Key Events Eleven and Twelve

• The Loman men are swept up in plans for a new business. Their misplaced values and beliefs are seen again.
• Biff and Happy tell Willy of their Loman Brothers business idea and Biff's plan to visit Bill Oliver the next day in order to ask for a start-up loan.
• We see how easily the Loman's are swept away by the illusion that success is imminent, with Willy telling his boys, "I think your troubles are over".
• It is assumed that Biller Oliver will remember, and still admire, Biff, despite the reality behind why Biff left Oliver's employment.
• "Start off with a couple of your good stories to lighten things up. It's not what you say, it's how you say it- because personality always wins the day."
• Willy again repeats his mantra that success is built on "personality", giving his sons dubious advice that this alone, rather than substance (e.g. a sensible business plan) will prevail.
• Act One ends on a note of impending doom, again signalling the inevitability of Willy’s demise.
• While upstairs, Willy dreams of Biff's golden future.
• We follow Biff to the kitchen and, eventually, the gas heater, from behind which he discovers Willy's hidden rubber tubing.
• Miller contrasts Willy's fantasy with reality.
• The "golden pool of light" which Biff walks in symbolises how Willy still idealises him- as the star footballer who came out onto Ebbets Field with "the sun all around him."
• "[The light on Willy is fading. The gas heater begins to glow through the kitchen wall...]"
• Miller uses lighting effects to undercut Willy's optimism, with the "glow" from the gas heater reminding the audience of Willy's suicidal urges
• Act One ends on a note of impending doom, again signalling the inevitability of Willy's demise.