Significant Scene
Michael- Willy’s first flashback (27)
Early in Act 1 starting on page 27 we are transported to Willy’s past through one of his flashbacks, in this flashback Willy is speaking to his two sons and can easily be portrayed as happier than he is now. This scene is crucial to the text because this is the first time we see Willy really talking to himself. the flashback shows how hard Willy is trying to cling to the past and just how fond he was of a happier time.
Jenny- Willy Loman getting fired (76-84)
During this scene, Willy approaches his boss, Howard, to ask if he could stop traveling and work in town. However, Howard doesn’t have any available positions suitable for him. Willy tries to negotiate his pay in order for himself to get a stationary job, but Howard doesn’t crack. This conversation leads into Howard telling Willy that he cannot represent the company any longer. Due to the abrupt news, Willy tries to take back everything he’s said, but it’s too late. The remainder that Willy had left of his purpose and dreams have been taken away. This scene was the turning point for Willy in his life because being a salesman was the one thing he was good at. Now that he no longer has his job, he no longer has a purpose to live for.
Geraldine- Willy Loman’s affair (pages 120-121)
Upon visiting his father in Boston, Biff discovers an undressed woman in Willy’s hotel bathroom. Willy, of course, tries to convince his son that she was a buyer who had to take a quick shower in his room since they were painting up hers’. Biff doesn’t believe a word he says after Willy succumbed to the woman’s demands to give her Linda’s stockings. In the scene above, Biff (in the yellow and red shirt) is just about to leave the room, calling his own father a phony little fake and a liar. Willy (in the white shirt) is shouting, “She’s nothing to me, Biff. I was lonely, I was terribly lonely.” Willy Loman looks helpless, as one should feel after being caught with another woman by their own son.
Joshua - Success v. Failure (48-52)
Willy holds Ben in high regard after becoming successful at the age of twenty-one. He uses Ben as an example that, “The greatest things can happen!” (48), and contrary to how Ben details on his success, he did not simply enter at seventeen and come out twenty-one rich, the path on the left. It is important to note that Ben probably encountered the path on the right where constant obstacles of failure were scattered about on his path---he just overcame them to reach his success. The road to success is not linear and clear. Ben is trying to teach Willy that he needs to accept and learn from failure to stay on the path to success. If he dwindles in the past, he will never be able to reach or help his sons reach their goals.
Louis - Suicide (58-60)
Willy Loman, a depressed aging man has been said to have been getting into accidents in his car, but witness say it’s suicide. (pg 58) “Linda: He’s been trying to kill himself.” “Remember I wrote you that he smashed up his car again? In February?” “ The insurance inspector came. He said that they had evidence. That all these accidents in the last year - weren’t- weren’t- accidents.” This wakes up Biff to the fact that he hasn't been there for his father. This moves him to try and accomplish something with his brother in order to become successful and live up to his father’s expectations.