Death of a Salesman Page #6

---

there will be strange people here.

What are you talking about?

You're not even 60 yet.

What about your father?

- Well, I meant him, too.

- He admires Pop.

If you don't have feeling for him,

you can't have feelings for me.

- Sure, I can.

- No, Biff.

You can'tjust come to see me!

Because I love him.

He's the dearest man in the world to me

and I won't have anyone making him feel

unwanted and low and blue.

You have got to make up your mind now.

There's no leeway anymore.

Either he's your father,

and you pay him that respect,

or else you're not to come here.

- Hey, Biffo!

- What the hell is the matter with him?

- Don't go near him.

- Stop making excuses for him.

He always wiped the floor with you.

He never had an ounce of respect.

- He always had respect for her.

- What do you know?

- Don't call him crazy.

- He's got no character.

Charley wouldn't do this,

not in his house.

- Peeling that vomit from his mind.

- Charley never had what he's got.

People are worse off than Willy Loman,

I've seen them.

Then make Charley your father.

You can't do that, can you?

I am not saying he's a great man.

Willy Loman never earned a lot of money.

His name was never in the paper.

He's not the finest character.

But he's a human being.

And a terrible thing is happening

to him. So attention must be paid.

He must not be allowed

to fall into his grave like an old dog.

Attention! Attention must

finally be paid to such a person.

- You called him crazy?

- Mom, I didn't...

Wait a minute. A lot of people think

he's lost his balance,

but you don't have to be very smart

to know what his trouble is.

- The man is exhausted.

- Sure.

A small man can be

just as exhausted as a great man.

He works for a company

36 years this March,

he opens up uneard of territories

to their trademark,

and now, in his old age,

they take his salary away!

- I didn't know that, Mom.

- You never asked, my dear!

Now you get your spending money

somewhere else

- you don't trouble your mind with him.

- I gave you money.

Christmastime, 50 dollars.

To fix the hot water it cost $97.50!

For five weeks

he's been on straight commission,

like a beginner, an unknown.

Those ungrateful bastards!

Are they any worse than his sons?

He drives 700 miles,

and when he gets there no one

knows him anymore, no one welcomes him.

And what goes through a mars mind

driving 700 miles home

without having earned a cent?

Why shouldn't he talk to himself?

Why not, when

he has to go to Charley every week

and borrow 50 dollars from him,

and pretend to me it's his pay.

How long can that go on?

How long?

And you tell me he has no character?

The man who never worked a day

in his life but for your benefit!

And when does he get the medal for that?

Is this his reward?

To turn around at the age of 63

and find his sons,

who he loved better than his life,

- one a philandering bum...

- Mom!

That is all you are, my baby.

And you! What happened

to the love you had for him?

You were such pals.

How you used to talk every night

on the phone,

how lonely he was

till he could come home to you.

All right, Mom.

I'll live in my room, I'll get a job,

I'll just keep away from him.

No, Biff, you can't stay here

and fight all the time.

He threw me out of this house.

Why did he do that?

- Because I know he's a fake.

- A fake!

- In what way? What do you mean?

- Just don't lay it all at my feet.

It's between me and him.

That's all I have to say.

I'll chip in from now on.

He'll settle for half my paycheque.

- He'll be all right.

- He won't be all right!

I hate this city and I'll stay here.

Now, what do you want?

- He's dying, Biff.

- Why is he dying?

He's been trying to kill himself.

How?

Do you remember I wrote you that

he smashed the car again in February?

Well?

The insurance inspector came.

There's evidence that all the accidents

in the last year werert accidents.

How can they tell?

That's a lie.

- It seems there's a woman...

- What woman?

What?

- Nothing.

- What did you say?

- I said, "What woman?"

- What about her?

She was walking down the road.

She saw his car.

She said he wasrt driving fast at all.

He didn't skid, she said.

He came to that little bridge and

deliberately smashed into the railing.

It was the shallowness of the water

that saved him.

Mom, he probably just fell asleep again.

- No. I don't think he fell asleep.

- Why not?

Last month...

Oh, boys, it's so hard

to say a thing like this.

I was looking for a fuse, the lights

blew out, I went down in the cellar.

Behind the fuse box,

it happened to fall out,

was this length of rubber pipe,

just short.

No kidding.

There was an attachment

on the end of it.

I knew right away, and sure enough.

On the bottom of the hot water heater

there's a new nipple on the gas pipe.

- Thatjerk.

- Did you have it taken off?

I'm ashamed to.

How can I mention it to him?

Every day I go down

and I take away

that little rubber pipe.

But when he comes home

I put it back where it was.

How can I insult him that way?

It sounds so silly and old-fashioned,

but I tell you,

he's put his whole life into you.

And you've turned your backs on him.

Biff, his life is in your hands.

I feel like a damn fool.

All right.

All right.

It's settled now.

I've been remiss, I know that.

But now I'll stay and I swear to you,

Mama, I'll apply myself.

It's just that, see,

I don't fit in business.

Not that I won't try.

I'll try and I'll make good.

The trouble was,

you never tried to please people.

It's like when you worked

for Bob Harrison.

He said you were tops.

Then you go and do some damn fool thing

like whistling songs in the elevator.

So what? I like to whistle.

You don't raise a guy

to a responsible job who whistles.

Don't argue about it.

You'd go for a swim

in the middle of the day.

You don't take off?

You run off sometimes, on a nice day.

- Sure, but I cover myself.

- Oh, boys.

I'll tell you something.

In the business world

some of them think you're crazy.

- Screw the business world.

- Right. Great. But cover yourself.

I don't care!

They've laughed at Dad for years.

You know why? Because we don't belong

in this nuthouse of a city.

We should be mixing cement somewhere

on some open plain, or carpenters.

A carpenter's allowed to whistle.

Even your grandfather was better

than a carpenter.

You never grew up.

Bernard does not whistle

in the elevator, I assure you.

- I bet you do.

- I never whistled in an elevator.

And who in the business world

thinks I'm crazy, hmm?

I didn't mean it like that.

Don't make a thing out of it.

Go back to the West.

Be a carpenter or a cowboy.

- Enjoy yourself.

- He was just saying things.

- I heard what he said.

- Come on.

They laugh at me, huh?

Go to Filene's, go to the Hub,

go to Slattery's, Boston

and call out the name Willy Loman.

- See what happens. Big shot. Big.

- All right, Pop.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes