Death of a Salesman Page #2

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To get on that subway

in the hot mornings in the summer,

to devote your whole life

to keeping stock or making phone calls.

And the selling, the buying.

To suffer 50 weeks of the year

for the sake of a two week vacation,

when all you really desire

is to be outdoors with your shirt off.

And always to have to get ahead

of the next fellow.

Still, that's how you build a future.

I bought a new kind

of American type cheese. It's whipped.

Why do you get American?

I like Swiss.

- I thought you'd like a change.

- I don't want a change.

- Why am I always being contradicted?

- I wanted it to be a surprise.

- Why don't you open a window in here?

- They're all open.

They boxed us in here.

Bricks and windows, windows and bricks.

We should have bought

the land next door.

There's not a breath of fresh air

in the neighbourhood.

The grass don't grow anymore.

You can't raise a carrot.

They should have had a law

against apartment houses.

Remember those two beautiful elm trees?

When I and Biff

hung the swing between them, huh?

Like being a million miles

from the city.

They should have arrested the builder

for cutting those down.

They massacred the neighbourhood.

More and more I think of those days,

Linda, this time of year.

It was lilacs and wisteria

and then the peonies

would come out... daffodils.

What fragrance in this room.

- People had to move somewhere.

- There's more people now.

- I don't think...

- There's more people!

That's what's ruining this country!

Population is getting out of control!

The competition is maddening!

Smell the stink from that apartment

house and another on the other side!

How can they whip cheese?

Go down, try it and be quiet.

You're not worried about me,

are you, sweetheart, huh?

No, you've got too much on the ball

to be worried about, my darling.

You're my foundation

and my support, Linda.

Oh, just try to relax.

You make mountains out of molehills.

I won't fight with him anymore.

If he wants to go to Texas, let him go.

- He'll find his way.

- Sure.

Certain men just don't get started

till later in life.

Like Thomas Edison, I think,

or B.F. Goodrich.

One of them was deaf.

I'll put my money on Biff.

And Willy, if it's warm Sunday

we'll drive in the country.

We'll open the windshield,

we'll take lunch.

The windshields don't open

on the new cars.

- But you opened it today.

- Me?

I didn't.

Now, isn't that peculiar?

- Isn't that remarkable?

- What, dear?

That is the most remarkable thing.

What, darling?

I was thinking of the Chevy.

1928, when I had that red Chevy.

Isn't that funny?

I could have sworn

I was back in that Chevy today.

That's nothing.

Something must have reminded you.

Remarkable.

Remember those days, huh?

The way Biff used to simonise that car?

Dealer refused to believe

there was 80,000 miles on it.

Close your eyes.

I'll be right up.

Now, you be careful on the stairs.

- The cheese is on the middle shelf.

- Eighty thousand mi...

Eighty-two thousand.

No, I've always made a point

of not wasting my life.

Whenever I come back here I know that

all I've done is to waste my life.

You're a poet, Biff.

You know that?

- You're an idealist.

- No, I'm mixed up very bad.

Maybe I ought to get married, right?

Maybe I ought

to get stuck into something.

Maybe that's my trouble.

I'm like a boy.

I'm not married, I'm not in business.

I'm just like a boy.

Are you content, Hap?

You're a success, aren't you?

Are you content?

- Hell, no.

- Why not? You're making money.

All I can do now is wait for

the merchandise manager to die.

Listen, kid, why don't you

come out West with me?

And you and I?

Maybe we can buy a ranch,

raise cattle, use some muscles.

Men built like we are

should be working in the open.

- The Loman brothers?

- We'd be known all over.

Biff, Biff, that's

what I dream of sometimes.

Sometimes I want to rip my clothes off

and outbox the merchandise manager.

I can outbox, out lift,

outrun anybody in the store

and I have to take orders

from those sons of b*tches.

If you were with me I'd be happier.

Everybody around me is so false

that I am constantly lowering my ideals.

Together we'd stand up for one another.

We werert brought up to grub for money.

I don't know how.

- Neither can I.

- Let's go.

The only thing is,

what can you make out there?

Hap!

I got to show some

of those pompous executives there

that Hap Loman can make the grade, huh?

Then I'll go with you, Biff.

We'll be together yet.

I swear, huh?

But take those two we had tonight.

Werert they gorgeous creatures?

Yeah, most gorgeous I've had in years.

I get that any time I want, Biff.

Whenever I feel disgusted.

The only trouble is,

it gets like bowling or something.

I just keep knocking them over.

It doesn't mean anything.

- You still run around a lot?

- Nah.

I'd like to find a girl steady,

somebody with substance.

- Mm-hmm. That's what I long for.

- Go on.

- You'd never come home.

- I would.

Somebody with character, like Mom.

You're gonna call me a bastard

when I tell you this.

That girl Charlotte I was with,

engaged to be married.

- No kidding.

- Sure.

Guy's in line

for the vice-presidency of the store.

I don't know what gets into me.

Maybe I have an overdeveloped

sense of competition.

I went and ruined her.

Furthermore, I can't get rid of her.

He's the third executive

I've done that to.

Isn't that a crummy characteristic?

And to top it all,

I go to their weddings.

Don't get your sweater dirty!

Biff!

Doesrt he know Mom can hear that?

Oh, what a simonising job. Huh?

Look, Biff, don't leave again, will you?

You'll find a job here, Biff.

- You gotta stay.

- Hey, Biff-o!

I don't know what to do.

It's getting embarrassing.

Oh, boy, what a simonising job.

Look, you go to sleep now but

talk to him in the morning, will ya?

- With her in the house?

- We should have a good talk with him.

- That selfish, stupid...

- Shh. Sleep, Biff.

No kidding, Biff.

You got a date?

Listen, um, you just want

to be careful with those...

...those girls, Biff.

That's all.

Don't make any promises,

no promises, Biff.

No promises of any kind.

'Cause the girls, you know,

they always believe what you tell them.

You're very young, Biff.

You're too young

to be talking seriously to girls.

You want to watch your schooling first.

Stand where you were.

When you're all set, though,

there will be plenty of girls

for a boy like you.

That so?

The girls pay for you?

Boy, you must really be making a hit.

I've been wondering why

you polished the car so careful there.

Uh...

Don't leave the hubcaps.

Get the chamois to the hubcaps.

Happy, use newspaper on the windows.

It's easy.

Use it like a pad.

That's it, good work.

You're going all right.

Biff, um...

First thing we gotta do

when we get time,

we gotta clip that big branch

over the house.

I'm afraid it's gonna fall on the roof.

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