Death of a Salesman: Act 2 Summary & Analysis

When Willy wakes the next morning, Biff and Happy have already gone, and Linda tells Willy that Biff is on his way to see Bill Oliver. Excited by the prospects of the "Florida idea," Willy tells Linda that he wants to buy some seeds and plant a garden in the back yard. Linda is overjoyed at Willy's high spirits, but laughingly reminds him that their yard doesn't get enough sun to support a garden. Willy jokes that they'll just have to get a country house.

Linda then reminds Willy to ask Howard Wagner for a salaried non-traveling position in New York. She also tells him to ask for an advance to cover their last payment on their twenty-five year home mortgage, as well as payments on their refrigerator and Willy's life insurance premium. He agrees.

Before Willy leaves, Linda tells him that the boys want to take him to a fancy dinner at Frank's Chop House, a steak restaurant in Manhattan. Willy is elated, but just then notices a stocking in Linda's hand. He tells her not to mend stockings, at least not while he's around.

Right after Willy leaves, Linda answers a phone call from Biff. She tells him what she thinks is good news: that the rubber hose Willy attached to the gas heater is gone, implying that he took it away himself. She is disappointed to hear that Biff was the one who removed it the night before.

Willy arrives at Howard Wagner's office, and timidly enters. Howard is playing with a wire recorder he bought for dictation, but has been using to record his own family. He makes Willy listen to his daughter whistling, his son reciting state capitals, and his shy wife refusing to talk. Willy tries to praise the device, but Howard shushes him. Howard then tells Willy he should get one of the recorders, as they only cost a hundred and fifty dollars. Willy promises to do just that.

When Howard gets around to asking why Willy isn't in Boston, Willy explains that he doesn't want to travel anymore. He asks Howard for a salaried job at the New York office for $65 a week. Howard says no position is available, and looks for his lighter. Willy finds the lighter and hands it to Howard, and, growing desperate, reminds Howard that he helped name him. Willy lowers his salary requirement to fifty dollars a week, but Howard reiterates that there's no position.

Willy tells a story of a salesman who inspired him, Dave Singleman. Dave sold until he was eighty-four, going into hotel rooms and contacting buyers by phone. He died "the death of a salesman," alone in a train compartment, but was mourned by hundreds of salesmen and buyers. As a young man, Willy had wanted to go to Alaska and try to strike it rich like his father and brother, but Dave's success and respected position convinced Willy that selling was honorable, full of potential, and "the greatest career a man could want." He complains to Howard that there is no friendship or respect in the business anymore.

Willy continues to mention Howard's father and lowers his salary requirement, but Howard is uninterested. He leaves his office to speak with some other employees, telling Willy him to pull himself together in the meantime. Willy, alone, begins to speak to the late Frank Wagner, the former owner of the company and Howard's father, but accidentally turns on the tape recorder, filling the room with the voice of Howard's son. He anxiously shouts for Howard to come back and turn it off.

Howard comes back in and unplugs the tape recorder. He tells Willy that he is no longer welcome to represent the company in Boston. Referring to Willy, his elder, by the term "kid," Howard tells Willy to take a long rest and let his sons support him. Willy refuses out of pride, but as Howard continues to insist it eventually dawns on Willy that he is being fired.

Howard leaves, and Willy slips into a memory in which Ben is offering him an opportunity to come to Alaska to manage a tract of timberland. Before Willy can accept, Linda appears and tells Ben that Willy is on track to become a member of the firm, so he can't take the offered job. Ben asks Willy whether he can reach out and touch his success. Willy responds by pointing to his son, Biff, who plays football and is about to go to college. He tells Ben that what's important isn't what you do, but being liked by people, and that this quality is as tangible as timber.

Now in a new memory, Bernard enters as the Loman family is preparing to go to Biff's football game. He asks to carry Biff's helmet, but Happy insists on carrying that. Biff allows Bernard to carry his shoulder pads. Charley enters and jokes with Willy about the game, trying to deflate Willy's excessive expectations about the game. Willy becomes angry and accuses Charley of thinking he's better than everyone else.

Bernard, now grown, is waiting in the reception room outside Charley's office. Charley's secretary, Jenny, comes in to ask Bernard to deal with Willy, who has come to see Charley but is still lost in his memory, arguing with Charley about the football game. Bernard, a lawyer, speaks with Willy, and in the course of conversation mentions that he has a case in Washington, D.C. Willy replies that Biff is also working on a big deal. Willy suddenly becomes upset, and asks Bernard why Biff never accomplished anything after the big football game when he was 17.

The two of them agree that Biff's life derailed after he failed math. Bernard recalls that Biff had been determined to go to summer school and make up the class. But then Biff took a trip to Boston to see Willy, and when he returned he didn't go to summer school, burned his University of Virginia sneakers, and fought with Bernard, ending their friendship. Bernard asks Willy what happened in Boston. Willy becomes defensive, claims that nothing happened, and says he isn't to blame for Biff's failure.

Just then, Charley comes out of his office and hands Bernard a goodbye gift, a bottle of bourbon. He tells Willy that Bernard is going to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court. Willy, impressed and jealous, can't believe that Bernard hadn't told him.

Bernard leaves, and Willy follows Charley into his office. Charley starts to count out the usual fifty dollars, but Willy sheepishly asks for a hundred and ten because of all his payments due. Charley wonders why Willy won't just take his job offer, which would allow Willy to make fifty dollars a week. Willy is still too proud to take it, and says he already has a job. Then he breaks down and tells Charley that Howard has just fired him, and repeats his philosophy that to be successful, a man must be impressive and well-liked. Charley asks, rhetorically, if anyone would have liked J.P. Morgan if he wasn't rich.

Charley gives Willy the money to pay his life insurance premium. Willy muses that he has ended up worth more dead than alive, but Charley angrily refutes this. Willy tells Charley, "you're my only friend," and leaves Charley's office on the verge of tears.

At Frank's Chop House, Happy banters with Stanley, a waiter he knows. When Biff arrives, Happy is flirting with an attractive girl, Miss Forsythe. She claims to be a cover model, while Happy says that he is a champagne salesman. Happy introduces Biff as a quarterback for the New York Giants. He asks Miss Forsythe, who it seems likely is a call girl, if she can continue to chat, and possibly call a friend. She agrees and goes off to make a call.

Once she is gone, Biff tells Happy that he waited in Bill Oliver's waiting room for six hours. When Oliver finally came out, he gave Biff one look and walked away. Apparently, Oliver didn't remember Biff at all. Biff wonders how he had ever come to think that he had been a salesman for Oliver. In fact, he had just been a shipping clerk, but somehow Willy's exaggerations had convinced him and everyone else in the family that he was actually a salesman. Humiliated after Oliver failed to recognize him, Biff snuck into Oliver's office, stole his fountain pen and fled the building.

Biff tells Happy that he wants to confess all this to Willy, so that their father will know that Biff is not the man that Willy takes him for. Happy advises Biff that it would be better to lie, and to tell Willy that Oliver is thinking the offer over then wait until Willy eventually forgets about it. This way, Happy says, Willy will have something to look forward to.

Willy arrives. Biff begins, hesitantly, to tell him what happened. But before he can say much, Willy reveals that he's been fired, and needs some good news for their mother. Happy begins to go along with Willy's assumptions about the Oliver meeting, but Biff continues to try to tell his father what really happened when he tried to meet with Oliver.

Willy remembers a young Bernard knocking on Linda's door, telling her that Biff has flunked math. Distracted by this memory, Willy ignores Biff's confession and instead tells Biff, out of the blue, that he shouldn't blame Willy for his failures, since it was Biff who failed math. Not knowing what to make of this, Biff shows Willy the stolen pen as proof of what he did. He and Happy are frightened by Willy's delusional behavior.

Trying to calm Willy down, Biff falls back on Happy's strategy and lies: he tells Willy that Oliver is going to lend them the money. Willy tells Biff to go back to see Oliver tomorrow, but Biff now says that he's ashamed to go back, having stolen the pen and also, long ago, having stolen some basketballs. Willy accuses him of not wanting to be anything, and Biff retorts that he has already swallowed his pride and gone back to Oliver on behalf of Willy.

Miss Forsythe returns, now with a friend, Letta. Willy, in a daze, wanders off to the restroom. Biff berates Happy for not caring enough about Willy. He pulls the rubber hose that he found in the cellar from his pocket and puts it on the table, saying in no uncertain terms that Willy is going to kill himself. He rushes out of the restaurant, upset. Happy hurriedly pays their bill and, embarrassed, tells the girls that Willy isn't really his father, "just a guy." Happy ushers the girls out of the restaurant and after Biff, with Willy still alone in the restroom.

Alone in the restroom, Willy relives the memory of being surprised by Biff while he was with The Woman in a hotel room in Boston. The memory begins as Willy and The Woman hear a knock on the door. Willy makes The Woman hide in the bathroom while he opens the door. Biff enters, ashamed, and tells his father that he has just flunked math. He begs Willy to persuade his math teacher to let him pass.

Trying to get Biff out of the room, Willy pushes him toward the door and agrees to drive back immediately and speak to the teacher. When Biff imitates the teacher's lisp, The Woman laughs from the bathroom. She then emerges from the bathroom, wearing only a black slip negligee. Willy pushes her out into the hall, telling Biff that she is an acquaintance of his, a buyer, and that her room was being painted so she had to take a shower in his. The Woman demands a box of stockings before she leaves. Biff begins to cry. Willy makes a host of excuses before admitting that he was lonely. He promises to talk to the math teacher, but Biff shouts that no one would listen to a "phony little fake" and announces that, anyway, he's decided not to retake math or go to college. He condemns Willy for giving Linda's stockings to his mistress, then runs from the room as Willy cries out after him, ordering him to come back.

Willy emerges from his memory, still in the restroom, as Stanley shakes him. He tells Willy that his sons have gone. Willy tries to give Stanley a tip of a dollar, but Stanley slips the bill back into Willy's pocket without Willy noticing.

Willy asks Stanley if he knows where he can find a store that sells carrot and pea seeds. Stanley tells him where to go, and Willy hurries off, frantically explaining that he has to move quickly because he doesn't "have a thing in the ground."

Biff and Happy return home later that night. Happy has brought a bouquet of roses for Linda, but she angrily throws them to the floor. She asks Biff if he cares whether Willy lives or dies, and accuses Happy of spending all his time with "lousy rotten whores." She accuses them of abandoning Willy at the restaurant and demands that both of them pack immediately and get out of the house. Happy denies having abandoned Willy at all, but Biff admits that it is true and describes himself as "scum." Overcome by guilt, Biff searches the house for Willy, who, Linda finally tells Biff, is outside obsessively trying to plant seeds despite the darkness.

In the garden, Willy is talking with Ben, and mentions the $20,000 dollar life insurance policy his family will be entitled to when he is dead. Ben argues that the company may not honor the policy, but Willy scoffs at this idea, saying that the company must honor the policy because he has paid all the premiums. He adds that Biff will see how important he is from the number of people at his funeral. Ben counters that his family will think of him as a coward.

Biff enters and takes the hoe out of Willy's hand. He tells Willy that he is leaving and won't be around to fight with Willy any more. They go inside. Willy is still clinging to the notion that Biff has an appointment scheduled with Oliver. Biff says he is going to leave and not keep in touch, so Willy won't have to worry about him anymore. Willy responds fiercely that Biff is throwing his life away out of spite.

Biff puts the rubber hose in front of Willy, demanding that he answer to it. He tells Willy that he won't be a hero if he commits suicide, and accuses everyone in the house, including himself, of maintaining delusions. He charges Happy with making his job title sound more important than it is, and admits that he has gotten fired from every job he has held since high school for stealing. He reveals that for three months he was out of touch he was actually in jail in Kansas City for stealing a suit. He says that all his life he has been too inflated with the self-importance Willy instilled in him to be honest or take orders from anyone.

Biff continues, saying that what he really loves in this world is to be outdoors, and "the work and the food and the time to sit and smoke." He tells Willy that he just wants to know himself, and for Willy to know himself. He says that they are both unimportant men, and should stop deluding themselves that they are destined for leadership or greatness. He tells Willy to throw his false, dangerous dreams away. Sobbing, Biff goes upstairs to bed.

Willy, suddenly in better spirits, comments that Biff must really like him to cry over him as he did. Linda and Happy assure Willy that Biff has always loved him.

Happy goes upstairs. Linda follows soon after. Willy promises to also come upstairs soon. Alone, now, Ben appears to him, and Willy assures Ben that Biff will be magnificent one day, once he has twenty thousand dollars in his pocket. The phantom of Ben urges Willy to come into the jungle, and disappears. Willy says goodbye to the house, and gives Biff advice about life in the terms of a football game. Linda calls down to Willy, telling him to come to bed. In response, the car growl to life and drive away, as Linda, Biff, and Happy rush downstairs,.