I’ve got to get some seeds. I’ve got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground.
– Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman, Act 2. After his sons leave him in Frank’s Chop House, Willy becomes fixated on buying seeds to plant in his tiny dark city backyard. Seeds are an important symbol in the play. In this dialogue between Willy and waiter Stanley, the seeds stand for a frustrated Willy’s desire to leave behind some legacy after he is gone. His sons have abandoned him in the restaurant, his sales career has failed, and the great hope of Biff achieving Willy’s American Dream of material prosperity hasn’t come to pass. The seeds symbolize Willy’s failed American Dream and his preference for country life over city life, which he also never realized.