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"Biff, wearing a sweater with a block "S, " carries a football." 1
The first allusion to football in Death of a Salesman is an unremarkable stage note in act 1: "Biff, wearing a sweater with a block "S, " carries a football " (22). I say unremarkable because the football that Biff carries seemingly has no meaning beyond its service: to be "carried." Simply, the ball functions as a naturalistic hand prop and "carries a football" its concordant stage note. Over the next few pages, I will argue that this austere stage note: "[Biff] carries a football" is the point of departure for the final and painful dissolution of the Loman family, and that football-as prop and as pastime-is an axis in the development of the dramatic art of Arthur Miller. Lastly, I will argue that the All-Americans, Felix "Doc" Blanchard and Glen Davis-Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside of the 1945-46 United States Military Academy football teams-are prototypes for Arthur Miller's seminal characters, Biff and Happy Loman.
In Willy's first scene of recall in act 1, all reference to Biffs football in a sporting context becomes irrelevant and thereafter is referred to only in a proprietary way when Biff alludes to the ball as "borrowed": "Well, I borrowed it from the locker room" (22). Following on Biffs pretext, the ball is discreetly referred to by Linda, the Loman family enabler, as having been stolen: "And he'd [Biff] better give back that football. Willy, it's [stealing] not nice" (22, 33). In other words, through denial and construal, the ball's back-story, its mission as a prop, is foretold. And by way of a complex, but very controlled narrative, we are about to discover its enormity and its aftershock-that Biff Loman is criminally inclined. As such, the football that Biff flouts in Willy's first scene of recall is a signature prop that identifies the "teenager" Biff as a pair of sneakers or a varsity sweater would identify Biff. But most importantly, the ball identifies Biff for the anomalous character that will emerge later in the play-a liar and compulsive thief.
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"You watch me, Pop, and when I take off my helmet..."
In Death of a Salesman, sporting "cues" are myriad. Here are a number of...