Lesson Content : Tuesday 29th November : Inside Willy's Head

Last lesson you read up to page 21 where Happy said "Sh.....Sleep Biff."

 

In today's lesson I want you to read from the stage directions that follow the line above;

 

Their light is out. Well before they have finished speaking , WILLY's form is dimly seen below in the darkened kitchen.

 

to the stage direction on page 29;

 

From the darkness is heard the laughter of a woman.

 

(A summary and analysis of this section is provided on the post after this one.)

 

TASK

This is the first time that the audience is fully transported back in time via Willy's thoughts. After you have read the section between pages 21 and 29, discuss the questions below and be prepared to give your answers on Thursday.

• How does Willy act toward the boys when they are young? How do they act toward him?
• How does Willy feel about Charley and Bernard?
• What does Willy’s reaction to Biff ’s theft of the football tell us about Willy?
• What do we learn of Willy's hope and dreams?
• Willy praises and then curses the Chevrolet; he tells Linda that he’s very well liked, and then says that people don’t seem to take to him. What do these inconsistencies tell us about Willy?
• “Five hundred gross in Providence” becomes “roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip.” How does Linda take Willy’s stories? What does this reveal about her?