LINDA: That’d be wonderful.īut not enough sun gets back there. Gee, on the way home tonight I’d like to buy some seeds. Seeds/Gardening: WILLY: There’s no question, no question at all. So in the end the diamonds symbolize wealthiness. At the end of the play, Ben encourages Willy to enter the “jungle” finally and retrieve this elusive diamond-that is, to kill himself for insurance money in order to make his life meaningful. Correlatively, diamonds, the discovery of which made Ben a fortune, symbolizes Willy’s failure as a salesman.ĭespite Willy’s belief in the American Dream, a belief unwavering to the extent that he passed up the opportunity to go with Ben to Alaska, the Dream’s promise of financial security has eluded Willy. Which were both validation of one’s labor or life and the ability to pass on material goods on to ones offspring, which were two things Willy desperately craves. To Willy they represented wealth and hence. Diamonds: Another symbol in the novel was the diamonds. Just as the rubber pipe was detached from its place, so was Willy, Willy is becoming “detached” from life, wandering in and out of his flashbacks, eventually killing himself in the end. In this case the rubber hose symbolizes death because of what Willy was truly using it for, which was to kill himself. How can I insult him that way? I don’t know what to do… he put his whole life into you and you’ve turned your backs on him…” (Pg 59-60) The rubber hose is a sign that Willy attempted to inhale gas and tried to kill himself once again even after the failed car accident attempts. But when he comes home, I put it back where it was. How can I mention it to him? Every day I go down and take away that little rubber pipe. And sure enough on the bottom of the water heater there’s a new little nipple on the gas pipe… I’m – I’m ashamed to. And behind the fuse box – it happened to fall out – was a length of a rubber pipe – just short… There’s a little attachment on the end of it. The lights blew out, and I went down the cellar. Linda also adds that she found a rubber hose behind the fuse box and a new nipple on the water heaters gas pipe. In the novel Linda starts talking about how Willy is trying to kill himself and that all of the automobile accidents are actually failed suicide attempts. Why am I always being contradicted? ” (Pg 17) In the quote Willy states that he doesn’t want change which strongly indicates that he isn’t willing to make any changes in his life and wants everything to stay how it is but at the same time wants what is best for his family. WILLY: Why do you get American when I like Swiss? LINDA: I just thought you’d like a change- WILLY: I don’t want a change! I want Swiss cheese. LINDA: (trying to bring him out of it): Willy, dear, I got a new kind of American type cheese today. This quote symbolizes Willy’s fear of change. It is because Willy never makes a decision between these two extremes that he becomes a tragic figure, without resolution. Cheese: When Linda buys Willy a new type of cheese, Willy becomes very upset because, and as was stated before, he fears making a huge change in his life, although he ironically at the same time wants nothing but change in his life in order to realize his dreams. When coming across acts 1 and 2 in The Death of the Salesman we have read through many symbolic objects and patterns in the novel.