Death of a Salesman Act One Unit
Ms. Kucinski- English IV
Arthur Miller- Author of Death of a Salesman
 Arthur Miller was born in New York in October 1915 into a Jewish Polish family.
 In 1929, during the Depression, his father’s business was ruined and the family moved to
a house in Brooklyn, which is thought to be the model for the Loman’s house in Death of
a Salesman.
 After a youth spent playing football and working in a car warehouse to raise the funds,
Miller attended the University of Michigan, graduating in English in 1938. During his time
at University, he was awarded a prize for playwriting, along with Tennessee Williams.
 He returned to New York and began a career writing for radio.
 He married his college sweetheart in 1940 and they had two children.
 He was exempt from being drafted into the US Army because of an injury.
 He married Marilyn Monroe in 1956, but they were divorced in 1961.
 In 1957, he was brought before the House Committee on Un-American activities and called
upon to explain his Communist tendencies. He was convicted of contempt for refusing to
name names.
 In 1962, he remarried.
 Arthur Miller died in February 2005.
Act I Vocabulary
1. Jovial: having a hearty humor and a good cheer, merry
2. Mercurial: quickly changing, moody
3. Repression: act of pushing down or holding in certain desires or impulses
4. Turbulent: in a state of disturbance, disorder, agitation
5. Trepidation: fearful hesitation, nervous trembling
6. Crestfallen: totally discouraged, drooping, disappointed
7. Avidly: eagerly or enthusiastically desirous of something (at times with a connotation of
greed)
8. Enthralled: totally captivated, enchanted, charmed
9. Indignant: feeling anger or disgust at something offensive (a “how dare you” feeling)
10. Insinuate: to suggest or hint slyly or sneakily; to sneak in subtly
11. Approbation: official approval or support or praise
12. Incipient: just in an early state so that it’s hardly noticeable
13. Anemic: sickly, pale, weak
14. Commission: payment one receives for each sale made; opposite of a salary which gives
payment no matter how much one makes
15. Laconic: using very few words, brief, to the point
16. Stolid: not showing much emotion
17. Aura: a quality or atmosphere or general feeling coming from a person, place, or thing
18. Lusty: full of healthy vigor, spirited, hearty
19. Audacity: boldness or daring, at times with arrogant disregard for appropriateness or safety
20. Remiss: negligent, carless, forgetful of one’s duties
21. Feasible: capable of being done, practical, possible
22. Primp: to decorate or groom fussily
Journal Response 1: On a separate sheet of paper, describe the kind of relationship you have
with one of your parents or a close adult. Be specific. 5-8 sentences required for full credit.
Anticipation Guide
Before reading Death of a Salesman (DOAS), read each of the following statements and decide
whether you agree or disagree. Write an “A” in the space provided if you agree and a “D” if you
disagree. Be prepared to share your responses.
_____ It is better to live a poor life but live your dreams.
_____ Lying is okay when trying to keep a good reputation.
_____ Disillusionment can lead to distrust.
_____ Flashbacks are a way to relive the past.
_____ Forgiveness leads to peacefulness.
_____ It is better to ignore something unpleasant than to face reality.
_____ Happiness consists in having financial stability.
_____ Determination always leads an individual to live his or her dreams.
*Exploring Relationships in Poetry: You will be assigned to read two of the following poems
with your group and respond to the Group Discussion Questions.
1. With your group, analyze the poem assigned to you - read the poem and write down the deeper
meaning of it, line by line (this should be in your own words though you can discuss with your
group).
2. While you are analyzing, please make sure to find at least ONE literary technique (symbolism,
dialogue, foreshadowing, imagery, simile, metaphor, etc) and write down what it is. I.e.: “An
example of a metaphor in the poem _____________ was when the writer wrote _____________.
3. Explain/describe the family relationship in the poem you are analyzing (3-5 sentences).
1. THE SECRET HEART by R. Tristam Coffin
Across the years he could recall
His father one way best of all.
In the stillest hour of night
The boy awakened to a light.
Half in dreams, he saw his sire
With his great hands full of fire.
The man had struck a match to see
If his son slept peacefully.
He held his palms each side the spark
His love had kindled in the dark.
His two hands were curved apart
In the semblance of a heart.
He wore, it seemed to his small son,
A bare heart on his hidden one,
A heart that gave out such a glow
No son awake could bear to know.
It showed a look upon a face
Too tender for the day to trace.
One instant, it lit all about,
And then the secret heart went out.
But it shone long enough for one
To know that hands held up the sun .
2. FIRST LESSON by Phyllis McGinley
The thing to remember about fathers is, they're men.
A girl has to keep it in mind.
They are dragon-seekers, bent on improbable rescues.
Scratch any father, you find
Someone chock-ful of qualms and romantic terrors,
Believing change is a threat-Like your first shoes with heels on, like your first bicycle
It took such months to get.
Walk in strange woods, they warn you about the snakes there.
Climb, and they fear you'll fall.
Books, angular boys, or swimming in deep water-Fathers mistrust them all.
Men are worriers. It is difficult for them
To learn what they must learn;
How you have a journey to take and very likely,
For a while, will not return.
3. MOTHER TO SON by Langston Hughes
Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floorBare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now-For I'se still goin',honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
4. MY PAPA'S WALTZ by Theodore Roethke
The whisky on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.
5. DO NOT GO GENTLE By Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightening they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight,
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
6. THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS by Robert Hayden
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,
Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?
Act I Study Guide Questions- This will count as an assessment grade!
1. Who is Willy Loman?
2. Identify Linda.
3. What happened to Willy after he got a little above Yonkers?
4. What is Linda’s reaction to Willy’s complaints about himself?
5. What reason does Willy give that he can’t work in New York?
6. Identify Biff and Happy.
7. In the first scene with Linda, Willy contradicts himself twice. About what did he contradict
himself?
8. What seems to be the problem between Biff and Willy?
9. Why doesn’t Happy go west with Biff?
10. What does Biff want from Bill Oliver?
11. Why did Biff stop working for Bill Oliver?
12. Happy says, "I don't know what to do about him [Willy], it's getting embarrassing." To what
is he referring, and what does the fact that Happy thinks this way tell you about his character?
13. Why does Willy talk so much about the car?
14. Where did Biff get the football? What does Willy say about that?
15. What does Willy admit to Linda about his business? What is her reaction?
16. Who is The Woman?
17. What does Willy mean, "I'll make it up to you, Linda, I'll --"? What does Linda think he
means?
18. What does Willy want young Bernard to do for Biff?
19. What does Willy tell Happy about Ben when Happy asks how Ben "did it"?
20. Who is Ben?
21. Who is Charley?
22. Charley and Willy are playing cards. Why does Charley leave?
23. What did Willy's father do for a living? How is that different from what Willy does?
25. Why does Charley tell Willy "the jails are full of fearless characters"?
26. Linda tells the boys that Willy won't be all right. When the boys ask why he won't, what is
her reply?
27. How much time passes in the first act? How much time are we given information about?
Be prepared for an Act One quiz following our completion of this packet!