View of Success between Biff and Willy Loman

628 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on views of success

Success can be described as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. To achieve success, one must understand the skills required and the personalities that must be represented. In Arthur Millers,
“Death of a Salesman”, Willy Loman is presented as a character whom does not believe success is based on skills, meanwhile his son, Biff
Loman thinks differently. Although Willy and Biff have similar beliefs on success, it is their attitude towards success that significantly sets them apart as Willy believes that success means making a substantial amount of money, meanwhile Biff believes that it is attained when you are happy with what you do.

Willy and Biff have different philosophies on how to reach success, as Willy believes personality overpowers skills while Biff believes the opposite. Willy consistently shows evidence of why he believes personality will ultimately lead to success as he mentions that to be successful you must be well liked. Willy exclaims, “I’ll see him in the morning, I’ll have a nice talk with him. I’ll get him a job selling. He could ...

Show More
Related

  • Critical Response Of Arthur Miller's 'Death Of A Salesman'

    1060 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the beginning of the play it is evident that he cannot determine the realities of life, and so he repeatedly contradicts himself to establish that his conclusion is correct and opinion accepted. These numerous contradictions demonstrate that Willy is perturbed of the possibility that negative judgements may come from others. Willy strongly believes that “personality always wins” and tells his sons that they should “be liked and (they) will never want”. In one of Willy’s flashbacks he recalls the time when his sons and him were outside cleaning their Chevy. Willy informs Biff and Happy the success of his business trips and how everyone residing in Boston adores him. He mentions that due to the admiration of people he does not even have to wait in lines. He ultimately teaches his sons that being liked by others is the way to fulfilling one’s life and removing your worries. These ideals, that one does not need to work for success, demonstrate Willy’s deluded belief of achieving a prosperous life from the admiration and acceptance of others. This ultimately proves to be a false ideology during his funeral, when an insufficient amount of people arrive. Willy constantly attempts to obtain other’s acceptance through his false tales that depict him as a strong, successful man. In the past, he attempts to lie to his wife, Linda, about the amount of wealth he has attained during his

    Read More

  • Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

    1336 Words  | 3 Pages

    This relationship is shown between Willy and his neighbor Charley. While Willy believes likability is the only way to succeed, Charley works hard and does not care how people think of him. Through his hard work, Charley started his own business, and is now very successful. Willy, however, ends up getting fired from his job as a salesman.... ... middle of paper ...

    Read More

  • Willy Lowman's Misguided Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

    1536 Words  | 4 Pages

    and years of traveling and ill-conceived ideas of being successful take its toll on the life of Willy

    Read More

  • Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Sophocles' Oedipus the King

    1759 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...eving success, rather than dreaming up stories to tell. However, Willy never achieves success because of the simple fact that he cho

    Read More

  • Influence On Willy Loman

    1334 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Willy’s flashback during his meeting with Charley, Ben explains how he became rich by explaining, “when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I walked out… by God, was I rich!” (Miller 36-37). Here, Ben hints how his success was due to his brave and wild actions of entering the jungle in a manly manner. Willy is inspired by these words of a rugged man who is well-liked by others, and tries to take on these traits himself. However, these traits are not fitting for Willy’s occupation as a salesman, since at the time, a good salesman was considered a polite man with a few words who was convincing in what they were selling. Willy tries to follow Ben’s ways, acting brash and being talkative around customers, which end up giving him little success. However, Willy refuses to change, and even states “a man can end with diamonds here on the basis of being liked… when [Biff] walks into a business office his name will sound out like a bell and all the doors will open to him!” (65-66). Not only do these words show how heavily impacted Willy is by Ben, but it also

    Read More

  • Popularity, Physical Appearance, and the American Dream in Death of a Salesman

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    Out of all of Willy's simplistic ideals, one major pattern we can notice is how Willy truly believes that popularity and physical appearance are what make people wealthy.  We are first introduced to this idea when Willy is speaking to his wife, Linda, about their son Biff.  "Biff Loman is lost," says Willy.  "In the greatest country in the world, a young man with such personal attractiveness gets lost."  In this quote, not only is Willy confused about how Biff's good looks can't help him get a job, but also because his son can't get a job in a country like Ame...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Success In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

    1132 Words  | 3 Pages

    To be successful in life there is many things you must do and overcome in order to do this. Ben, was able to do this and left to make it big which soon lead to his stability, whereas Willy was still struggling at the age of 84, asking his boss for an office job just not to travel. From the text we will see how Willy praises Ben and looks

    Read More

  • Death of a Salesman

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    Will is an insecure man who has a dream of being a successful salesman. Throughout the whole film Willy’s main concern is making sure he is well liked. For example when Willy is talking to his wife about a business opportunity he says “ Oh, I’ll knock ‘em dead next week. I’ll go to Hartford. I’m very well liked in Hartford. You know, the trouble is, Linda, people don’t seem to talk to me.” In this scene Willy is saying that he is very well liked but then when questioned about the people in Hartford Willie admits that they just pass by him like he is not there. This scene proves Willy’s delusion to himself by the way he says people like him but admits they don’t talk to him. He is too caught up in the idea of being successful to realize that he isn’t that successful. Willy’s intentions are right but his delusion personality takes control over his actions. He sets his intentions so high that he’s setting himself up to fail. He isn’t an ideal role model for his children seeing as he gave up his passion of carpentr...

    Read More

  • Biff And Willy Loman In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the conflicts that formulate between Biff and Willy Loman build up to the death of Willy. Biff’s delusional perception of being liked in the world leads to a successful life which was an idea brought onto him by his father, Biff’s discovery of his father's affair, and Biff’s lack of business success all accumulate to the heavy conflicting relationship between Biff and his father, Willy. These contribute immensely to the idea that personal dreams and desire to reach success in life can negatively impact life with personal relationships, which causes people to lose sight of what is important. This ultimately leads to the Willy committing suicide from the build up of problems with his son.

    Read More

  • Self-Preservation In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    Will has put into his son’s minds that being “well-liked” means that you will do well and go further in life that anyone else. This is proven when Willy is talking to the boys in a flashback when the boys were younger and were waxing their father's car after he had returned from a trip. Willy had told the boys that he would open a bigger, more successful business than his Uncle Charley because he is more

    Read More

  • Willy Loman as a Father in Arthur Miller's A Death of a Salesman

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    have a nice talk with him. I’ll get him a job selling. He could be

    Read More

  • The Internal and External Conflicts of Willy Loman

    1177 Words  | 3 Pages

    Individuals explore their responses to conditions of internal and external conflicts throughout literature. Going in depth to a character allows the reader to better understand that character’s internal and external conflicts. Arthur Miller uses this technique in several of his plays, including Death of a Salesman. Miller portrays the character of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman through his internal and external conflicts.

    Read More

  • Biff And Happy In Death Of A Salesman Research Paper

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Characters of Biff and Happy in Death of a Salesman     No one has a perfect life; everyone has conflicts that they must face sooner or later. The ways in which people deal with these personal conflicts can differ as much as the people themselves. Some insist on ignoring the problem for as long as possible, while others face up to the problem immediately to get it out of the way.   Biff and Happy Loman are good examples of this, although both start from the same point, they end up going in different directions with Happy still living in his world of lies and Biff, being set free by the truth.   Happy Loman is Willy's youngest son and is often over shadowed by his older brother Biff and ignored

    Read More

  • Willy's Struggle for Identity in "Death of a Salesman"

    1480 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout his life, Willy Loman thinks of himself as well-liked in the play "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller. It is the most important attribute to him. Willy lived his life thinking he had thousands of friends all over the New England territory and that he would be recognized anywhere he would go. He boasts this to his sons and they think he is the greatest man on Earth. He raises his two sons, Biff and Happy, to be well-liked and Willy does not care about their grades. He believes they will be better prepared for the business world if they are well-liked, and does not think education matters as much as personality, appearance, and physical skill. Although he has set high standards for sons, his morals are being well-liked, he thinks he is the best salesman in his firm, and he claims to be extremely loyal to his family; despite this, he is none of these.

    Read More

  • Failure of the American Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

    933 Words  | 2 Pages

    Willy Loman equates success as a human being with success in the business world.  When Willy was a young man, he heard of a salesman who could "pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without ever leaving his room, at the age of eighty-four, make his living." (81) This salesman is Willy's inspiration; someday to be so respected and so well known that he can still provide for his family, even at an old age.  Of course, Willy is no good at being a salesman because his heart isn't in it.  The only time Willy puts his heart into anything is when he works with his hands, and his son, Biff, comes to realize this.  "There's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made." (138) Willy never comes to the realization that it is not being a salesman that he cares about, but rather being well known and, perhaps more importan...

    Read More

More about View of Success between Biff and Willy Loman

Open Document