skyscrapers now around willy’s house
“towering, angular shapes behind it, surrounding it on all sides”
willy holding onto the past with biff previous medals
“silver athletic trophy stands”
linda sweeps willy’s problem under the rug
“oh. maybe it was the steering again. I don’t think Angelo knows the studebaker.”
willy believes his career location is set
“I’m vital in New England.”
empty nest syndrome - willy feels helpless, alone, unwanted
“work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there’s nobody to live in it. “
willy considering suicide right from the start
“I have such thoughts, I have such strange thoughts.”
ironic remark - willy contradicts himself, delusional from the beginning
“when the hell did I lose my temper? I simply asked him if he was making any money.”
paradox - criticises biff but is still lost in his 60s
“not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace!”
insults biff for not being w’s definition of successful
“biff is a lazy bum!”
willy set in his ways, doesn’t want change but aspires for more
“I don’t want a change!”
willy feels physically trapped by the buildings. reflects mental state too.
“the way they boxed us in here. bricks and windows, windows and bricks.”
happy objectifies and bestialises women
“boy, there was a pig!”
biff feels pressure to conform to societal expectations and loses his sense of identity
“I don’t know what the future is. I don’t know - what I’m supposed to want”
biff = foil for willy, inspired by freedom and nature, breaks through societal norms
“all you really desire is to be outdoors, with your shirt off”
happy has everything he could want but still lonely –> isolationism
“sometimes I sit in my apartment - all alone”
corrupt side of the American Dream, anything for success
“all I can do now is wait for the merchandise manager to die”
happy objectifies women
“gorgeous creatures”
happy = no respect for women, no emotion behind intimacy (routine-like), still lonely
“like bowling or something. I just keep knockin’ them over and it doesn’t mean anything”
miller’s essay ref to oedipus complex - happy’s words
“somebody with character, with resistance! like mom, y’know?”
willy deludes the sons to thinking they’ll be more successful than Bernard
“Bernard is not well liked, is he?”
“you are going to be five times ahead of him”
linda has to ask willy multiple times what he made for the truth
“how much did you do?”
willy contradicts himself when he said he was very well liked
“the trouble is, linda, people don’t seem to take to me”
willy gives his mistress new things that linda is left having to ‘darn’ –> fails to provide
“and thanks for the stockings. I love a lot of stockings.”
willy gives them to the woman but not to his wife
“just mending my stockings. they’re so expensive”
