To finalize, a line used early on as a cliché, during the course of the play becomes a commentary on the state of Willy Loman’s life and how far from reality he truly was. Again, he uses the single, brief statement, “Isn’t that a remarkable thing.” Thus this simple statement leads Willie to do a remarkable thing for his family-he commits suicide. The impact of the realization that Biff loves him has Willy confide this “new information” to his imagined brother Ben. Willy and Biff had just experienced two emotional scenes where Willy doubted Biff’s affections. Biff, he likes me.” This is suddenly a remarkable realization for Willy, who had believed that Biff was destroying his own life just to spite his him. After an emotional scene in which Biff breaks down on his father’s shoulder, trying to make him understand their lives, Willy responds by saying, “Isn’t that-isn’t that remarkable. Another realization occurs between Willy and his son, Biff. This single line, then, demonstrates how Willy may finally begin to realize, too late, just how much he is liked. Yet, when Willy realizes that this man whom he had disparaged over the years was, indeed, his only friend, he says in utter amazement, “Isn’t that a remarkable thing.”Īs with other utterances, the realization is not remarkable, except that Willy had never been able to see reality long enough to recognize Charley’s importance.
Willy always thought of Charley as the epitome of what Willie thought he detested. To demonstrate, this line takes on significance in the scene where Willy goes to borrow money from Charley. To start with, the remarkable aspect of the quote is that Willy Loman utters it when he is faced with an epiphany, a sudden realization. Yet, during the course of the action the line develops into a comment on Willy’s prosaic and confused mind. In the early part of the play, however, when Willy makes this remark, the reason is not particularly remarkable, or, if so, only in Willy’s terms. “Isn’t that remarkable.” This single, brief statement may appear to be a trite cliché, yet in Death of a Salesman this favorite exclamation of Willy Loman takes on a much broader meaning. The Significance of a Line From Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
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