‘DOASM’ quotes

• "the salesman's ideal, his dream. and when his dream was going he'd no place to go"


  capitalises on willy's tragic flaw; an unyielding belief in the American dream
• "i'm the new england man. im vital in new england"


  willy's desperate attempt to affirm his value amid joblessness and increasing irrelevance
• "work a lifetime to pay off a house. you finally own it, and there's nobody to live in it."


  willy's stark realisation underlines the hjollowness of the american dream.
• "will you take that phoney dream and burn it before something happens"


  biff's desperate proposition to his father to forsake his relentless pursuit of success
• "biff loman is lost"


  willy's acute worry over his son's directionless existence reveals his failures as a father
• "a man's got to add up to something"


  showcases willy's fixation with societal definitions of success and explains the root cause of his and biff's struggles
• "i've got to get some seeds, right away. nothing's planted. i don't have a single thing in the ground"


  the seed metaphor captures willy's fears about leaving no legacy. it also symbolises the difference between city and nature, reminding the audience that willy' could've gone to Alaska with ben and thrived but his pursuit of success and the american dream blinded him
• " for a salesman, there is no rock bottom to life. he can always sell himself"


  unveils the extent willy is willing to go to become a salesman as well as him misguided concept of the real world. also his belief that personal charm can guarantee success, underlining the damaging impact of his illusions
• "i dont say he's a great man. willy loman never made a lot of money. his name was never in the paper. he's not the finest character that ever lived but he's a human being, and a terrible ting is happening to him. so attention must be paid "


  linda's heartfelt portrayal of the significance of ordinary individuals in society garners sympathy for willy while critiquing the materialistic society
• " isn't that a remarkable thing"


  willy's final utterances exhibit his desperate attempt to believe in his self-constructed reality which lends pathos to his tragic end