74 pages • 2 hours read
Arthur MillerDeath of a Salesman
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1949A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Act II, Scenes 1-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Act II, Scenes 1-4 Summary
The next morning, Willy is in high spirits. Biff has already left to meet Bill Oliver, and Happy has gone to work. Confident that Biff will be successful, Willy dreams of getting a house in the country and building guesthouses for the boys and their families. Convinced that things are looking better, he is certain that Howard will give him a job in New York. Linda asks Willy to request an advance so they can pay the bills; their mortgage will be paid off the next month. Biff calls Linda, who says that Willy removed the rubber pipe. Biff explains that he got rid of it himself.
At the office, Willy attempts to ask Howard for a New York position. Uninterested, Howard shows off his tape recorder and demonstrates how it works with recordings of his children and wife. When Willy finally shares his desire to stop traveling, Howard tells Willy that there are no openings. Willy continues begging, asking for less money, but to no avail. Willy then starts to reminisce about his days working for Howard’s father and explains why he became a salesman. He shares the story of Dave Singleman, a well-respected and successful salesman who died the noble “death of a salesman” (61) with hundreds of salesman and buyers at his funeral. Howard is condescending with Willy; he calls him “kid” and flatly states that they don’t want Willy to represent the company anymore. He tells a distraught Willy to pull himself together and advises him to seek financial support from his sons.
Willy falls into a memory, reminiscing about the time Ben approached Willy on his way to Alaska. He asks Ben for advice, as things are not going the way he planned. When Ben offers Willy a job overseeing timber in Alaska, Linda scolds Ben for putting ideas in his head. She believes Willy has a promising future as a salesman, just like the successful Dave Singleman. He desperately tries to convince Ben that he will become just as rich and successful in Brooklyn, telling him:
And Ben! When he walks into a business office his name will sound out like a bell and all the doors will open to him! I’ve seen it, Ben, I’ve seen it a thousand times! You can’t feel it with your hand like timber, but it’s there! […] Ben, am I right? Don’t you think I’m right? […] We’ll do it here Ben! You hear me? We’re gonna do it here! (66).
In another memory, the Lomans prepare to go to Ebbet’s field and watch Biff’s football game. Happy and Bernard argue over holding Biff’s helmet. Biff tells Willy that he will score a touchdown for him. Charley arrives and pretends that he doesn’t know about Biff’s game, angering Willy.
Act II, Scenes 5-8 Summary
Present-day Willy heads to Charley’s office. There, Charley’s secretary Jenny overhears Willy in his reverie rambling about Biff’s promised touchdown. Upon seeing the grown-up Bernard, Willy’s daydream ends. He learns that Bernard has become a successful lawyer. Willy boasts that Biff is pursuing a business venture with Bill Oliver. Bothered by Bernard’s success, he asks how he managed to succeed in contrast with Biff’s failures. Willy believes Biff’s life headed downhill after the game on Ebbet’s Field. Bernard reminds him that Biff failed math and couldn’t graduate, even though he could have attended summer school. Though Willy doesn’t understand why Biff didn’t go, Bernard remembers that Biff visited Willy in Boston after failing, and upon returning, he burned his beloved University of Virginia tennis shoes and fought Bernard. When Bernard asks what happened in Boston, a resentful Willy angrily asks if Bernard blames him.
As Bernard leaves, Charley comes out of his office. Charley says that Bernard is presenting a case in the Supreme Court. He also gives Willy $50. Both jealous and proud, Willy is shocked that Bernard didn’t mention it. When he asks for more money to pay his insurance, Charley once again offers him a job. Willy repeatedly refuses, even after revealing that he got fired. Willy is outraged that Howard fired him. Charley explains that contrary to Willy’s belief, the key to success is never being well-liked. Willy responds that despite his endless years of efforts, “you end up worth more dead than alive” (76), referring to his life insurance.
That night at Frank’s Chop House, Happy chats with the waiter, Stanley. Happy predicts when beautiful women will enter, impressing Stanley. When Biff enters, Happy is flirting with a call girl named Miss Forsythe. When she explains that she is on duty, Happy asks her to cancel her appointment and find a friend. An unhappy Biff says that he waited six hours to see Oliver only to find that he didn’t even remember him. Biff realizes that he was never a salesman for Oliver but a shipping clerk, and Willy’s exaggerations made the Loman family collectively remember Biff as a salesman that impressed Oliver. On his way out, he stole Oliver’s fountain pen just as he stole a ball from him in high school. Happy advises Biff to tell Willy that Oliver is thinking over his business proposition and that the whole situation will eventually fade from focus.
When Willy arrives, he reveals that Howard fired him. Biff demands that Willy only talk factually, questioning who told him that he was a salesman for Bill Oliver. Biff attempts to explain what happened at Oliver’s office, but Willy continuously interrupts him and refuses to listen. Willy emphasizes that Biff failed math and that he can’t blame his father for everything. Exasperated, Biff says that he can’t talk to him.
Act II, Scenes 1-8 Analysis
By the end of Act I, Willy’s mind is on the verge of collapse. When Act II begins, he is no longer able to use his perception of the idyllic past to maintain his fantasies. The events of Act II unravel Willy’s lies to himself and his family. Biff’s decision to take a loan and start a business with the help of Bill Oliver serves as a final hope; Willy is immediately optimistic, imagining Biff’s likeable personality and completely ignoring his failures. The Loman family’s collective understanding of Biff’s likeability and success in his youth proves to be yet another fantasy when Biff finally comes face to face with Bill Oliver. Contrary to the family memory, Biff was only a clerk who stole from Oliver and isn’t remembered at all.
Meanwhile, Willy’s humiliating meeting with Howard strips him of his dignity and confidence. The likeability that he so depended upon, evident from his fascination with the story of the successful and remembered Dave Singleman and the fact that he named Howard when he was born, is proven useless when an uninterested and unmoved Howard fires him on the spot. Still, Willy’s ego prevents him working for his friend Charley. Charley has seemingly achieved the American Dream without having the attributes that Willy believes are necessary to do so. Willy focuses on how both Charley and his son Bernard aren’t very well-liked, and Charley himself tells Willy that social achievements such as naming Howard as a baby do not contribute to success.
Willy’s continuous fantasy of living in Alaska strongly implies just how ill-suited he is for the business world. Just like his father, brother, and son Biff, Willy gravitates towards working with his hands. When optimistic, Willy desires to plant a garden in his yard. His first plans when dreaming of Biff and Happy’s joint success is building a home in the country. Though this choice of profession serves as a means of fulfilling the American Dream, Willy himself deeply regrets his choice while consciously convincing himself that he made the right one. When Willy tries his best to convince Ben that life as a salesman is just as glamorous as life in Alaska, it is an attempt to justify his own choice to himself. However, his repeated reveries and obsession with Ben’s success demonstrates how real his regrets are.
At dinner, Willy is faced with his worst nightmare: the fact that Biff is not well-liked and is unable to start any business venture. Though Linda and Happy seem bent on maintaining the fantasy to keep Willy sane, Biff is unable to lie to himself or his father, forcing Willy to come to terms with reality. Willy and Biff are nothing but ordinary, and there are no traces of greatness in them. While these realities make Willy distraught, they serve as liberating truths for Biff, who is tired of a life of distorted fantasies. Willy made Biff overconfident with stories of greatness and likeability, making Biff unable to happily pursue his true inclinations and blinding him to his own faults.
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