Key Events 9&10
English Lit: AQA A Level Death of a Salesman, topic 2.1.6
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
- 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
- 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
- “Great inventor, Father. With one gadget he made more in a week than a man like you could make in a lifetime.”
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
Through Linda's discussion with her sons, the audience learns of Willy's mental health problems and suicidal thoughts and actions.
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
- 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
- “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
- 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.
Test yourself on Key Events 9&10
In key event ten we learn of Willy's suicidal impulses. What is he planning on killing himself with?