What is the significance of his name? What is Willy's attidue toward him? What does he find admirable in him? What is the attraction which surrounds the figure of Singleman and his salesman profession? In Act 2 of Death of a Salesman we find Willy Loman trying to convince Howard Wagner Jr, his boss, to allow him to take a desk job that would at least give him 50 dollars a week to be able to support the family.
By this time, Willy had already negotiated other ways to change his job, which Howard Wagner continued to ignore. As a last resort, Willy tells the story of David Singleman, a man after whom Willy wanted to design his life.
David Singleman is pivotal character because Willy had almost decided to join his brother and find his father when he suddenly meets Singleman in the Parker House. His name was Dave Singleman. Willly goes on to say that David was unlike any other salesman because he would call his buyers and finalize sales from his room without even leaving. Willy goes to Howard's office hoping for a non-traveling sales job per the request of his wife , but Howard tells him that no job is available.
He is almost ignoring Willy, and even refers to this middle-aged man as a "kid," illustrating that he does not respect him. Willy keeps lowering his salary request and tells Howard of Dave Singleman because he was a salesman that never left his hotel room. He is seen as very good at his job and well-respected because many people attended his funeral. He looks for his lighter. Desperate, Willy tries to relate an anecdote about Dave Singleman, an eighty-four-year-old salesman who phoned his buyers and made his sales without ever leaving his hotel room.
Willy reveals that his acquaintance with this venerable paragon of salesmanship convinced him to become a salesman himself rather than join his brother, Ben, on his newly purchased plot of timberland in Alaska. Willy laments the loss of friendship and personality in the business, and he complains that no one knows him anymore.
An uninterested Howard leaves the office to attend to other people, and he returns when Willy begins shouting frantically after accidentally switching on the wire recorder. Eventually, Willy becomes so distraught that Howard informs him that he does not want Willy to represent his company anymore.
The first thing Willy thinks about is planting a garden in his yard; he then muses to Linda that they should buy a house in the country, so that he could build guesthouses for Biff and Happy when they have families of their own. These hopeful plans seem to illustrate how ill-suited Willy is to his profession, as it stifles his natural inclinations.
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