2.1.3

Key Events 3&4

Test yourself

Act One: Key Event Three

As Act One progresses, Miller starts to introduce the rest of the Loman family and their familial relationships.

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Key event three

  • Biff, Willy and Linda’s oldest son, has returned home.
  • He and his younger brother, Happy, are upstairs while their parents discuss them below.
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Significance

  • Biff dominates the discussion, with Miller’s stage direction telling us that Willy becomes “worried and angered” when discussing the difficult relationship he has with his son.
  • We will learn in Act Two what is at the root of this conflict.
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Quotation

  • “Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world a young man with such - personal attractiveness, gets lost.”
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Explanation

  • The quote reveals much about Willy.
  • We see his unquestioning belief in America as a land where everything is possible and see how he conflates popularity and charisma (“personal attractiveness”) with success.
  • However, his sarcastic repetition of “lost” betrays his resentment (and guilt) at Biff’s lack of progress.

Act One: Key Event Four

As Act One progresses, Miller starts to introduce the rest of the Loman family and their familial relationships.

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Key event four

  • Upstairs, Happy discusses his father with the recently returned Biff.
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Significance

  • In this short section, the boys sum up their lives so far, revealing their doubts and insecurities.
  • Both feel a sense of dissatisfaction and restlessness, fearing that each may be wasting their lives.
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Quotation

  • “HAPPY: …Like I’m not supposed to take bribes. Manufacturers offer me a hundred-dollar bill now and then to throw an order their way. You know how honest I am, but it’s like this girls, see. I hate myself for it… and still, I take it…”
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Explanation

  • This quote links to Happy’s last lines in the play when he tells Biff how he will stay in New York and beat this “racket”.
  • Happy knows how corrupt his line of work can be and, in this quote, he reveals how corrupt he is.
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Explanation cont.

  • Moreover, like his father, he is blind to the contradiction between reality and his idealised perception of who he is.
  • Despite accepting bribes and sleeping with the partners of colleagues, Happy still perceives himself to be “honest”.

Jump to other topics

1Introduction

2Act One

3Act Two

4Extended Passage Analysis

5Character Profiles

6Key Themes

7Writing Techniques

8Historical Context

9Literary Context

10Critical Debates

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