Key Events 3&4
English Lit: AQA A Level Death of a Salesman, topic 2.1.3
Act One: Key Event Three
As Act One progresses, Miller starts to introduce the rest of the Loman family and their familial relationships.
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.
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.
Quotation
- “Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world a young man with such - personal attractiveness, gets lost.”
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.
Key event four
- Upstairs, Happy discusses his father with the recently returned Biff.
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.
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…”
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.
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”.
Test yourself on Key Events 3&4
What does Willy become (according to the stage directions) when discussing his relationship with Biff?
How does Happy describe himself to Biff in Act One?