willy. (Act 2) Themes: Success Literary Device: Hyperbole and Metaphor Meaning: • Ben's refrain, with words like "hard" and "touch," suggests the importance of concrete wealth. • Willy is haunted by the fact that his life of work hasn't really amounted to anything tangible. • Willy believed that being a salesman was even greater than having diamonds. • If a person could be a successful salesman, then through their sales, they could achieve even more wealth than a miner. HAPPY: You're well liked, Biff. (Act 1) Themes: Respect and Reputation Literary Device: Symbolism Meaning: • Miller has used happy to draw a direct link to Willy as he to believes that appearances are everything. • However, Happy agrees with Willy on everything as feels that he lacked the amount of attention that Biff received. • Therefore, he overcompensates for this by agreeing with his father and is even willing to do so after his death which shows to the audience the adverse effects of believing in the American dream. WILLY: You want him to be a worm like Bernard? (Act 1) Themes: Respect and Reputation Literary Device: Simile Meaning: • Willy constantly stands in the way of his son's success by defending everything that he did. • It's ironic as Willy stressed on appearances and popularity which didn't even get Biff to pass high school • Also Bernard ends up being successful. WILLY: Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens (Act 1) Themes: Success, Respect and Reputation Literary Device: Hyperbole Meaning: • Willy's insistence that he is well-known and well-liked reflects his increasing blindness to reality. • To his family, associates, and definitely the audience, the fact that he is unpopular is totally clear by now. • Willy's pride reflects his increasing blindness to reality. • Insists on wanting to prove to his son's that he's made but this goes to show that he's unable to accept reality.