Key Events 11&12
English Lit: AQA A Level Death of a Salesman, topic 2.1.7
Act One: Key Event Eleven
The Loman men are swept up in plans for a new business. Their misplaced values and beliefs are seen again.
Key event eleven
- Biff and Happy tell Willy of their Loman Brothers business idea and Biff’s plan to visit Bill Oliver the next day in order to ask for a start-up loan.
Significance
- We see how easily the Lomans are swept away by the illusion that success is imminent, with Willy telling his boys, “I think your troubles are over”.
- It is assumed that Bill Oliver will remember, and still admire, Biff, despite the reality behind why Biff left Oliver’s employment.
Quotation
- “Start off with a couple of your good stories to lighten things up. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it – because personality always wins the day.”
Explanation
- Willy again repeats his mantra that success is built on “personality”, giving his sons the dubious advice that this alone, rather than substance (e.g. a sensible business plan) will prevail.
Act One: Key Event Twelve
Act One ends on a note of impending doom, again signalling the inevitability of Willy’s demise.
Key event twelve
- While upstairs, Willy, dreams of Biff’s golden future.
- We follow Biff to the kitchen and, eventually, the gas heater, from behind which he discovers Willy’s hidden rubber tubing.
Significance
- Miller contrasts Willy’s fantasy with reality.
- The “golden pool of light” which Biff walks in symbolises how Willy still idealises him – as the star footballer who came out onto Ebbets Field with “the sun all around him”.
Quotation
- “[The light on Willy is fading. The gas heater begins to glow through the kitchen wall…]”
Explanation
- Miller uses lighting effects to undercut Willy’s optimism, with the “glow” from the gas heater reminding the audience of Willy’s suicidal urges.
- Act One ends on a note of impending doom, again signalling the inevitability of Willy’s demise.
Test yourself on Key Events 11&12
According to Willy what "always wins the day”?
Events of the End of Act One
At the end of Act One, what begins to glow through the kitchen wall?