Linda Loman Quotes - ACT ONE, TWO + REQUIEM Flashcards
An opening stage direction suggesting that, in attempting to keep her drifting family together, Linda is in fact allowing Willy’s destructive impression of the American Dream to take hold of him and push their family apart
“Linda, his wife… has developed an iron repression of her exceptions to Willy’s behaviour - she more than loves him, she admires him, as though his mercurial nature [… serves her] only as sharp reminders of the turbulent longings within him”
A quote from the memory in Act One when Willy has arrived home from Boston and Linda asks how much he made. Despite the fact that Willy lies, Linda stands by him and feeds his delusions of success in the Dream, facilitating his downfall
WILLY: I did five hundred gross in Providence and seven hundred gross in Boston […] Well, no, - it came to roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip
LINDA: [without hesitation] Two hundred gross. That’s […] Well, it makes seventy dollars and some pennies. That’s very good
A quote from LINDA in the memory in Act One demonstrating how Linda too has come to buy into Willy’s twisted delusions of the American dream when Willy complains about the brand new yet broken fridge
“They got the biggest ads of any of them!”
A quote from LINDA in the Act One memory, just before the woman scene, demonstrating that all Willy desires is to feel well-liked believing this to be success, and Linda feeds into the delusional dream (note superlative ‘handsomest’)
“Willy, darling, you’re the handsomest man in the world […] To me you are. [slight pause] The handsomest”
A quote from Linda toward the end of Act One, after Linda expresses upset at the fact that whenever Biff comes, him and Willy always argue, suggesting that one day she will be gone. Biff expresses hurt, but implies he would be more upset if Linda died than her father. The quote suggests a hard-headed devotion in Linda to Willy. Linda completely lacks autonomy, believing that whatever Willy feels, she must feel too, but it is this that is in fact causing her family to suffer. Willy is hurting the family, and Linda does nothing about it - she is an appendage of him, owned by him
“Biff, dear, if you don’t have any feeling for him, then you can’t have any feeling for me”
A quote from LINDA towards the end of Act One when talking to Biff and Happy in which she almost justifies the use of Willy as a tragic figure. Miller speaks through Linda
“I don’t say he’s a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper […] But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing has happened to him, so attention must be paid”
A quote from LINDA towards the end of Act One when talking to Biff and Happy clearly demonstrating how her passivity toward Willy is hurting the family. When confronted with Willy’s potential suicide, she does nothing, afraid of insulting him, afraid of making him feel like he isn’t “well-liked”, thus assisting him in ending his life. At the end of Act One, it is made clear that the threat of his suicide draws closer
“I’m-I’m ashamed to. How can I mention it to him? Every day I go down and take away that little rubber pipe. But when he comes home, I put it back where it was. How can I insult him that way?”
“The gas heater begins to glow through the kitchen wall… a blue flame beneath red coils”
A quote from LINDA in the Ben flashback of Act One suggesting that Linda is partially responsible for Willy’s peripeteia. She convinces Willy not to persue nature with Ben but to stay in New York with her to persue his twisted view of the American Dream. Linda believes perhaps that she can protect Willy and her family, but in fact does the opposite, allowing Willy to tear the family apart with he destructive ideology. She is just as confined by the Dream as Willy is
“Wagner told him just the other day that if he keeps it up he’ll be a member of the firm, didn’t he, Willy? […] There’s a man, eighty-four years old-“
A quote from LINDA in the Requiem suggesting that Willy’s death has changed nothing. He believed that by dying, he would fund Biff’s financial prosperity under the American Dream, but his death will in reality end just as fruitlessly as every other business trip he has ever taken. The family is not happy, and Willy died in vain. The fact that Linda “can’t cry” suggests that Willy’s endless chasing of the dream has drained her of true emotion, putting on a facade for Willy’s need to feel well-liked, while the fact that it feels like he’s simply on another sales trip demonstrates the significant absence if Willy from the Loman family and the tragic consequences this has brought about
“[The flue begins, not far away, playing behind her speech] Forgive me, dear. I can’t cry […] Why did you ever do that? Help me Willy, I can’t cry. It seems to me that you’re just on another trip”
A quote from LINDA at the end of the Requiem suggesting the tragic irony of Willy’s death, that nothing has changed. She and Willy wished to live free of debt, but, while the debt it paid off, Willy is not there to enjoy it, and Linda must shoulder the emotional debt of his suicide. However, perhaps Biff and Linda are indeed free in a sense from Willy himself. Biff, after his father’s death, is no longer confined to his disappointment as his son failed to grasp his concept of the American Dream, and Linda is free of a spouse who abused her constant devotion and love
“[A sob rises in her throat] We’re free and clear. [Sobbing more fully, released] We’re free. […] We’re free… We’re free…
[Only the music of the flute is left on the darkening stage as over the house the hard towers of the apartment buildings rise into sharp focus]
