We find out that Ben has made a fortune by "walking into Africa." He has prospered by essentially using other people for what they can give him. "When I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by god he was rich." We learn a lot about the character of Willy, because he completely believes that this is an excellent way to make money. He obviously does not believe that one need put in hard work to achieve success, and that in fact preferably this is the way to go. The other main thing that Ben shows us occurs during his fight with Biff. He says, "Never fight fair with a stranger." This shows us his morals and values, that you cannot trust people, and that you should always take advantage of people you don"t know. This demonstrates the essence of the character Ben, that you should take advantage of which you can and use it for your own good in any way possible. Since Willy believes that Ben is a good example of a success, he essentially believes in what he says, and believes that his boys should follow this. We have prior evidence that Willy does believe that you should take advantage of people when he tells Biff not to worry about his math, that Bernard will let him cheat off him. This flashback also provides more then just basic character traits. It reinforces our view of Willy as someone who tends to stretch the truth. He has prior told us that Ben pleaded with him to go to Alaska with him, yet we soon see that this is not at all the case, in fact rather the opposite. .

             The second quasi-flashback has Ben placed into a scene in Willies mind, when he was never there. Miller leads us to believe before the original flashback that Ben actually only came just once, as evidenced in Charlie"s line "You never heard from him again, heh? Since that time?" However, suddenly he is appearing in another scene, appearing the same as before.