1. Themes & Symbols

2.  “lostness”  Literal (willy and the car)  Figurative (biff)  Father-son conflict  Love-hate  Embarrassed of Willy  Changed living conditions  Rural (grass, flowers, vegetables, trees)  City (apartments, no light, no growth, unpleasant smells)

3.  Changed business conditions  Used to be appreciated  Lament for the past  Nostalgia  Past = pleasant  Present =darkness & suffocation, weariness, bitter quarrels, useless hope

4.  Country v. city  Farm in the spring  Working in a store  Biff working as carpenter on the open prairie

5.  Importance of being well-liked  Football theft  Charley & business  Popularity = success  Importance of family ties  Affection  Vacation  Hard struggle of the average family  Bills  Long hours – little pay

6.  Questionable morality  Affair  lumber  Family solidarity  What happened to Willy’s family?  Success though daring adventure  Ben

7.  Hard struggle of the average family  Optimistic about paying off house  Importance of being well-liked  Charley refutes this  Willy believes many people will attend his funeral

8.  Questionable morality  Happy’s constant lying  Biff steals the pen  Willy’s affair  Willy’s suicide  Biff’s jail term

9.  Father-Son conflict  Boston  Willy hasn’t done anything directly to Biff  Biff first believed Willy could fix everything  Now he’s a “fake and a fraud”  Fight in the garden, each blames the other

10.  Hammock  Country  Gift  Family project  Punching bag  Gift  Physical fitness  Football  Sports  Moral values

11.  Sneakers UVa  Represent Biff’s dreams of a good future  Athletic scholarship  Destroyed eventually  Hope of a bright future  Death of the dream

12.  The wash  Home & chores v. woman in hotel room  Stockings  Gift to impress  Linda mends her old ones  Guilt  Makes Willy feel like a big shot  Guilt  To Biff – an insult to Linda

13.  Diamonds  Wealth obtained by vision & determination  Quick, fabulous fortune  Dazzling sum of $  Insurance money = diamonds to Willy

14.  Stoop (porch)  Manual labor skills  Interest in home  Watch  Hurrying off  Quick decision when opportunity presents itself

15.  Car  How Willy earns $  Suicide device

16.  Rubber Tube  Self destruction  Linda’s respect  Willy’s weakness  Seeds  Hope  Things that grow  His “children”  Raise something to grow and flourish  Pathetic attempt at a new start, a future

17.  Tape recorder  Value in the mechanical  Humans less important  Tennis racket Success & fortune

18.  Bourbon  Pleasant friendly relationship between Charley and Bernard  Champagne  Sophistication and success

19.  Fountain Pen  Executive status  Roses  Rejection of sons  Rubber tube  Proves to Biff that Willy is a fraud

20.  The jungle  Struggle in life  The house  35 years of hard work together