ACT 1- Willy

Act 1

Willy

He cares about his children as evident in the concerns he shows for Biff. From Willy feeling frustrated that Biff is only a “farmhand”(5) and  him yelling in fits of anger that Biff is “a lazy bum” (5) to Willy calming down to acknowledge that Biff is actually “such a hard worker” (6) we can see that Willy’s frustration stems from genuine love and care. What father would not want to see his son succeed? Willy is also old, and is “talking to himself.” This makes him the worry among his family members.

Standout quote from Willy:

“The way they boxed us in here”(6). Contextually, we know that Willy is referring to “bricks and windows” of the house, but it appears as though there is more that is holding Willy down, stuck. A big part of it is Willy’s attachment to the past as he often recalls the past and picks out the best parts of them to saying, “Remember those days” (8).  It could be that Willy is not only stuck in the past, but also stuck in the idea that the present is bad. It is obvious that he is not enjoying the present all to much as he is “tired to death” but at the same time, we don’t see him doing much about it in the first act, other than recalling better times.