Biff And Happy In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

    Linda, a character from Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" is a selfish housewife. She pretends to care about her husband, but in reality, prefers that he kill himself so that she can live an easier life.

The main reason why Linda presumes Biff has the ability to save Willy is due to the two men’s prior close relationship. Before the incident in Boston Biff idolized his father and in return his father Willy placed Biff on a pedestal. Willy’s self worth had a direct correlation with Biff’s success. Near the end of high school Biff began to strive only to please his father. He knew he had his father’s pride weighing on his shoulders and the need to please his father always ominously loomed clouding his mind. QUOTE The effort and how much Biff warrants his father’s approval laces all of Willy’s flashbacks. This is the relationship Linda is hoping to save Willy, but unfortunately after Boston the two men’s regards for each other quickly dissipated.

Willy could be seen as a villain because he never faced his issues, and never got helped. He was so caught up trying to live the American Dream; he never noticed how much he affected Linda, Biff and Happy. She hides what she feels for his sake, in the novel she says that “ With great difficulty: Oh, boys, it’s so hard to say a thing like this! He’s just a big stupid man to you, but I tell you there’s more good in him than in many other people. She chokes, wipes her eyes. I was looking for a fuse. The lights blew out, and I went down the cellar. And behind the fuse box- it happened to fall out- was a length of rubber pipe- just short.” (Arthur Miller, 59). Linda tries to help Willy with his mental illness and he just brushes her off, she tries to keep herself and him together, and bottles up her emotions. Willy ensures success in both the boy’s life, but is partial blame for ruining Biff’s life. Biff was influenced by Willy attitude, this attitude was that that Biff's athletic ability and good

Linda speaks these lines to Biff and, not only do they prove that she loves this man an enormous amount, but also that she would sacrifice not seeing her son again just to keep Willy happy. She is wiling to sacrifice her family for the man that she loves, who appears to not treat her as well as a husband could. Linda's last comment shows that she is not treated with a great deal of respect from Willy. Nevertheless, she puts his needs before her own because of the profound love she has for him. Her love for him drives her do whatever is necessary to keep him happy, and binds her to him no matter what the consequence.

At one point in the play, Willy says, “Biff is a lazy bum”(16). Moments later in the same conversation with Linda, Willy adds, “There’s one thing about Biff, he’s not lazy”(16). Even when confronted by his boys, Willy is unable to deal with the truth, that his sons won’t amount to very much at all. He ignores reality very well, and instead of pointing out that Biff hasn’t established himself yet, Willy tells Biff, “You’re well liked, Biff….And I’m telling you, Biff, and babe you want…”(26). The boys are clearly aware of their status and the status of their father, and Happy is found putting Willy’s personality in a nutshell, “Well, let’s face it: he’s [Willy] no hot-shot selling man. Except that sometimes, you have to admit he’s a sweet personality”(66). Obviously, Willie’s failure to bring up his children effectively, and his delusional thinking including denial of reality helps fortify his depleting condition and confusion.

In “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, in the Act I, the author emphasizes the relationship between Willy and Linda in different ways by showing the love of Linda towards Willy and how she admires him. And also, she always shows her patient when Willy gets angry easily. The relationship between Willy and Biff is different from the past. Willy’s relationship with Biff is complicated. Biff is everything for Willy and Biff believed that Willy is the greatest father in the world, but in the present Biff doesn’t think like that anymore.

The next instance where Linda serves as the family's destroyer is in Act 1. Linda justifies Biff's desultory life by saying, "He's finding himself, Willy" (1404). Willy replies, "Not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace!" (1404). Linda says, "Shh!" (1404). Willy says, "The trouble is he's lazy, goddammit!" (1404). Linda says, "Willy, please!" (1404). Willy says, "Biff is a lazy bum!" (1404). Linda knows that Willy is right about Biff being lazy. But Linda is trying to protect her son from the truth. Linda is making excuses about him being lazy, just as she made excuses about Willy trying to kill himself. Linda should have let Willy tell Biff the truth about him being lazy. Maybe if Biff had heard the truth earlier in life, he wouldn't be thirty-four years old finding himself.

Watching a solitary blade of grass will never tell you the direction of hurricane, just as one characteristic can never describe Linda Loman. In Death of a Salesman, Linda Loman is a woman torn between guilt, retaliation, and pity. Her guilt stems from the fact that she prevented Willy from pursuing his true American Dream; she retaliates in response to Willy's failure; she feels sorry for Willy, because he is a "pitiful lone adventurer of the road" (47). As the battling motivations blow from opposing directions, the reader is left to decide to which one motivation Linda will succumb.

Willy’s biggest issue with his son is that he let him down by not being any more successful than him. He feels like Biff is failing on purpose just to make him look bad. Although, he has no decent job and is single; Biff has become disoriented about life. Earlier in the play Biff tells Happy, “I tell ya Hap, I don't know what the future is. I don't know - what I'm supposed to want” (Miller266). Biff once looked up to his father as a role model, but lost all faith in him once finding out that he was having an affair. Ever since he has rejected Willy’s commitment of being a husband and also a father. To add to his ruins are Willy’s ideas of how Biff should get ahead in life. Willy taught Biff that popularity was the right way to get to the top, rather than hard-work and dedication. Trying to live by his dad’s standards caused Biff to fail high school and become unable to put forth the effort to become

Biff Loman is portrayed as the root of Willy’s mental illness and instability. He is also the only member of his family who acknowledges his own failures in life. On the whole, Biff Loman stands out as the most intriguing and strong character in “Death of a Salesman. He is not a successful man and never will be, he is however able to admit this, even in a harsh society as the one of the 1960s America. Biff knows he is a “nothing” and tries to make his father see that he is “no good. I am a dime a dozen, Pop, and so are you.” He begs for Willy to communicate with him and accept him for who he is. Although Willy is forced by Biff to see some of his own failures, he never

Throughout the entire play Willy talks to Linda in a way demeaning way. During Act 1 there is a conversation with Bernard and Willy that Linda enters saying that some mothers thing Biff is “too rough” with their daughters. Willy was very upset with this news and told everyone to shut up which made Linda hold back tears and Bernard leave. This guide “ Don’t ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always be exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.” The guide says the woman is wrong for questioning him. This is exactly what happens with Will and Linda which is why he gets so angry and she doesn’t say anything back.

Linda is the heart of the Loman family in Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman.  She is wise, warm, and sympathetic.  She knows her husband's faults and her son's characters.  For all her frank appraisals, she loves them.  She is contrasted with the promiscuous sex symbolized by the Woman and the prostitutes.  They operate in the world outside as part of the impersonal forces that corrupt.  Happy equates his promiscuity with women to taking manufacturer's bribes, and Willy's Boston woman can "put him right through to the buyers."  Linda Loman  holds the family together - she keeps the accounts, encourages her husband, tries to protect him from heartbreak.  She

Because of Willy' incapability to accept Biff for who he is, Willy's failure increases. Willy wants Biff to be the best because he might be a failure as a salesman but he does not want to be a failure as a father. But in some ways he is a failure as a father because he never lets Biff be his own person. It is always about what Willy wants, a "his way or the highway" sort of deal. His not accepting Biff for who he is causes Biff not succeed and because of this Biff and Willy failure becomes one in the same .

Later in a flashback, Willy and Biff are on their way to Ebbets Field for a football game when Charley appears and beings a conversation with Willy. Merely joking around, Charley makes a few comments which Willy takes great offense too and beings insulting Charley and telling him to put his hands up as if to fight. Willy's arrogance shows it's face once again when Willy is talking to Biff about his meeting with Oliver. Completly ignoring what Biff is saying, Willy goes on about how good of a kid Biff is and how impressive he is. Though not directly insulting, Willy ignores what his son has to say and goes off on his own tangents, losing the respect of the reader. Willy then ends up in another flashback in the bathroom of the restauraunt where he met Happy and Biff for dinner. The most disgusting part of Willy is revealed here. Biff walks in on Willy and his woman friend whom hes had a secret relationship with. Willy attempts to cover it up and when that doesnt work he orders Biff around and shows how bad of a person he can be.

The father-son conflict between Willy and Biff is complex. First of all, there is a strong personal attachment. He wants Biff to love him. He remembers the fondness shown for him by Biff as a boy, and he still craves this. At this point, however, relations are strained. Although Willy shies away from remembering so painful an episode, he knows in his heart that his affair with the Boston woman left the boy bitterly disillusioned. Feeling some sense of guilt, Willy fears that all of Biff’s later difficulties may have been really attempts to get revenge. In other words, Biff failed to spite Willy. Although outwardly resenting such alleged vindictiveness, Willy still wants to get back the old comradeship, even if he has to buy it dearly. For instance consider when he asked Ben, “Why can’t I give him something and not have him hate me?” and his final moment of joy and triumph occurs when he exclaims, “Isn’t that remarkable? Biff… he likes me!”