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Set in New York City, in 1949, the audience follows the Loman family through their psychological battle with the
American Dream. Willy Loman, the protagonist, is a traveling salesman, his wife, Linda, is a stay at home mother,
and his two sons, Happy and Biff, have grown up "yet to make something of themselves."
Early in the play, the two sons are home visiting, which causes Willy to reminisce about their childhood. Through a
series of flashbacks, the audience learns that Biff, the younger of the two boys, was praised by Willy for being athletic
and well-liked. Willy valued these attributes and believed they would help his boys go far. However, in reality, Happy
is in the business world, going nowhere, and Biff, unable to hold down a steady job, works as a ranch hand out west.
In another daydream, Willy is talking with Linda and then drifts to hearing his mistress’s laughter. It becomes clear
that, for some time, Willy was having an affair with an unidentified woman for whom he purchased silk stockings.
Although he tells Linda that his sales have been going great, things are quite the opposite, and he will soon be in
jeopardy of not paying his bills. In the flashback, Linda is seen mending her stockings; this makes Willy upset and
prompts him to tell her to throw them away.
More flashbacks reveal that Willy has lived a life of regret, filled with envy. He focuses on his neighbor, Charlie, a
wealthy business owner who worked hard and on his brother, Ben, who stumbled on a diamond mine in Africa and is
now wealthy. Now after years at the same company, Willy has become tired and old, he asks his boss to be put in
the New York office. Instead, he is fired. Later, his boys take him out to dinner. In the end, his delusions get the best
of him, and he kills himself in a car crash to provide his family with the $20,000 in insurance money.
At his funeral, Happy vows to prove that his father's life was not in vain and continues in the business. Biff realizes
that his father's life and focus were on the wrong dream, and he goes back to the ranch, determined to find
happiness in his work. Linda ends the play saying, "we are free".
Essential Questions for Death of a Salesman
1. Why are dreams important in life? What are your dreams or goals?
2. Is there such thing as the American Dream or is it a myth?
3. What is the most important attribute in life?
The Farlex Grammar Book > English Grammar > Inflection (Accidence) > Conjugation > Speech
Speech
Speech is usually divided between two types: direct speech and reported speech (also known as indirect speech). There are also other sub-
categories of speech, which we’ll look at a little later in this section.
Reporting verbs
Both direct and indirect speech use what are known as reporting verbs, the most common of which are say and tell. When we use tell, we need
to use another person’s name or a personal pronoun as an indirect object. Other reporting verbs include ask, instruct, explain, mention,
suggest, claim, and many more.
Direct Speech
Direct speech refers to the direct quotation of something that someone else said. It is sometimes known as quoted speech. Because the
quotation happened in the past, we put the reporting verb into the past simple tense, but we don’t change the verbs used within the quotation.
We also punctuate sentences in a certain way when we use direct speech in writing.
If we are quoting an entire sentence, we set it apart with one or two commas. For example:
However, if we are quoting a fragment of speech that is used as an integral part of the overall sentence, then no commas are used. We still use
reporting verbs in the past tense, though. For instance:
However, if a question mark or exclamation point is used in the direct speech, then we do not use a comma:
In British English, however, if the quotation ends in a period or comma, it is usually placed outside the quotation mark, as in:
The CEO said, ‘This is a great day for the company’.
‘I want to be a doctor when I grow up’, Susy told us yesterday.
Note that if a quoted sentence ends in a question mark or exclamation point that belongs to the quotation, it will appear withinthe quotation
marks. If the question mark or exclamation point belongs to the overall sentence (that is, it isn’t actually part of the quotation), it will
appear outside the quotation marks. This is the same in both American and British English. For example:
“They told us, ‘We don’t have the budget for more staff.’”
‘The prime minister is reported to have said that he is “in disagreement with the president’s remarks”, which prompted a quick
response from the White House.’
We still use reporting verbs in reported speech, but we no longer use quotation marks because we are reporting a version of what was said. We
also do not use commas to set the reported speech apart, though we often (but not always) introduce it with the word that. For example:
I was a carpenter before I moved She said that she had been a carpenter
past simple tense shifts to past perfect tense
here. before she moved here.
When she finally arrived, I had He said he had been waiting for over
No shift, as there is no tense further in the past.
been waiting for over two hours. two hours when she finally arrived.
We do not use reporting verbs to introduce or indicate free indirect speech, and, like reported speech, it is used without quotation marks. For
example:
He had no money, no job, and no friends. How had his life arrived to such a desperate point?
Janet had just learned that she needed to give a speech to the entire school in less than an hour. What was she going to do?
Silent Speech
Silent speech refers to a direct quotation that is said internally (i.e., silently) by someone to him- or herself. We still use reporting verbs, and we
often apply the exact same punctuation rules to silent speech that we use in direct speech. For instance:
It is equally common, however, to use silent speech without quotation marks (although we still use commas in the same way). To make the
quotation stand out from the rest of the text, some writers will use italics to indicate silent speech. Note that, if the reporting verb appears
before the silent speech, we generally do not capitalize the first word if we don’t use quotation marks. For example:
It will be quiet around here when the kids go to college, Dan thought.
She asked herself, how am I going to get out of this one?
Whether you choose to use quotation marks, italics, or nothing at all is entirely a matter of personal preference when it comes to silent
speech—the important thing is to be consistent.
Quiz
a) Direct speech
b) Reported speech
d) Silent speech
a) Direct speech
b) Reported speech
d) Silent speech
4. In American English, when does the end punctuation in quoted speech appear within the quotation marks?
a) Only if it is a comma or period
c) Never
d) Always
a) Direct speech
b) Reported speech
d) Silent speech
a) Direct speech
b) Reported speech
d) Silent speech
Death of a salesman vocabulary images
Idealist - enthralled
Incipient incarnate
Liable