Charley A life-long acquaintance of the Lomans. He works in a department store and has his own apartment and car. Happy Loman The younger son of Willy Loman. Willy Loman's hopes are centered on Biff. He was a star football player in high school with several scholarships, but for the last fourteen years, he has been moving from one job to another "unable to find himself." He has just returned home. Biff Loman The eldest son of Willy Loman. She is a mother figure in the play, though more to her husband than to her sons. Linda Loman Willy Loman's wife, who truly loves her husband. At the end of the play, he is fired from his job. He is now sixty-one years old and has been cruelly taken off salary and put on straight commission. CHARACTER LIST Major Characters Willy Loman A traveling salesman who has worked for the Wagner firm for thirty-four years. The time of the present play is only twenty-four hours, but because of the flashbacks to the past, the play stretches over a longer period of time. The play opens at a moment when Willy feels especially trapped by all the events of his past. There are some scenes where there is rapid transition to the past, pointing out that Loman is caught in his illusions and unable to distinguish them from reality. The scenes of the past are shown as illusions of Willy Loman. The play is structured to show the pleasures and hopes of the past and how these aspects of the past contribute to the agonies of the present. Biff and Happy also change their clothes in the scenes of the past and dress as youngsters. In the flashbacks, however, he walks forcefully. Willy, in the present time, walks with stooped shoulders and looks weary since he is old. Blaring music becomes part of the setting during Willy Loman's affair in the hotel room. Also, when the time shifts to the past, there is joyous music that shows the happiness of the past. But when the time shifts to the past, the characters ignore the walls and walk right through them. When the action of the play is in the present (1942), the characters observe all the physical boundaries such as doors and walls. Most of the play is set in one part of the Loman house. Miller uses various techniques in setting to help distinguish when the actors are in the present time or in the past. The times of the play fluctuate between the year 19. Death of a Salesman By Arthur Miller LITERARY ELEMENTS SETTING The play is told partly through the mind and memory of Willy Loman.