Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman Summary | Act 1, Pages 130-149 Summary

The play opens with a lengthy description of the Loman house. Miller writes detailed stage directions, with lighting, sound, and prop placement, signifying the movement of every item and every character in his play. The home is a simple house, sitting before a surplus of apartment complexes in Brooklyn, New York. The tall, angular silhouette of Manhattan lies in the backdrop. Light slowly appears on the stage, while a flute plays in the background. The home is simple and realistic, with only a few items representing the respective rooms: kitchen, living room, bedroom, and boys' bedroom, steeped with trophies.

Willy Loman enters his home carrying two large sample cases. Willy is exhausted and walks to the kitchen to unwind. Willy's wife, Linda, has awakened in the middle of the night and hears her husband stir outside the bedroom door. Linda goes to him, taking off his shoes, while he tells her about his night. When she worries about his car crashing again, he tells her that his vision became impaired while he was driving back from New England, where he is one of the top sellers for Brown and Morrison. Willy was driving sixty miles per hour and suddenly ran off the road. Willy is still shaken up when he tells Linda the story. Linda tries to calm him down, to convince him to stop selling in New England. Linda thinks he should be a salesman in New York, because he is sixty years old. Willy quickly agrees, but reminds her he has always been the New England seller.

The conversation quickly turns to the subject of their two sons, Biff and Harold, who is called Happy. Willy is furious that Biff is thirty-four years old and working on a farm, still trying to find himself. Willy thinks of his attractive son as having so much to offer as a salesman. Still, he remembers the yesteryears, in which he and his sons first drove a car. He constantly thinks back to the past, wishing life was simple and happy again.

Biff and Happy, upstairs in their old bedrooms during this visit home, overhear their parents discussing them. Linda tells Willy that now Biff is back at home, the boys have come home from a double date. They are thrilled the two brothers are going out together. Nonetheless, Willy is still angry about Biff's destructive waste of a life and cries out to him that he can go back to Texas if he wants. Willy does not seem to admit to caring about his own children. Willy spent so much time with them in their youth and cannot believe how little they care about him now. Still, they do care about him, whether or not Willy accepts and understands this.

The Loman brothers are introduced Biff and Happy worry about their father. They realize his eyesight is not bad, despite the fact that he stops at green lights and drives through red ones. They see him losing his mind and speaking to himself and start to worry about his mental capacities. However, they are also slightly embarrassed by his odd behavior. Happy tells Biff that Willy is constantly expressing concerns about him, wanting him to settle down, get a real job, and make something of himself. Yet, Biff recounts all of his jobs after the war, and knows that life is not being lived while inside a horrible job. This job, in his mind, is just to pay for a home that will never be his. Happy explains that, while he has everything he thought he always wanted, such as his own car, apartment in the City, many women, he is lonely, and moreover unhappy. Biff suggests that Happy come out west with him or to Texas. Biff would be happy if the two of them were together. However, Happy quickly returns to his obsession with money and women. Happy does not think he can live in Texas or Nebraska and work on a ranch, because he would not be making enough money. Happy reminds Biff, all the time, how everyone always loves and looks up to him. If he were to just move to the city with Happy, they would have any girl they wanted, like the girls they had this very night. Happy informs Biff that the girl he was with this night is engaged to be married.

Biff explains he does not like that type of lifestyle and wants to open up his own ranch. Biff thinks of Bill Oliver, a powerful man who liked him in the past, and thinks of asking for money to start his own ranch. Happy thinks Bill will back him.

Willy walks into the kitchen and gathers milk from the refrigerator while he reminisces of earlier, happier years with his sons. These memories are reenacted in the front of the stage. Willy recalls his sons playing with the new car, and watches them toss the football around. Willy is drawn to Biff, as though all of his hopes rest on this boy, who is healthy, attractive, strong, and ambitious. Suddenly, a younger boy named Bernard walks into the house, wanting to study with Biff. Willy informs his impressionable and eager sons that Bernard, although he is smart, will never succeed in the business world, because he is not that well-liked. Willy's sons are so proud of their father for traveling to so many great cities and are proud of his great success. They want to grow up, at this point, to be just like him. Willy reminds them that his two sons are built like Adonises and are so well-liked, and, as a result, will succeed in the business world.

Willy continues to reminisce, this time with Linda. Willy moves to the edge of the stage and tells her how much money he has made in one week. Linda is so thrilled to hear of his success. However, it is quickly forgotten when they count their bills and expenses. Willy worries he will not make enough money at the rate he is going. Willy tells Linda that he is well-liked, and a moment later contradicts his words by saying that he works so hard. Unfortunately, he is not doing well, because he is not well liked. Willy thinks he talks too much and is fat. Still, Linda tells him he is the most handsome man in the world. Willy pulls her over and tells her he wishes she could be on the road with him, so he can kiss the life out of her.