Themes of Act 1 and 2- Death of a Salesman

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ACT 1 M * Home ownership is a central pillar of the American Dream. But Willy’s house has been overwhelmed by the city, just as Willy is himself overwhelmed by the pressures on him. * The product Willy sells is never revealed, highlighting that what a salesman must really sell is he. Willy’s statement hints at the spiritually and materially unrewarding nature of his job. * Opening the windshield signifies Willy’s connection to nature, which his city-living, car-driving sales job interferes with. Willy’s dreams, rather than motivating him, steer him off course. * Willy’s remarks about his importance as a salesman must be taken with a grain of salt: a salesman as successful as he claims to be would likely be better off than he is. Nevertheless, he has strived for success, only to be betrayed by his former’s boss’s son, who inherited success. * Willy’s contrasting statements on Biff ’s work ethic show how his hopes for Biff have been dashed, but also his capacity for self-delusion. He can’t accept that Biff has turned out to be something other than a great man of the world because he can’t let go of his American Dream of huge success for himself and his sons. * Willy’s car accidents, at this stage of the play, seem to point to his increasing age and physical fragility. As the play progresses, they will come to mean more. * The original American Dream involved proving and making a life for yourself by heading out into the wilds of nature, as Willy’s father and older brother Ben did, and as Willy himself sometimes wishes he did. But Willy raised Biff to value financial success above all else, and so Biff wonders whether it is wrong to not make money. * Happy has inherited Willy’s dream of success in sales. Less favored than Biff by Willy when the boys were young, Happy now tries to emulate the examples of aggressive

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