Death of a Salesman

Act I, Scenes 1-6

Reading Check

1. Willy Loman is a traveling salesman. (Act I, Scene 1)

2. Biff steals his new football. (Act I, Scene 3)

3. Young Biff promises to score a touchdown for Willy. (Act I, Scene 3)

4. Willy exaggerates his earnings to Linda. (Act I, Scene 5)

5. Willy thinks people don’t like him because he talks too much. (Act I, Scene 5)

Short Answer

1. Willy Loman confuses the past and present. (Act I, Scenes 1-2)

2. Linda Loman is worried about Willy being tired and having a car accident. She tells him to ask his boss for a route closer to home. (Act I, Scene 1)

3. Willy Loman alternately says Biff is lazy and then that he is a hard worker. The relationship seems based on disappointment. (Act I, Scene 1)

4. Willy depends on his sons to inflate Willy’s ego by playing well in a football game or making Willy look good in front of clients. (Act I, Scenes 3-4)

5. Bernard is worried young Biff will fail math class and fail to graduate from high school. (Act I, Scene 4)

6. Willy consistently contradicts himself. He says the Chevy is valuable and then worthless and that he is well-liked and disliked in Hartford. (Act I, Scene 5)

7. The shadow of the woman dressing and thanking Willy for stockings suggests Willy is having an affair. (Act I, Scenes 5-6)

Act I, Scenes 7-12

Reading Check

1. Willy and his brother, Ben, are abandoned by their father. (Act I, Scene 9)

2. Willy’s father is a traveling salesman who makes flutes. (Act I, Scene 9)

3. The watchman is after Biff for theft. (Act I, Scene 9)

3. Linda says Willy has attempted suicide. (Act I, Scene 11)

4. Biff plans to stay and open a sporting goods store. (Act I, Scene 11)

5. Biff retrieves the rubber tubing from behind the heater. (Act I, Scene 12)

Short Answer

1. Linda’s stockings remind Willy of the stockings he gave his mistress. (Act I, Scene 7)

2. Biff is a thief, a cheat, and an unlicensed driver. (Act I, Scene 7)

3. Willy is jealous of his brother, Ben, for going off to Alaska and making his fortune. (Act I, Scene 8)

4. Biff is angry and ashamed, demanding to know why Linda didn’t write to inform him. Linda mentions that he never sent his address. (Act I, Scene 10)

5. Willy kicks Biff out of the house because Biff challenges Willy over his “fraudulent ways.” (Act I, Scene 10)

6. Linda is emphasizing Willy’s humanity despite his failures. (Act I, Scene 11)

Act II, Scenes 1-8

Reading Check

1. Linda says the mortgage will be paid off next month. (Act II, Scene 1)

2. Howard fires Willy from the company. (Act II, Scene 2)

3. Dave Singleman, a respected and liked salesman, is a hero of Willy’s. (Act II, Scene 2)

4. Ben offers Willy a job overseeing timber in Alaska. (Act II, Scene 3)

5. Biff asks Willy to speak only in facts. (Act II, Scene 8)

Short Answer

1. The noble “death of a salesman” is a well-attended funeral. (Act II, Scene 2)

2. Bernard says Biff failed math and had intended to attend summer school, but after visiting Willy in Boston, Biff burned his University of Virginia tennis shoes. (Act II, Scene 5)

3. Willy says he is worth more dead than alive. (Act 2, Scene 6)

4. Bill Oliver doesn’t remember Biff. (Act 2, Scene 7)

5. Biff remembers being a salesman but then recalls he was only a shipping clerk. (Act II, Scene 8)

Act II, Scenes 9-14 and Requiem

Reading Check

1. Young Biff wants Willy to call Biff’s math teacher over a failing grade. (Act II, Scene 9)

2. Linda is furious with her adult sons for abandoning Willy in the restaurant. (Act II, Scene 9)

3. In the garden, Willy reveals his plan to die by suicide. (Act II, Scene 12)

4. Willy gets in his car and drives away from the house. (Act II, Scene 14)

5. The small group includes Linda, Biff, Happy, and Charley. (Requiem)

Short Answer

1. Willy betrays Biff by cheating on Linda. (Act II, Scene 9)

2. Willy imagines his family will be grateful for his death and the receipt of the life insurance money. (Act II, Scene 12)

3. Biff tries to convince Willy that the two are ordinary men. (Act II, Scene 13)

4. Happy plans to become a successful businessman. (Requiem)

5. Linda thinks Willy killed himself over debt. (Requiem)

6. Biff thinks Willy killed himself because he never really knew who he was. (Requiem)