When Biff and Happy return home after having abandoned Willy at
the restaurant, Linda is waiting for them, angry almost beyond words at what they've done. She
refuses to give up on Willy as her sons have apparently done; furthermore, she persists in her
efforts to support and protect her husband. Because she knows about his suicidal thoughts and
intentions, she worries about what may push him over the edge. Throughout the play, Linda is the
character who consistently enables Willy by soothing his frustration and anger, accepting his
"mistakes," for instance, about how much commission he's made, and attempting to find excuses for
his often strange behavior. She dearly loves Willy, and if forced to make a choice between her
husband and her sons, she will choose Willy.
Now that her sons have
cruelly left Willy at the restaurant where they were all supposed to have had dinner--and
abandoned him so that they could be with some women--Linda is disgusted with Biff and Happy. She
apparently has never learned of Willy's affair with "The Woman," and she willingly accepts him
with all of his flaws. That he's clearly falling apart mentally is a point she attributes to his
being tired, probably because the future otherwise frightens her. Her sons are unreliable bums,
as she points out, and they lack even common courtesy. If they don't love Willy, then they don't
love her. She doesn't want them in her house.
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