symbols

__**Symbols**__

__Football__ The sport of football in this play represents Willy's delusion about his son's greatness. Willy believes that Biff's personality, popularity, and star quality will be all he needs to succeed in life. Willy proclaims to his brother Ben,

"Without a penny to his name, three great universities are begging for him...And Ben! when he walks into a business office his name will sound out like a bell and all the doors will open to him!" p. 86

Willy thinks that his son Biff will be able to attain the American Dream on the basis of being "well-liked". However, over the course of the play we find out that 34-year-old Biff cannot hold a job and has no place in the business world. Conversely, Biff's childhood friend Bernard (who was supposedly NOT "well-liked") becomes a successful lawyer.

p. 30 "//Biff:// Oh, he keeps congratulating my initiative all the time, Pop. //Willy//: That's because he likes you. If somebody else took the ball there'd be an uproar."

p. 68 "God...remember that Ebbets Field game? The championship of the city?...When the team came out--he was the tallest, remember?...Like a young god. Hercules--something like that...Loman, Loman, Loman! God Almighty, he'll be great yet. A star like that, magnificent, can never really fade away!"

This somewhat touching moment of the play reveals perhaps the best side of Willy's belief in his son. Whereas in other scenes, Willy calls Biff a "lazy bum" and his lack of a job a "disgrace," here Willy is seen to be less frustrated and more hopeful for Biff.

"Willy: Don't walk away! If you're going to say something say it to my face! I know you laugh at me behind my back. You'll laugh out of the other side of your goddam face after this game. Touchdown! Touchdown! Eighty thousand people! Touchdown! Right between the goal posts." p. 90

"Biff: I tried seven states and couldn't raise it. A buck an hour! Do you gather my meaning? I'm not bringing home any prizes any more, and you're going to stop waiting for me to bring them home!" p. 132

At this point in the play, Biff argues with his father over his true greatness. Biff may have been a star football player in high school, but that did not have any influence on his success later on in life. Willy would like to think that athleticism and star quality will make Biff a happy man, but these skills do not translate to the real world as Willy hopes.

__Stockings__ Over the course of the play, the audience gets to know more about Willy through his memories that are portrayed on the stage. Early on, it is revealed that Willy is cheating on his wife when he goes on sales calls to Boston.

"//Willy, noticing her mending//: What's that? //Linda//: Just mending my stockings. They're so expensive-- //Willy, angrily taking them from her//: I won't have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out!" p. 39

These stockings are a representation of Willy's guilt: his guilt over not being able to provide for his family, his guilt over Biff's low quality life, and his guilt over cheating on his wife. These stockings can also symbolize immorality or impurity; the Woman tells Willy "And thanks for the stockings. I have a lot of stockings." (39). Whereas Linda tries to mend her relationship with Willy and make him feel loved, Willy cannot stand his inner conflict.

"Biff: You--you gave her Mama's stockings!...You fake! You phony little fake!" p. 121

This climactic point in the play is perhaps the key moment that breaks Biff's spirit. Willy's betrayal of his wife causes Biff to no longer trust or listen to his father. This downward spiral Biff faces makes him apathetic; he fails his math exam to pass high school, and as a result he is not able to play football in college. Biff's confidence takes a turn for the worse as well; Happy asks Biff "Where's the old confidence?" when they are out talking to girls.

__Ben__ In many respects, Willy's brother Ben serves as a foil for our protagonist. While Ben is calm and collected, successful, and content, Willy is largely high-strung, unsuccessful, and unhappy. In this way, Ben serves as a symbol of the American Dream accomplished, something Willy was never able to do. However, ironically, Ben was able to encounter wealth simply by being in the right place at the right time: "At that age I had a very faulty view of geography, William. I discovered after a few days that I was heading due south, so instead of Alaska, I ended up in Africa...Principally diamond mines." (48). On the other hand, Willy has been working extremely hard his whole life but still has trouble paying the bills.

Ben is also a symbol of missed opportunity from Willy's point of view. In a discussion over a card game we see Willy's sense of regret over his present circumstances: "Charley: Maybe you're in for some of his money. Willy: Naa, he had seven sons. There's just one opportunity I had with that man..." (45). Willy believes he had "one opportunity" to get the answers to success from Ben, and he only had one chance to travel to Alaska with him to gain riches.

__The Jungle__ Ben uses this term rather ambiguously when telling Willy and the Loman family the reason for his success:

"Ben: Why, boys, when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. //He laughs//. And by God I was rich." p. 48

This term can be interpreted on a literal level to mean the distant lands of Africa where Ben obtained his wealth. However, the jungle can also symbolize one's method of achieving greatness. When "walks into the jungle," this is the point where one must struggle and discover what to do with his life. Only when one comes out of the jungle is when that person can be labeled a success. One way in which Ben teaches the Lomans about the jungle is by challenging Biff to a fight. When young Biff goes easy on the older Ben, Ben suddenly turns on him and wrestles him to the ground with his umbrella pointed at Biff's head. He then utters these words: "Never fight fair with a stranger, boy, You'll never get out of the jungle that way." (49). Ben is telling Biff that the world is a cutthroat place, and your own personal feelings have no place when you are trying to achieve greatness.

Willy, however, takes this advice a little too seriously. After meeting Ben, he decides that his life will not be truly fulfilled until he can get his sons to achieve great financial success. He says to himself, "...was rich! That's just the spirit I want to imbue them with! To walk into a jungle! I was right!" (52).

Additionally, Willy believes his children should be just as rich and successful as Ben is, so Willy asks Ben how to raise them: "Willy: Ben, my boys--can't we talk? They'd go into the jaws of hell for me, see, but I-- Ben: William, you're being first-rate with your boys. Outstanding, manly chaps!" Willy, hanging onto his words: Oh, Ben, that's good to hear! Because sometimes I'm afraid that I'm not teaching them the right kind of--Ben, how should I teach them?" (52). Rather than focusing on the big picture and allowing each of his sons to find their own version of happiness, Willy pushes them both into the business world. Eventually, Willy finds himself explaining to his sons that his life is becoming a failure. When he loses his job, Willy tells his sons in shame, " Willy: I'm not interested in stories about the past or any crap of that kind because the woods are burning, boys, you understand? There's a big blaze going on all around." (107). He says "the woods are burning" because his method of living is falling into pieces. He cannot hold a job and he is no longer able to pay the bills. This is just the kind of life he wanted his sons to avoid; Willy hoped that if his sons could walk out of the woods a success, then Willy would have fulfilled his purpose in life.

__The Pen__ One day Biff and Happy travel to a loaning firm to get a jumpstart on a family-owned business. However, Biff, lacking confidence, and having no idea how to get the loan, takes Bill Oliver's fountain pen from his desk and runs out the building with it. When asked by Happy why he did it, Biff can only say, "I don't know, I just--wanted to take something, I don't know. You gotta help me, Hap" (104).

This initial lack of certainty eventually gives rise to a convinced and passionate Biff facing his father. He stands up to his father's complaints and tells him that he is now certain what his calling is. Biff, in a moment of epiphany, explains to Willy, "I stopped in the middle of that building and I saw--the sky. I saw the things I love in this world. The work and the food and time to sit and smoke. And I looked at the pen and I said to myself, what the hell am I grabbing this for?" (132). In this way, the fountain pen represents the dry world of business and Willy's expectations. Biff now understands that this calling is never what he wanted, but only what was expected for him. Biff now knows that his place is not in the business world, but out in the open, working with his hands, where he can truly be happy. Willy cannot stand this news. He tries to fight with Biff, but Biff simply retorts, "Pop, I'm a dime a dozen and so are you!" (132). Biff has faced the fact that his life will amount to nothing great. This is exactly the opposite of Willy's feelings; he always believed that his life is great, that thousands of people will come to his funeral. At this point in the play, Willy must accept his humble place in the world, as a salesman must, "riding on a smile and a shoeshine" (138).