Death of a Salesmen-P83 thoughts

There are many interesting aspects that drew my attention in the pages running up to page 83. These include:

• We learn from Bernard that on returning from Boston Biff burnt his University of Virginia trainers. This stood out to me as I think it illustrates just how affected Biff is by something that took place in his past as for him to burn those trainers was, I think, representative of him throwing any dream, hope or ambition he had. We debated in previous lessons whether Biff has the characteristics of Aristotle's tragic hero, and we couldn't think of a Hamartia or downfall for Biff. I think that his burning of his trainers could be his Hamartia to some extent, as even though Biff hadn't really achieved anything at this point, he had goals and aspirations, which seem to then disappear with the burning of his trainers. For example Biff doesn't really know what he wants from life so he has never been able to go out and get it, especially as whenever he feels pressure he seems to run away, for instance when he steals the fountain pen from Bill Oliver, whereas he used to have some drive spurring him on.  It is also obvious that something happened between Biff and Willy in Boston as when Bernard enquires about it Willy says angrily "Nothing. What do you mean, 'What happened?' What's that got to do with anything!"-however this still is a stange reaction from Biff, to metaphorically burn all your own hopes and ambitions just to distance yourself from your father seems odd. However perhaps Biff feels that his dreams and Willys dreams were, at that time, the same so to really show the relationship with Willy breaking down, he had no choice but to throw his dreams away.
• Another thing that struck me as interesting up to page 83 was the way Willy asks Bernard for advice about Biff. He initially still boasts untruthfully about how Biff is wanted by Bill Oliver "very badly" to work with him. But then when Bernard swiftly changes the subject to Willys job, he cracks up and talks about Biffs lack of success. I also think Willys lack of knowledge about business oncemore shines through when he asks Bernard "What's the secret?"-Bernard replies with "What secret?" and goes on to say that Biff's problem is that "he never trained himself for nothing". Willy thinks there is a sure fire way to be successful in business, such as being liked, or knowing the right people etc. Whereas Bernard understands that you have to train youself at business and work hard. 
• The final think that I found interesting was the way Happy acts with the woman, Miss Forsythe, who enters the bar. His bahaviour is reminiscent of Willy in that he thinks the only way to ever gain respect or get what he wants is to decieve and put on a front to people. He is very confident in his ability with women, perhaps compensating for his lack of business ability. For example he lies to the woman, telling her he's a rich champagne salesman and that Biff is "one of the best football players in the country". Like his father he exaggerates to make himself feel better. Happy also doesn't treat the woman with any respect and seems to take advantage of her, saying she's "on call", he then gets angry with Biff when he doesn't seem interested. Happy uses seducing women as a way to feel like he has accomplished, and is good at, something. 

Death of a Salesman-End of Act 1

In the sequence leading up to the end of act 1, quite a lot happens. First Linda breaks down to Biff and Happy, and informs them that Willy has been attempting to kill himself through car crashes and a small length of rubber pipe attached to the heater. This is evidently shocking for the audience as so far in the play, the problems haven't really risen to the surface, whereas now the characters are openly discussing them. For example this also tells us a lot about Willy, as initially you would think he was so wrapped up in his own imagination that he's happy, however he obviously does achknowledge his failures as he is attempting suicide (although he's even been failing at this!).

There are then more hints about what has happened between Biff and Willy, for example Biff says "I know he's a fake and he don't like anybody around who knows!".Willy then re-enters and Biff fights with him again over him being too harsh on Linda. Biff and Happy talk enthusiastically about starting a sporting business, and Biff is planning on going to see Bill Oliver (a previous employer) to try and get some money together. Willy then joins them and seems alive at the thought of his sons doing well in business, he describes their idea as "Million dollar".  Linda however has her doubts, saying "I'm just wondering  if Oliver will remember him". Linda also then asks Willy why him and Biff don't see eye to eye and he just ignores her, so this is another hint that something big and secretive went on in the past as both Biff and Willy don't seem to want to be the one to say anything, and they certainly haven't adressed the problem to each other so far. So as we are left with this, the audience's suspense builds and it sets them up for act 2 in which we find out why Biff and Willy had such a big falling out. Linda also asks Willy if he will go and talk to Howard in the morning to try and sort his work issues out.

The final thing the audience sees and hears in act 1 is Willy reminiscing of when Biff was a teenager, descibing him as "Like a young god. Hercules-something like that" . So again this keeps the audience's attention on the relationship between Biff and Willy as act 1 comes to an end. Willy then says "everything'll be alright" and as he says this, we see Biff come onto the stage and sneak the little piece of rubber piping from behind the heater upstairs. I think this is a good, strong visual ending to act 1, and I think the audience perhaps joins in with the false enthusiasm that the characters are adopting. For example, Biff has removed the pipe so Willy can't use it to kill himself, and both Biff and Willy seem determind in their own way to make things right. However Willy's comment of "Everything'll be alright" is too good to be true and I think the audience feels this. As usual Willy has got over excited about something and we wonder if he and all the other characters will come crashing back to reality in act 2.

The end of act 1 sets up the rest of the play nicely. Biff promises to stay and go and see Bill Oliver to ask for money to start a business with Happy and Willy talks of going to see Howard. I think the audience knows at this point that a lot depends on the outcome of these events, and this builds the anticipation nicely for act 2. The audience also hopes that they will find out what happened between Biff and Willy. The fact that the last thing they see is Biff taking away the piping builds the tension between Biff and Willy. I think it also highlights aspects of Biff's character, he is honest and more realistic than the rest if his family, for example as Biff is realistic he takes a sensible approach to the knowledge that his father is attempting suicide, he removes his means of doing so. Which I think is the realistic approach, rather than to worry about "insulting" Willy's pride like Linda does. This also potentially creates an opportunity for confrontation between Biff and Willy, in which Willy would have to confront his suicide attempts in front of his family and perhaps reveal the secret behind his ongoing feud with his son.