Willy’s first daydream to the first appearance of The
Woman
Summary
Willy is lost in his memories. Suddenly, the memories
of his sons’ childhood come alive. Young Biff and Happy wash and
wax their father’s car after he has just returned from a sales trip.
Biff informs Willy that he “borrowed” a football from the locker
room to practice. Willy laughs knowingly. Happy tries to get his
father’s attention, but Willy’s preference for Biff is obvious.
Willy whispers that he will soon open a bigger business than his
successful neighbor Uncle Charley because Charley is not as “well
liked” as he is. Charley’s son, Bernard, arrives to beg Biff to
study math with him. Biff is close to failing math, which would
prevent him from graduating. Willy orders Biff to study. Biff distracts
him by showing him that he printed the insignia of the University
of Virginia on his sneakers, impressing Willy. Bernard states that
the sneakers do not mean Biff will graduate. After Bernard leaves,
Willy asks if Bernard is liked. The boys reply that he is liked
but not “well liked.” Willy tells them that Bernard may make good
grades, but Happy and Biff will be more successful in business because
they are “well liked.”
Still in his daydream of fifteen years ago, Willy brags
to Linda that he made $1200 in sales that
week. Linda quickly figures his commission at over $200.
Willy then hedges his estimation. Under questioning, he admits that
he grossed only $200. The $70 commission
is barely adequate to cover the family’s expenses. In a rare moment
of lucidity and self-criticism, Willy moans that he cannot move
ahead because people do not seem to like him. Linda tells him that
he is successful enough. Willy complains that he talks and jokes too
much. He explains that Charley earns respect because he is a man
of few words. His jealousy of his neighbor becomes painfully clear.
Willy thinks people laugh at him for being too fat; he once punched
a man for joking about his “walrus” physique. As Linda assures him
that he is the handsomest man ever, Willy replies that she is his
best friend in the world. Just as he tells her that he misses her
terribly when he is on the road, The Woman’s laughter sounds from
the darkness.
Analysis
One of the most interesting aspects of Death of
a Salesman is its fluid treatment of time: past and present
flow into one another seamlessly and simultaneously as various stimuli
induce in Willy a rambling stream-of-consciousness. It is important
to remember that the idyllic past that Willy recalls is one that
he reinvents; one should not, therefore, take these seeming flashbacks
entirely as truth. The idyllic past functions as an escape from
the present reality or a retrospective reconstruction of past events
and blunders. Even when he retreats to this idyllic past, however,
Willy cannot completely deny his real situation. He retreats into
his daydreams not only to escape the present but also to examine
the past. He searches for the mistake that he made that frustrated
his hopes for fame and fortune and destroyed his relationship with
Biff. Willy’s treatment of his life as a story to be edited and
rewritten enables him to avoid confronting its depressing reality.
It is important to examine the evolution of Willy’s relationship with
his family, as the solid family is one of the most prominent elements
of the American Dream. In the present, Willy’s relationship with
his family is fraught with tension. In his memories, on the other hand,
Willy sees his family as happy and secure. But even Willy’s conception
of the past is not as idyllic as it seems on the surface, as his
split consciousness, the profound rift in his psyche, shows through.
No matter how much he wants to remember his past as all-American
and blissful, Willy cannot completely erase the evidence to the
contrary. He wants to remember Biff as the bright hope for the future.
In the midst of his memories, however, we find that Willy does nothing
to discourage Biff’s compulsive thieving habit. In fact, he subtly
encourages it by laughing at Biff’s theft of the football.
As an adult, Biff has never held a steady job, and his
habitual stealing from employers seems largely to be the reason
for this failing. Over the years, Biff and Willy have come to a
mutual antagonism. Willy is unable to let go of his commitment to
the American Dream, and he places tremendous pressure on Biff to
fulfill it for him. Biff feels a deep sense of inadequacy because
Willy wants him to pursue a career that conflicts with his natural
inclinations and instincts. He would rather work in the open air
on a ranch than enter business and make a fortune, and he believes
that Willy’s natural inclination is the same, like his father’s
before him.
Willy’s relationship with Happy is also less than perfect
in Willy’s reconstruction of the past, and it is clear that he favors
Biff. Happy tries several times to gain Willy’s attention and approval
but fails. The course of Happy’s adult life clearly bears the marks
of this favoritism. Happy doesn’t express resentment toward Biff;
rather, he emulates the behavior of the high-school-aged Biff. In
the past, Willy expressed admiration for Biff’s success with the
girls and his ability to get away with theft. As an adult, Happy
competes with more successful men by sleeping with their women—he
thus performs a sort of theft and achieves sexual prowess.
