Death of a Salesman

ACT I
A “small and fine” melody, “telling of grass and trees and the horizon” is heard upon a flute. Willy Loman, two large sample cases in hand, arrives home early from a business trip. His wife Linda stirs from bed, puts on a robe, and comes down to speak to him. Willy was feeling exhausted and disoriented on the road, and he had to turn back just past Yonkers and return to New York. (“I’m tellin’ ya, I absolutely forgot I was driving. If I’d’ve gone the other way over the white line I might’ve killed somebody,” he tells his wife.) Linda urges Willy to ask his boss to let him work closer to home, and he promises to do so. Their conversation turns to their sons, and Willy expresses his frustration that Biff, at the age of thirty-four, has yet to “find himself”. Linda returns to bed, but Willy begins muttering to himself about the old car Biff used to take care of.

In their bedroom, Happy and Biff hear their father and discuss his sharply declining stability. Biff is