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.