Requiem Aeternum

Will Landschulz
Am Lit Per. 2
Mrs. LaMagdeleine

And in these last few pages, the event we have been waiting for has transpired.  Willy has died, by deliberately crashing the car.  In the last few pages, we have seen him arguing with Ben for this course of action and arguing with Biff while trying to resist waking up to the reality of Biff's situation and view.  We get this interesting dynamic where Willy is tempted to kill himself because of the twenty thousand dollars it would give his family, but everyone else is determined to keep him from killing himself because "nobody's worth nothing dead."  Paradoxically, when Biff sets the record straight with him to try and get him to "burn [that phony dream] before something happens," Willy gains even more ground for killing himself, because "that boy is going to be magnificent," and all he needs is a start-up loan.  Twenty thousand seems like a nice round total to start him off.  This, however, would bring nothing but grief to his family (as well as the aforementioned money), only he doesn't see it.  I think he thinks his actions are noble, but they are misguided by the American Dream he sees in a cracked mirror, refracted all over the place until they illuminate what he feels is the best path forwards - into a tree or over a bridge.  I feel nothing but pity for him.  I think that Biff has emerged from this the better-looking man, because he notices the shell that is his father's dreams, and managed to find his way out.  He notes (correctly, in my opinion) that Willy had the wrong dreams for someone who was happiest working on the front stoop of their house.  However, Charley, trying to defend Willy, also notes that, as a salesman, he needed those dreams in order to do his work.  When the dream of a salesman stops working the way it should, the salesman in question is on his way downhill.