Death Of A Salesman Summary
...while there are no clear markers of scene boundary they are often characterised between alternating between the illusory/nostalgic and the real.
[scene 1&2 are the thesis (p1-20) where Loman family present is presented, the antithesis is scene 3, 20-31, where Loman family past is shown to be harmonious as opposed to beleaguered and unemployed.]
Scene1, Willy is losing
it:
Willy enters, having been unable to continue work as he was unable to drive. Linda's concern is evident.
Apparently Willy just seems to forget where he is or what he is doing there and zoned-out' "suddenly I'm going sixty miles an hour and I can't remember the last five minutes.
Linda cares for Willy with tender love that can only have been developed through years of marriage take and aspirin etc.
While describing the journey Willy states "I opened the windshield
" only later to discover the windshield doesn't open and that he was remembering the old car.
Willy also gets excited when he talks of working tomorrow "Goddamit, I could sell them!," and puts back on his jacket
which Linda (tenderly once again) removes
During this scene Willy talks about lots of things that would have eventually happened had circumstances not changed
i.e. if old man Wagner didn't die Willy thinks he's be in charge of New York.
Also during this scene Willy says many things then contradicts them later
(e.g. the windshield, "Biff is a lazy bum" then "and such a hard worker
"there's one thing about Biff, he's not lazy."
Willy complains about cheese, then about "the way they boxed us in here, bricks and windows, windows and bricks." The city is encroaching on Willy's house, just like the stress of the world is beginning to win over Willy's grasp of reality
"population is getting out of control. The competition is maddening."
At the end of the scene Willy is brought to realise the...
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