2.1.6
Key Events 9&10
Act One: Key Event Nine
Act One: Key Event Nine
At this point in the play we are introduced to Ben, Willy's dead brother, in a convergence of reality and illusion.
Key event nine
Key event nine
- Willy’s dead brother, Ben, ‘appears’ during Willy’s card game with Charley.
- Willy seems to be remembering a visit Ben made to Willy and his family years earlier.
Significance
Significance
- The past again intrudes uncomfortably into the present.
- Willy is unable to tell reality from illusion and speaks to both Ben and Charley.
- Ben’s presence clearly unnerves Willy who, in his “confusion”, begins an argument with Charley to cover for his strange behaviour.
Quotation
Quotation
- “Great inventor, Father. With one gadget he made more in a week than a man like you could make in a lifetime.”
Explanation
Explanation
- This quote takes us to the roots of Willy’s doubts and insecurities.
- As Ben makes clear, Willy can never live up to his father’s example.
- His father was self-reliant, a craftsman as well as businessman, while Willy is a failing salesman, dependent on the charity of others.
Act One: Key Event Ten
Act One: Key Event Ten
Through Linda's discussion with her sons, the audience learns of Willy's mental health problems and suicidal thoughts and actions.
Key event ten
Key event ten
- As Willy takes a walk outside (still in his slippers), Linda opens up to her sons about Willy’s deteriorating mental state and his suicidal impulses.
Significance
Significance
- As an audience, we learn the extent of Willy’s (and Linda’s) suffering.
- Willy has lost his salary and now relies on the commission from his sales to make any money.
- Moreover, the insurance company consider Willy’s car accidents to be suicide attempts: Linda then tells her sons of the rubber tubing Willy has hidden behind the gas heater in preparation for another suicide attempt.
Quotation
Quotation
- “He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a man.”
Explanation
Explanation
- From one of the key speeches in the play, Linda’s lines sum up the play’s central message: that all human beings, however insignificant, deserve respect and dignity.
- The final sentence shares the same techniques as many political slogans with the repetition of “attention” and use of the modal verb “must” helping to create an urgent and forceful tone.
1Introduction
1.1Introductions
2Act One
3Act Two
4Extended Passage Analysis
5Character Profiles
5.1Willy & Linda Loman
5.2Biff & Happy Loman
5.3Other Characters
6Key Themes
7Writing Techniques
7.1Structure
7.3Expressionism
8Historical Context
8.1Historical Context
9Literary Context
9.1Tragedy
10Critical Debates
10.1Introduction
10.2The Marxist Reading
10.3The Feminist Reading
10.4The Eco-Critical Reading
10.5Other Debates
Jump to other topics
1Introduction
1.1Introductions
2Act One
3Act Two
4Extended Passage Analysis
5Character Profiles
5.1Willy & Linda Loman
5.2Biff & Happy Loman
5.3Other Characters
6Key Themes
7Writing Techniques
7.1Structure
7.3Expressionism
8Historical Context
8.1Historical Context
9Literary Context
9.1Tragedy
10Critical Debates
10.1Introduction
10.2The Marxist Reading
10.3The Feminist Reading
10.4The Eco-Critical Reading
10.5Other Debates
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