Name:
Period:
Date:
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1949)
Genre: Contemporary Drama
Reading Guide – Answer all of the following questions on a separate sheet
of paper to be turned in by the exam.
Act One (pp. 1375-1404)
1.
Note key details of setting/stage directions and character portraits of Willy and Linda. Give the
significance and functions of your responses.
2.
Identify major conflicts for each major character. Identify each character’s dream/ ambition.
3.
Note the first lines of the four major characters—are they faithful to their character portraits?
4.
Compare/contrast Biff and Happy. Which son is more like and or concerned with Mom? Dad?
5.
How does Miller experiment with technique? Consider time, staging, etc.
6.
How do “Young Biff” and “Young Happy” compare to their older selves?
7.
When Willy claims he’ll be “bigger” than Uncle Charley some day, what does he mean (1384)?
8.
What’s Willy’s job like? What’s Willy’s business strategy or motto? Connect this to business life
today.
9.
What is Bernard’s role in the story? Analyze the type of character he is.
10. What does Willy’s fantasy/daydream reveal about Willy and his life on the road?
11. What causes Willy’s fantasy to end? How does Miller create this effect using literary techniques?
12. What does Willy regret? What techniques does he use in order to express this regret?
13. What do you make of Willy’s “oyster proverb” (1390)?
14. Note Willy’s interaction with Charley. Interpret Charley’s “bottle analogy” (1391).
15. What’s going on under the surface of Willy and Charley’s “ceiling” conversation (1391)?
16. How are brothers Willy and Ben at all like Biff and Happy?
17. Why is Willy (presumably) excluded from his brother’s inheritance?
18. What was Willy’s father like? Why is this significant?
19. What is Ben’s motto in business? Consider in light of Willy’s.
20. According to Linda, what’s wrong with Willy?
21. What is Happy’s “million-dollar idea” (1401)?
22. What kind of business advice does Willy give to Biff? Note inconsistencies.
Act Two (pp. 1404-1437)
23. Compare/contrast the beginning of each act.
24. Make note examples of irony becoming more apparent.
25. What jumps out about Willy’s meeting with Howard? Compare/contrast the characters.
26. What made Willy become a salesman? Why does this seem significant?
27. According to Willy, what is the proper death of a salesman? What tone does he take to these lines?
28. What does Howard mean: “I can’t take blood from a stone” (1409)? Analyze the literary
techniques in this line.
29. Why is it significant that Willy envisions Ben in Howard’s office?
30. What brings Willy to Charley’s office? What does this reveal about his character?
31. What does Willy’s conversation with Bernard reveal about Biff? About Willy?
32. Why is Bernard off to Washington? What is Bernard’s parting advice to Willy?
33. Why might Miller have included the brief “scene” between Happy and Stanley the waiter?
34. What is Biff’s aim for the dinnertime conversation, and does he achieve that aim?
35. How does Biff describe his dad to Miss Forsythe? Analyze his method of characterization.
36. What do we learn from Willy’s daydream in the restaurant? What is the effect on Willy?
37. How does Linda react to the news about the dinner? What does this reveal about Linda?
38. Why won’t Willy shake Biff’s hand? Infer!
39. How does Biff “lay it on the line” in this “scene.”
40. What is the mood of the final scene with Willy? What significance does it hold?
Requiem (pp. 1438-1439)
41. Are Willy’s hopes realized? Explain.
42. Are the remaining characters dynamic or static? Explain.
Deeper Exploration Questions – Answer all 4.
1. Tragedy must arise pity and fear to achieve catharsis. Explore Arthur Miller’s “Tragedy and the Common Man”.
What point is he trying to make? Can an ordinary “common man” be considered a tragic hero? To what extent do
you believe that Willy Loman is a tragic hero? Be sure to use textual examples to support your opinion.
2. Willy’s dreams are blamed as the cause of his unhappiness, but dreams may also inspire people to great
accomplishments. What makes Willy’s dreams so ruinous? To what extent is Willy’s dream the “American Dream”?
Does Willy’s dream differ from a 21st Century American Dream? How does Willy and his pursuit of the Dream
differ from other characters in American Lit, namely Jay Gatsby? Be sure to use textual examples to support your
opinion.
3. According to the play, we learn that Willy Loman committed suicide. However, who or what really killed Willy
Loman? Would you blame Willy’s own illusions or the indifference of society to the dreams of the individual? Or
would you blame his wife Linda? Biff? Happy? With what character do you sympathize with most? Be sure to use
textual examples to support your opinion.
4. Willy Loman has frequently been liked to “everyman”. To what extent do you feel he is representative of the
modern man? Is Willy a “bad person”? Consider his secret relationship with the Woman, his desire for success and
money, his relationship with his children and wife, his ultimate failure, his suicidal death, etc. What impressions are
the readers left with about Willy by the end of the play? Be sure to use textual examples to support your opinion.
5. How can you take the morals and lessons gleaned from this play and apply them to your own life? How has this
play affected you as you hurdle toward the world of college and career?