INTRODUCTION

America has long been known as a land of opportunity. Out of that thinking comes the “American Dream,” the idea that

anyone can ultimately achieve success, even if he or she began with nothing.

success. In this classic drama, the playwright suggests to his audience both what is truthful and what is illusory in the

American Dream and, hence, in the lives of millions of Americans.

Unusual in its presentation of a common man as a tragic figure, the play received the Pulitzer Prize as well as the New

York Drama Critics’ Circle Award when it was produced and published in 1949.

About the writing of the play, Miller says, “I wished to create a form which, in itself as a form, would literally be the

process of Willy Loman’s way of mind.” To accomplish this Miller uses the sense of time on stage in an unconventional way

to illustrate that, for Willy Loman, “...the voice of the past is no longer distant but quite as loud as the voice of the present.”

Although he denies any direct intent to make a political statement about the capitalist way of life in the United States,

Miller brings the American Dream onto the stage for evaluation.

PREPARING TO READ

1. How is the American Dream characteristic of American ideals and philosophy? What are the differences between the

materialistic and the idealistic values associated with the American Dream?

2. What was happening economically and socially in the United States in 1949? Was it fairly easy or difficult to get a job?

What was America’s standing in the world?

3. What is your definition of salesman? How is a salesman different from someone in another occupation? What attitudes

do you think a salesman should have to be successful? What attitudes would hinder him?

4. What effect do the expectations of parents have on the behavior of their children? In what ways might parental

expectations be beneficial? In what ways might they be detrimental?

5. As you read through the novel, stop occasionally to record your thoughts, reactions, and concerns in a Response Journal.

Your journal may be a separate notebook or individual sheets which you clip together and keep in a folder. Include

statements about the characters—what you learn about them, how they affect you—and your thoughts about the key

issues and events which the play explores. Also, jot down questions you have about events and statements in the play

which you do not understand. Your Response Journal will come in handy when you discuss the play in class, write a paper,

or explore a related topic that interests you.

UNDERSTANDING THE SURFACE STORY

Act One

1. Why is Willy home? Why is Linda alarmed that he’s home?

2. Why is Willy annoyed at Biff? How does he describe Biff? What does this tell us about Willy?

3. How has the neighborhood changed? Why does it matter to the story that his surroundings are no longer the way they

used to be?

in the spring?

5. Why won’t Happy go out West with Biff, and why won’t Biff stay? Why doesn’t either son get married and settle down?

6. How does Willy act toward the boys when they are young? How do they act toward him? How does Willy feel about

Charley and Bernard?

7. What does Willy’s reaction to Biff ’s theft of the football tell us about Willy? He says the boys look like Adonises. What

other clues show that Willy believes in appearances?

8. Willy praises and then curses the Chevrolet; he tells Linda that he’s very well liked, and then says that people don’t seem

to take to him. What do these inconsistencies tell us about Willy?

9. “Five hundred gross in Providence” becomes “roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip.” How does Linda take Willy’s

stories? What does this reveal about her? Why does Willy make a fuss about Linda’s mending stockings? How is this

important to the play?

10. Why does Charley visit? How does he feel about Willy? How and why do they insult each other?

11. Who is Ben? Why does Ben appear? What does Willy think about the future? About the past? What does Ben teach Biff?

Why does Willy feel “kind of temporary” about himself and want Ben to stay?

12. What does Linda think is the trouble with Willy’s life? Why is she angry at her sons? Why does she put the rubber hose

back after she had taken it? What does this tell about her?

13. Why is Willy interested when Biff mentions Bill Oliver? Why do they argue? How does Happy try to capture attention?

ACT TWO

1. Why is Willy’s mood upbeat at the start of Act Two? What does he expect to happen?

2. Why does Willy tell Howard about Dave Singleman? Describe the dramatic effect when Howard listens to the voices of

his family while Willy tries to talk business. Why does Howard tell Willy to drop off his samples and forbid him to go to

Boston? Why is this such a blow to Willy?

3. What is Willy’s philosophy? How does Biff as a football hero embody his father’s dreams? Why does Charley say Willy

hasn’t grown up?

4. What is Willy’s impression of Bernard when he sees him in his father’s office? Why does Willy exaggerate Biff ’s

importance? Why does Bernard ask what happened after the game at Ebbets Field?

5. Why won’t Willy work for Charley? Why is Willy able to ask Charley for money? How is Charley’s view of what a

salesman needs different from Willy’s view?

6. In the restaurant, how does Happy reflect Willy’s values? Why does Miller have the girls come in?

7. How does Biff ’s realization that his life is a lie underline the theme of the play? Why does Biff take Bill Oliver’s fountain

pen? Why can’t he tell his father what happened with Bill Oliver? Why do Biff and Happy leave Willy at the restaurant?

8. Why did Biff go to Boston? What does he discover when he sees the Woman? Why is it that Biff never went to summer

school? Why can’t he believe in his father?

9. Why does Linda tell the boys, “Get out of here, both of you, and don’t come back!”?

10. Why does Willy keep planting seeds where they’ve never grown before? Why does Willy think Biff will be impressed with

his funeral? Why does Ben say that Biff will call Willy a fool?

11. Why doesn’t Willy want to see Linda? Why does he think Biff is spiting him? Why does Biff show him the rubber hose?

Why does Biff confront Willy and Happy?

12. What does Biff do that elates Willy? How does Happy try to attract Willy’s attention? How does Ben influence Willy at

this point?

1. What is a requiem? What is the purpose of this final act? To what extent is it successful?

2. Charley says: “No man only needs a little salary.” To what is he referring? What else does a man need?

3. Explain the irony of Linda’s last speech.

DIGGING DEEPER

1. In what ways does Willy not fit into the definition of an average working man building a secure home for his family? In

what ways does he represent Everyman? How does Willy represent more?

2. How does Miller use tension in the family to underscore Willy’s character? How does he use the stage set to influence the

audience’s perception of the tension?

3. What is the turning point in Willy’s life? Is Willy the main character in this play or is Biff? Why? What does Biff discover

about himself? How does this discovery affect his relationship with Willy? How is Biff ’s self-realization dramatic? What

is the climax of the play?

4. Who suffers most from Willy’s delusions? Why?

5. Does Linda help or hinder Willy in overlooking his small sales and his dishonest attempts to make them seem bigger?

How else does she influence Willy? Discuss Linda’s remark, “Attention—attention must finally be paid to such a man!”

What is the effect of the switch in Linda’s speech to this very formal statement? Why does Miller use it?

6. How is Willy’s killing himself for the insurance money symptomatic of the way he has lived? What legacy does Willy leave his family?

7. What is Willy’s dream? What is he searching for throughout the play? Why doesn’t he find it? Did he have a chance of

fulfilling it? Did he have the wrong dream? Inappropriate attitudes? Is he a born loser, or does he stand in his own way

to success? Explain.

8. Does Biff ’s antagonism cause Willy’s failure or merely intensify the failure he already experiences?

9. How does what Biff learn in Boston influence his life? Why can’t Biff be what his father wants him to be? Why does Biff

steal things? Does Biff use Willy’s behavior as an excuse for his own waywardness? What does he say to Willy about the

way he wants to live and what Willy expects of him?

10. Discuss the significance of Willy’s being a younger son with an absent father. How does that influence his behavior with

his own sons? In what ways does Happy’s situation reflect Willy’s? How has Willy treated Biff? How is it different from

the way he has treated Happy? Why is the athletic trophy in Willy’s room instead of in Biff ’s?

11. Compare the way Biff treats his father with the way Happy does. Why is it hard for Biff to tell Willy the truth? Why

doesn’t Happy want him to?

12. From the author’s description at the start of the play, what do we know about Linda? What can we guess? Does she know

about the Woman in Boston? What makes you think she does or doesn’t? Why does she repeatedly enter with a load of wash?

13. How does Ben affect Willy? How does he influence the events in the play?

14. Willy is proud of putting up the living-room ceiling and making a cement porch. How is the image of working with his

hands carried through the play?

15. Why does Miller let us know in the title that Willy’s death is coming? Why doesn’t he make it a surprise? Is Willy’s death

in a car more or less appropriate than a suicide using the rubber hose on the water heater would be? Why? What harm

does Willy’s death do? What good?

16. Discuss the symbolism of the two heavy sample cases and the stockings. How does Miller use the characters’ names as

symbols? What do they mean? What is the significance of Loman? Why Willy instead of Bill? What other symbols does

Miller use and to what purpose?

17. How are the angular shapes and the lighting described in the opening scene important to the meaning of the play? Why

does Miller have the buildings closed in by other buildings? How does he use the stage setting as a statement about time?

What do the leaves stand for? How is music used?