Act Two

• "He's only a little boat looking for a harbour."

  Linda to Willy.

  Idea that he's lost - maybe due to his dad/Ben leaving - and just wants a situation that feels permanent and satisfying. It's tragic because he should find that within his family but he doesn't notice and instead smashes up the harbour they represent through his actions and leaves his sons feeling lost too - continues the cycle.)
• WL "It certainly is a-"

  H- "Sh, for God's sake"

  He's treated at work the way he treats Linda at home. Tries to get the power he craves through his family - see also the Woman - instead of just appreciating.)
• "Kid"

  Howard to Willy.

  (Pg 62-64. He receives no respect at work despite being deserving of it - he's been there so long. Can see what Miller was trying to say.)
• "Put on his green velvet slippers, pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without ever leaving his room."

  Dave Singleman - Willy wants success that is luxurious but requires minimal effort. Doesn't have a comprehensive grasp of the American Dream - that hard work will mean success.)
• "Cause you gotta admit, business is business"

  Howard to Willy when firing him.

  Capitalism pays not attention to the people it hurts. You could argue that he's not firing Willy, only telling him to take time off for 'a good long rest' because he's clearly ill. Though the fact he's leaving him with no money when he makes it clear how much he needs it would suggest otherwise - if he really cared he'd help him.)
• [barely interested]

  Corporate America doesn't care about the story of the common man.

  Howard doesn't listen to WL's childhood story.
• "He died the death of a salesman in his green velvet slippers.... going into Boston."

  Dave Singleman. Willy idolises this and fails to see the tragic truth - that the death was on the job and alone. He's chasing the 'wrong dreams'.
• "Hundreds of salesmen and buyers."

  Therefore tragic when this is contrasted to his ill-attended funeral. He never succeeds it getting his dreams and instead dies still thinking he can achieve this.
• "Why must everybody conquer the world?" 'What are you building? Lay your hand on it. Where is it?"

  Linda and Ben possibly representing the two sides of Willy's psyche, with Linda as the calming voice of reason and Ben as the voice drawing him towards his downfall. Rhetorical Qs show his confused state of mind. Or it may be a memory, in which case we see that Linda has always been said voice of reason but Ben was dismissive about Willy's life without giving him steps to improve it (without just uprooting himself to Alaska).
• "Ben am I right? Don't you think I'm right?"

  Ben replies but doesn't answer. He was abandoned by his family before they were able to teach him how to achieve the Dream and is therefore perpetually seeking the answers they never gave him. The 2 questions in a row show his desperation.
• "The music rises to a mocking frenzy."

  John Durbeyfield, Willy becomes something of a laughing stock at times, which adds to the tragedy as we know his situation is tragic and yet are encouraged to mock him - Miller showing how the pains of the common man are not taken seriously by society.
• "I regard you as a very brilliant man, Bernard. I value your advice."

   Tragically too late. He only repects and listens to people when he views them as successful and as such ignored and mocked Bernard when he was trying to give advice that could have stopped Biff failing maths and so possibly prevented the tragedy. Blinded by his own skewed view of society and success - are his 'wrong dreams' and ideals his hamartia?
• "The Supreme Court! And he didn't even mention it!"

  Willy on Bernard.

  Those who succeed are those who quietly get on with it, suggesting it's Willy's (and Happy's) pride that brings him down.)
• "I don't want your godd*mn job!"

  Willy to Charley.

  Hubris? His lying (particularly about money) could also be construed as this. But are we to blame him for it or does he live in a society that claims men are only successful if they can tick all these boxes (link to Biff saying he's a boy not a man), including being self-reliant, and so its unsurprising he lies as a defence mechanism.)
• "I realise what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been. We've been talking in a dream for fifteen years."

  Biff on his (arguably tragically too late) anagnoresis. Supports the fact that Willy's lies - and so maybe his hubris - have brought down his family, not just him. Biff is able to break the cycle.
• "A single trumpet note jars the ear."

  The bit in the restaurant where his flashbacks start intertwining with reality - arguably the turning point where he completely loses his grip on reality (the fact this happens because Biff tells him the truth suggests he was past saving from the beginning because the delusions have been clearly engrained in him from the start). The music signifies the break as it has gone from tuneful flute music to this harsh sound.
• "You've just seen a prince walk by."

  Tragically Biff gives Willy the same comendation Willy gave his old boss at the start. He gets everything he wants from his family and yet he doesn't see it. Although this could show also how his family doesn't help him as Biff doesn't say this to Willy himself and instead abandons him.
• "You-you gave her mama's stockings!"

  The restaurant scene triggers a flashback that finally reveals to us why their relationship is so damaged and why Willy has so much guilt associated with stockings.
• [violently to Biff] Don't you care whether he lives or dies?"

   Linda.

  This is the most aggression we ever see from her (compare violently to the iron-clad repression of her exceptions to Willy's behaviour). She blames him all the time and it's very ironic seeing as he's the only one trying to help.
• "Ben, that funeral will be massive!"

  Even though he called Charley 'the only friend I got', he's still entertaining the delusion that through death he will reach his mythologised Dave Singleman dream. Maybe the fact he knows deep down how distant the person he wants to be is from the person he is (the recognition that Charely's his only friend suggests he knows) is the root of his problems - can't self-actualise. If he had realistic dreams (a job, a family, a house) he may have already reached them.)
• "What is this supposed to do, make a hero out of you? This supposed to make me feel sorry for you?"

  Talking about the pipe. Is Biff right? Willy seems at least partly motivated by a desire to have Biff idealise him in death in the way which he stopped doing in life. Does this make his death less one of a tragic hero as he perhaps doesn't do it for honourable reasons. Alternatively, this is evidence of the lack of true empathy that Willy's family has for him - puts blame on them.
• "I'm a dime a dozen, and so are you!"

  "I am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman and you are Biff Loman!"

  Is this evident of Willy's continuation of self-delusion even after Biff shatters his reality or is it showing how he fights to protect his 'dignity' (as Miller said TOTCM must) as he maintains that he deserves an identity and a voice no matter what?
• One must go in to fetch a diamond out."

  Ben talking about the 'jungle'. Implies material wealth to be the goal of life.
• "A diamond is rough and hard to touch."

  Wealth isn't as easy and lovely as it seems. Tragic that this is the truth but not in the way Willy thinks. He takes it to mean that he must make the ultimate sacrifice to secure it when really it should mean that success requires hard work, something he never grasps.
• Three Biff related reasons Willy gives for his funeral:

  '[that funeral will be massive...] - that boy will be thunderstruck, Ben, because he never realised - I am known!' (Pg 100) 'Ben, he'll worship me for it!' (Pg 107) 'Can you imagine that magnificence with twenty thousand dollars in his pocket?' (Pg 107) (Possibly his death isn't the one of a tragic hero that Miller is trying to create. 
• These can be seen as entirely selfish reasons, getting his family the money so they'll remember him with love rather than getting them it so they'll have better lives. He also continues to give no thought to the others (there's a brief reference to Linda ('the woman has suffered') but none to Happy - he abandons him in a way, damaging him the same way he himself was damaged.) Alternatively, this could be a tragic attempt to achieve what he thought was his right (TOTCM) - being well-liked and having a successful family.)
• "Suddenly music faint and high stops him. It rises in intensity, almost to an unbearable scream."

  What the music motif comes to (it 'crashes down in a frenzy' straight after) - symbolises Willy being overwhelmed and overpowered by his own mind as the music almost always was used to begin an expressionist scene.
• "Why didn't anybody come?"

  Linda about the funeral. Tragic - he didn't get what he was so sure he would achieve. His death is at least partly in vain. Also showing that nobody cares about a random common man (note that his boss didn't come shown by his absence from the stage directions that show the entrance of the guests.)
• "He had the wrong dreams."

  Biff. He sees the truth - were these 'wrong dreams' the cause of Willy's downfall?
• "I know who I am, kid."

  Biff to Happy in the requiem. He repeats what Howard called Willy. He's achieved a sort of status just by seeing life as it really was and so being free to shape it as he wants. Happy (and Willy) will be infantilised until they come to terms with harsh reality and stop living in fantasy.
• "It's the only dream you can have to come out number-one man. He fought it out there, and this is where I'm gonna win it for him."

  Happy in the requiem. Tragic inevitability of Willy's downfall repeating itself. Do we blame Willy for this (he put the ideas in Happy's head and ignored him in a parallel to how his family abandoned him) or is
• Miller trying to point out how American society allows delusions like this to prosper so ensuring the downfall of its people? The fact he wants to 'win it for him' is a tragic parallel to Biff scoring the winning goal for him years ago, we see how Happy never received the support he should have and so is not able to properly grow up - like Willy.
• "The flute begins, not far away, playing behind her speech."

  Circular structure - the play begins and ends with the flute playing and Linda speaking. Could be a tragic reminder of how much he's lost in this time. Provides closure and a sense of catharsis? Shows she holds it all together? Gives a sense of inevitablity re Happy? Idea they're trapped - juxtaposes the 'we're free'? Showing his continuing legacy/presence in their lives (selfishness or that he won't be forgotten)? He's not managed to fundamentally change much?
• "We're free..."

  Linda - are they free of debt, Willy, or both?)
• I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there'll be nobody home."

  Tragic that Willy could never see the distinction between the meaningful family-based achievements he'd made and the material gains that meant little. Distinction between 'house' and 'home'.
• "over the house the hard towers of the apartment buildings rise into sharp focus."

  The closing stage directions. Circular - they open and close the play and will never go away. Life goes on and doesn't care about Willy's tragedy (deliberate subversion of classic tragedies that see the world impacted by events) - society is unfeeling when it comes to people like Willy.
• Miller juxtaposes this with the pathos we feel for Linda as she 'sobs' in order to challenge us not to me the emotionless society represented by the buildings. Or reminds us that there are so many other lives and common tragedies.