Willy Flashcards
“Because he’s only a little…
boat looking for a harbour..” - Linda
Act 2, pg.59
AO2: Metaphor - Willy needs security
“You can’t eat the orange…
and throw the peel away - a man is not a piece of fruit!”
Act2, pg.64
AO2: Metaphor, Willy is talking about Howard firing him. Compares man to fruit. Reference to the class system - the system has used Willy. They used him and then they ‘throw the peel away’, implying that they don’t need him anymore because he is old
AO3: He desperately tries to sell himself - social comment: consumerism, cannot pick and choose human workers when needed, can’t pick best bits. Negative impact of consumerism is that it can lead to overconsumption and waste. When people consume more than they need, it can result in excess waste and pollution. Willy is being treated like a used and no longer useful object.
“You end up worth more…
dead than alive.” Act 2, pg.77
After losing his job, Willy is speaking to his old Charley, from whom he has just borrowed the money to make his insurance payments.
Willy is bemoaning the worthlessness of all his years of work. He never earned enough to save anything, and he didn’t build, and he didn’t grow, and now that his job is done he has nothing left except from his life insurance money.
AO3: Social comment from Miller on the capitalistic American society and the distortion of the America dream. People, like Willy, are convinced that if they work hard enough they can achieve the dream, but Will did just that and he achieved nothing. In this society money is valued over life.
“the woods are…
burning, boys.” Act 2, pg. 84
AO2: Recurring motif and metaphor, running out of time.
AO3: Reference to industrialisation and the damage of the natural world. During the twentieth century, America has became an industrial leader and contributed to the expansion of the American economy. Industrialization resulted in urbanization by generating economic development and job possibilities, which attract people to cities. Miller is criticising the rise of consumerism. The negative effects of consumerism include the depletion of natural resources and pollution of the Earth. People are becoming careless.
‘Nothing’s planted…
I don’t have a thing in the ground’
Willy realizes, at least metaphorically, that he has no tangible proof of his life’s work. The motif of growing things acts as a microcosm for Willy’s legacy.
The fact that Willy uses gardening as a metaphor for success and failure indicates that he subconsciously acknowledges that his chosen profession is a poor choice
“The world is an oyster…
but you don’t crack it open on a mattress!”
AO2: Metaphor: Willy recognizes that hard work is essential to success. However, Willy’s lifetime of hard work has left him exhausted and mentally fragile, without the fortune he sought.
AO3: Miller is pointing out the distortion of The American Dream. It gives a false sense of hope and security.
“Why? Why? Bernard, that question has been trailing me like a ghost for the last fifteen…
years. He flunked the subject, and laid down and died like a hammer hit him!” - Willy (2, 73)
Bernard asks Willy why Biff didn’t go to summer school to make up maths
AO2: Simile ‘like a ghost’ Willy’s tragic mistake (his affair) is haunting him, because he knows that this is why Biff flunked maths - element of guilt. The simile ‘like a hammer’ is metaphor for Willy’s affair, it killed all of Willy’s dreams he had for Biff.
AO4: Willy’s myopia - he still cannot see why Biff flunked. He still has not acknoweldged that it was because of him (may be in denail).
Biff: “I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you. You were never…
anything but a hard-working drummer who landed in the ash-can like the rest of them!”
AO2: Metaphor, Willy = industrial waste, thrown out by the system.
AO3: Ash-can, meaning Industrial waste.
AO4: Biff’s anagnorisis
Willy’s funeral
AO2: is metatheatrical as the audience are the important people and via theatre, millions of people have been to Willy Loman’s funeral.
Willy’s hubris/perceived megalopsychia
“And they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England.” (Act 1, p.g. 24)
“I’m vital in New England” pg10 - repeated phrase, hubris
Willy: Lick the world! You guys…
together could absolutely lick the civilised world.”
AO2: Metaphor
Willy: “I suddenly couldn’t…
drive anymore.” (1,9)
AO2: Foreshadowing Willy’s death, a metaphor for the journey that is his life. The car = symbolic of the American dream.
AO3: This is how the American dream leaves Willy feeling, drained of energy. The pace of the dream and capitalised society is too fast for Willy he doesn’t feel he can keep going.
Irving Jacobson
Willy does not have the strength and intelligence to scrutinize and come to an understanding of his condition
Christopher Bigsby
It is not the truth, but Willy’s commitment to illusion that kills him
Eleanor Clarke
It is of course the brutal capitalist system that has done Willy
“Once in my life I would like to own something outright before it’s broken! I’m always in a race with the junkyard!”
AO2: Metaphor
AO3: Design obselesance, manipulated by the media a result of capitalism - money-making scheme
“Once in my life I would like to own…
something outright before it’s broken! I’m always in a race with the junkyard!”
AO2: Metaphor
AO3: Design obselesance, manipulated by the media a result of capitalism - money-making scheme
Why is Howard’s wire recorder significant?
Act 2 pg 63-64
Howard’s obsession with the wire recorder shows the invasion of technology. The voices of Howard’s children on the recorded interupt Willy’s speech, and dominate the conversation. Miller is commenting on social structure & nepotism - Howard’s son will inherit the company, he already has more of a voice in the business than Willy does after putting 34 years into the firm.
Willy’s obsession with being known and liked
“it’s not what you do, Ben. It’s who you know.” It’s contacts, Ben, contacts!”
To Howard: “They don’t know me any more”
Willy’s guilt
Act 2 pg 73
Bernard, was it my fault? I got nothing to give him.
‘A fine, troubled prince. A…
hard-working, unappreciated prince.’
Biff to Miss Forsythe
Juxtaposes Happy who lets sexuality take priority in this scene
Possible example of wilky’s megalopsychia, however is more of a comment on how society overlooks people such as willy.
Comments on urbanisation
“The way they boxed us in here. Bricks and windows, windows and bricks.”
“you can’t raise a carrot in the backyard” - motif of growing things
“They massacred the neighbourhood” pg12
“population is getting out of control. The competition is maddening!” pg12
“work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there’s nobody to live in it.”
Tragic Irony: The quote highlights the tragic irony of this pursuit.Willy, who has dedicated his life to working and paying off a house, finds that his efforts are ultimately meaningless because he is left alone and without a family to enjoy the fruits of his labor.
Symbolism:The house symbolizes the American Dream and Willy’s obsession with material success.
underscores the themes of abandonment and betrayal that are prevalent in the play.Willy’s sons, Biff and Happy, have left him, and his wife, Linda, is struggling to cope with his mental state
pg10
Willy’s violence
“I heard him say something about- walrus. And I - I cracked him right across the face.” pg29
In a flashback, Willy admits to attacking someone for calling him a ‘walrus’ - an indication a violent temper.
During a flashback, Bernard comes running in looking for Biff telling Willy that Biff needs to study, Willy’s response is “where is he? I’ll whip him, I’ll whip him!”
and he repeats it a third time when Linda says he’s too rough with the girls.
Willy to Charley after Charley asks him when he’s going to grow up: “I’ll rap you one!” (He’s ready to fight) Act2, section 4
In the restuarant, Willy: (strikes Biff) Act2, pg89
When Biff catches Willy having an affair: “Biff, come back here or I’ll beat you! Come back here! I’ll whip you!” pg95
Willy’s self-deprication
After Linda mentions the bills on pg28 Willy’s mood changes:
“People don’t seem to take to me” “I talk to much” “They seem to laugh at me” “I joke too much” “I’m fat. I’m very - foolish to look at, Linda.” “I get the feeling… that I won’t make a living for you, or a business, a business for the boys”.
Self-Deprecating Nature: Willy’s words are a stark admission of his perceived flaws, highlighting his vulnerability and low self-esteem.
Contrast with Linda’s View: Linda consistently reassures Willy of his attractiveness, stating “You’re the handsomest man in the world”.This contrast emphasizes the gap between Willy’s self-perception and Linda’s loving view of him.
Willy’s Need for Validation: Despite Linda’s reassurances, Willy’s self-deprecating comments suggest a deep-seated need for external validation, which may be why he seeks attention and approval elsewhere, including his affair.
Thematic Significance: These quotes underscores the play’s themes of failure, identity, and the American Dream.Willy’s inability to live up to his own or others’ expectations leads to his downfall, and his self-deprecating comments are a reflection of this broader struggle.
(Slapping her bottom… He suddenly grabs her and kisses her roughly)
stage directions pg30
“Few men are idiolised by their children the way you are.”
Linda to Willy in a flshbacsk pg29
Neglected
“Dad left when I was such a baby… and I still feel - kind of temporary about myself.” pg40 to Ben
Linda: “he put his whole life into you and you’ve turned your backs on him.” pg47
(Looking straight up): “Gotta break your neck to see a star in this yard.”
pg41: In searching the sky, Willy yearns to reconnect with the natural world, but the constrained life he has chosen prevents this. His comment foreshadows that death is the only way he can escape the trap he has created for himself.
(Willy is left on the floor on his knees) pg95
Biff leaves after finding out Willy is having an affair and Willy is left on the floor
Visual metaphor for his downfall
“A man can’t go out the way he came in, Ben, a man has got to add up to something.”
pg99
“I can see it like a diamond, shining in the dark, hard and rough, that I can pick up and touch in my hand.” “Ben, that funeral will be massive!” “He’ll see what I am, Ben!”
Tragic retrospective irony
motif of diamonds - the twenty thousand us physical materialistic
“Dad, you’re never going to see what I am…”
pg102
Willy’s myopia
