Death of a Salesman – Act II
1.
Why does Willy tell Howard about Dave Singleman? Describe the dramatic effect
when Howard listens to the voices of his family while Willy tries to talk business.
2. What is Willy’s philosophy? How does Biff as a football hero embody his father’s
dreams? Why does Charley say Willy hasn’t grown up?
3. What is Willy’s impression of Bernard when he sees him in his father’s office? Why
does Willy exaggerate Biff’s importance? Why does Bernard ask what happened
after the game at Ebbets Field?
4. How is Charley’s view of what a salesman needs different from Willy’s view?
5. In the restaurant, how does Happy reflect Willy’s values? Why do you think Miller
has the girls come in at this point?
6. How does Biff’s realization that his life is a lie underline the theme of the play?
Why does Biff take Bill Oliver’s fountain pen? Why can’t he tell his father what
happened with Bill Oliver? Why do Biff and Happy leave Willy at the restaurant?
7. Why did Biff go to Boston? What does he discover when he sees the Woman? Why
is it that Biff never went to summer school? Why can’t he believe in his father?
8. Why does Linda tell the boys, “Get out of here, both of you, and don’t come back!”
9. Why does Willy keep planting seeds where they’ve never grown before? Why does
Willy think Biff will be impressed with his funeral? Why does Ben say that Biff will
call Willy a fool?
10. Why doesn’t Willy want to see Linda? Why does he think Biff is spiting him? Why
does Biff show him the rubber hose? Why does Biff confront Willy and Happy?
11. What does Biff do that elates Willy? How does Happy try to attract Willy’s
attention? How does Ben influence Willy at this point?
Requiem
1. What is a requiem? What is the purpose of this final act? To what extent is it
successful?
2. Charley says: “No man only needs a little salary.” To what is he referring? What else
does a man need?
3. Explain the irony of Linda’s last speech.
Death of a Salesman: Themes, Motifs & Symbols
Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. Find
evidence from the text to help explain how each of these themes functions in the novel.

The American Dream

Abandonment

Betrayal
Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and
inform the text’s major themes. Support how each of these motifs is present in the novel,
and discuss the overall function and significance. Cite specifics from the text.
 Mythic Figures

The American West, Alaska, and the African Jungle
Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or
concepts. Find evidence to help you determine the function of each symbol in the text.
 Seeds

Diamonds

Linda’s and The Woman’s Stockings

The Rubber Hose
Important Quotations
1. And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could
want. ’Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eightyfour, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and
loved and helped by so many different people?
2. I saw the things that I love in this world. The work and the food and the time to sit and
smoke. And I looked at the pen and I thought, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why
am I trying to become what I don’t want to be . . . when all I want is out there, waiting for
me the minute I say I know who I am.
3. He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine … A
salesman is got to dream, boy.
Further Discussion Topics
1. Willy recalls his sons’ teenage years as an idyllic past. What evidence can we
find to show that the past is not as idyllic as Willy imagines it to be?
2. What evidence can we find to show that Willy may have chosen a profession that
is at odds with his natural inclinations?
3. How does Willy’s interview with Howard reveal that Willy transfers his
professional anxieties onto his relationship with his family and conflates the
professional and personal realms of his life?
4. What evidence can we find to show that Willy misses the distinction between
being loved and being well liked? What are the consequences of Willy’s failure to
distinguish between the two?
5. How is Willy’s retreat into the past a form of escape from his unpleasant present
reality? How does it function as a way for Willy to cope with the failure to realize
his ambitions?
6. How does Willy’s desperate quest for the American Dream resemble a religious
crusade?
7. How does Willy’s home function as a metaphor for his ambitions?
8. What role does the fear of abandonment play in Willy’s life?