Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Willy: I could build two guest houses, so they'd both come. Did he decide how much he's going to ask Oliver for? Linda: [getting him into the jacket] He didn't mention it, but I imagine ten or fifteen thousand. You going to talk to Howard today? Willy: Yeah. I'll put it to him straight and simple. He'll just have to take me off the road. Linda: And Willy, don't forget to ask for a little advance, because we've got the insurance premium. It's the grace period now. Willy: That's a hundred...? Linda: A hundred and eight, sixty-eight. Because we're a little short again. Willy: Why are we short? Linda: Well, you had the motor job on the car... Willy: That goddam Studebaker! Linda: And you got one more payment on the refrigerator... Willy: But it just broke again! Linda: Well, it's old, dear. Willy: I told you we should've bought a well-advertised machine. Charley bought a General Electric and it's twenty years old and it's still good, that son-of-a-bitch. Linda: But, Willy Willy: Whoever heard of a Hastings refrigerator? Once in my life I would like to own something outright before it's broken! I'm always in a race with the junkyard! I just finished paying for the car and it's on its last legs. The refrigerator consumes belts like a goddam maniac. They time those things. They time them so when you finally paid for them, they're used up. Linda: [buttoning up his jacket as he unbuttons it] All told, about two hundred dollars would carry us, dear. But that includes the last payment on the mortgage. After this payment, Willy, the house belongs to us. Willy: It's twenty-five years! Linda: Biff was nine years old when we bought it. Willy: Well, that's a great thing. To weather a twenty-five-year mortgage is Linda: It's an accomplishment. Willy: All the cement, the lumber, the reconstruction I put in this house! There ain't a crack to be found in it any more. Linda: Well, it served its purpose. Willy: What purpose? Some stranger'll come along, move in, and that's that. If only Biff would take this house, and raise a family... [He starts to go.] Goodbye, I'm late. Linda: [suddenly remembering] Oh, I forgot! You're supposed to meet them for dinner. Willy: Me? Linda: At Frank's Chop House on Forty-eighth near Sixth Avenue. Willy: Is that so? How about you? Linda: No, just the three of you. They're gonna blow you to a big meal! Willy: Don't say! Who thought of that? Linda: Biff came to me this morning, Willy, and he said, 'Tell Dad, we want to blow him to a big meal. Be there six o'clock. You and your two boys are going to have dinner. Willy: Gee whiz! That's really somethin'. I'm gonna knock Howard for a loop, kid. I'll get an advance, and I'll come home with a New York job. Goddammit, now I'm gonna do it! What does Miller make you think about Willy's optimism at this moment in the play?