Death of a Salesman Act Two

 

Willy sleeps soundly that night, for a change, and wakes up rather late the following day. Biff and Happy have already left the house, and Willy prepares to go see his boss to ask for a job in New York. He has coffee at home and converses enthusiastically with Linda about their certainty that Biff will secure the investment amount from his contract. Linda reminds him about the payments that need to be made, primarily his life insurance premium and the last payment of the house mortgage. Before he departs, Linda gives him the address of a restaurant where his sons have invited him after their meeting. She happily tells him that they want to treat him to a big meal, and Willy becomes extremely excited. She receives a call from Biff just as soon as Willy departs and she confirms that she has passed on their invitation to their father. Willy finds his boss experimenting with a new audio recording device, and he cuts Willy off before he can make his request. Willy reluctantly humors his boss and keeps trying to direct the conversation toward his request. Howard then remembers that Willy is supposed to be in Boston at the moment, and asks him whether he had failed to travel because of another episode. Willy finally asks for a job in New York and cites his decades-long service to the company. Howard refuses him outright as he explains that they simply do not have a space for him in New York. During the conversation, Willy continuously lowers his expected salary in an attempt to convince his boss. Willy loses his temper and begins to yell, and Howard informs him that he no longer wishes to have Willy represent his organization. Willy begins to shout and scream, but Howard simply asks him to calm down and return in a couple of weeks so they can have another conversation. He asks Willy to go to his children for monetary aid, and Willy leaves the office completely dejected. 

Willy goes to Charley’s office, and the secretary shows him to a room where Bernard is preparing to leave. Willy is very excited to see Bernard and impressed to learn that Bernard is working with people who own their tennis court. Willy flauntingly speaks of Biff and his supposed meeting with a large investor. His tone of voice changes suddenly and he asks Bernard why Biff had failed to make something of himself despite the success he had won for himself in that final football match. Bernard doesn’t quite understand either, and he asks Willy what happened during the summer after Biff’s match. He explains that Biff failed math in the final year, but he was still prepared to appear for summer school and secure a passing grade. However, Biff suddenly changed after going to Boston, and when he returned, Biff burned his treasured University of Virginia sneakers. Willy becomes hostile at the mention of Biff’s Boston trip and refuses to engage further. Charley comes into the room and offers Willy some money, but Willy needs more to meet his expenses. Charley offers him a job, but Willy refuses it, which makes Charley angry. He explains to Willy that it isn’t important to be well-liked, the only important things in the world are those that you can sell. Willy leaves the office and goes to meet his sons.

Happy converses with a waiter at a restaurant, and prepares a lavish meal for his brother and father. He becomes distracted by a beautiful woman and begins to flirt with her. Biff comes into the restaurant, and Happy asks the woman to invite a friend. Biff is visibly shaken up, and he begins to recount the jarring experience he had at his meeting. He explains that his old boss had no idea who he was, and had even refused to see him. Biff waited for several hours and finally accosted the man as he was leaving his office. Biff suddenly realized that he had been living in a fantasy, since he had never worked as a salesman at that office but only as a shipping clerk. Biff lost his mind after that and trashed the man’s office and stole a pen out of his office. He intends to come clean to his father, but Happy says that he should just lie. Willy comes into the restaurant and joins his children, asking excitedly about the meeting. Biff tries to tell him the truth, but Happy and Willy keep undercutting him. Willy begins to realize that Biff has yet again faced failure and recalls the day Biff had come to Boston in the middle of the night after failing his math exam.

Willy tells them that he lost his job, and Biff begins lying to stop his father from having a panic attack. However, he can’t keep up with the lie, and outrightly tells him that he had lost the job. Willy goes into the washroom and fully remembers how Biff had found him with a naked woman in his Boston hotel. Willy tried to lie and say that she was a liar, but Biff understood everything. He refuses to hear Willy’s excuses and cries accusing Willy of giving the woman his mother’s stockings. Willy is still mumbling to himself about how Biff’s life is not his fault as he enters the washroom. Happy has begun to flirt with the women who have arrived, but Biff becomes disgusted by his behavior. He asks Happy why he doesn’t care that their father wanted to kill himself, and why he didn’t attempt to help their parents. He storms out of the restaurant, and Happy follows him along with the women in tow. Willy comes out of the washroom and finds himself abandoned. He talks about planting some seeds and asks the waiter for directions to a store.

Happy and Biff return late at night to find a furious Linda, who accuses them of being heartless for abandoning their father. Biff accepts his mother’s vitriol but Happy tries to defend himself. Biff goes into the backyard and finds his father talking to himself. Willy is talking to Ben about his plan to kill himself so that his family can receive his insurance premium. Biff tells him that they can never see eye to eye, and leads him into the house. He has an outburst at all of his family members and tells them that he is tired of the lies. He tells them that he had been unable to hold down a job because his father had always made him see himself as such a big man that he could not abide taking orders from anyone. He had stolen from all of his workplaces and even been to prison. He exposes Happy for lying about his profession and begs them to no longer think anything of him. Willy believes he is being blamed and continues to deny any responsibility for the trajectory of Biif’s life. Biff breaks down and cries in his father’s arms. Willy softens immediately and realizes that Biff loves him because he is crying in his arms. Biff and Happy go to their room, exhausted from the discussion, and Willy is inspired to finally commit suicide so that he can help his son. Linda urges him to come to bed, but he requests a few minutes to himself. They all hear him drive away with a screech, and Willy thinks about all the people who would come to his funeral. Linda, Charley, Happy, and Linda are the only attendants at the funeral. Charley stops Biff from criticizing Willy, and Happy claims he will prove that his father’s ideals were correct by succeeding in the world.