Biff's Changing Perception in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
In Death of a Salesman, Biff's perception of society is altered through a chain of events throughout the play. His unrealistic expectations about how to succeed, learned from his father, eventually caused the destruction of his fantasies. His concept of an ideal society, where being liked is what is needed to succeed, is harshly changed to a reality where he must realize that hard work and devotion are necessary to prosper.
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.
Thus, it is clear that in the novel Death of a
It is stated by Standage that, “Sandage believes Willy Loman was a success. But the message of the play, he says, is that “if you level off, you have to give up. You might as well not live”” (Baird 25). This is quite ironic because all Willy does is push to be successful and he when he can’t he puts expects his son’s to follow through so he gives up. He constantly reminds them, “the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead” (Miller 67). This is also ironic because Willy is the man who creates personal interest in the business world, but when everyone passes away he is left with nothing but the past to remember. This false reality that Willy creates for Biff brings on the conflicts between the father and son duo due to the fact that Biff fails as a result of the way he was raised. So by the time Biff goes to interview for his first job he thinks that his success will come with no effort
The original story by Washington Irving starts out in a small town of Sleepy Hollow. Irving paints an image of bountiful crops, beautiful scenery, and prosperous landowners. Ichabod Crane was a local pedagogue, who taught at the local schoolhouse. He was known for his strict ways and yet he was very popular amongst the families of his students- especially the ones who had ?pretty sisters.? Ichabod enjoyed spending fall evenings with the old widows as they sat by a fire and told stories of ghosts and demons and other supernatural beings. One story that was always told was one of the legendary Headless Horsemen. The tale tells of a soldier who had his head shot off with a cannon ball. His ghost now roamed Sleepy Hollow on his horse, looking for his lost head. In place of his head, sits a jack-o-lantern, which had a fiery glow.
Over time the language of the original text of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Irving has been reworked to accommodate the change in audience. The Heath Anthology of American Literature has an unabridged version of the original wording (1354-1373). A complete copy of the original text of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" can be found in the young adolescent classic section of a bookstore or the juvenile section in the library. A juvenile edition of the text adapted by Arthur Rackham from 1928 was a replicate of the original it is filled with seven colored illustrations and numerous sketching. A young adolescent version adapted by Bryan Brown from 2001 has been abridged to accommodate the current young reader. The format is changed in Brownâs edition. The yo...
Irving does this to help readers realize how caught up the society of Sleepy Hollow is with their past. Irving frequently brings up the Revolutionary war and how the headless horseman was a Hessian soldier from the war. When he writes, “The dominant spirit that haunts this enchanted region is the apparition of a figure on horseback without a head. It is said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, whose head had been carried away by a cannonball in some nameless battle during the Revolutionary War… The specter is known, at all the country firesides, by the name of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow” (Irving 2). This is an allusion to the Revolutionary war because the headless horseman was a hessian soldier. This explains the theme of supernatural because the Headless Horseman haunts their town and the main character, Ichabod Crane, comes across the ghost of him. Another major allusion in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is Ichabod's belief in witches. The author supports this when saying, “He was, moreover, esteemed by the women as a man of great erudition, for he had read several books quite through, and was a perfect master of Cotton Mather's 'History of New England Witchcraft” (Irving 4). Ichabod also believes in the supernatural past. His belief in witches supports the theme of supernatural within the book. Referring to the past using allusion develops different themes within the
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving is a tale that has many different interpretations. One interpretation, in particular, is that of the supernatural and the headless horseman. The history of the town is peculiar, there is also a history of ghosts and mischief going on in the woods. This story mainly focuses on Ichabod Crane and what really happens to him at the end of the story when he is gone suddenly one night. Through the history and setting, chaos is ensured through people leaving suddenly, which gives Sleepy Hollow a haunted essence. Irving uses the character, Ichabod Crane, to show how the supernatural and history of the town are involved with Ichabod leaving town.
Benoit, Raymond. Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The Explicator. Washington: Heldref Publications, 1996. "
on a street in Verona where members from the two families, the Montagues and the
Springer, Haskell. “Introduction to Rip Van Winkle & The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” (1974). Rpt. in A Century of Commentary on the works on Washington Irving. Ed. Andrew B. Myers. Tarrytown: Sleepy Hollow Restorations, 1976. 480-486.
In “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Irving uses all of the tools at his disposal as a storyteller to illustrate his criticism of Enlightenment ideals. First of all, he creates an atmosphere and a setting where reason is at a loss. Also, he uses the character of Ichabod Crane to embody Enlightenment principles, and then has this character become a figure of ridicule. Additionally, Irving uses his conclusion to poke fun at the Enlightenment idea of literature as being necessarily didactic. All of these elements come together to provide a thorough indictment of the Enlightenment.
Later, in Act II, Biff is pulverized by the acknowledgment that his father is taking part in an extramarital entanglement. He is crushed and chooses to abandon his own particular future. At the end of the play, Biff at last goes up against ...
Throughout the novel and the movie of Sleepy Hollow, both has its own uniqueness. The biggest change in narrative from the movie by Tim Burton of Sleepy Hollow from the short story by Washington Irving was the fact that Crane was presented as a skeptic who relies on scientific methods to solve the murders happened in town. In the movie, he was being sent from New York who goes to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders. This alter the meaning of the story because he wasn’t as superstitious as he was supposed to be. According to the book, Crane is an extremely superstitious man who often believe in supernatural and led to him being scared at night. He was supposed to be afraid of the Headless Horseman and hope he won’t be beheaded by him.
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
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.
Throughout Death of a Salesman, the characters, especially Willy, seem unable to know the difference between right and wrong. Biff and Happy are always stealing which Willy doesn’t put an end to so the son’s choices in their business life lead to their failure in life. Willy convinces them to make bad choices to keep them successful like Biff borrowing thousands of dollars to start a business that he will likely never pay back. Possibly the worst decision in the book is when Willy decides to take his own life in a car accident. This decision impacts all around him including his wife who stuck by his side when he disrespected her, and his sons who will no longer have a father.
Hello. I’m Ichabod Crane. I am a schoolteacher in the town of Sleepy Hollow. My story was written by Washington Irving. I listen very closely to ghost stories told about the Headless Horseman, an evil spirit who supposedly roams Sleepy Hollow at night, looking for his missing head. I reckoned I knew quite a bit about ghosts. One night, a farmer told me that the spot we stood on talking was haunted. The folks in town thought a German doctor or Indian sorcerer had put a spell on that spot to haunt Sleepy Hollow. I read about witchcraft all the time. I always liked my pupils and did not like to beat them. When I had to, I told them that I lashed them for their own good. I cower at the thought of being attacked by a ghost. I could never convince