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.