Throughout the play Biff experiences urgencies to steal and as an effect this demonstrated how high school Biff and adult Biff did not mature into a responsible, grown adult. Biff continued to steal due to the fact that he did not receive discipline into social rules by Willy and expected not to listen them. It tragically displays how Willys role as a father ushered Biff to turn into a failure in his life. Rather than Willy discipling Biff for his stealing, he encouraged him and praised his spirit for it. As a teenager, Biff accepted his father's conception and developed into an unsuccessful grown man confused and living with his parents. In the end, he ultimately fails himself and his father's expectations of him.
“BIFF [crying, broken]: Will you let me go for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?” By saying this Biff tries to address his family on the giant rift between Willy’s dreams for him and reality. He tries to explain that all he wants is for Willy to let go of those dreams and high standards he has set for him so he can create his own reality rather than fulfill his father's dream. Willy's dreams for Biff were very unrealistic for the reality of his situation,which caused him to fill unsuccessful and push himself away from his father. The reason Willy wanted his children to do so well and had such big dreams for them was because he wasn't able to achieve the dream and had a fear he had failed and so he wanted to force his dream to be fulfilled by his children. Therefore, due to Willy’s wildly unrealistic amount of pride, causing him to make poor decisions, betray his family by having a mistress and finally his unrealistic dreams for his sons, he paved his way towards his failure and his deep fear of isolation and
One problem Willy has is that he does not take responsibility for his actions; this problem only gets worse because of his lies. Biff looks up to Willy, so when he finds out that Willy has an affair in Boston, Biff is petrified. Biff realizes his hero, dad, the one he wants to impress, is a phony and a liar. Willy destroys Biff's dream of playing football by saying he does not have to study for the math regents, he also Willy telling Bernard to give Biff the answers. When Biff fails the regents, he does not want to retake the test because he is so disgusted with his hero and does not want to succeed. Not only did Willy destroy Biff's dream, he also broke his vows and refused to admit it. Biff is a failure, in Willy's eye, in most part due to Willy and what happened in Boston. Willy refuses to take responsibility for what he did, so he lies about Biff. Willy tells Bernard that Biff has been doing great things out west, but decided to come back home to work on a "big deal". Willy knows that Biff is a bum who has not amounted to anything, but he refuses to take responsibility for what happened in Boston, so he changes the story of Biff's success. Throughout Willy's life he continued to lie. It might have stopped if Linda did not act the way as she did. Linda is afraid to confront Willy, so she goes along with his outlandish lies.
Biff never kept a steady job during his young adult life, and did not possess a healthy relationship with anyone that was in his life. As the play progresses the reader sees how much Biff becomes more self- aware. An online source states, “Unlike the other members of his family, Biff grows to recognize that he and his family members consistently deceive themselves, and he fights to escape the vicious cycles of lies.” When Biff returns home it becomes a struggle to keep a healthy relationship with his parents. Once Willy and Biff decide together that Biff will go and ask Bill Oliver for a loan is when the differences between the two characters are truly seen. Biff accepts reality for the first time in his life, and realizes how ridiculous it is to ask Bill Oliver for a loan, when he barely knows the man and worked for him about ten years ago. When Biff meets up with Willy after the ‘meeting’ Biff is talking to his Father and says, “Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!” This quote reveals that Biff recently has just experienced an epiphany, and realizes that what he was doing was making no sense. Biff is escaping the self- deception he was caught in with the rest of his
Biff loses respect for his father and soon realizes what lie he has been living. Willy is in denial about his involvement with Biff’s failure in life, and when he is confronted about it by Bernard asking, “What happened in Boston, Willy? (141), Willy quickly becomes defensive, saying, “What are you trying to do, blame it on me? Don’t talk to me that way!” (141). After finding out about Biff’s reaction of burning his favorite University of Virginia shoes that symbolize Biff’s hopes and dreams for the future, Willy realizes what impact the affair had on his son. Willy’s lack of acceptance of reality affects his relationship because he never owned up or admitted he had an affair. This weighs heavy on Willy because the hate from his son will always be there. Biff loses all respect for his father and sees not only a failed business man, but in general a failed man. Throughout it all, Willy’s wife still remains supportive of him and constantly reminds him of her love for him. Despite this, Willy still yearns to have what he does not and pursues “the other woman.” It is bright as day that Willy finds some sort of comfort and validation for his affair with a woman who makes him feel wanted, yet his wife does the same thing. This guilt is always carried around with Willy which is just another contributor to the death of Willy
Some people never change, their stubbornness gets the best of them, and they find it hard to adapt to what happens around them. Being stubborn can also lead you to get into some big trouble if you do not compromise sometimes. In all honesty, I am a stubborn person and hate to compromise, but I will if I have to. In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is unbelievably stubborn and definitely delusional. Constantly, Willy is hallucinating about things that have already happened, or things that never even could have happened. Although, Biff, Willy’s son, changes by the end of the play, while everyone else stays in a delusional land with Willy.
middle of paper ... ...giving him the answers to a maths test, so he fails and can't get in. to the university of the United States. Biff and Willy argue a lot in this game. After graduating from high school, Biff lost a lot of his respect for his father.
Biff is a perfect symbol for society in the play. Biff knows his father has problems, but even as a son, "can't get near him. " Even though he accepts his father as a fake later in life, Biff tries over and over again to reach his father and to help him, but an unseen barrier prevents Biff from doing so. Happy is the type that knows what's going on with his father but won't try to help him.
Through a series of events, Biff gradually comes to a realization of what is necessary for success. First, we are shown a part of his childhood where Biff is told that "the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead." This idea appears in direct contrast to Bernard, one of Biff's childhood friends, who works and studies hard. Biff decides that Bernard will not succeed because he is "only liked, not well-liked," and being well-liked is the cornerstone of success. Nonetheless, later in the play we see that Bernard has become very successful, underscoring one of the messages in the play, that success is not just a result of popularity. Second, we are shown a scene in Boston soon after Biff has just failed math for the year. He discovers his "heroic" father having an affair. Biff comes to the painful realization that his father's values, his views, and everything that Biff had made the foundation of his life, are all completely "fake" and "phony." Unfortunately, he has nothing with which to replace it. Lastly, Biff decides to leave to try and find himself, but an argument develops between Biff and Willy. Biff begins to see himself as like his father, "nothing," just an average man trying to make a living, and quite possibly failing. Biff's earlier image of his father's greatness has crumbled entirely, leaving a lost young man trying to find his way. Biff realized that he now needs to find his own values in life. He has finally tasted reality and now must dive head first into the pot, without any real preparation.
Biff Loman is the oldest son of Willy and Linda who is thirty four years old. When Biff was younger he earned a scholarship to the University of Virginia but never went to college since he hadn’t passed a class in his senior year that lead him to not graduate high school. He had the chance to make up his class so he could graduate but refused to take part in summer school mainly because of finding out about his dads wrongdoing on having an affair with a woman. “Willy:Never mind! He’s going to give you those points. I’ll see to it… Biff:I’m not going there.” (Miller Act 2:95) The moment Biff caught his dad cheating it impacted him so much that it turned his life
The play Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, is about an average salesman living in Brooklyn, New York in the 1940’s named Willy Loman. Willy firmly believes in the American dream and is living his life aspiring to gain the wealth and materials associated with those of higher status in society. This American dream tears apart his family and the end result is his own demise. Glengarry Glen Ross, by David Mamet, has a plot similar to Death of a Salesman in that it is about salesmen and it shows the effects of capitalism on people and society. A difference between the two, however, is that Glengarry Glen Ross includes a group of salesmen working a firm who are trying to win a sales contest in which the first prize is a Cadillac, the second price is a set of steak knives, and the remaining salesmen will be fired. The main difference in the plays is that Death of a Salesman is decidedly a modern play and Glengarry Glen Ross is a postmodern response to Death of a Salesman.
You phony little fake! You fake!" During his adult life, Biff drifted from job to job. Willy sees Biff as an underachiever, whereas Biff sees himself trapped by Willy's flamboyant fantasies. After his moment of realization while waiting in Bill Oliver's office, Biff begins to realize that his life up till now has been a complete sham; he no longer wants to pretend to be something he`s not.
The first comlication which occurs in Act I, is when the reader acknowledges that Willy put his whole life into his sons, Biff and Happy, and they turned their backs on him. Willy always believed that biff would be this great, successful businessman and it turned out that Biff is still searching to find himself, which disappoints Willy in the worst way. The conflicts between Willy and Biff are rooted very deep. It all started when Biff was younger and he had failed his math class. He traveled to Boston to visit Willy, who was on a business trip. He had told that he had let Willy down and comes to find out that Willy is with another woman. Biff leaves and never takes that math class over. Willy felt guilty about this and believes that deep inside that he is responsible for Biff's choices in life and his failure to be successful. This conflict makes Willy weak and tremendously guilty, which stays with him as a reminder.
One important event that caused friction between Biff and his father Willy was about college. Since Biff did not pass math, he had to attend summer school. However, Biff refuses to do so. This made him realize he is going nowhere in life, which prompted him to return home. On opposing ends, his father Willy only sees Biff as lazy. “Biff is a lazy bum!” (Miller 859). Biff wants a simpler life, he knows the
Growing up, Willy doted on Biff the most, which reflects the way his own father doted on his older brother Ben. Their father-son relationship was strong until the incident with The Woman caused a rift to grow between them. Willy feared seeing his son due to the chance of being exposed, and Biff did not want to be reminded of his father’s betrayal. However, near the end of the play, Biff and Willy had a heart to heart which seemingly did some repair work on their relationship. Biff grew to forgive his father and confessed that he loved him despite their past. He experienced growth through the events of the story, making him another candidate for the
Plot, characterization, and dialogue are the elements of drama that I’ve chosen to analyze for Death of a Salesmen. Willy seems to be in conflict with himself and everyone else in his life. Conflict is what drives the plot and will be the main element of drama that’s analyzed in this essay. In Death of a Salesman Willy is the protagonist and his son Biff is the antagonist, he provokes Willy’s anger by not holding a steady job and measuring up to what his father feels he should be. The plot in Death of a Salesman is dialogue driven and the theme of the play is the death of Willy’s career and his inability to become successful in life. He also has hopes of Biff doing something more with his life other than working as a farmhand.