1. Does Willy Loman die a martyr? How do Linda's and his sons' interpretations of his
death differ?
Answer:
A strong answer will note that Willy has a noble conception of his suicide - he kills himself
because he truly believes that the insurance money will allow his sons to achieve their destined
greatness. But Miller does not give the audience the easy satisfaction of seeing Willy's plan come
to fruition. It is highly doubtful that the Lomans would actually receive any insurance money at
all. He has a record of suicide attempts, and it would be near impossible to convince the
insurance company that his death was an accident.
The crux of an essay should be that Willy thinks he is martyring himself, but his martyrdom
is in vain.
2. Death of a Salesman is one of the foundational texts describing the American dream.
How does Miller's play differ from the more traditional Horatio Alger model? Is Miller
overwhelmingly cynical on the topic?
Answer:
Strong answers will contrast Miller's pessimistic and cynical take on the concept of the
American dream with its glorified Horatio Alger representations. Traditionally, the American
dream means that any person can work his way up from the bottom of the ladder to the top.
Miller's work isn't so much a direct subversion of that dream as it is an exploration of the way in
which the existence of the American dream can ruin a person's expectations.
3. Discuss the motif of women's stockings in Death of a Salesman? What are Willy and
Biff's attitudes toward them? How do Linda and the woman with whom Willy is having an
affair regard them?
Answer:
To the women, stockings serve as a symbol of what Willy can provide and as a measure of his
success. To Willy, they are a symbol of his guilt over the affair. To Biff, they are a symbol of
Willy's fakeness and his betrayal of Linda. Each time the stockings appear, they serve each of
these three purposes for every character present.
4. Describe the significance of names in this play. How do Happy and Biff's names
contrast with or support their characters? Interpret the name "Loman."
Answer:
Happy - a boy's name. As his name implies, Happy is someone who should be content - he
has a job, an apartment, and a never-ending stream of women - but he remains deeply unhappy.
Ben - Willy's brother is named after the biblical figure Benjamin, which means "one who is
blessed." The biblical Benjamin far outstripped his brothers in all areas, rousing their jealousy.
Loman - Willy is a low-man. No great hero, he is already so low on the ladder that he has
hardly anywhere to fall.
5. What is the role of modernity in Death of a Salesman? Have cars and gas heaters
fundamentally changed the American dream? How does Miller view these innovations?
Answer:
The answer should note that Willy is a man left behind by progress. His is a profession that
only functions in a small niche of time - he is reliant on the automobile and the highway system,
but can't survive the advent of more sophisticated sales methods than the door-to-door. He is
startled and confused by Howard's gadgets, and longs for an outdoors life that involves creating
things with his hands.
6 Discuss the gender relationships in this play. Are there any positive models for a
harmonious relationship? Does Miller find this concept plausible?
Answer:
There are only two women of significance in the play, Linda and The Woman, who does not
even merit a name. Happy nicely exposits the dichotomy between the two types of women in the
world, as represented by his idealized mother and by The Woman and Miss Forsythe. The
attitude towards women that Willy modeled for his sons was that women exist to be conquered and once they've been had, they are no longer worthy of respect.
7. Analyze the role of seeds in Act II's final segment. What do they stand for?
Answer:
Willy begins to obsess over seeds as he realizes that he has nothing to pass on to his sons. He
hasn't created anything real, nothing physical that you can touch with your hand. But seeds are an
investment in the future, something that is both tangible and grows with time, and that is what he
wants to pass on to his sons.
8. Discuss examples of ways in which Willy Loman's suicide is foreshadowed in the first
act of the play.
Answer:
Be sure to note that the question isn't really whether Willy is going to die, but how. The
discussion of Willy as suicidal is quite on the nose in the first act, but what is left ambiguous at
that point is the how and the why. We are given both the rubber hose and the car as possible
modes of suicide, and general despair and desperation as motivations, but the ultimate motivation
of insurance money does not become an issue until the end of the play.
Study Questions & Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. How does Willy’s home function as a metaphor for his ambitions?
Answer for Study Question 1 >>
When Willy and Linda purchased their home, the neighborhood was quieter than they now find
it. The house was surrounded by space and sunlight. Willy was a young man with ambitious
hopes for the future, and his house represented a space in which he could expand his dreams. In
the present, the house is hemmed in on all sides by apartment units. Willy is a much older man,
and his chances of achieving his dreams are much slimmer. His home now represents the
reduction of his hopes. There is less room to expand, and the sunlight does not even reach into his
yard. In the past, the house was the site of hopeful departure and triumphant return. Willy would
set out each week to make a load of money. When he returned, his worshipful sons greeted him,
and he whispered into their eager ears his hopes to open his own business. Now, the house is the
site of Willy’s frustrated ambitions. When the play opens, Willy returns to his home a defeated
man, unable to complete his latest business trip, and with his argument with Biff left unresolved.
Close
2. What role does the fear of abandonment play in Willy’s life?
Answer for Study Question 2 >>
Willy’s obsession with making his family conform to the ideals of the American Dream seems
rooted in the childhood emotional trauma of his abandonment by his father. Since his father left
him with nothing, Willy feels an acute need to put his sons—especially Biff—on the right path in
life. He convinces himself that he is capable of doing so, which leads to his inflated sense of selfimportance (as when he tells his young sons about how well known he is in New England).
Willy’s ultimate belief in the deluded prospect of Biff’s imminent success causes him to trade in
his own life to leave Biff $20,000. As an additional consequence of being abandoned, Willy
knows little about his father and thus has to ask Ben to tell Biff and Happy about their
grandfather.
Willy’s fear of abandonment is probably also responsible for his obsession with being well liked.
Somewhat childlike, Willy craves approval and reacts to any perceived hint of dislike by either
throwing a tantrum or retreating into self-pity. When Ben visits Willy’s home, Willy proudly
shows his sons to Ben, practically begging for a word of approval. When Ben notes that he has to
leave to catch his train, Willy begs him to stay a little longer. Even as an adult, Willy’s
relationship to Ben is fraught with this fear of abandonment. Howard abandons Willy by firing
him, and after Happy and Biff abandon him in the restaurant, Willy returns home like a dejected
child. After these blows, the power of Willy’s fantasies to deny unpleasant facts about his reality
abandons him as well.
Close
3. Willy and Biff have different explanations for Biff’s failure to succeed in the business
world. How are their explanations different?
Answer for Study Question 3 >>
Willy believes that Biff’s discovery of Willy’s adulterous affair contributed to Biff’s
disillusionment with the American Dream that Willy cherishes so dearly. He remembers that Biff
called him a “phony little fake.” Essentially, Willy interprets Biff’s words to mean that Biff
thinks of him as a charlatan: Willy believes that his affair prevented him from selling Biff on the
American Dream. On the other hand, Biff believes that he failed to succeed in business precisely
because Willy sold him so successfully on the American Dream of easy success. By the time he
took his first job, Biff was so convinced that success would inevitably fall into his lap that he was
unwilling to work hard in order to advance to more important positions. Biff did not want to start
at the bottom and deal with taking orders. He had faith in Willy’s prediction that he was naturally
destined to move ahead, so he made no efforts to do so through hard work, and, as a result, he
failed miserably.
Close
Suggested Essay 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. Why does Willy reject Charley’s job offer?
4. 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?
5. 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?
6. 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?
7. How does Willy’s desperate quest for the American Dream resemble a religious crusade?