Death of a Salesman_ Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem - Miller, Arthur [35]
HOWARD: Look, kid, I’m busy this morning.
WILLY [ grasping HOWARD’S arm]: Howard, you’ve got to let me go to Boston!
HOWARD [hard, keeping himself under control]: I’ve got a line of people to see this morning. Sit down, take five minutes, and pull yourself together, and then go home, will ya? I need the office, Willy. [He starts to go, turns, remembering the recorder, starts to push off the table holding the recorder.] Oh, yeah. Whenever you can this week, stop by and drop off the samples. You’ll feel better, Willy, and then come back and we’ll talk. Pull yourself together, kid, there’s people outside.
[HOWARD exits, pushing the table off left. WILLY stares into space, exhausted. Now the music is heard—BEN’S music—first distantly, then closer, closer. As WILLY speaks, BEN enters from the right. He carries valise and umbrella.]
WILLY: Oh, Ben, how did you do it? What is the answer? Did you wind up the Alaska deal already?
BEN: Doesn’t take much time if you know what you’re doing. Just a short business trip. Boarding ship in an hour. Wanted to say good-bye.
WILLY: Ben, I’ve got to talk to you.
BEN [ glancing at his watch]: Haven’t the time, William.
WILLY [crossing the apron to BEN]: Ben, nothing’s working out. I don’t know what to do.
BEN: Now, look here, William. I’ve bought timberland in Alaska and I need a man to look after things for me.
WILLY: God, timberland! Me and my boys in those grand outdoors!
BEN: You’ve a new continent at your doorstep, William. Get out of these cities, they’re full of talk and time payments and courts of law. Screw on your fists and you can fight for a fortune up there.
WILLY: Yes, yes! Linda, Linda!
[LINDA enters as of old, with the wash.]
LINDA: Oh, you’re back?
BEN: I haven’t much time.
WILLY: No, wait! Linda, he’s got a proposition for me in Alaska.
LINDA: But you’ve got—[To BEN] He’s got a beautiful job here.
WILLY: But in Alaska, kid, I could—
LINDA: You’re doing well enough, Willy!
BEN [to LINDA]: Enough for what, my dear?
LINDA [ frightened of BEN and angry at him]: Don’t say those things to him! Enough to be happy right here, right now. [To WILLY, while BEN laughs] Why must everybody conquer the world? You’re well liked, and the boys love you, and someday—[to BEN]—why, old man Wagner told him just the other day that if he keeps it up he’ll be a member of the firm, didn’t he, Willy?
WILLY: Sure, sure. I am building something with this firm, Ben, and if a man is building something he must be on the right track, mustn’t he?
BEN: What are you building? Lay your hand on it. Where is it?
WILLY [hesitantly]: That’s true, Linda, there’s nothing.
LINDA: Why? [To BEN] There’s a man eighty-four years old—
WILLY: That’s right, Ben, that’s right. When I look at that man I say, what is there to worry about?
BEN: Bah!
WILLY: It’s true, Ben. All he has to do is go into any city, pick up the phone, and he’s making his living and you know why?
BEN [picking up his valise]: I’ve got to go.
WILLY [holding BEN back]: Look at this boy!
[BIFF, in his high school sweater, enters carrying suitcase. HAPPY carries BIFF’S shoulder guards, gold helmet, and football pants.]
WILLY: Without a penny to his name, three great universities are begging for him, and from there the sky’s the limit, because it’s not what you do, Ben. It’s who you know and the smile on your face! It’s contacts, Ben, contacts! The whole wealth of Alaska passes over the lunch table at the Commodore Hotel, and that’s the wonder, the wonder of this country, that a man can end with diamonds here on the basis of being liked! [He turns to BIFF.] And that’s why when you get out on that field today it’s important. Because thousands of people will be rooting for you and loving you. [To BEN, who has again begun to leave] And Ben! when he walks into a business office his name will sound out like a bell and all the doors will open to him! I’ve seen it, Ben, I’ve seen it a thousand times! You can’t feel it with your hand like timber, but it’s there!
BEN: Good-bye, William.
WILLY: Ben,