After the daydream of Willy; Charley, the neighbor, is introduced and described as a large man, slow of speech, laconic and immovable. In everything he says there are signs of pity, and now trepidation. Charley adds another element of pity to the story and frustrates Willy by trying to be helpful and offering him a job to work for him because he knows the troubles he is having at his own work. Because of Willy's overconfidence and his sense of pride, he angrily rejects the offer and says he already has a job why would he need another one. Willy has clouded his mind in countless lies he tells himself to make him feel better such as his job is enough and he can keep working like this to support his family. In a kind of a daydream, Willy's rugged and dignified older brother, Ben, appears. We learn that Ben died just a few weeks ago, in Africa, during a conversation between Willy and Charley but Charley leaves because he is disturbed that Willy is talking to his dead brother as if he was in the room. Willy flashes back to when Ben visited the house telling the story of how he left when Willy was four  for Alaska to look for their father who abandoned them but with a poor sense of geography he ended up in Africa. However he ended up making a fortune in the diamond mines in Africa and now is very successful. The fact that both his brother and his father abandoned him at such a young age could be important and possibly foreshadow something. Willy also boasts about his sons and how rugged they are which I feel shows how he seeks the approval of Ben because he sees how successful he is and wants to impress his brother. After the daydream of Ben, Willy goes to ask Linda what happened to the diamond watch fob Ben had given him, Linda goes on to tell him he sold it for Biff's radio correspondence course which shows he cared more about giving his sons money and easy success than the meaning of the fob from his now dead brother. After Willy leaves Linda goes on to scold her sons about being ungrateful to their father and even though he may not be the greatest man, he is still a human being and deserved to be paid attention to. I believe this shows that Linda is the only realistic and clear eyed member of the Loman family, not so caught up in success and money but more about family values and love. We then learn that Linda has discovered that Willy has been trying to commit suicide, his car accidents weren't really accidents and mentions a woman who witnessed the last accident and said he just ran into the side bar on purpose. She also tells the boys she found a robber hose behind the fuse box and she thinks that Willy has been trying to kill himself that way too. I think that this opens Biff's eyes to how serious the situation is and that ultimately controls his decision to stay and try to find a job to try to fulfill his father's dreams. Biff decides he is going to visit an old boss, Mr. Oliver to try to get a job and Happy comes up with an idea to both start a sporting goods company in which they hold exhibitions and such that they both will participate in. I feel that Happy and Willy are similar characters because they both were the more neglected son with an older brother who was in the spotlight. That night Linda asks Willy to ask his boss, Howard, for a sales position in New York so he doesn't have to travel anymore but he tells her he is too tired to talk, this shows that he is still caught up in ignoring the failure of his career. At the end of act 1 Biff finds the rubber hose behind the heater and is horrified which I feel symbolizes that he is the only one that can save his father.