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analysis of death of a salesman essay
Symbolism In Death Of A Salesman
death of a salesman character analysis
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Death of a Salesman: After the Funeral
They all return to the house. The fully paid for house. The sight of it brings back a slight sob to Linda's throat, when she reaches the cement stoop her sobbing once again becomes full. Charley looks to her but is at a loss for words. Happy puts his arms around his mother and holds her. Biff only looks on at it all.
For a brief second he sees the Willy's fate in Happy's eyes as he holds Linda. Willy's death has brought Biff to know what he is more than ever. He's not a salesman and neither is Happy but Happy is just like is father and Biff fears nothing can be done to change the course of life Happy has chosen upon Willy's death.
The small grieving party enters the house and each takes a seat in the living room. Linda has gained control over herself again.
No one dares to say a word they each sit by themselves accompanied by their own thoughts.
Biff's mind is racing now. Thoughts of how his life will not end like Willy's. Biff has no master plan for his life he just wishes to begin his life. His real life. "Construction" Biff accidentally says allowed.
Everyone looks at him. What about construction. Happy says to Biff.
Tomorrow I'll look for a job in construction is Biff's reply. I'll start at the bottom and I'll gradually raise my position. Someday maybe architecture or engineering. By god I'm gonna do something with my life weather it's to my families approval or not.
Charley looks at Biff and says. Biff I don't know if this is the right time for this. It's sounds like a good idea to me but I honestly don't think this is the time to talk about it.
I'm sorry Charley you're right I'm going to bed now I'll see you all tomorrow. Biff stands up stretches his arms and back and goes off to bed.
Biff wakes up early the next morning. No one else has woken yet and Charley had gone home the night before. Despite the death of his father hanging over him like a dark, dreary cloud Biff is in an unexplainably great mood. He felt as if his life was just beginning on this day.
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
...ating “Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be… when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am” (Miller 1842.) Biff is accepting of who he is and that he does not have to follow in family traditions. Work provides as a building block for family values and expectations, and shapes the community around it.
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.
Happy, Biff’s younger brother, has always felt neglected by his father, because he was not as a...
Affirmative action has been the topic of debate for many years. It has been controversial because it has been said to be a form of reverse discrimination. This paper will discuss the purpose behind affirmative action, as well as, its various strengths and weaknesses. Also, this paper will look at the following issues surrounding affirmative action such as the incompetency myth ( are companies hiring less qualified people?), the impact on employment (what has changed in the work place?), the impact on women (how have their lives changed?) and the impact on employment law (what documents back up affirmative action?). Lastly, a discussion of affirmative action on an international scale, and what international documents have to say about the topic. The purpose of this paper is to bring to light all the issues, and then make an educated statement of whether affirmative action is a worthwhile activity or if there is a better solution.
Throughout history many families can’t face reality. In the play Death of a Salesman the main characters Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy use self-deception as a means to mentally escape the reality of their lives. Biff is the only character who becomes self-aware by the end of the play. Willy wants to live in his dream world; Linda and Happy don’t even realize that they’re in a dream world. Biff had no idea he was in a dream world until he had an epiphany.
still attempted to follow his father’s dream. Attempting to start a business, Biff decideed to visit
...nabler, but now that she does not have her husband to constantly worry about there is a chance of happiness left for her to find. Biff has learned a lot from his father. He has learned to cherish the things that you have rather than the things you don’t have. Linda, Happy, and Willy did not understand how to learn from mistakes. Biff did, and he also learned that owning up to things is the only way to get back on track towards a life of happiness.
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, affirmative action is “an active effort to improve employment or educational opportunities for members of minority groups and women.” However, despite its well-intentioned policies, it has been the source of much controversy over the years. Barbara Scott and Mary Ann Schwartz mention that “proponents of affirmative action argue that given that racism and discrimination are systemic problems, their solutions require institutional remedies such as those offered by affirmative action legislation” (298). Also, even though racism is no longer direct, indirect forms still exist in society and affirmative action helps direct. On the other hand, opponents to affirm...
...attered, enough so that he could see who his father truly was. Biff had to reevaluate his life, and he came to a realization; " To devote your life to keeping stock, or making phone calls, or selling or buying. To suffer fifty weeks a year for the sake of a two week vacation, when all you want is to be outdoors"( Death 139). Biff came to the conclusion that humans were not meant to work in pursuit of this economic goal, but were meant to work outside. His father could never accept that, and if Willy had, the story would have had a much different ending.
character in the novel “Death Of A Salesman’ and Mr.Loman was the type of person that would always focus on the simple things. Instead of looking for new opportunities and for a better change everything went downhill for Mr.Loman. For that reason, Arthur Miller utilizes the title “Death Of A Salesman” not just to predict Willy Loman’s death and failure, but also how Mr.Loman’s dreams died alongside with him. Showing that one little mistake can make a big change in your life.
“I’ve always made a point of not wasting my life,” he says, “But all I’ve done is waste it.” Near the beginning of the play when Biff is talking to Happy in their room, he tells him that he’d rather be outside with no shirt on his back, working with his hands. He then offers Happy to come with him to the West to start a ranch together—since Happy had been agreeing with him about preferring to work physically, outside in the open air. However, Happy begins talking about showing other people that “they’re made of something,” and becomes wrapped up in prestige over happiness. Biff honestly wants to go after something he legitimately enjoys, and therefore has a glimpse of what perhaps the American Dream truly means, and how one goes about the pursuit of happiness—rather than the pursuit of money. With his statements early in the story, he clearly is beginning to understand how to live a fulfilling life for his personal desires, needs, and passions. Biff also reveals that he fathoms that life is something which can be wasted, and since he always “made a point of not wasting [it],” he evidently knew that he should seize his opportunities when he could—which perhaps may have partly led to his more whimsical lifestyle in which he had a difficult time finding roots and a job he truly enjoyed, because he abandoned his own passions due to personal, familial, and societal expectations, yet simultaneously attempted to a degree to chase after what sincerely cherished in life, causing him to develop into a drifter, becoming uncertain of even his own
...before something happens?” (Miller 133). Biff is getting frustrated with Willy because he is trying to turn his son into somebody that he does not want to be. Willy’s tragedy is due to the fact that the truth for him is far fetched, since he is always seeing life in a flashback, which leads to his demise.
“The present and the past coexist, but the past shouldn't be in flashback” -Alain Resnais. The play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller follows the life of a man named Willy Loman, and his family life with his two sons; Biff and Happy Loman, and wife, Linda Loman. Throughout the play, Willy has delusional episodes of past events in life, which he believes he is reliving, and these flashbacks are providing him an escape from dealing with the obstacles he is facing in life. The reader discovers that Willy is having an affair with a mistress titled The Woman, and he retreats to memories of their time together for an ego boost, though in reality he is arguing with his sons. Willy has an encounter with his brother Ben at the same time that he is playing cards with his neighbour Charlie, and because Willy’s mind is so far gone into the memory, Charlie leaves. During this flashback Willy sees his life compared to his successful brother, but he will not accept his lack of skill at being a salesman. His final flashback is a fake encounter he believes he has with his brother, and this progresses to Willy’s final act of suicide. Willy’s flashbacks are evidence that he is delusional because he cannot differentiate between a past event and reality.
was and dreams of the great man Biff can be, he just fails to realise