Death of a Salesman Revision Flashcards
AQA Paper 1 Revision
What happened to Arthur Miller’s family as a result of the 1929 stock market crash?
His father’s business failed and they had to move home to Brooklyn.
Why was the Federal Theater Project that Miller worked for closed down?
Because of suspected communist infiltration. Miller was blacklisted in later life for refusing to name some of his friends as Communists.
Define the two central ideas of the American Dream in the play.
- The Frontier American Dream - going off into the wilderness and making something of yourself.
- The Capitalist American Dream - striking it rich with some commercial venture, then buying a nice house and products with your wealth.
What contextual shift in America, might the following quotation refer to:
‘He don’t put a bolt to a nut…he’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine.’
The shift from rural agriculture to an urban industry. And the shift from manufacturing to service and sales.
When was Death of a Salesman written?
1948
What type of play is Death of a Salesman?
Social realist
What has Biff been doing for the last ten years?
Working on farms and ranches.
What does Happy do?
He is an assistant to the assistant buyer at a department store.
What does Willy believe Bernard lacks to be a real success compared to his own sons?
Natural charisma
Where did Ben make his fortune?
In Alaska and Africa.
Where did Willy’s father make his money?
In the frontiers of America.
Why does Willy kill himself?
Because it means his family will get $20,000 dollars in insurance money.
What does Willy’s killing of himself symbolise?
His inability to see himself as anything more than a commodity.
What are the flashbacks intended to show in terms of Happy and Biff?
How their father passed on his view to them, making it difficult for them to succeed.
What realisation does Biff end the play with?
That he, like his father, was not destined for greatness and that he can find happiness through his simpler, perhaps purer, idea of the American Dream - working outdoors.
What lack of realisation does Happy end the play with?
Happy doesn’t realise Willy’s failings - resolving to continue Willy’s dream and make as much money as possible.
Which American Dream does Ben represent?
The most old-fashioned version of the frontier American Dream.
What does Howard, who inherited his wealth, represent?
The new, impersonal America - one focused on money and wealth instead of human connection.
How does Bernard achieve his dream, in perhaps a further criticism of the new American dream of America?
Through hard work and dedication. He takes no short cuts, nor does he push superficial or materialist values.
When does Willy try to plant seeds?
In the middle of the night.
What does Willy’s planting of the seeds in the middle of the night symbolise?
His inability to grow and provide for himself as well as his flawed approach and perceptions.
What does the encroaching tower blocks, that block the sunlight from nourishing Willy’s seeds symbolise?
The encroachment of capitalism on Willy’s house. The commercialism encroaches on his self-determination. It the system he aspires to be part of that is holding him back.
What is suggested by the fact that Ben has died before the start of the play?
That his way of life, the frontier waiting to be explored, no longer exists.
What do the stockings symbolise?
Willy’s betrayal of his family - giving away what little they have to feed his ego.
What does the rubber hose symbolise?
Impending suicide.
What do the seeds symbolise?
The futility of Willy’s efforts.
What does the flute music symbolise?
The choice to work with his hands, like his father, the past way of life that Willy (and perhaps society) has turned away from.
What is the deeper meaning behind ‘I have thoughts, such strange thoughts’? (Act One)
There is an irony to this. Willy is potentially referring to his thoughts of suicide or at least the fact that he is unravelling. Ironically, it is his ‘strange’ view of the world that is the cause.
‘Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there’s ______ to live in it.’ (Act One)
nobody
What does ‘pay off a house’ and ‘nobody to live in it’ potentially foreshadow?
Willy’s tragic death. He choose money over family in order to provide for his family.
What is Biff alluding to when he states ‘when all you really desire is to be outdoors, with your shirt off’? (Act One)
The frontier American Dream. He believes he would be happy away from a life working ‘fifty weeks a year’.
‘To suffer fifty weeks a year for the sake of a two-week ______.’ (Act One)
vacation
How does ‘Manufacturers offer me a hundred-dollar bill now and then…I hate myself for it…and, still, I take it and love it’ present Happy?
As materialistic. He is almost enslaved to his enticement for wealth.
‘And they know me, boys, they know me ___ ____ ____ New England.’ (Act One)
up and down
‘Willy, darling, you’re the _________ man in the world.’ (Act One)
handsomest
‘Walked into the ______, and comes out, the age of twenty-one, and he’s rich!’ (Act One)
jungle
How does ‘Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You’ll never get out of the jungle that way’ (Act One) present society?
As cutthroat. In their relentless pursuit of the American Dream, people will climb over each other.
What does ‘Gotta break your neck to see a star in this yard’ (Act One) symbolise?
The lack of hope for Willy.
What is significant about Linda stating ‘I don’t say he’s a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money.’? (Act One)
Linda clearly equates success with wealth.
‘________, ________ must be finally paid to such a person.’ (Act One)
Attention /attention
‘And the buyers I brought, and the cheers when he came out - _____, _____, _______!’ (Act One)
Loman/Loman/Loman
In Act Two, when Willy talks to Howard about how his father asked him about the name of his son, how does Howard respond?
He is indifferent stating: ‘I appreciate that Willy, but there just is no spot for you here.’
Who is Dave Singleman?
A salesperson that Willy idealises from the past (the key bit being from the past) ‘when he died, hundreds of salesman and buyers were at his funeral.’
What is Charley trying to explain to Willy in the quotation ‘The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell.’? (Act Two)
The harsh reality of capitalism. He points out that as a salesman Willy should understand that he idealized version does not exist.
‘After all the…years, you end up _____ more dead than alive.’ (Act Two)
worth
‘And he gave me one look and - I realised what a _____ __ my whole life has been!’ (Act Two)
ridiculous lie
Analyse: ‘Dad is never so happy as when he’s looking forward to something!’
It shows Willy’s never ending focus on dream. Ironically, it is this focus that is leading to him to be so unhappy.
‘You - you gave her _____ ______!’ (Act Two)
Mama’s stockings
‘I’ve got to get some seeds right away. Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing __ ___ ____.’ (Act Two)
in the ground
‘Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that ___ ____ and burn it before something happens? (Act Two)
phony dream
Just before he dies, Willy returns to a flashback of Ben, hearing him says ‘The jungle is dark but full of diamonds, Willy’. Why is this significant?
The darkness is his death and the diamonds the money he gets his family as a result - still believing with that money that Biff can become great. In a way, the jungle of his death becomes his own frontier as he abandons his family to make a fortune.
‘You know something Charley, there’s more of him in that front stoop than in all the _____ he ever made.’ (Act Two)
sales
What does the fact that Happy takes on his father’s dream symbolise?
The never-ending nature of the American dream and the power it holds.
What is the tone here: ‘A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.’? (Act Two)
It suggests inevitability. There is a pessimism to the end of the day that indicates society will learn nothing from this and carry on regardless.
‘Today dear. And there’ll be ____ home.’
nobody
