Act One: Key Events 7-9 Quotes
English Lit: AQA A Level Death of a Salesman, topic 11.2.3
Act One: Key Events 7-9
Here are three quotations showing key events in Act One:
Key quotation 7
- One memory now merges into another as Willy reacts to Linda’s attempts to comfort him.
- __ “WILLY [angrily, taking them from her]: I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out!”__
- Willy’s anger springs from two sources: his wounded pride at not being able to provide for his wife and his guilt about his affair.
- __ “WILLY [angrily, taking them from her]: I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out!”__
Key quotation 8
- Charley, Willy’s friend and neighbour calls by, despite the late hour, worried about the noise he has heard. Charley can't put up a ceiling.
- “A man who can’t handle tools is not a man. You’re disgusting.”
- Willy dismisses Charley as a “man”, perhaps because Charley does not share the Loman men’s ability to work with their hands but perhaps also because Willy is resentful of Charley.
Key quotation 9
- Willy seems to be remembering a visit Ben made to Willy and his family years earlier.
- “Great inventor, Father. With one gadget he made more in a week than a man like you could make in a lifetime.”
- 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.
Test yourself on Act One: Key Events 7-9 Quotes
Who says this to Willy?
“Great inventor, Father. With one gadget he made more in a week than a man like you could make in a lifetime.”