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Death of a Salesman Part One Questions and Answers.
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Some questions I completed on part one of the play.
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1. What does Willy’s lie regarding his sales performance illustrate?Willy’s lies about his job and work as a salesman capture his false view of reality and the
importance of appearance to him. Willy exclaims to Linda that he, ‘did five hundred gross in
Providence and seven hundred gross in Boston’. Willy seems to be utilising hyperbole to
expose his expertise as a Salesman and to depict to his family his materialistic success. It
seems as though Willy wants to capture his popular and successful status as a businessman,
showing his desperate need to follow the American Dream and shows the importance of
appearance to him. Linda, who is a pragmatist, quickly calculates the numbers Willy remarks
and she calculates that Willy’s commission is ‘two hundred and twelve dollars!’ Willy wants
to impress his family and he cares more about his reputation than lying to his family.
2. What can we infer from Linda’s response after Willy downgrades his sales figure
down to $200? What does it illuminate within her characterisation?
Linda responds ‘with hesitation’ followed by ellipsis, ‘Two hundred gross. That’s…’. The
use of the declarative combined with the use of ellipsis exposes the worry that Linda feels
towards her husband and also, having an insufficient amount of money to pay the bills.
Furthermore, the ellipsis could also reflect her disappointment in Willy as he does not make
enough money from his sales to pay the bills. However, despite this overwhelming
disappointment, Linda still manages to withhold her disappointment highlighting her love and
loyalty towards Willy. Additionally, it could perhaps expose the gullibility of Linda and show
how she takes everything Willy says to heart. It is this gullibility which exacerbates Willy’s
false sense of reality and the ability to differentiate between reality and his dreams.
3. What do you think Linda’s love for Willy is based upon? Why does Willy try to
constantly sell himself to his family?
Linda’s love for Willy is based upon the honesty and loyalty of their relationship. Linda
believes that Willy is a good, honest man who possess good morals and is a loyal figure.
Despite his outbursts and mental health issues, Linda continues to support him and to remain
loyal to him. Additionally, Willy attempts to sell himself to his family to improve his status
and to ameliorate his appearance. Willy wants to be respected and admired by his family and
through selling himself to his family, he is trying to assert his prowess and masculine
authority, upholding the idea of the American patriarchal society. He wants to show his
family that appearance is one of the most important aspects to life and this notion is
continuously challenged throughout the rest of the play.
4. How can we consider Willy to be a slave to the Great American Dream?
Willy represents the working class and seems to be a direct target of the American Dream as
a result of his low status. Willy believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream and the
success and wealth that it brings, but he can never achieve this. Willy spends his entire life
trying desperately to achieve ‘the American Dream’ but instead of achieving financial and
materialistic success, a mental illness affects him instead which results in ruining his life. His
desire to compete and achieve the dream leads to him alienating his family and his loved ones
and ultimately, he loses sight of the real things that matter to him.
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