Quote 4
Nothing’s
planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground.
After the climax in Frank’s Chop House,
in Act II, Willy, talking to Stanley, suddenly fixates on buying
seeds to plant a garden in his diminutive, dark backyard because
he does not have “a thing in the ground.” The garden functions as
a last-ditch substitute for Willy’s failed career and Biff’s dissipated
ambition. Willy realizes, at least metaphorically, that he has no
tangible proof of his life’s work. While he is planting the seeds
and conversing with Ben, he worries that “a man can’t go out the
way he came in,” that he has to “add up to something.” His preoccupation
with material evidence of success belies his very profession, which
necessitates the ability to sell one’s own, intangible image. The
seeds symbolize Willy’s failure in other ways as well. The fact
that Willy uses gardening as a metaphor for success and failure
indicates that he subconsciously acknowledges that his chosen profession
is a poor choice, given his natural inclinations. Though his figurative
roots are in sales (Ben claims that their father was a successful
salesman), Willy never blossomed into the Dave Singleman figure
that he idolizes.
