Biff's Reactions

Biff's reactions to being turned down a business chance is to steal a 'fountain pen' from a high up and influential business man. When lacking of success, Biff turns to theft, which may actually have been what caused his downfall from a young football player with promise to a struggling man. This suggests that even though Biff knows the theft is wrong, it may bring him satisfaction or happiness by stealing, hence his theft after being turned down a loan by his ex-boss.

Impressions on the End of Act 1

The line which stood out to me at the end of Act 1 was Happy saying 'I'm gonna get married, Mom. I wanted to tell you.' and Linda replies 'Go to sleep, dear.' This line reminded me of earlier in the play when Happy keeps saying 'I lost weight' seemingly out of the blue, raising little or no reaction. The significance of these comments are not explained by the end of the Act, but by putting in one of these odd comments, Miller has aroused curiosity around them.

Biff removing the tubing also naturally stands out in the reader's mind due to it being the last action of the Act. The lack of knowledge about what Biff will do with the rubber tubing means it increases suspense and anticipation for the next Act.

Are Willy's self destructive actions caused by an attempt to act ethically?

One self destructive action of Willy is his exaggeration. He exaggerates how successful a salesman he is. For example, he says 'I did five hundred gross in Providence and seven hundred gross in Boston' before changing his story to 'it came to - roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip'. The moment he has to tell the truth brings him down and lowers his self esteem. His wife, Linda, is very excited at first, say 'my God!' but only saying 'that's very good', a less sincere and extreme congratulation of Willy. This lack of seemingly genuine praise would bring Willy's self esteem down, showing his exaggeration is self destructive. His exaggeration is not done to try and be ethical, it is to try and be impressive and give his family someone to look up to and be proud of. It is as much for his own ego and sense of self satisfaction as anything else, so is not due to acting ethically.

Willy also encourages his children to steal, telling them to 'get some sand' and puts emphasis on them being 'fearless characters'. He is more interested in them physically being impressive than mentally, telling his nephew to cheat to help his son in an exam. This will create a lack of opportunity for his children and a lack of skills for later life, just telling his children that it is important to be 'popular'. The lack of opportunity his children will have in later life could result in them loathing him for pushing them in the wrong direction. This is self destructive, his actions resulting in his children disliking him. However, while he tells his children to do bad things such as steal, this could be seen as ethical, as he is trying to prepare them for later life, just in the wrong way and is therefore setting them up for failure. As he means well, it could be argued that Willy's self destructive actions are caused by an attempt to act ethically and further his children's development.