"Death of a Salesman: Society's Alienation of Willy Loman" It is often stated that society is very judgmental. This can be seen in movies, literary works, or just everyday life. Arthur Miller chooses to portray society's prejudice against the protagonist, Willy Loman, in his play, Death of a Salesman. Society rejects Willy Loman because he isn't upper class and is getting up in age. Many occurrences highlight society's judgment of Willy, including his being fired, the "spite" he receives from his sons, and the way he alienates himself. All of these events eventually lead to the downfall of a strong, determined, but confused character. Perhaps the most defeating action that happened to Willy was the loss of his job. All he had ever been in life was a salesman; therefore, it was the only trade that he was any good at. When he had the conference with Howard, he had his hopes up. Willy had regained his confidence in himself and was ready to take control of his life at a very crucial time. However, Howard crushed all of that by firing Willy, simply because he thought Willy "needed some rest." Actually, Howard never intended to give Willy his job back. He was merely trying to take Willy's position because he didn't believe Willy could hack it anymore. This is a reflection of society's present-day treatment of the elderly. Younger generations now move older people into rest homes and try to keep them out of public view for the risk of embarrassment. This is reflected by Howard's statement, "I don't want you to represent us anymore." Society's assumption of Willy's capabilities, in this case, cost him his job. A second occurrence that displayed Willy's alienation happened in his own family. Biff doesn't believe whatsoever in his father and has no hope for him at all. Biff even says in act one that his father has no character. 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. Although it is never actually said verbatim, it is obvious that Willy has some kind of mental problem that needs attention. Yet even in his own home, he can't get any help because his family can't bring it upon themselves to help him. This instance depicts the way society would rather "let someone else handle it" than take action and go against what is popular. This example is probably the saddest and most heartbreaking part of the play. A final instance of Willy Loman's alienation is the way he excludes himself from society. Subconsciously, Willy knows his capabilities and his problems and exiles himself socially. That could very well be the reason behind the "conversations" he has with himself throughout the novel; he feels like he can't talk to anyone else. Willy has a war going on in his mind, and he is helpless toward ending it. He knows that he can do well in life and be the man he should be, but he just can't seem to piece together the correct method of doing so. It's because of this that he continually defeats himself and repeatedly fails. Willy Loman wants to be the best at anything, particularly selling and being a provider for his family. However, his character is one who owns nothing and makes nothing, so he is constantly at the far bottom of the totem pole. Even the merchandise that he sells, which is his expertise, doesn't belong to him and just helps to keep him down in the business world and away from society. Perhaps Willy's alienation is symbolized by the garden he wishes to grow in his backyard. His backyard is small, fenced in, and unable to bear a fruitful garden. Likewise, Willy Loman's position in the working world is constricted, away from everyone else, and won't let him become successful. Willy was his own worst enemy, a man who couldn't accept himself. Society added fuel to the fire by not accepting him either. It is human nature to be judgmental of things, and especially people. Willy Loman was no exception to this. Yet, Willy was already down, and society kept him there. He lost the job that he'd worked at faithfully for thirty-four years simply because the younger owner couldn't bear having an older, less successful salesman representing the company. Willy is sealed off from his family, especially from his sons, because of an unseen force that causes an inability to communicate. Finally, he can't fight the predicament that society placed him in because deep down, he can't accept the fact that he's not what he wanted to be in life. All of the actions that alienated Willy Loman validate the prejudice and bias of society.
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 [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
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.
...eller. Biff is generating a corrupt visualization of his bygone days, like his father. His fabrication is persuaded as much as necessary to turn into reality.
Linda does not lose respect for Willy for his actions as much as Biff does. Biff cares about his mother dearly and does not like to see her being yelled at. He grinds his teeth when he sees his father yell at his mother, because he knows that if he argues, there will be that much more tension between him and his father. However, Biff cannot take it much longer because he is losing respect for his father. He knows his father should never get physical with his mother, and he finally takes action before it gets violent. He grabs Willy by the arm and screams at him not to yell at her. Willy gets angry at first, but then goes to bed guilt-ridden.
Clearly, he is nourished and is living at home by the way he speaks, defining that he satisfies the physiological category. Throughout the play there is obviously no sign of him lacking survival needs. Safety is also a quality he possesses; he has no health issues and can do things on his own. Then comes belonging, and he fits in this category as well. He is accepted by his brother, perhaps not his father, but he does have relationships in life and is not completely isolated. Biff may have qualities of the first three levels, but he does not carry esteem and self actualization. To have esteem he must be secure in his position in life. He is unsatisfied with himself, and feels as if he is a failure. In the beginning of the play he did have esteem, though, and it is exemplified especially by the lines, “I’m takin’ one play for Pop. You watch me, Pop, and when I take off my helmet, that means I’m breakin’ out. Then you watch me crash through that line!”. As it can be seen, Biff felt as if he is a vital asset and is therefore important. After high school he had lost his motivation, Willy, and financial and relationship instability are a few of the main causes of no esteem. On the outside he seemed to be fine and dandy, but as he shell is cracked you can see the deeper insecurities. In addition, he is not at the point where he wants to be at his highest level of
The main character in the novel is Willy loman who is facing the difficulty situation in the play. Firstly I am going to describe Willy loman and Biff loman the oldest son of Willy. Willy is the father of two sons Biff and Happy, he has a lot of potential, and he thinks the goal of life is to be well liked and gain material success. He failed to achieve the American goal. And Biff the oldest son of Willy is the character in the novel that shows any real personal growth, he cannot hold down a job. In the story at (Act 2, 105) I am going to discuss the merits of Biff observation.
This motif of abandonment and betrayal is carried through to Willy’s son, Biff. Biff feels betrayed whe...
... this idea already having been planted in the first act. As Willy’s wife and sons try to prevent this from happening, the feeling of hope spreads throughout the story. Although every attempt results in failure, the characters try continuously to make things better. Gradually, Willy’s secrets are revealed, his mistress, his lies and his insanity become uncovered, and his failures seem more obvious.
Biff discovers who he is and is determined to become true to himself. Happy, unfortunately is destined for living in the same delusion that Willy lived in.
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 ...
He is fervently determined to succeed in his contemporary competitive society. In a conversation with his children about Bernard, he enumerates a few features he presumes as important if one wants to have success. Willy tells his children that Bernard might get the best grades in school, but they will certainly have more success than he will as they are “[…] built like Adonis’s” (Miller 34). Willy assumes that it is necessary to be attractive to become successful. Additionally, he says that it is “[…] the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead” (Miller 34). Moreover, Willy states that “it’s not what you say; it’s how you say it – because personality always wins the day” (Miller 70). Willy believes that if he wants to become a successful businessperson, he has to impress people with his appearance and with his looks; he has to seduce his customers with his personality and his charm. Willy has his own role model he looks up to - it is Dave Singleman, who incarnates what Willy so adamantly wants to be, as he became a successful businessperson. Through him, […] [Willy] real...
He is unable to face reality and realize that he’s not successful in life or at his job; he remains living in a world where he thinks he’s greater than everybody else because he’s a sales man. He desires recognition in the play and when he’s conversing with Howard and talks about his admiration toward Dave Singleman, he states “And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?.” (SparkNotes) He thought a salesman could get him the greatest job in the world because Dave Singleman ...
That kind of favoritism has a profound effect on a child, in order to be acknowledged by his father, Happy believes he must become Willy’s version of success by acquiring wealth and popularity. Happy has been living his entire life in a way that he believes will bring him attention from his father, yet his father ignores him and he becomes more miserable that if he had gone his own way. When a father chooses to favor upon one son over another, the father-son relationship occurs as well as in the son’s life. Within this relationship, the responsibility of the father is to provide values, a role model and leadership for his sons. In almost every family, the sons will look to their father as role model and a hero, which in this case Biff does but Happy does not. It is in the father’s best interest to use this opportunity to give these qualities and allow his sons to become responsible
was and dreams of the great man Biff can be, he just fails to realise