Death Of A Salesman Willy's Suicide

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

Firstly, I cannot help but to pity Biff. His father has set these impossible standards, and refuses to lower them. Biff has done everything to try and get his father to lower those standards, but yet his father has kept them. Willy holding his golden boy up on a pedestal over all these years has caused Biff to fall hard. In the scene right before this outtake, as he declares himself basically worthless and cries to his father, you can see the damage the expectations have caused. Nearly anything Biff did would make him feel inadequate due to the opinions of his father. Not to mention that, while expecting such unattainable perfection of his son, Willy has inflicted emotional damage on his son by cheating on Linda. Biff is damaged beyond the point of being able to achieve greatness, let alone the perfection that even up until his father’s death is expected of him. On the opposite side of the discussion, there is Happy. Right after this, Happy insists that his life is heading in a positive direction, that he is getting married. His father pays no attention to his claims. Prior to this, Happy also had proven himself to be at least moderately successful with a stable job and apartment. Nevertheless, this outtake continues to show that Willy just does not care. One of my least favorite traits of Willy’s is his lack of concern for his youngest son. Up until the end, he only hopes for Biff, only thinks about Biff, and only sees greatness for Biff. Previously, on page 115, Biff said that Happy did not “Give a good goddamn” about Willy. Although I disagree with Biff’s statement, if such were true it would be perfectly understandable. Happy has, throughout the flashbacks of the play, longed for his father to notice him, and always been pushed to the backburner. Up until the end, his father does not care. His father sees no hope for him because he is not Biff. It’s extremely aggravating, and I feel so sad

Biff does not want to end up like his father. He realised to reclaim his own identity, he must expose his father’s false illusions. In the funeral scene, Biff breaks away from his father’s life and decides to go back West to achieve his own

Ever since Biff found out about his dad’s affair, their relationship towards each other has turned cold and bitter. Every time Biff comes home, he ends up storming out after an argument that he has with Willy. Biff doesn’t understand why Willy’s moral compass would allow him to cheat on his wife mentally, and financially when he gives the Woman stockings meant for Linda. This was the moment that Biff realized his father didn’t have all the great qualities he kept trying to instill in Biff. This causes him to realize that there is no real premise on what his father is preaching.

Willy’s goal in life was to be successful, rich, and popular. He wanted to raise two perfect, independent, and intelligent sons to carry on in his success. With such high expectations of the future, he will never be happy because he will always fall short in living in his ideal world. Biff and Happy were not the children that Willy wanted them to be. They aren’t happy in their jobs, but believe that it is what they must to reach success, most likely because Willy was told a similar thing, by his father. However, in Act 2, Biff realizes this. It wasn’t easy for him to come to realization that his dreams are a byproduct of his father’s. In Act 2, Biff says, “(Crying, broken) Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?” … “I don’t care what they think! They’ve laughed at Dad for years, and you know why? Because we don’t belong in this nuthouse of a city! We should be mixing cement on some open plain or — or carpenters. A carpenter is allowed to whistle!” When Biff says “phony dream” he is talking about how his father never takes the time to explore his options. Instead of testing a variety of jobs to see what he is good at, he follows the paths of successful men who do become rich, such as his brother Ben who became rich from gold mines in Alaska. However, Willy never lives up to his expectations of success. He

Biff seems to love and really believe in the adulation that his father is shooting his way. With this mutual relationship in place, Biff's trip to Boston becomes that much more tragic in the end for both father and son. The whole reason for Biff making the trip is that he needed the help of his hero, his biggest supporter, Willy. Biff flunks math and goes to Boston where his father is currently working, to get him to convince the teacher to change his grade. There at the hotel, Biff finds his father cheating with a woman and he immediately breaks down. All the years of hot air and hype disappear, and Biff is left with nothing but tears and bitter disappointment in his father. The shock devastates Biff; not seeing his father not being the perfect

Like any son, Biff praised, respected, and loved his father. Biff’s problem comes with his taking that love and moving it to a next level, idealizing. By holding his father in such high regards Biff set him upon a pedestal that no mere mortal could live up to. Just like any man, Willy had his faults, and leading his son on with exaggerations portrays one of these faults. Biff’s perception of his father as an almost immaculate figure leaves him exposed to discover the painful truth. In this discovery, a dejected and emotionally vulnerable Biff goes to seek solace from his father only to have his very foundation rattled by seeing him with another woman. This presents itself as both positive and negative in regards to Biff. It acts as a turning point in Biff’s life and sets him on the course of self discovery. This course also brings Biff more pain and anguish than he has ever felt because for the first time he does not have a father to turn towards. This previous action indicates Biff’s lack of having a course on life. Up until the end of the book, Biff can be described as a thirty-four year old child because he has no direction or individualistic beliefs. He had tried to forsake his father’s ideologies but they were instilled so deeply that he could not just forget about them. However, after Willy’s death, Biff finally realizes "He [Willy] had the wrong dreams. All, all

Biff is at the center of Willy’s internal problems and flashbacks, and Biff is the only one in the play who seems to achieve any growth as a person. In the beginning of the play Biff was obsessed with his father like most young boys and thought that Willy was flawless. Biff later realizes that Willy isn perfect and that he is most likely the reason he was never successful. If Biff wouldn't have denied his dad's personality flaws until he saw him having an affair in Boston and realized how important school was before that he probably would have never flunked math and who knows how successful Biff actually would have

Biff believe everything his father says. Willy’s career was a salesman, although he was not a successful one, it makes sense he wants his son to have a successful career. He created a false image of himself to make everybody believe that he was successful. Even though he had lack of success he knew what it took. Therefore, he has so many memories of the past.

Willy, Happy, and Biff meet for dinner at a restaurant for an intended celebration of Biff’s new life outlook, but Willy refuses to hear bad news from Biff. Happy attempts to get Biff to lie to their father in order to pacify him. Biff tries to tell him what happened, as Willy gets angry at his son’s failure and absorbs into a flashback of what occurred in Boston the day Biff came to see him. Willy had been having an affair with a receptionist on one of his sales trips when Biff unexpectedly arrived at Willy's hotel room. A stunned Biff angrily confronted his father, calling him an impostor and a fraud. From that moment, Biff's views of his father change and set Biff adrift in life. Biff leaves the restaurant in frustration, followed by Happy and two girls that Happy has picked up. They leave Willy behind in the restaurant absorbed in his flashback. When they later return home, their mother angrily confronts them for abandoning their father while Willy remains outside, talking to himself. Biff goes outside in attempt to reconcile with Willy. The discussion quickly escalates into another dispute, at which point Biff forcefully tries to convey to his father that he is not meant for anything great, insisting that

Throughout this work as Willy is determined to make Biff successful he continually gave contradicting advice and gave Biff the false idea of what success is. Willy always focused on Biff’s well being and wanted success for him in the business world. Willy gave his family the idea that he was really successful as a salesman but in reality he was not. Willy’s idea of success consisted of being well liked and well known. “I’ll show you all the towns. America is full of beautiful towns and fine, upstanding people. And they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England” (19). Willy always pushed Biff to conquer the dream that he did not. Biff had continuously shown minimal interest in Willy’s idea of success. Biff saw success, as being on a farm working with his shirt off, not stuck at a desk all day. He grew tired of Willy’s ongoing determination to make him successful. “Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens? I’ll go in the morning. Put him --- put him to bed” (106). As Willy’s determination started to control the relationship between him and Biff, Biff got tired of hearing the same “American Dream” which he knew was not truthful. After stating that the dream was a waste of time Biff decided to leave his father. Willy’s determination to make Biff successful contributed to the failure of this father son relationship.

The father and the son relationship is distorted in the play because Biff and Willy start resenting each other. Willy is resented by biff because he dillusioned him and input a lot of pressure on him. On the other hand, Willy started resenting biff because he did not live

“Biff: [Crying, broken] Will you let me go, for christs sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?” (Miller Act II:17) All Biff wanted from Willy was for him to understand that his destiny wasn't to be successful.

However, Biff and Happy do not accomplish Willy's hopes to have very successful sons. Biff Loman is a thirty-four year old, rough, good-looking former star athlete. He is also a moody and troubled man. Like his father, he is worried both about the family tensions and about work. He was a very promising football athlete, but his life changed completely when he discovered that his father was cheating with another woman. Biff drifted and left home and traveled around seven states to get a better job but could not. He also went to jail for stealing a suit. In fact, Biff "utterly failed to live up his father's expectations." He has an internal struggle trying to know what to do with his future. The main conflict between them is that Willy sees Biff as a person with a lot of possibilities for his life, but the truth is that he sees himself as a "nobody". On one side, he feels the pressure that he has to please his father's wishes; and on the other hand, Biff wants to do what he thinks it is right for his life, his own dreams. But Willy does not want to believe that a member of the Loman family could be or is a "nobody" or a "loser" in life. However, this illusion is gone at the end of the story for both. And Willy is not open to listen to his sons and to realize, as Biff says, "he never knew who he was."

Biff’s brief idolization of his father is depicted throughout these flashbacks revealing how Biff promised “this Saturday, Pop, this Saturday-just for you, I’m going to break through for a touchdown (Miller 19)”. Miller illustrates how Willy is seen reflecting on past memories in order to cope with his current lack of success. Meanwhile, Biff is constantly dealing with inner turmoil concerning his father’s affair, as well as, his own lack of success. Their relationship is under constant strain due to Biff’s father’s lack of willingness to accept reality instead of begrudgingly holding onto the past. As seen in the beginning when Biff’s old trophies are seen still placed upon a shelf as if to reminisce the few times they were seen as “successful”. This doesn’t last long before Biff finally has had enough exclaiming “Pop! I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you!...Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it (Miller 106)”. Through Biff’s desperate diction the contrast in their relationship illustrated by the flashbacks shows quite prominently just how quickly a bond can be diminished if not showing the proper emotions much like Willy did not.Comparatively, Willy’s relationship with his youngest son, Happy, is even more so underdeveloped. Happy’s constant need for that fatherly attention, as well as, approval is seen to show in both current time and flashbacks. Going so far as lying to his father in