Compare And Contrast Willy And Biff Loman

While the play primarily focuses on Willy’s dream, Death of a Salesman also observes Biff and his American Dream, which may be construed as the “right” one. Compared to his father’s, Biff’s dream is a simple one: own a ranch and labor in the countryside close to nature, happy and content. And yet as his father increasingly pressures him to pursue a dream more aligned to his own, Biff experiences an identity crisis of sorts, desperately seeking to please Willy by taking a job in business but always failing in his efforts. Eventually, he realizes that he cannot be his father, and, at Willy’s funeral, contrasts his earlier statement regarding Willy’s state of mind with one regarding his own person: “I know who I am, kid” (Miller 111). Though at the start of the play it was Willy who thought Biff lost, it is now the reverse. Willy, with his aspirations for renown and major success, found himself perpetually adrift in the world, struggling to make ends meet and maintain his family ties. And yet while Willy suffered at the hands of his American Dream, Biff prospered (although not monetarily) in his “proper” American Dream, experiencing true contentment in his craft. While Willy faced constant confusion and an almost bipolar personality disorder owing to his erroneous endeavors, Biff’s main insecurities and difficulties were those brought on by his father’s notion of success. In other words, Willy’s American Dream caused nothing but suffering for him and those he loved, while Biff’s American Dream would have allowed him peace of mind had it not been for his

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

In Arthur Miller's, Death Of a Salesman, the growth and development of Biff are achieved as a result of the change in his relationship with Willy.Growing up Biff had received most of the attention from his father, mother and everyone around him thus building a sense of entitlement from a young age. As time passed Willy had always been there to encourage and mold Biff into what Willy thought of as an ideal American man. When this vision of Biff was unachieved Biff and Willy's relationship began to strain; causing them to fight and disagree on things such as career and the future.

Biff Loman is oldest of the Loman brothers and had always been told he was better than everyone else. Biff believed this and acts as if he were an Adonis for the entirety of his childhood. Biff has fed into all of the compliments that his father gave him as a child, and now at the age of 34 is realizing that everything that his life has been one big lie, “BIFF: He walked away. I saw him for one minute. I got so mad I could’ve torn the walls down! How the hell did I ever get the idea I was a salesman there? I even believed myself that I’d been a

Analysis: From Biff’s perspective, Loman is somebody who always gives him stress and discouragements because he did not meet his expectation to become a man who has a successful career. It makes Biff feel uncomfortable to be in the same room with Loman, and he knows clearly that Loman will not be happy to see him around at home without having a job.

Being a man can mean many things, depending on who you speak to or what your own standard is. The traits of a man can fall into being tough or just being a humble kind individual. When we look at the instances of Willy Loman and Walter Lee, we see men who both have a sense of what being a man is like. But are too caught up in their dreams in life to be steady enough to handle the responsibilities needed in both circumstances.

Furthermore, Biff, along with Happy tries to conjure up a crazy idea of putting on a sporting goods exhibition. The problem with Willy is that he never grows up and deals with his obstacle; and he has taught this life strategy to his sons.

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

On the contrary, there are different ways of viewing life in the two pieces of literature. In Death of a Salesman, we see that Willy seems to think that just by being well-liked by people and having an alluring personality will help him rise to the top. He’s also constantly making his boys think that they need to be popular to be successful. Biff gets in a fight

“You’re a success, aren’t you? Are you content?”, is the question Biff asks his brother, Happy and he heedlessly responds with, “Hell, no!”. Throughout the Death of a Salesman, Happy Loman is seen as this tall and powerful man but, on the inside he is very unhappy with himself. It would seem elusive if he was happy with himself when he responded to Biff with a “no”, unless he is truly unhappy. From the first few pages of this play, it foreshadows the struggles Happy goes through in order to be happy. He is unsatisfied and lonely, seeks the approval/attention from his father, Willy Loman, and he is a mirror reflection of his father. Taking in consideration of these factors will shed light on why Happy Loman is

In Arthur Miller’s play, “Death of a Salesman”, Biff Loman demonstrates a change in character through his relationship with his father, Willy Loman.It is with the fall of Willy that Biff rises as a character despite not being sure of his identity. Biff realizes that the pointless direction his life is taking, is caused by his father.For example, Biff left Texas because after being influenced by his father so much, he, like Willy, believed he was wasting his life.It wasn’t until later on in the play that Biff became aware of his actions and decided to change his ambitions and way of thinking. It was because he left Texas to return back home that Willy believes that Biff is letting his potential go to waste and that he has no idea on what to

In addition, in Warshauer’s essay, he observes that “rather than adhering to a traditional work ethic, far too many Americans are pinning their hopes on ‘easy money’”. The characters of Willy and his two sons, Happy and Biff, prove this. At the end of the play, Willy kills himself in a car crash in order to get insurance money for his family, hoping that Happy and Biff will use that money to start their own business. This shows that instead of continuing to work and make money, he kills himself to get some “easy money” for his family. Also, Happy and Biff plan on becoming successful businessmen, despite failing school. Biff dropped out of high school after failing math, and Happy works as an assistant to an assistant in a department store, where he makes very little money. Although Biff acknowledges his failure, Happy acts as if he had the greatest job ever. He seems to be blissfully unaware of the world around him, and seems to only be interested in girls than actually trying to improve his position. Both Happy and Biff seem to expect success to come to them, hoping to make “easy money”.

After that, Biff "laid down and died like a hammer hit him "(1392). Biff had never dreamed for himself, being concerned only with fulfilling his father's wishes. When Biff realized that Willy was not the great man that he thought he was, his dreams became nothing to him, as had his father. And so, Biff became a drifter, living only on a day to day basis. Lastly, Biff is the only character who achieves any real growth in the play. Throughout the play Linda has remained static, always steadfastly supporting Willy, and believing he is incapable of flaw. At Willy's funeral, Happy says, "I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It's the only dream you can have-to come out number-one man. He fought it out here, and this is where I'm gonna win it for him"(1415). His father died deluding himself, and apparently Happy is going to do the same. It is only Biff who realizes "[Willy] had all the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong…The man never knew who he was"(1415). Biff has accepted the fact that he was not meant to be a salesman and must seek another path in life. Having made these observations, it quickly becomes clear that Biff's character is as vital to the play as is Willy's. Without Biff there would be no play. Therefore, Biff's role in "Death of a Salesman" is important because he is the focus of Willy's attention and distress, his own conflict is

Biff and Happy once deeply respected and looked to their father for advice and encouragement, as in the past Linda says “few men are idolized by their children the way you are”⁶, but as they realise his advice was false and he had been living a lie throughout life. As soon as Biff finds out about his father’s affair he no longer respects him and Willy remains unable to win back his trust. “You fake! You phony little fake”⁷. Willy feels that by his suicide, it will prove to Biff that he was truly committed to providing for his family. He still believes that Biff will become successful by having the money from his life insurance showing how he never learnt from his mistakes. “Can you imagine that magnificence with twenty thousand dollars in his pocket? ...When the mail comes he’ll be ahead of Bernard once more”⁵. It is more tragic that Biff is the one who realises that “he had the wrong dreams”⁴ at his funeral. Rather than feeling proud, Biff he pities his father. Ironically it is

Biff the son of Willy in “Death of a Salesman” has the opportunity to follow his dad’s footsteps and go into pursuing the “American Dream” but he has in inner conflict of his dad’s adultery. Biff is also much like his dad and is good with his hands,