Death of a Salesman Lies and Self-Deception Quotes

Air of the dream - Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire

An air of the dream clings to the place, a dream rising out of reality.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. Air is personified in these opening stage directions, which describe the Loman family house. The dream is the American Dream that once seemed attainable, but has become detached from reality. The line deals with the important theme of illusion vs reality and the Lomans’ tendency towards self-deception. They are unable to distinguish between reality and they facade they live behind and this ultimately leads to their downfall.

Most often jovial, she has developed an iron repression of her exceptions to Willy’s behavior – she more than loves him, she admires him, as though his mercurial nature, his temper, his massive dreams and little cruelties, served her only as sharp reminders of the turbulent longings within him, longings which she shares but lacks the temperament to utter and follow to their end.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. The stage directions introduce Linda as a cheerful supportive wife who only sees the good side of husband Willy Loman’s moody personality. Deeply loving and loyal, she goes along with Willy’s fantasies and puts up with his cruel behavior so as not to hurt him. Despite Willy’s faults, she represses her own thoughts and personality to provide unconditional love and admiration for him. By refusing to criticize him and his unrealistic dreams, she may be seen to be the enabler of Willy’s self-deception and salesman’s fantasies.
Willy and Linda Loman

WILLY: I got as far as a little above Yonkers. I stopped for a cup of coffee. Maybe it was the coffee…I suddenly couldn’t drive any more. The car kept going off onto the shoulder, y’know?
LINDA: Oh. Maybe it was the steering again…Maybe it’s your glasses.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. A physically and emotionally drained Willy arrives home early to his wife Linda after struggling to drive and being a danger behind the wheel of his car. He deludes himself into blaming the coffee. Linda feeds her husband’s self-deception by putting it down to the car’s steering or his spectacles. From the very opening of the play, it appears that everything is not OK with Willy. This exchange is foreshadowing of his death in a faked car accident so that his family can collect Willy’s life insurance. We also witness Linda making excuses for her husband’s mistakes and acting as if nothing is wrong with him. Thus Linda acts as an enabler of the dysfunction in the Loman family, by ignoring and brushing aside her husband’s mistakes and mental problems.
Willy Loman I'm vital in New England

I’m the New England man. I’m vital in New England.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. This is the proud reply of a self deceiving Willy, when Linda suggests that he should transfer job to New York to save him the pressure of traveling. He mistakingly believes that his sales presence is vital in New England. Willy is in denial and cannot face the reality that his sales have decreased so he is no longer needed by his employer. He feels the need to buoy up his feeling of self-worth by insisting that he is a critical part of the company that employs him.

If old man Wagner was alive I’d a been in charge of New York now! That man was a prince, he was a masterful man. But that boy of his, that Howard, he don’t appreciate. When I went north the first time, the Wagner Company didn’t know where New England was!

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. Willy’s imagination goes into overdrive yet again. He deludes himself into believing that he is a great businessman who would be given a top job in the company if his old boss were still alive. The reality is, as we learn later, he is a salesman working for commission, with no guaranteed salary and has to borrow money from a neighbor to live.

Coach’ll probably congratulate you on your initiative!

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. In a not very smart move for a father, Willy condones and even encourages theft by his son. Instead of disciplining Biff for stealing a football from his coach’s locker room, he laughs and actually congratulates him on his initiative. This goes to the theme of self-deception, with Willy fooling himself into believing that values of honesty, integrity and morality are not important to teach his sons. As a result Biff develops a liking for stealing throughout his adult life and even winds up in jail for stealing a suit.

WILLY: Don’t say? Tell you a secret, boys. Don’t breathe it to a soul. Someday I’ll have my own business, and I’ll never have to leave home any more.
HAPPY: Like Uncle Charley, heh?
WILLY: Bigger than Uncle Charley! Because Charley is not – liked. He’s liked, but he’s not – well liked.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. In a scene from the past, Willy proudly tells his sons how he is going to live out the American dream by being a successful business owner. But he is just deluding himself in this first flashback in the play, never amounting to anything more than a struggling salesman. He also reveals his belief that being well liked is the key to success, which his neighbor Charley is not, he claims. However, the irony is that Charley becomes the successful business and Willy does not.

Well, I got on the road, and I went north to Providence. Met the Mayor…He said, "Morning!" And I said, "You got a fine city here, Mayor." And then he had coffee with me.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. Willy is talking to his sons in this flashback scene, telling Biff the story of meeting the Mayor of Providence and sharing coffee with him. It is unlikely that Willy ever met the city’s first citizen, never mind got to shoot the breeze with him over coffee. But Willy likes to lie and tell tall tales in order to create the fiction that he is more important that he actually is, especially to his sons.

You and Hap and I, and I’ll show you all the towns. America is full of beautiful towns and fine, upstanding people. And they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England. The finest people. And when I bring you fellas up, there’ll be open sesame for all of us, ’cause one thing, boys: I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England, and the cops protect it like their own. This summer, heh?

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. In a flashback scene with his two sons Willy promises to take them on a business trip and show them all the towns in New England and introduce them to the finest people. Carried away with an inflated sense of his own importance, a proud Willy boasts of how his car has the protection of the police wherever he parks it. This is clearly not true and an example of Willy deceiving himself about his own popularity and significance.

BIFF: Oh, Pop, you didn’t see my sneakers! (He holds up a foot for Willy to look at.)
WILLY: Hey, that’s a beautiful job of printing!
BERNARD (wiping his glasses): Just because he printed University of Virginia on his sneakers doesn’t mean they’ve got to graduate him. Uncle Willy!
WILLY (angrily): What’re you talking about? With scholarships to three universities they’re gonna flunk him?
BERNARD: But I heard Mr. Birnbaum say…
WILLY: Don’t be a pest, Bernard! (To his boys.) What an anemic!

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. At the beginning of the play young Biff’s University of Virginia sneakers are symbolic of the promising future he has before him. The star of his high school football team, a proud Willy boasts that Biff has scholarships to three universities and there is little standing in the way of his success. But it is the misplaced pride of a deluded father, who deceives himself into believing that Biff’s popularity rather than hard work is his springboard to success. A young Bernard, son of Willy’s friend Charley, makes his first appearance in this flashback of Willy’s. But Willy ignores the studious boy’s warnings that Biff’s high school teacher is threatening to fail him at math because he is not studying. Bernard’s role in the play may be minor one, but it is a significant one. His warning to Willy is foreshadowing of Biff’s failure to graduate from high school.

Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him. That’s why I thank Almighty God you’re both built like Adonises. Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. You take me, for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. "Willy Loman is here!" That’s all they have to know, and I go right through.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. This speech showcases a delusional Willy’s tendency towards self-deception. Typical of the Loman men’s inflated view of themselves and their own abilities, Willy shows a false pride in his sons and himself. Using a simile he compares Biff and Happy to Adonis, the beautiful mortal lover of the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone of Greek mythology. He convinces himself that he is some sort of super salesman that buyers cannot wait to buy from, when nothing can be further from the truth. Willy is contemptuous of educational pursuits being the key to delivering the American Dream. Instead he argues that success is achieved by looking good and being well liked, not by study and hard work. He is having a dig at Biff’s studious friend Bernard, who ironically goes on to be a highly successful lawyer. During this scene Willy is experiencing one of his hallucinatory episodes, imagining himself talking to his young sons Biff and Happy, as well as Bernard.

I did five hundred gross in Providence and seven hundred gross in Boston…Well, I didn’t figure it yet, but…Well, I – I did – about a hundred and eighty gross in Providence. Well, no – it came to – roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. Fresh home from a big sales trip, Willy is asked by Linda if he sold anything and he goes straight into exaggeration mode. He lies and boasts of selling five hundred gross in Providence and seven hundred in Boston, leading an excited Linda to look forward to the huge commission her husband will receive. But then Willy admits inflating his numbers and revises them downward to just two hundred gross for the whole trip.

WILLY: Oh, I’ll knock ’em dead next week. I’ll go to Hartford. I’m very well liked in Hartford. You know, the trouble is, Linda, people don’t seem to take to me.
LINDA: Oh, don’t be foolish.
WILLY: I know it when I walk in. They seem to laugh at me.
LINDA: Why? Why would they laugh at you? Don’t talk that way, Willy.
WILLY: I don’t know the reason for it, but they just pass me by. I’m not noticed.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. The theme is illusion vs reality is found here and throughout the play. Willy has convinced himself that he is a well liked salesman, who never has to stand in line to see a buyer. But this is part of Willy’s self-deception and he is not a popular as he makes himself out to be. In this exchange with Linda, he tells her that people either laugh at him or ignore him.

I’m fat. I’m very – foolish to look at, Linda. I didn’t tell you, but Christmas time I happened to be calling on F. H. Stewarts, and a salesman I know, as I was going in to see the buyer I heard him say something about – walrus. And I – I cracked him right across the face. I won’t take that. I simply will not take that. But they do laugh at me. I know that.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. In this flashback of arriving home after a work trip, Willy shares his feelings of diminishing self-worth and self-esteem with his wife Linda. He criticizes his own physical appearance and admits to losing his temper and physically attacking someone who dared to refer to him as a "walrus." An image obsessed Willy deceives himself into believing that his business problems have to do with his appearance, he doesn’t accept that he is simply a failed salesman.

(Music is heard as behind a scrim, to the left of the house; The Woman, dimly seen, is dressing.)
WILLY (with great feeling): You’re the best there is, Linda, you’re a pal, you know that? On the road – on the road I want to grab you sometimes and just kiss the life outa you.
(The laughter is loud now, and he moves into a brightening area at the left, where The Woman has come from behind the scrim and is standing, putting on her hat, looking into a "mirror" and laughing.)

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. Willy’s deceitful ways are shown here. While he assures Linda how he misses and longs for her while on the road, The Woman he’s been having an affair with is seen laughing and dressing. Willy’s hallucination of her is an expression of his guilty conscience over his betrayal of Linda.

BIFF: Those ungrateful bastards!
LINDA: Are they any worse than his sons? When he brought them business, when he was young, they were glad to see him. But now his old friends, the old buyers that loved him so and always found some order to hand him in a pinch – they’re all dead, retired. He used to be able to make six, seven calls a day in Boston. Now he takes his valises out of the car and puts them back and takes them out again and he’s exhausted. Instead of walking he talks now. He drives seven hundred miles, and when he gets there no one knows him any more, no one welcomes him. And what goes through a man’s mind, driving seven hundred miles home without having earned a cent? Why shouldn’t he talk to himself? Why? When he has to go to Charley and borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend to me that it’s his pay? How long can that go on? How long? You see what I’m sitting here and waiting for? And you tell me he has no character? The man who never worked a day but for your benefit? When does he get the medal for that? Is this his reward – to turn around at the age of sixty-three and find his sons, who he loved better than his life, one a philandering bum…

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. Linda delivers a long, powerful monologue to her sons in defense of Willy. It comes in response to Biff blasting his father’s employers as "ungrateful bastards" for placing him on straight commission "like a beginner, an unknown," as Linda puts it. She is aware of her husband’s failures and self-deceptions, the downward spiral in his career and mental health, his borrowing money from Charley to make ends meet. But nevertheless she is devoted to Willy and her family. Linda may display a meek nature throughout the play, but this emotional speech highlights her strength of character. She defends her husband as a hard worker and good father who sacrificed to provide for his two sons. She upbraids Biff and Happy for their neglectful behavior towards their father and not recognizing his true worth.

BIFF: He threw me out of this house, remember that…Because I know he’s a fake and he doesn’t like anybody around who knows!
LINDA: Why a fake? In what way? What do you mean?
BIFF: Just don’t lay it all at my feet. It’s between me and him – that’s all I have to say.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. When Biff calls Willy a fraud he is alluding to the secret between him and his father. Biff was a student when he walked in on his father in a hotel room with another woman. The young Loman feels betrayed by the father he admired and trusted as a boy. Willy’s cheating marked the start of the conflict between father and son. But Biff decides not to tell his mother about his father’s deception, probably to protect her from the hurtful truth.

WILLY: They laugh at me, heh? Go to Filene’s, go to the Hub, go to Slattery’s, Boston. Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens! Big shot!
BIFF: All right, Pop.
WILLY: Big!
BIFF: All right!

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. In an argument with his son Biff, Willy goes off on another flight of fancy. Blinding himself to reality, he puffs himself up with pride in the belief that he is a very successful salesman. This of course is not true. Willy is a mediocre salesman who has fallen on hard times and is lying to himself.

HAPPY (grabbing Biff, shouts): Wait a minute! I got an idea. I got a feasible idea. Come here, Biff, let’s talk this over now, let’s talk some sense here. When I was down in Florida last time, I thought of a great idea to sell sporting goods. It just came back to me. You and I, Biff – we have a line, the Loman Line. We train a couple of weeks, and put on a couple of exhibitions, see?
WILLY: That’s an idea!
HAPPY: Wait! We form two basketball teams, see? Two water-polo teams. We play each other. It’s a million dollars’ worth of publicity. Two brothers, see? The Loman Brothers.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. Happy and Biff come up with their grandiose version of the American Dream. Lost in a fantasy about their fast track to a glorious future, they see themselves suddenly transported to having their own basketball and water-polo teams and making a fortune selling sporting goods. They are of course deceiving themselves, and are actively encouraged by their eager and equally deluded father.

It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it – because personality always wins the day.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. As Willy imparts advice to Biff for his meeting with Bill Oliver, he misinterprets the American Dream, that one can rise from rags to riches. He sticks to his belief that making that dream a success hinges on presentation and appearance rather than substance. This fits in with the self-deceiving Willy’s creed that being well liked can lead anyone to success.

LINDA: I’m just wondering if Oliver will remember him. You think he might?
WILLY (coming out of the bathroom in his pajamas): Remember him? What’s the matter with you, you crazy? If he’d’ve stayed with Oliver he’d be on top by now! Wait’ll Oliver gets a look at him. You don’t know the average caliber any more. The average young man today – (he is getting into bed) – is got a caliber of zero. Greatest thing in the world for him was to bum around.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. A delusional Willy is in denial about Biff. He deceives himself into believing that his son was more than just a humble shipping clerk when he worked for Oliver. To Willy Biff is superior to the regular young man and will impress his former employer Oliver enough for him to invest in Biff’s business idea. Linda indulges Willy’s delusions.

WILLY (unable to resist): And if anything falls off the desk while you’re talking to him – like a package or something – don’t you pick it up. They have office boys for that.
LINDA: I’ll make a big breakfast…
WILLY: Will you let me finish? (To Biff.) Tell him you were in the business in the West. Not farm work.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. Willy teaches his sons that they are superior to everybody else, something he believes will make them successful but in fact makes them unsuccessful. He urges Biff in his meeting with Oliver not to behave like his servant by picking up anything that falls off his desk. Showing his failure as a father, he suggests that Biff lie about being a farm worker and instead say that he has been in business in the West. He also disrespects his wife Linda by rudely interrupting her when she tries to speak,

Like a young god. Hercules – something like that. And the sun, the sun all around him. Remember how he waved to me? Right up from the field, with the representatives of three colleges standing by? And the buyers I brought, and the cheers when he came out – Loman, Loman, Loman! God Almighty, he’ll be great yet. A star like that, magnificent, can never really fade away!

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 1. A manic Willy switches from depression to elation when son Biff tells him plan to ask former boss Bill Oliver for a loan to buy a ranch. Using similes to compare his son to a "young god" and "Hercules," Willy deceives himself that Biff is invulnerable to failure. Recalling Biff’s high school football hero days, he thinks that his son is too great to fail.

Gee whiz! That’s really something. I’m gonna knock Howard for a loop, kid. I’ll get an advance, and I’ll come home with a New York job. Goddammit, now I’m gonna do it!

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 2. Willy, speaking to Linda, is full of confidence about his upcoming meeting with his boss Howard. He naively believes that Howard will accept his request to work close to home in New York City. This is all part of Willy’s wild mood swings from depression to euphoria and his continuous tendency to deceive himself.

And have a nice time with Dad. He may have big news too!…That’s right, a New York job. And be sweet to him tonight, dear. Be loving to him. Because he’s only a little boat looking for a harbor. (She is trembling with sorrow and joy.)

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 2. In a phone conversation with Biff ahead of Willy’s job interview, Linda shows that she shares her husband’s tendency towards self-deception and false hope. She is convinced that Willy will get the job in New York and also that Biff can be sweet and loving towards his father despite the animosity between them. In a metaphor foreshadowing Willy’s suicide, Linda likens her husband to a small boat lost at sea and in search of a harbor. Linda’s great love and loyalty towards Willy are demonstrated here.

Oh, yeah, my father lived many years in Alaska. He was an adventurous man. We’ve got quite a little streak of self-reliance in our family.

– Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman, Act 2. As Willy tries to convince Howard to give him a non-traveling job in New York, he rewrites his family history. Making them out to be imbued with an independent pioneering sprit, he describes his father as a great adventurer. In truth his father upped and abandoned his family and left them fend for themselves. But in order to fit his sales pitch to Howard, Willy has rewritten his father’s desertion as some kind of heroic action. This speaks to the themes of self-deception and abandonment.
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