(He is carrying a flashlight, a hoe, and a handful of seed packets. He raps the top of the hoe sharply to fix it firmly, and then moves to the left, measuring off the distance with his foot. He holds the flashlight to look at the seed packets, reading off the instructions. He is in the blue of night.)
WILLY: Carrots…quarter-inch apart. Rows…one-foot rows. (He measures it off.) One foot. (He puts down a package and measures off.) Beets. (He puts down another package and measures again.) Lettuce. (He reads the package, puts it down.)
– Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman, Act 2. The symbol of seeds once again appears in this absurd scene, when Willy plants carrot, beet and lettuce seeds during the night in his dark and miniscule backyard. He does this just before he commits suicide. The seeds represent his need to create something after his failed sales career and ruptured relationship with son Biff. Willy is anxious to leave some kind of legacy after him. What he has in mind is the twenty thousand dollars of life insurance money his family will get after he kills himself.