Research Paper On Willy Loman

Business Man
Arthur Miller is a well-known American playwright of the twentieth century. Miller published his play, Death of a Salesman, in 1949 and it was also shown at the Morosco Theatre in New York City ( ). The play Death of a Salesman is about a family trying to reach the American Dream. The Loman’s family wants to become very successful. It is the story of Willy Loman, the salesman, and his son Biff. Biff is Willy’s adult son who returns home after being gone for some years. He has had multiple jobs throughout his life. In high school Biff was a football star. When he was seventeen and vulnerable, Biff caught his father cheating on his mother. He walked into his father’s hotel room, saw the woman, and was destroyed. His dad father always talked about how he had to be real, but Willy was not real at all, he was a fake person. Biff has always gone against his father: he did not graduate from high school, he wanted to work on a ranch instead of being a business man and he stole stuff and got fired from his jobs.

His father says, “Remember how they used to follow him around in high school? When he smiled at one of them their faces lit up” (2112). Everyone wanted to be around Biff. In high school he was the man. Biff had three scholarships to three different Universities. Biff was very successful in high school until his senior year. Biff flunked out of his math class which caused him not to graduate. Biff wasted his precious time because he refused to retake the math class even after he was offered help. Willy begged Biff to attend summer school. “I begged him to go. I order him to go!” (2151). Biff did not attend summer school because his father pushed him too