Death of a Salesman Trivia
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89 free Death of a Salesman trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This Death of a Salesman trivia quiz covers Arthur Miller's 1949 tragedy from every angle: the plot, the characters, the real salesman who inspired it, and the seventy-plus years of productions that followed. The easy questions handle the basics: who wrote it, where the Lomans live, what Biff failed, how Willy dies, and what Linda says at the funeral. From there it moves through the details students and theatre-goers remember: Frank's Chop House, the fountain pen, Miss Francis, brother Ben and the 'worth more dead than alive' line. The harder half is for drama buffs: the play's subtitle, Miller's uncle Manny, the 742-performance original run, Lee J. Cobb and Elia Kazan, Jayne Mansfield's Dallas turn, the Willys played by Scott, Hoffman, Dennehy and Pierce, the Beijing production of 1983 and the film versions from 1951 onwards. If you have played our Arthur Miller or American literature quizzes, this is the deep dive on one play. Every answer was checked against the play's encyclopaedia entry before publishing.
30 of 89 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Death of a Salesman, how did Willy's older brother make his fortune after walking into the African jungle?
Diamond mines
Diamond mines: Willy never stops regretting that he turned down his brother's invitation to join him in Alaska.
Q 02In Death of a Salesman, what does Willy try to plant in his backyard in the middle of the night?
Seeds
Seeds: as he plants, he talks with the ghost of his brother about a plan to leave his family $20,000 in life insurance.
Q 03In which New York borough is the play set?
Brooklyn
The Loman home sits amid a typical row of urban apartment buildings in the late 1940s.
Q 04In Death of a Salesman, what does Linda find hidden behind the fuse box in the cellar?
A rubber hose
A rubber hose: she believes Willy meant to gas himself with it, and Biff later quietly takes it away.
Q 05In Death of a Salesman, what new gadget does Willy's boss insist on demonstrating during their meeting?
A wire recorder
A wire recorder: he makes Willy sit through recordings of his wife and children, then turns down Willy's request anyway.
Q 06Death of a Salesman won which pair of major honours in 1949?
The Pulitzer and the Tony
The Pulitzer and the Tony: Miller had written the first act in a single day, in a small studio he built in Connecticut.
Q 07Whose chance encounter with Arthur Miller in a theatre lobby in 1947 sparked Death of a Salesman?
His uncle Manny Newman
His uncle Manny Newman: a salesman, he ignored Miller's success and only boasted that his own son was doing very well.
Q 08What does Linda urge Willy to ask his boss for at the start of Death of a Salesman?
A job in New York
A job in New York: seeing that he can no longer handle the travelling, she wants him to work from the office close to home.
Q 09In Death of a Salesman, where had Biff been for the three months his parents couldn't reach him?
In jail
In jail: Biff tells Willy he has stolen from every employer he has had since high school.
Q 10In Death of a Salesman, which subject did Biff fail in high school, costing him his college scholarships?
Mathematics
Mathematics: when Charley's studious son warned that Biff would flunk, Willy told the boy to give Biff the answers.
Q 11In Death of a Salesman, what is the first name of the boss who fires Willy?
Howard
Howard: Willy had worked for his late father and says he even chose Howard's name at birth, but that earns him no mercy.
Q 12At the start of Death of a Salesman, how is Willy being paid?
Commission only
Commission only: Linda tells the boys his salary has been taken away, so the veteran now works like a beginner.
Q 13In Death of a Salesman, which former employer does Biff wait hours to see, only to be forgotten?
Bill Oliver
Bill Oliver: Biff had hoped to borrow money from him to start a sporting goods business with his brother.
Q 21In Death of a Salesman, what is the name of Willy's rich older brother, who appears in his daydreams?
Ben
Ben: in the middle of a card game Willy starts talking to him aloud, baffling Charley, who cannot see anyone there.
Q 22How does Willy Loman die in Death of a Salesman?
A car crash
A car crash: Linda had already told the boys that his earlier smash into a bridge railing was deliberate.
Q 23Which words does Linda repeat, sobbing, at the end of Death of a Salesman?
We're free
We're free: the last payment on the house has just been made, yet there is nobody left to live in it.
Q 14In Death of a Salesman, what does Biff impulsively steal from the former employer who snubbed him?
A fountain pen
A fountain pen: Biff wants to confess the failed meeting to Willy that night, but Happy urges him to keep up the pretence.
Q 15In Death of a Salesman, Charley's son grows up to become a lawyer about to argue a case where?
The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court: when Willy asks him why Biff's life went wrong, he asks what happened when Biff went to see Willy in Boston.
Q 16In Death of a Salesman, what does Charley accuse Willy of when Willy refuses his job offer?
Being jealous of him
Being jealous of him: Willy has just been fired by his boss, yet he still refuses to work for his neighbour.
Q 17In Death of a Salesman, after Willy turns down Charley's job offer, what does Charley hand him anyway?
Some money
Some money: moments later Willy shocks him by remarking that a man is worth more dead than alive.
Q 18In Death of a Salesman, at which restaurant do Willy, Biff and Happy meet for dinner?
Frank's Chop House
Frank's Chop House: Biff and Happy walk out on Willy there, leaving with two women they have just met.
Q 19In Death of a Salesman, what did teenage Biff travel to Boston to ask Willy to do?
Change his teacher's mind
Change his teacher's mind: instead Biff walked in on his father with another woman in a hotel room.
Q 20In Death of a Salesman, what gift from Willy does his mistress thank him for?
Stockings
Stockings: moments later, back home in his memory, Willy orders Linda to throw out the pair she is mending.
Q 24In Death of a Salesman, what does Willy believe matters more for success than good grades?
Being well liked
Being well liked: he assures his sons that the studious boy next door, though smart, will fall far behind them in business.
Q 25In Death of a Salesman, which instrument's melody is heard as the curtain rises and again as it falls?
A flute
A flute: Willy's father made flutes and sold them on the road, a travelling salesman before his son.
Q 26In Death of a Salesman, what is Happy's position at the department store where he works?
Assistant to an assistant
Assistant to an assistant: even in that lowly post, Happy takes bribes at work.
Q 27Who played Willy Loman in the original 1949 Broadway production of Death of a Salesman?
Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb: yet when Hollywood filmed the play in 1951, Fredric March took the role of Willy instead.
Q 28Who directed the original 1949 Broadway production of Death of a Salesman?
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan: he and Miller were close friends until 1952, when Kazan named names to the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Q 29Which actress played Linda in Death of a Salesman on Broadway in 1949 and in the 1951 film?
Mildred Dunnock
Mildred Dunnock: the film earned her an Oscar nomination, but the award went to Kim Hunter for A Streetcar Named Desire.
Q 30Which future Hollywood bombshell acted in a 1953 Texas production of Death of a Salesman?
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield: soon after, her Paramount audition in Hollywood went nowhere, and she took a job selling candy at a movie theater.