... is Willy's inability to differentiate between reality and illusion. In the opening of the play numerous otifs are presented. The first being the melody of a flute which suggests a distant, faraway fantasy: Willy's dream world. This is playing in the background as Willy enters carrying his burdensome traveling suitcases. He has been a traveling salesma for the Wagner Company for thirty-four years ... girls and then shows the two boys a punching bag he has brought home to help Biff improve his timing. The bo are all excited and Willy notices Biff has a new football. Football is used to sy...

• Word Count: 11015
• Approx Pages: 44
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... neighbor, enters the flashback, saying Biff had to study, Biff changes the subject showing Willy sneakers that had University of Virginia printed on them. Willy believes that when Biff played football in high school, he was the most popular kid in school. When Linda, Willy's wife, enters his flashback on page 33, she tells Biff he has friends in the cellar ... he never really knew. Willy remembers his brother Ben leaving when Willy was little, but he thinks that Ben came home extremely rich. While playing cards with Charley he has a fantasy of when Ben came to see Willy and told him abo...

• Word Count: 680
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... realizes that in fact he has lived his life in vain, never achieving nor succeeding but remaining a shadow of his ambition. It is this sudden insight that urges him into a fantasy, afraid to face the future. It is only through Willy"'s failure as a salesman that his innate desire for the outdoors is exposed. At the end of the play, Charley mentions ... his father shattered the vision he held of him. Biff, paralyzed by reality comes to the realization that in fact there is more to life than being well liked and football. Now after searching, Biff comes to terms with exactly who and what ...

• Word Count: 4675
• Approx Pages: 19
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Oliver and the parents of the neighborhood girls. Biff steals many things throughout his life. When Biff was young, his father wanted, more then anything for him to be a big football star, but because of Willy's actions, he failed to realize the dream. Biff never studied at school and failed to achieve the required grade for entrance to university. Bernard told ... for Willy, however Biff is also a failure in Willys eyes because he has not lived the dream. Happy is much more like his father, he evades reality by living in a fantasy world. The play has a tragic ending of Willy still want...

• Word Count: 1542
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... been given form by an author. The characters do not truly exist until they have been written down, which is when their reality becomes immutable. When they become the "immutable fantasy" that they are meant to be, they become more real than the actors. Actors, because they are not characters, will change. Their reality one day will be seen as as ... the other hand, is dark and serious. Because of Willy's numerous illusions, he cannot see who he and his sons really are. During one of his many flashbacks, Biff steals a football from the locker room. Willy does not punish him. In fact he "...

• Word Count: 1019
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... Oliver and the parents of the neighborhood girls. Biff steals many things throughout his life. When Biff was young, his father wanted, more then anything for him to be a big football star, but because of Willy's actions, he failed to realize the dream. Biff never studied at school and failed to achieve the required grade for entrance to university. Bernard told ... for Willy, however Biff is also a failure in Willys eyes because he has not lived the dream. Happy is much more like his father, he evades reality by living in a fantasy world. The play has a tragic ending of Willy still want...

• Word Count: 1574
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School